A Brief History of The Hill Cumorah Pageant

Posted by Tom Breen

on Mar 06, 2013

   Today, our club was honored to welcome Dwight Schwendimen to our lunch meeting. Mr. Schwendimen is president of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, a post he has held for 7 years. He joined us today to present a brief history of the Pageant.
   Last year was the 75th anniversary of the Hill Cumorah Pageant, but its root actually go back to the early 1920’s. The Eastern States Mission held an annual “Cumorah Conference” in late July. The mission president would take some of his missionaries to Palmyra and the Joseph Smith Farm to celebrate Pioneer Day, acting out scenes from the Book of Mormon as part of the activities. Over the next several years, the conference attracted more people and was expanded in duration.
   When the church acquired the property in 1934, the pageant moved from the Smith Farm to the hill. Later, NYU professor H. Wayne Driggs wrote the script, “America’s Witness for Christ” and the first official Hill Cumorah Pageant took place July 23, 1937. Over the next few decades, technology advanced and was adopted by the pageant. In 1957, a five-track sound system was designed, built, and installed by Harvey Fletcher, the inventor of stereophonic sound. Crawford Gates composed an original score for the production, which was recorded by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

President Dianne, guest speaker Dwight Schwendimen, presented by Richard Searle.

   In the early 70’s it was decided that full-time missionaries would be phased out as the cast of the pageant. Instead, regular church members would perform. Since then, it has become an all-volunteer cast. In 1988, Orson Scott Card wrote a new script. Shorter than the original, it depicts Joseph Smith’s encounter with the Golden Plates, and the event recorded on them. This is the script in use to this day.
   Prospective cast apply online between August and November. The cast of 700 are selected from these applicants, based primarily on appearance. This is because there are no speaking parts; rather the cast lip-synch to a pre-recorded soundtrack. Nevertheless, volunteers come from all over the continental US and from abroad, at their own expense, to be a part of the pageant. In 1991, the pageant invited local service organizations to provide snacks and meals to pageant visitors, and R-L Concessions was formed. It has been a positive for both the pageant and the clubs.
   In just a few short months, the stage will go up again, and volunteers will return to the hill. We’ll be there too, manning the concession stands, feeding the thousands of visitors and doing our part to continue the tradition of the Hill Cumorah Pageant.