The white gloves are off

Members of the Junior League of Sacramento have no trouble leaving the ladylike behind.

Lately, they've been brandishing swords, jumping around in jumpsuits splattered in day-glo paint and otherwise raising a ruckus onstage in the theater of Hiram Johnson High School.

The song-and-dance routines are part of an annual free theater program that about 15,000 area elementary school students saw this season, which ended March 7. It's an annual tradition with a long run: at least 60 years. (Exactly which year in the early 1940s it started is unclear.) More than a million local kids over the decades have clapped and sung along.

This year's production – "The Tale Spinner" – worked its magic on an audience of about 650 students on a recent weekday morning. The community at large is invited to come to a free performance at 2 p.m. March 16. Elementary school kids – and their parents and adult friends – will not be disappointed.

The original musical lasts just about 40 minutes, but it is packed with plot twists, pratfalls, musical numbers and funny lines. One of the high points comes when several pirates take their sword fight through the aisles, after singing, "We're fearsome buccaneers, we sail from far and nears."

The show spotlights an educational message disguised as entertainment – that reading is a great way to have fun, especially when the power goes out.

The production also spotlights the enduring role of the Junior League, which has played much more than a bit part in the creation of institutions and landmarks of Sacramento, from Fairytale Town to the Child Abuse Council of Sacramento. It also shines a light on how far the organization has evolved from its somewhat clubby roots.

"It's no more white gloves," says Paula Mumm, right after taking a bow for "The Tale Spinner."

She is dressed as though to underscore the point, in long shorts and T-shirt – her costume for playing a young boy, which she pulls off with persuasive goof, swagger and video-game skills.

Once upon a time, the Junior League was a rather cliquish affair. Membership was awarded by invitation only and restricted to women under 40. Meetings were strictly weekday events, as members generally didn't work outside the home.

Today, membership is open to all women 21 or older. Most members work, some are retired. There are about 300 active members and 600 women who support it from the sidelines as "sustainers." They are a diverse group by many measures, including ethnicity, career and pastimes.

President-elect Becky Johnson Sabin has Hupa and Karuk Indian heritage and spent early childhood years on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Humboldt County. Today, she works in corporate communications for Teichert Construction-Teichert Materials. For fun, she runs ultramarathons, with more than a dozen races from 50 to 100 kilometers under her laces.

"It's a great training opportunity," Sabin says of the league. Members learn about budgeting, business plans and how nonprofit boards work, preparing them for lives of being in charge. Sabin says it's hard to find a local nonprofit board that hasn't included former members of the local group.

Among those who moved from the group to become leaders in business and public life locally are Rep. Doris Matsui, public relations executive Jean Runyon, restaurateur Lina Fat and Muriel Johnson, who went on to become a county supervisor and then director of the California Arts Council.

Johnson, who joined the league in the '60s, said she quickly learned that it was not a club of women taking it easy.

"Some people thought they all eat bonbons or something. I always thought, 'Where did they get this idea?' I've never worked so hard," she says.

Johnson said the league gave her a welcomed break from caring for four young children at home. For Johnson and others taking time off to raise kids, the league can be a way to keep a résumé up to date.

Johnson says it was also just fun, especially when she played a tango-dancing big bad wolf in a production of "Little Red Riding Hood" for the league's annual children's theater project.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Alison apRoberts, (916) 321-1113.