The following is a Letter to the Editor which appeared in a 1947 issue of Life Magazine:
Sirs:
Concerning your recent article on armadillos (LIFE, Oct. 6), we feverishly urge any readers entertaining notions of employing such a creature for theatrical purposes that it is not a good thing.
One of our more romantic prop women assured us that for our Youngstown Players production of The Royal Family an armadillo would be very fetching lugged across the stage in the third act. The critter arrived and was snugly ensconced in an orange crate by the furnace. Several times it disappeared and was discovered perched among the coals…
On opening night he was whisked across the stage so quickly that it was impossible for the audience to divine whether what we had in the gaily colored birdcage was an armadillo or George Jean Nathan. Several in the audience asked where we got a seal so small. When we brightly informed them it was an armadillo and did they know what an armadillo was, they said no and they didn’t want to know. It looked, they said, vomitous. After the first performance, to our delight, it up and died…
James Priddy, Youngstown, Ohio.
Originally printed in Life, October 27, 1947, pg 22, 25.