Happy Birthday Skit
Simon Kenton Council

Personnel: Five Cub Scouts plus one small Cub Scout
Equipment: A "birthday cake" large enough for the small boy to hide inside.

Cub 1: Well, here we are. But where is Ed?

Cub 2: I don't know. It's just like Ed to invite us over for the surprise party and then not be here.

Cub 3: Does anyone know whose birthday we're celebrating?

Cub 4: It isn't mine. Mine's in April.

Cub 5: Who cares?

Cub 4: I do! Besides, now that you know when it is, you can save your money and buy me a super present.

Cub 1: Boy! Will you look at that cake?

Cub 2: Man that's big enough to feed an army.

Cub 3: Not with Jack around. You know how he is with snacks.

Cub 4: I can't help it. I'm just a growing boy, just like the Law of the Pack says we should.

Cub 5: Yeah, but we're to grow up, not out.

Cub 1: Look, here's a note.

Cub 2: Read it. Maybe it will explain what this is all about.

Cub 1: Okay, okay! (Reads from note) We're a gang that's really true, Here to celebrate our Gold and Blue. Our organization rates an "A" plus, So let's all sing

Small Cub: (Jumps out of cake and yells Happy Birthday to us!

This really good skit was written by one of YAAC's own Cubmasters and was performed before a live audience at the 1998 Annual Mason-Dixon District Adult Recognition Dinner. It makes for a really good, impressive presentation.

(A one-man narrative about the birth of the BSA by Mark Anderson, Cubmaster, Pack 180)

Dress as a lifelong scout, i.e. campaign hat, knee high socks, shorts, walking staff, etc.)

Most of you don't know me, but you've all heard stories about me. Tonight I want to talk to you about a chance meeting that took place about 90 years ago. The place was London, England. The year was 1909. It was a typical day in London. The fog lay dense in the streets, as thick as pea soup. I was just a young lad at the time, having just celebrated my 13th birthday.

I was on my way to a Scout meeting when I happened upon a young American man who appeared lost. I approached the man and asked if I could be of some assistance since the streets of London can be quite confusing in the fog. "You certainly can", the man said, "for I am looking for the shipping offices of Kratchet and Crane in the center of the city." I told the man that I would gladly take him to his destination.

On the way to the shipping offices, the man introduced himself as William D. Boyce, an entrepreneur of sorts, looking for new opportunities in England. After we arrived at his destination, Mr. Boyce reached into his pocket and offered me tuppence for my assistance.

(Reach into pocket and pull out several coins)

"No thank you, sir!" I replied. "For you see, I am a Scout and will not take anything for helping."

"A Scout? And what might that be?" asked Mr. Boyce.

I explained to him about Scouting and the movement started by Lord Robert Baden-Powell. Mr. Boyce grew excited as I told him what it meant to "do my duty" and asked me to wait for him to finish his business.

After he had finished, I escorted Mr. Boyce to meet with Lord Baden Powell. As he learned more about the Scouting program, Mr. Boyce decided to take Scouting with him back to the colonies.

Little did I realize what one, small good turn would do to the face of history. That one good turn started the largest youth organization in the world today.

I understand that because of that chance meeting, millions of American boys had the opportunity to become Scouts. Years later, Mr. Boyce and the Boy Scouts of America tried to locate me to thank me. I didn't want to be recognized, since I hadn't done anything that any one of my fellow Scouts would have done.

Unable to locate me, the B.S.A. dedicated a statue of the American Buffalo in my honour in Gilwell Park, England, the birthplace of Scouting. But, the statue shouldn't be for me, but for all the Scouts who strive to "do a good turn daily."

Good night and God bless!

York Adams Council

The idea for this skit comes from one performed at a Keystone Council dinner.

Props: Only one-a "skin" with a charcoal drawing of the Arrow of Light. (Use a crumpled paper bag for the skin and black marker to draw the AOL.) The actors need to be attired appropriately. The interviewer should look the part of an old Scouter (the more like B-P the better). The Scout being interviewed should look as Neanderthal as possible (skins for clothing; a club; heavy, unkempt hair and beard, etc.).

