1929*
The best class news of the summer is that the Class made headline news: its Alumni Fund record was magnificent; we exceeded our quota (106%) and increased our largest previous gift by $800—through the generous contributions of 82% of the Class— 35 more contributors than ever before. Good enough to cause that old campaigner, Van Jamieson to lead off with "This is less a report than a celebration." So we hope Van and Mo Heath and the rest of the committee take the Class's congratulations and thanks to heart, and, without waiting for their rewards in heaven, stage a celebration, each to his own fancy. They did a job for the Class and the Class did a job for them. En Avant.
Another very excellent piece of business concerns Charlie Gaynor, that old maestro who used to sit under the screen at the Nugget and provide the musical accompaniment in the days when Well, Charlie's up to his old tricks again: producing one-man musical hits. Shades of Double Trouble. This one is Lend an Ear, a revue with sketches, music and lyrics, all by C. G., presented for the first time by the South Shore Players (Cohasset, Mass.) starring Sheila Barrett. And Charlie is at the piano from beginning to end. The critics referred to him as the "talented young New York composer-author-lyricist .... having a sure hand with a popular tune and an even surer hand with a lyric ... .who won't remain unrecognized (by Broadway) much longer!" As for the show, which Charlie put together from odds and ends of previous shows in which he's had a hand in recent years, they called it definitely superior stuff, on a high entertainment level, deserving professional attention. Well, Chris Born, Dick Johnson, Gus Herbert and I thought it was even better than that, and when Charlie pounded out "I Gotta Have Rough Stuff," originally the Carnival Show number which rode Joe D'Esopo to fame, it practically required physical restraint to keep Johnson from dashing on to the stage to join in the second chorus.
Before we leave Heath (for the month) it had better be recorded that, under the influence of the bucolic, or something, he has issued a challenge to any dirt farmer reading the column. "While I ain't a hothouse flower fancier like that Dud Orr, I've got a little place in the country where we grow corn, and I'd like to run a competition along that line. Say a small wager of a heifer calf or three bushels of spuds, that on the 90th day from planting time I'd have bigger ears and more of 'em, with sweeter kernels of golden cross bantam corn than any other dirt farmer in the class. Planting in hills or rows optional and any type of fertilizer permitted. We'll make Vice President Wallace the umpire."
Turning from the ridiculous to the sublime, the summer's best crop:
Nancy Maynard, born last May. (Father Thomas LaSalle was ever careless of detail.)
Richard Perley Perkins, born June 28, to Cy and Dorothy Perkins, now of Spring- field, Mass.
Priscilla Jordan White, July 4th, whose father, Brooks Carter White, is one of Holyoke's leading young bankers.
Richard W. Brown Jr. (8 lbs. 1 oz.) born August 3, in Detroit, at seven minutes past four in the dawning, "an ordeal his father barely survived."
William McKenzie Andres (7 lbs. JO OZ.) born August 7, in Boston.
Did somebody say anything about cele- brating?
Another vital event was the marriage of John Bogar to Mary Elizabeth Estep of Harrisburg, Pa., on August 23rd. John has been very active in alumni affairs, having been secretary of the Dartmouth Club of Central Pennsylvania.
As reported in the July ALUMNI MAGAZINE we have fourteen men in active service. A few of them have recently written long interesting accounts of their experiences and reactions. However the limitations of space won't allow more than brief summaries of their reports:
Ed McGibbon, Lieut, (j.g.) U.S.N.R., called to active duty several months ago, is stationed at the Headquarters of the 9th Naval District, Great Lakes, Illinois, "a pleasanter place to work than Chicago's Loop, but I dread the day when I'll have to try and gather together some clients and start all over to build up a law practice. In the meantime, however, it is a very pleasant and fascinating life, and I heartily recommend the Navy. On August 29th, I am being married to Catherine Klink of Evanston, Illinois, which is far and away the biggest news I can pass along."
