LETTERS
Alumni Fund Angle
To THE EDITOR:
Of the colleges that conduct yearly Alumni Fund campaigns, Princeton is Dartmouth's closest competition when it comes to alumni participation.
In dollars raised, Princeton has had no trouble beating Dartmouth by $100,000 or so. In my class, which is 1909, we have to sweat to raise around $6,000, and then we'd be short of our dollar quota by some $1,500. Princeton 1909 seems to have no trouble to raise $20,000. In numbers, the two classes are about the same.
Dartmouth solicitation, by and large, is organized by classes, the head class agents and their assistants putting the bee on their classmates. This may be true at Princeton, too, but I do know that in the town of Summit, New Jersey, which has about 145 Princeton grads within its confines, fund participation is made a matter of local pride. In the fall of last year engraved invitations were sent out to all Princeton men in the area. Five of the alumni, ranging in classes from '07 to '42, "request the honour of your presence at a Stag Cocktail Party, in celebration of the sixth consecutiveyear of Summit's 100 per cent participation in Princeton Annual Giving."
The thought comes to mind that this may be an angle that Dartmouth is overlooking. On the other hand, Dartmouth may have angles that Princeton is overlooking. By exchanging ideas, we both win.
Aurora, Ohio
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dartmouth and Princeton do keep in close and friendly touch concerning each other's fund-raising methods. The Dartmouth Alumni Fund Committee has for some time studied the regional approach to annual giving and has experimented with it in some cities, but the traditional class basis for conducting the Alumni Fund continues in Dartmouth's case to be the most effective.
Who and When?
To THE EDITOR:
The story about the untimely passing of Spike Hamilton '23 says that he organized the first Dartmouth recording dance orchestra, the Barbary Coast. It may be that "recording" is the key word. If not, I am of the opinion that the statement is erroneous and I am curious as to the origination of the Coast.
Unless I am mistaken, it originated largely with Vince Breglio and Sal Andretta, both '20s; and others in 1920, like Paul Sample and Jimmy Parks, were regular members. I would say the date was 1919, and it could even have been as early as 1917 when the orchestra got under way.
Philadelphia, Pa.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Hanover records are not very helpful. Vincent Breglio '20 did organize a Dartmouth jazz band, mentioned as playing at the 1919 Winter Carnival. A Barbary Coast Five is listed as a Mandolin Club specialty in the Aegis published in 1921, and although an orchestra of that name was evidently a going concern by 1926, the actual year of its founding is not recorded. Maybe one of our readers can settle this.