Narrator: Good evening ladies, gentlemen, all Scouts and Scouters. Tonight we join our investigative reporter, BP, in an exclusive interview with the first-ever Scout. Let's join them now.

(Stage curtains open to Scouter and Caveman standing together.)

BP: So, you are called the oldest Scout in the world. Just how old are you?

CM: Well, counting all the time before there were calendars, I figure I'm somewhere around 5000 years old-give or take a century.

BP: Wow! Five thousand years old! And to what do you contribute your longevity?

CM: Why the skills and abilities I gained through Scouting, of course! It's what's kept me going all these years.

BP: Scouting, eh? So what was Scouting like in your day?

CM: Well, to begin with, I'd have to say it was a little primitive. Things like we had to use little round pebbles for dues, vines for knot tying. Those kinds of primitive limits.

BP: I imagine so. What about badges?

CM: Yeah, we had badgers, but the dinosaurs were more of a bother than badgers.

BP: No, not badgers, badges! Did you earn badges?

CM: Oh, I'm sorry. You know what they say, "Hearing is the second thing to go." Can't remember what the first thing is. What did you ask me?

BP: Badges! Did-you-have-to-earn-badges?

CM: Oh yes! We earned all kinds of badges. Fire starting was one of them. Really needed to know how to start fires. Kept the cave warm, you know. And then there was stalking. We had to learn the skills of stalking. Why we had to be able to stalk just about any animal there was-any worth eating, at least.

BP: What about other skills? Did you have to learn about Home Repairs or Gardening?

CM: Well, sorta. Home Repairs was a must. Did you know I came up with one of the words we use to describe parts of a window? Happened one cold December day. (Well, we would have called it December if we had a name for it or a calendar even.) The wind and the wolves were howling and the snow was just pouring through the front hole in the cave wall. My mom told my dad that if something weren't done about it, he wouldn't be allowed to go camping the following weekend. So my dad told me it was my job. He said I could earn my Home Repairs badge if I could fix it. So I just took the oil-skin sash from around my bear skin robe and draped it in front of the hole. It stopped the snow and we could still get light through it. And from that day on, they've called the covering over a hole in a home a "window sash."

BP: Yes, I see. And did you have a Gardening badge?

CM: Almost. We called it Gathering, but it evolved into Gardening when we got a little sloppy with it. We used to have to go out gathering seeds to eat. You know-grains and berries and such. Well one time there was a hole in my sack and some of the seeds dropped out just outside the cave. Next thing we knew, the seeds had turned into plants and those plants had seeds. We just kept the plants right outside and we had all the seeds we needed from then on.

BP: In today's Scouting program, there are different ranks the boys earn, like Bobcat, Wolf, and Bear. Did you have anything like that.

BP: Something really familiar sounding about those things. Did you earn any other badges?

CM: Well there was the Wolf badge. We had to do all sorts of things to earn that one. Like learning how to use and properly care for a blunt rock and a sharp rock. We also had to clean up rocks around the cave. And learn the difference between our tribe's cave logo and others' logos. And for the Bear badge-another one we earned-we had to listen and learn about old, prehistoric tales about cavemen like Volcano Vort (who used to float down the lava rivers) and T-Rex Rex (a tale about some Neanderthal who used to ride dinosaurs). Also we almost had to learn how to ride a bike, except we didn't have a wheel so we didn't have tires so we didn't have a bike so we didn't have to do that.

BP: Again, these things you did sound like things I've heard our Cub Scouts have had to do. Are there any other special badges that you earned or learned about?

CM: Well, there were many other badges, but the one I remember most had to be the Arrow of Light. You probably don't know about that one, so let me show you how we would draw it on the cave walls. We got this when we had proven that we were ready to go onto bigger and more challenging things.

BP: So there you have it. Seems not too much has changed since the first Scout. I guess that's what they mean when they say "The more things change, the more they stay the same!"