Yike Burgess, Lt. U. S. Marines, Depot of Supplies, Philadelphia, is assistant to the Production Officer, in charge of the night shift; "essentially this is the manufacturing and distribution activity of the Corps, turning out uniforms of all types and equipment such as tents, leggings, mess gear, and the million and one things re- quired to equip the men. Not glamorous or exciting but essential." This came about because Yike's hobby these past ten years has been reserve military work; three in the National Guard, seven in the Marine Corps Reserve. They pulled him into ac- tive duty last October, the assignment, for- tunately not requiring him to uproot his family of wife and two sons. He concludes "The ten years were all well and happily spent and I have no complaints about my present situation or whatever future duty may come my way."
Bernie Berman, Ist Lt. Medical Corps, Camp Edwards, Mass., graduated from Tufts Medical in 1934, built up a fine practice in Waterbury, Conn., his home town; took a Commission in the Army Medical Reserve Corps; April, 1939, married Glicka Ruth Taylor, of Hartford. Called into active service he is now Adjutant and Detachment Commander of the 7th Station Hospital, a very complete 250 bed stationary hospital that gets around. His job is to take some raw men, a few empty buildings, some trucks, and an assortment of equipment and make an Army hospital out of it. At the same time he manages to keep his hand in professionally to some extent through extra duty with the big station hospital. His outfit is part of the Division which has been trained for the taking of strategic points; took part in the recent maneuvers at Onslow Beach, N. C., in which the Army, Navy and Marines combined for the first time; live and work practically, out of trunks, subject to immediate call; have uniforms for every climate, have been immunized for every disease in the book. On morale: "The Army has done a swell job up to a certain point which ends with basic training To my way of thinking the trouble rests with civilian inertia, the inertia of the country as a whole. The morale of the Army is nothing but a reflection of the morale of the whole country, a mirror image of the self-interested, smug, reactionary civil population, people whose only determination is to carry on business as usual, who believe it makes no difference who wins the war. Everyone should visit the Army camp nearest his home, talk to the men and learn something about what is going on."
In addition to the fourteen men listed in the July issue there are Johnny Ball, Lt., an Air Corps pilot, stationed with the 3rd Air Force, Tampa, Florida; and George Page, with the 101st A.A. Battalion, Head- quarters Co., Ft. Benning, Ga.
Ed Abbott is a special agent of the F.B.I., stationed at Houston, Texas.
Carl Norden is at the U. S. Consulate, Paramaribo, Surinam, Dutch Guiana.
Joe O'Leary received his master's degree in Business Administration from Boston University last June, is now a roving accountant for the Auditing Department of American Hotels Corporation, is presently on a job in Spring Hill, West Va.
Ben Leavitt is getting closer to home. He is now teaching physics, chemistry and biology at Trinity School, New York City.
Steve Balkam is with Sears Roebuck, Chicago.
Jack Meany is with Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation, working out of the Chicago office, covering Ft. Wayne to Salt Lake City.
Pete Lundgren, wife and baby girl have moved from Maywood, N. J., this summer to Los Angeles where Pete will continue to operate as an assistant film buyer for Fox West Coast Theatres, which runs a chain o£ 400 movie houses throughout the far North and Middle West-90% double features, and Pete sees nearly every movie they buy. And he says they pay him too.
For the first time since the spring of 1930 I missed getting back to Hanover for the Secretaries meeting, a real disappoint- ment, and now I wonder why the work I stayed to do that week-end seemed so important at the moment. But Mo Heath, Bill Henretta, Beedie Brisbin, Dick Brown and Bill Keyes formed a goodly representation to test the advantages of the post- commencement reunion, which they did with highly favorable results.
But this is another class year. It will perhaps be a busier year for all of us than we have ever had. That circumstance, with your help, should make this column of class notes so much the better. And with the Group Subscription Plan in effect again, as in the past few years, it is our devout and hopeful wish that the column, the Plan and the MAGAZINE itself will continue to enlist the strong support which the Class gave them last year.
Secretary, 75 Federal St., Boston, Mass. Treasurer, 14 Wall St., New York, N. Y.
