KenRex Promotion (London)

Here’s a promotion for KenRex at the Sheffield Theatre in London with writer/actor Jack Holden This shows scenes from the show in which he plays 30 characters from the Skidmore Ken Rex McElroy case.

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Jack Holden (writer/actor) & John Patrick Elliott (music) Discuss KenRex

I spoke with both at last night’s production of KenRex. One of the advantages of seeing a show at a small off-Broadway venue is that there is easy access to the principals

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Ken Rex McElroy Attorney Richard Eugene McFadden – Clay County Prosecutor 1960

I spot checked some of the depictions in the KenRex play. I ran across this photo of Richard Eugene McFadden in 1960, when he was Clay County Prosecutor and was prosecuting the Perry L. Thresher murder of Mrs. Constance Rebecca Williams case in Excelsior Springs. In this photo, Thresher was wearing a bloody shirt when he was arrested, and he took it off for the charge when being formally charged. McFadden later served as a state rep before taking up private practice. In the KenRex play, McFadden is portrayed as a sleazy “Better Call Saul” character and has the biggest song of the night. The photo has been AI colorized.

Caption:

PERRY LESTER THRESHER, JR., shirtless, stands between Chief Deputy R. E. McDowell, left, and Prosecutor Richard E. McFadin while Judge John Lodwick, Jr., informs him he is charged with first-degree murder in the bludgeon slaying of a 21-year-old woman. His bloody shirt was taken as evidence, and he was supplied with another shirt before leaving for jail

The Excelsior Springs Daily Standard, April 26, 1960, Page 1. via Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-standard-mcfadin-at-thresher-m/195929900/ : accessed April 20, 2026), clip page for McFadin at Thresher Murder by user Little_Old_Me

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John Holden won the 2026 Olivier Award for Best Actor for the London production of KenRex

 I saw KenRex and spoke with actor/writer John Holden last night, and I will have a lot coming down the pike on this. John’s one-man show portrays 30 characters from Skidmore/Nodaway County, including David Baird, Trena McElroy, the Bowencamps, attorney Richard Gene McFadin, and a very scary, sinister, and evil Ken Rex McElroy. The music score is a staged broadcast of KNIM!

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21-Year-Old Alton 8 Foot Giant Loses Suit Against Barnard Doctor Charles Humberd 1939

In 1939, Robert Wadlow, the 21-year-old eight-foot-tall “Alton Giant,” lost a $100,000 defamation suit against Barnard, Missouri,  “giant expert” and former Nodaway Coroner Charles Humberd over Humberd’s writings about him in the American Medical Journal.

The case was heard in St. Joseph, Missouri, Federal Court at 8th and Felix, attracting media attention and iconic photos, including the photo above by the marquee of the Missouri Movie Theatre across from the courthouse.  The Electric Theatre is across the street.

Humberd said he intended to appeal, but he died a year later.

Both images in this article are AI colorized/enhanced News-Press photos.

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Review of KenRex in London Play: “Making a Murderer meets The Simpsons.”

Here’s Mickey Joe Theatre Review: KenRex, a one-person musical, based on Ken Rex McElroy, who was killed in Skidmore in 1981.  This review is for the London production.  It opened in New York in April 2026.

Including the YouTube-generated transcript so it shows up in searches.

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Grand Army of the Republic Posts in Nodaway County

Here’s a list of 15 Grand Army of the Republic posts in Nodaway County.  The GAR was a veterans organization of Union soldiers and sailors in the Civil War.  This list is  compiled by the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War.  Names of the posts could be anybody in the Civil War and didn’t have to be local oriented (unlike the current chapters American Legion and VFW which are named for local residents who were the first to fall in World War I).  Maryville’s Sedgwick Post is named for Gen. John Sedgwick from Connecticut, who died in 1864 in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House.

The Posts were social functions and included reunions both locally and nationally.  .  GAR was active in the 1917 dinner on the Nodaway County Courthouse lawn, in which 8,000 meals were served when Nodaway County boys left for World War I.

The GAR actively looked after graves and erected numerous GAR markers at cemeteries, which were still visible everywhere into the 1960s.  Unfortunately, the markers became collector items and were almost all stolen (as happened with our family markers)

The most prominent GAR figure in Maryville was Nathaniel Sisson, who stayed very active until passing in 1932 (and is buried in Miriam Cemetery). He is also depicted in a painting on the Freedom Rock in Franklin Park.  Above is an image AI colorized/enhanced image of him in GAR gear.  Below is an AI-enhanced view of his Civil War photo.

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Britt Small and the Festival Music Commune at Skidmore 1976

Caption: From Left, Jonnie Small, Mindy Thompson, Britt Small, Penelope the dog

Image colorized/enhanced from  https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-maryville-daily-forum-festival-famil/159592466/

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Daisy & Queen College Farm Mules Who Built Martindale Gymnasium 1926

The original 200-acre college farm (on the northwest side of the campus, mostly south of the Wabash tracks in the high-rise dormitory area). This farm was part of the original massive Faustiana Farm, which stretched around the college on the west and north, as opposed to the later, much smaller Townsend Faustiana, which was mostly south of the highway. It was a working farm providing milk and chickens for the college. Among the livestock were Daisy and Queen, mules used to dig the foundation for Martindale Gymnasium, which opened in 1926. For the record, Northwest adopted the Bearcat mascot in 1916, and Central Missouri adopted the Mule as mascot in 1922. The image is AI colorized/enhanced source image is below. Continue reading

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1943 Washington High School Mural in Nodaway County Museum

In 1942-43, Washington High School students painted a mural on the lower level that depicted the school’s history.  When the school was torn down in 1999, the mural, as well as plaster pseudo-classical Greek sculptures that adorned the school auditorium, were moved to the Nodaway County Historical Society Museum.  Pictured in the photo above, which was AI colorized/enhanced, is longtime Maryville educator Laura B. Hawkins showing the painting to new students in 1951.  Below is the story.

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