Twenty-Five Cents!
ANOTHER MONTH, the very least attractive season of the College year, has passed since the last lines of news and views appeared under the jovial portrait of our own Dr. Wheelock. Village and town officers have made steady progress through the years in combatting the mud season under foot, with more paved roads, but they aren't able to lighten the leaden skies or do anything at all to encourage the early appearance of green grass or dry ground in these New Hampshire hills.
It may be the "March madness" that brought forth a storm of protest over the Nugget's thirty-five cent admission charge. This has been the admission price to the movies ever since talkies replaced the silent programs (twenty-five cents). In March the small and worn "theater," if it can be dignified by such a name, becomes God's gift to Dartmouth College. The admission fee has been the point of student attack in other years but never has the battle waxed so hot and fierce as it has this past month. It is doubful if the student body could successfully inflict upon itself a boycott of the movies in March, of all months. Yet the feeling was so strong that a boycott was imminent at one time. "Nugget vs. Dart. Coll. Students, 1935" is a case well worth the attention of those who are interested in the things that vitally affect the daily life of a community of 2400 college students.
THE WHOLE TURMOIL, which has appeared less virulently in other years, was started by a "Vox Populi" in TheDartmouth written by an undergraduate who signed the letter with the initials W. A. P. This is only partial anonymity since the writer's identity can be ferreted out easily by consulting a College Directory. When the "vox pops" continued to appear signed "W. A. P." curiosity regarding the director of the anti-Nugget drive became more general and he was revealed to be William A. Parenteau '37 of Flushing, N. Y. To the bitter end, however, his letters to the editor have been signed by his initials which are as well known in Hanover now as E. M. H., E. G. 8., and C. L.
Along with the early demand for a twenty-five cent admission charge, instead of the present thirty-five, W. A. P. asked for a public display of the accounts of the Hanover Improvement Society (which rapidly became known as the H. I. S.). But this is a private corporation, organized for the general purposes of improving the community of Hanover. Its officers and directors serve without pay. The personnel of the directors—Messrs. Edgerton, Norton, Hunter, Lewin, and Storrs removes the Society's secret financial affairs from any taint of profiteering for personal gain. Yet the student body craved to know what the profits are per annum. Rumors of H. I. S. wealth are always in circulation and boys in college have little appreciation for the community benefits for which the movies have paid. For years the H. I. S. has built sidewalks, trimmed trees, paid for fire apparatus. This last year it carried on the new artificial pond project when federal funds gave out. Additional and heavy expenses must be met to put this recreational center through to completion this summer.
To observers outside the furore it seemed evident, early in the battle, that the student body should have long since been brought in on H. I. S. affairs. If admission to the Nugget is a form of local taxation and if undergraduates bear the brunt of this taxation, as they do, then there should be some sort of representation, or equivalent satisfaction, provided to them. The deaf ear which the H. I. S. turned to the appeals of "W. A. P." and others did not lessen the demands of an aroused study body, sharpened by March mischief and the feeling that somebody is trying to "put something over on them." Eventually there was a conference of the interested parties. The books are still closed, as is the right of any private corporation; admission is still thirty-five cents; there has been no solution of the problem, only postponement until another evil day.
THOSE VISITING Hanover for the first time, and some who come back infrequently, are amused at the roars that greet Leo, the M. G. M. lion. The local population accepts this and other minor noises as part of the Nugget ritual. But amusement ceases when a very small minority spoils a good talkie for everyone else present and, when lack of proper ventilation seems at times to be a menace to health. There are no statistics available on the number of undergraduates who rely upon the Nugget for their chief source of entertainment, but the number must be large.
Last month we pointed to the need of a great social center as one of the most pressing that faces the College. Having in mind the tremendous handicaps under which the Dartmouth Players work in producing and staging their fine programs, and the inadequacy of the Nugget, a new theater is another most important gap to be filled.
