A Scoutmaster's Blog

The Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast proudly presents another video from the Boy Scout Troop 68 Laughs For Lunch Show archives. This post features a skit in which a director hires an extra to play a small part in a film. The film is about a legendary ship which hits an iceberg. The extra has only four lines to say but unfortunately cannot get them correct on the first take. The director becomes frustrated, and hilarity follows. Even though this video was recorded in 2001, it holds up very well. The skit would be a great one to perform at any campfire program.

Does your troop have fun performing in front of an audience? Have they ever done this skit? Tell us about it by leaving a comment.

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I was listening to some music at work this afternoon when the Village People’s Y.M.C.A. was played. Suddenly, I was transported back to summer camp several years ago. Troop 68 liked taking songs, changing the words, and making a new campfire song. Y.M.C.A. happened to be one of those songs.

We had attended Many Point Scout Camp for several years and I thought we might be able to change Y.M.C.A. to M.P.S.C.  We worked on the lyrics and it did not take long to come up with a new song and actions to go along with it. When we performed it at the Friday night closing campfire it became a hit. The staff joined us onstage for the refrain and the campers and leaders joined us in the actions. We have performed the song several times since then. If I find a decent video of the troop’s performance I will be sure to get it online. Until then, here are the words to our version of M.P.S.C. -

1)  Young man, When you need to get out,
I said, young man, get away from the crowds.
I said, young man, don’t just sit there and pout.
Get up and camp with the Boy Scouts.

That’s where, you can shoot 22′s.
I said, that’s where, there’s always something to do.
I said, that’s where, you can eats lots of stew,
get belly aches and turn shades of blue.

(Refrain)
It’s fun to go to the M.P.S.C.  You’ve got to go to the M.P.S.C.
You can tie a few knots, you can cook your own meal,
You can do whatever you feel.

M.P.S.C.  You’ve got to go to the M.P.S.C.
Young man, young man, don’t just sit on your tail.
Young man, young man, get yourself on the trail.

2)  Voyagers, is the place you should be
if you want to, cook your food as you please.
Then there’s Ten Chiefs, out among all the trees,
with no shower facility.

Buck Skin, is the camp where you call
patrol members, to eat in the dining hall.
Project Cope is, the place where you do it all
even experience free fall.

3)  Young man, the bathrooms are quite unique.
I said, young man, wait till you get a peek.
I said, young man, it’s the place that you seek
When you can’t wait any longer.

Then there’s, the bedroom facilities
Where you can get, a bit caught up on your zz’s
Where the canvas, let’s in all the bugs and fleas
Unless you’ve got mosquito netting.

Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, return in episode twelve of the Around The Scouting Campfire podcast. Listen in as the guys talk about how the Scouting program was discovered by William D. Boyce during a trip to London in the early 1900′s. There are quotes from Lord Baden-Powell. The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 perform the radio skit. Buttons reads the last letter to Scouts from Lord Baden-Powell. There is even a short story from an early National Jamboree.

The story of how Scouting came to America is from the 1943 edition of the Boy Scout handbook.
The Radio Skit can be seen at Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast #70 – http://feeds2.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Buttons’ reading of the last letter to Scouts from Lord Baden-Powell can be seen at Melrose Scouting Productions #50.

It is time to join Scoutmaster Steve and Buttons, the radical Boy Scout, as they host another episode of Around The Scouting Campfire, a podcast for Scouts, adult leaders, and families.

During this episode the guys talk about the new year and look back at 2009. Scoutmaster Steve begins the new year by reciting some quotes from Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting, and then reads a story about setting goals to fly with the eagles. After a song from The Scout Zone, Buttons tries to learn the Cub Scout Promise from Michael the Cub Scout, and then reads some feedback from our listeners. The show ends with a scoutmaster minute about being friendly and a thank you to you, our listeners.

Yes, it has been awhile since Buttons and Steve have posted an episode to the Around The Scouting Campfire podcast. But your wait is over. Show #10 is ready to download and enjoy.

The Boy Scouts of Troop 68 have been performing a little skit/song called Star Trekking since the mid-eighties. (See blog post from August 2, 2006) It has been quite popular with most campfire audiences. In 1990 (wow, eighteen years ago) the troop performed this skit on a local television station station. This video was taped by one of the parents, luckily. Two and a half years ago I placed the video online at YouTube for the world to see. Since then, the video has received over 39,000 views, and averages somewhere around 50-60 views per day.

Well, it seems that several of this year’s Buckskin staff at Many Point Scout Camp has seen the video. Some more then once. One Friday, the last full day of camp, our camp commissioner visited our campsite and asked me if I was the one in the video that was on YouTube. I said I was and gave him a quick explanation how that all came about. He was grinning from ear to ear when he asked me to sign his cap, and then asked me if I would perform the skit with some of the camp’s staff during the Friday night closing campfire program. I agreed, but wondered when we would have time to practice. After all, the staff would be busy all day. He replied that I should meet them at the camp lodge at 9:00 that evening.

The campfire was scheduled to start at 9:30 pm. Not much time to practice.

I was at the lodge at 9:00, which was a one minute walk from our troop’s campsite. Only half of the staff that were to be a part of the skit were there. The rest showed up as they arrived from their program areas. Unfortunately, we did not really have much time to practice. In fact, all we had time to do was to choose who would play what roles, go over each person’s lines once, and practice the refrain. We did not even get to run through the song one time. This could be interesting, I thought to myself as I walked back to my campsite. Luckily, most of the participants had viewed the skit on YouTube and had a good idea how it was done.

I brought my camcorder along to the campfire program and was able to find another staff member to record the skit. When the time came, I left my seat in the audience to join the staff at the side. As we walked out to center stage I could not help but think of the possibility of the train wreck that was about to occur. After all, we really had not practiced together.

I did not have to worry. The staff came through with flying colors. And better yet, the hundreds of Scouts and adult leaders in the audience loved it. The cheering at the end of the skit was overwhelming. We had pulled it off, and pulled it off well.

Once I returned home from summer camp I had a problem with the camcorder. It began eating my tapes. One of the tapes it tried eating was the one that had the footage of Star Trekking. I had promised the staff that I would put this video online for them to see. I needed that footage. I bought a new camcorder, and luckily was able to retrieve the video from the campfire program. In fact, I should be able to get a few podcasts from the footage. Unfortunately, the footage is pretty dark since it was filmed after sunset.

So here is that video of Star Trekking, performed at the Many Point Scout Camp closing campfire program on July 18, 2008. This video is dedicated to the 2008 Buckskin camp staff, and to the camp’s Ranger Scott, who appears in that YouTube video.

Please leave a comment here using the link below, at the iTunes Music Store, or at the PTC Media forums. Or drop me an email at webmaster@melrosetroop68.org. It really is great to hear what you think about the podcast videos.

Click here to DOWNLOAD this Podcast
Subscribe to Melrose Scouting Productions Podcast through iTunes.
or at http://feeds.feedburner.com/melrosescoutingproductions
Check out the other Scouting podcasts at PTC Media.