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MYSTERY RAISES FUNDS FOR OSWEGO LIBRARY

The Beacon News — Aurora (IL) November 13, 2000 OSWEGO — Sarah Skilton killed the audience with her portrayal of Silky M. Adam, the slinky and shady lady who operates the fictitious Everlay Club. It turns out that she — well, Silky, anyway — was the killer in the gangster-themed murder mystery that was the centerpiece of the Friends of the Oswego Public Library District’s first big fund-raiser.

About 75 people attended Saturday’s event at Oswego’s Little White School Museum. go to website dress long black

Organizers transformed the historic museum into a speakeasy for the evening, offering up Bugsy’s beer (root beer) and Pinky’s punch to sate guests’ thirsts and chances to play roulette and black jack to quench their thirst for gambling.

Members of the Friends group were gambling on the evening’s entertainment to support the Oswego library.

“We’re hoping to net $1,000 for the library,” said Diane Cabiness, president of the group.

Cabiness, like many of the guests and “actors” in the murder mystery, dressed for the occasion.

Garbed as a flapper with a string of beads around her neck and a black feather boa draped across her shoulders, Cabiness rubbed shoulders with her guests as she encouraged them to put their minds to the mystery of who killed the mobster in the city of big shoulders. site dress long black

It was Skilton’s portrayal as the slinky madam that drew most of the attention.

Oswego’s library director by day, Skilton slipped into a black dress, long black gloves, a flowing red boa and ropes of faux pearls and took up the role of the owner of an exclusive club catering to men.

With cigarette holder and little gold purse in hand, she gave little air kisses and talked about her “girls” and encouraged everyone to become card-carrying members of her club.

“It’s so out of character for her,” said Fred Mitchell, vice president of the group.

“It’s her alter-ego, I think.” “You put that boa on her, and it’s a whole new personality,” Cabiness said.

This was the first major fund-raiser for the group that got its start a little more than a year ago.

Although the Friends’ organization is separate from the library, it works to support the library through donations.

The money garnered from Saturday’s mystery dinner will go toward purchasing a new microfilm reader.

The cast for the murder mystery included Skilton, Ed Miranda, Gail Johnson, Eva Luckinbill who filled in for Mary Stevens, Herschell Luckinbill, Rick Albright, Craig Weber and Pat Dunn.

Their occasional flubbed lines and the sight of Eva Luckinbill’s cigarette flying across the room as she waved her hand to emphasize a point drew laughs from an appreciative audience.

The evening was a coöperative effort between the Friends, the library and the Oswegoland Heritage Association, which loaned the use of the Little White School Museum.

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