How Carnival is Run
A common remark often heard on the Dartmouth campus and frequently outside of Hanover from the lips of those who have seen and taken part in a Dartmouth Carnival is to the effect that such an undertaking must require a great deal of planning and work. People make this statement sometimes in earnest, sometimes as a matter of course, and let it pass without much further thought; but because I know of no other undertaking, no other organization or college program involving nearly as much complexity, I am going to outline in more detail the general routine a Carnival such as this past one demands.
This year's Carnival, which consensus of opinion seems to vote the finest ever, found its birth in what the Carnival committee always call the "grief" meeting held last year immediately after the two Carnival specials bore their fair burden away from Hanover at the close of that particular festival. At this meeting the committee made a careful survey of the manner in which the scheduled program was effected, and writing later a detailed report on all the accrued experience, with many suggestions for successors. At the same time they discussed the potential candidates for the various Carnival positions, drawing up a preliminary committee from those of the junior class who evidenced the greatest ability during the work. Then in March this new committee will be definitely selected; it consists of the chairman of Carnival, and directors of finance, Carnival Ball, Outdoor Evening, publicity and entertainment, and competitions. Upon these six students then lies the responsibility of directing the work which I shall outline below.
Let us move back for a moment into the fall of this past year. The Carnival committee with its size increased by the presence of Rolf C. Syvertsen 'lB and Donald Bartlett '24 as faculty advisors has already held several meetings during which many new ideas have been germinated. The members of Cabin and Trail, executive body of the Outing Club, have been divided up among the five departments. Following the plan of making the Carnival Ball more informal, it is decided to reduce the couple tax and permit the attendance of a hundred stags. In this, as in all the program, the committee is trying to coincide with the wishes of the student body. Many of these lengthy committee meetings are held during the months before carnival, for it is here that the vivid imagination and alert minds of these selected students have opportunity for their fullest scope.
Then early in January, still a month away from Carnival, a call is issued for volunteers among the undergraduate body and especially among the freshmen and sophomore classes. It is these men who do most of the manual work and on them depends, to a fairly large extent, the success of Carnival. Each year there is a large turnout in answer to this call and all during the ensuing preparations from 75 to 100 men devote their time to the festival work. During the week of Carnival their cuts are excused, but I do not believe it is this that draws them out day after day in near zero weather to build snow and ice forms, pack snow on the ski jump, change the gymnasium into a colorful circus tent, typewrite letters to newspaper men, or tramp out to Moose Cabin for evergreens. They do these things, often drudgeries, because the spirit of Carnival is contagious,—an instant's exposure and it spreads like measles, except that it never goes away. There is no special reward for the great majority of these men as only 15 from the freshmen competition during the whole year and very few from the upperclassmen are elected into Cabin and Trail; it is the idea of being even a small part of this huge machine that offers enticement.
THE MACHINE IN ACTION
We will follow each department along its path of activity, although lack of space will prevent me from mentioning the thousand and one little details that always arise. The department of competitions is the first to swing into action. Letters and entrees blanks must be sent out to all colleges in the country who might be interested in sending representatives to the winter sports tournament. Judges must be found for these events and properly notified of their duties. All of this requires a great deal of correspondence back and forth until all entries have been definitely decided upon. During Carnival itself the department must be certain that all competitors understand the rules, time, and place of their events.
Meanwhile the department of publicity and entertainment begins its complicated routine. One upper-class man is assigned to making arrangements for carnival programs and posters, another takes care of outside publicity and still another the releases that appear in the Daily Dartmouth. The posters are of various kinds suitable for different situations. Thus the better ones are mailed to a selected list of Boston's and New York's largest athletic and merchandise stores for window display; many of these establishments use a special winter sports goods display at this time, acting on the suggestion from the Outing Club. Various printing houses are approached for offers on programs; this year Ted Geisel '25 very generously drew a set of cartoons for-the program giving his impressions of carnival. Geisel, drawing under the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss, has become famous throughout the country for his weird figures.
Because of the number of releases for the benefit of students, a regular schedule is drawn up for The Dartmouth with the element of psychological effect ever in mind. Obtaining news space and worthy heads for these articles demands a thorough knowledge of the mechanism of the daily newspaper and this task is therefore given to some Cabin and Trail man who is also a member of The Dartmouth news board.
