1909
This month there's something new under the sun a guest editor for these here notes and he's not an '09 guy either. He's Rollo George Reynolds '10, from out in San Gabriel, Calif. That piece on Freddie Morawski in the March issue and the reference to Fred's participation in The King of U-Kan set Rollie off, for he was the guy who wrote the opera in conjunction with Walter Golde, then in our class but graduating and affiliating with '10, and another '10 classmate, Charlie Libbey.
Well do I remember the presentation of that opera before the Executive Committee of our senior class, of which I was a member. Rollie dramatized the whole opera, taking parts of the various characters, while Walter Golde did his stuff on the piano. It was a masterful piece of selling, good enough to put over The King of U-Kan as the opera that would be presented at 1909's commencement. O.K. Rollie, take the center of the stage and do your stuff. I'm quoting Rollie from here on.
"Upon reading about Freddie Morawski, I went to my files and pulled out a copy of the musical score and the libretto of The King ofU-Kan. What 'personages' and memories it brought back to me. How well I remember Freddie. The faces of some of the cast I can not reconstruct, but many of them come before my memory's eye as clearly as if the opera were produced yesterday. Perhaps the cast of the principal characters, as listed in Golde's musical score, will bring back pictures of that illustrious group: The Hon. Richard Steele, F. A. Carroll. Miss Dorothy Steele, S. Pishon '10. Percy Travers (in love with Dorothy), W. S. Carlisle '11. Arthur Brewster (Percy's roommate and The Good King Spunk I of U-Kan), R. G. Reynolds '10. Miss Spriggins (Arthur's aunt), W. C. Rogers. Princess Melachrino, A. P. Donovan '11. Omogumbo (Wise Man), A. C. Keough '11. Paul Epictetus, a grind, J. E. Warren '10. Bob Broke, a grafter, J. R. Childs. Tom O'Ra-ra, a sophomore, R. S. Smith '10. Captain of the Faithful in U-Kan, F. W. Grant 'to (?). Legate from the Kingdom of Rum, C. W. Tobin '10. Tony the Pop Corn Man and the OOmugaloa, F. H. Morawski.
"I can see them all now, under the direction of that fat and profane Boston-imported coach, V. C. (Virtuous Christ) Lord. I can almost hear his cursing at the clumsiness of the chorus when, in his B.V.D.'s he struggled to teach them to untangle their feet. I well remember how he cursed Walter Golde's long interlude for which he found it hard to interpret the proper dance steps. And as I read again the libretto written by myself and my roommate, Charles Otis Libbey, I get a great kick out of what we thought was humor.
"I will never forget one morning before the show when I met Harmony Morse on the campus and invited him to come and see the costumes in the basement of Webster Hall. The costumer from Boston and V. C. had agreed to put in the costume trunks a supply of Scotch with which to celebrate after the show. Two bottles were broken in transit, unknown to me, and gave off a strong odor of a first class distillery. The patrician nose of Harmony went up in the air, and he immediately wanted to know 'how come?' In the crisis, old V. C. came to bat and told the good professor that the liquor was for him alone.
"And then the songs. That music of Walter Golde was right good, with titles such as: Don't Spring that Old One on Me; Tony the Pop Corn Man; the Boston Journal Song; Uma and Keola; Nestling in the Rocking Chair: Dartmouth Days; Dear Old Dartmouth. The last two have endured the years and are still in the latest edition of the Dartmouth Song Book.
"Yes, that tribute you paid to Freddie Morawski brought back to me many pleasant memories. The creators of The King of U-Kan are still on this old earth of ours and I keep in touch with Walter Golde and Charlie Libbey. So, Jack, you see how your reminiscences have started memories awakening some 3,000 miles away."
Rollie reports that, since those days, he has kept in touch with the old College, having had two sons who graduated, and for the last three years taking the long ride from California with his wife to attend the annual 1910 Round-ups.
"There is something about the place," says Rollie, "which fixes a bond between the College and its alumni a bond which I think our years there fixed even more firmly than now. After all, the four years we spent there were almost a life separate from the rest of the world no autos to carry us out of town over weekends, and most infrequent trips by other means made it necessary for us to make a world of our own and create our own diversions."
You can say that again, Rollie, and thanks for making a man-sized contribution to these class notes of ours.
An '80er Is Moved to Write
The Morawski tribute also moved Art Rotch '08, the sage of Milford, N. H., to put some words on paper and send them to me. Sez Art:
"The little cuss roomed with Art O'Shea (also '08) and me for most of two years, in the old Phi Gam quarters in Bridgeman Block. Jess Hawley, too, for part of that time, their sophomore year. I can't remember that they paid any part of the room rent, or had any clothes, except the ones they borrowed from us too big for Peanut and too tight for Jess. Gosh, them wuz the happy days.
"Freddy never owed me anything. I spent many nights and ate plenty of meals at 26 Intervale Ave., Dorchester, with his family. His sister Marguerite was my guest at Junior Prom in 1907. With Bob Mower we left Hanover at dawn after the prom in my primitive hossless carriage, and got to Milford soon after dark the same day!
"Yes, Fred was as lovable a character as ever lived. Not a mean molecule in him. Your tribute to him is fine, and deserved."
Pretty soft, eh, having a couple guys from other classes write your column for you? Now, let's see some of you birds soften up on this Alumni Fund deal with some generous contributions to the institution which inspires such rich memories. As you read this, the campaign will be about half over. And say, while we're thinking about it, how's about a little memorial to our departed friend? See you all next month, God willing.
Class Notes Editor, Pioneer Trail, Aurora, Ohio Secretary and Treasurer, Sandwich, Mass. Class Agent, 18 Spirea Dr., Dayton 9, Ohio