The writer was recently told by an editor of a hub paper that Bostonites know more about a Dartmouth carnival than they do about the Harvard-Yale football classic. Here is a state that must be assured each year by means of several approaches. The cooperation of the Dartmouth Press Club is essential and interviews with their members are frequent. The college administration takes an active interest in Outing Club affairs and especially in Carnival and is glad to offer advice in publicity programs. This year some seventy college and city newspapers (other than those covered by the Press Club) were sent a general story of carnival the week before the latter opened. Newspaper writers and photographers must be induced to be guests of the Outing Club for three days and thus broadcast their impression over the wires. However, there is little persuasion needed here; this year, for instance, there were over 20 metropolitan writers and photographers in Hanover including a staff of five with a Pathe Movietone and one of four with a Fox outfit. Some of the leading feature writers are sent yearly to cover what is now becoming New England's greatest midwinter social event. Such well-known men are E. Bigelow Thompson of the Boston Transcript and Fred Hawthorne of the New York Herald-Tribune have been coming to carnivals for the past ten years.
MEETING THE GUESTS
As a fitting welcome to its fair guests the Outing Club sends two Cabin and Trail men down to meet the Carnival Special trains from New York and Boston. The students board the trains at Greenfield and Concord, just when the young ladies are beginning to wonder what is in store for them, and distribute a special edition of The Dartmouth together with carnival programs and other information. During the three active days of Carnival the publicity department operates an information booth where tickets are sold and all kinds of information is disseminated. Placards of carnival events are distributed all over town and a special set is carried by car to all the nearby towns up and down the Connecticut to attract the natives to the skijumping. This year the department even rigged up a "sandwich man" to walk up and down Main Street bearing a graphic announcement of coming events.
The competitors and visiting guests of the Outing Club must be taken care of in one of the dormitories, involving room clerks and other red tape. The photographers must be lead around the campus to snap the fraternity snow-sculpturing exhibits; when notables are in town, meetings have to be arranged; instructions must be drawn up for the Carnival Ball in order that guests may not be bothered too much by the overeagerness of these photographers. Then there are the newspaper men, who demand a schedule of time releases for their stories, and endless information regarding competitors, past results, college history, etc. The final act of the publicity and entertainment department is a farewell banquet to all the competitors and officials at which time the winter-sports tournament medals are awarded.
Outdoor Evening is the biggest outdoor undertaking by far and requires more than anything else the coordination of a large group of workers laboring intensively for several weeks prior to Carnival. This year was presented the most elaborate program ever planned, calling for a snow and ice castle corresponding in size and structure to that of Lord Dartmouth's in England with regular turrets, embattlements, portcullis and moat, for with this as scenery was enacted the musical extravaganza "Fill the Bowl Up." This musical comedy necessitated a great deal more work in the way of costuming, lighting effects, rehearsing, and general organization. Arrangements had to be made to provide suitable music for Dartmouth's first moccasin dance on the ice and a very clever system of lighting was necessary as part of the production.
Of an entirely different nature is the work for Carnival Ball. Here men of more artistic ability are necessary to decorate properly the huge gymnasium floor. This year a small army of heelers turned the room into a gala circus tent within a week with great billboards at the entrance, a brilliantly lighted ferris-wheel at the other end, and two-tone tan side-drops to add to the effect. As a further innovation to this year's informal atmosphere the Ball committee decided to have a gay midway such as is an integral part of every circus. There concessions were let out to students under the supervision of the Outing Club. The midway with its peanuts 'n popcorn, African dodger, nail driving and other games of skill proved a great success. The actual supervision of the ball itself took a good deal of careful planning for ushers, pages, policemen, ticket selling, hostesses, complimentary tickets, etc.
An important minor department of Carnival is that of features. It is this group who build the ice tower on the campus, place the other decorations around campus and take care of the noisy parade to Occom Pond which opens the Outdoor Evening program with a fanfare of cannon, sky-rockets, bombs, and bells.
Probably the most important single position of all the directors is that of finance, usually given to the Outing Club comptroller. This demands acquaintance with practically all that is taking place, an ability to gauge situations quickly and a perseverance for economizing, for the entire program is based on a carefully prepared budget. The finance director frequently calls on the other committeemen for reports on their expenses to make certain that they are working within their budget. It is also one of his duties to arrange with the Boston and Maine for the special train accommodations.
At the head of all these activities is the chairman of Carnival who is responsible for the unity and cooperation between the several departments. On him really depends the success of Carnival; he must keep the directors working together, arouse their interest into a mania for striving toward the finest Carnival of all, and he himself must serve as a veritable treasure-house of suggestions and constructive ideas.
But after all, what impresses me the most is the idea behind all this preparation. Here is a group of several hundred students enthusiastically giving their services freely for the spirit of doing something really fine. The average college prom or houseparty is a money-making proposition; these men work for the joy of creation with no thought of recompense.
