1951

I have thought for a number of years that latterday undergraduates, who now regularly enjoy their "spring" vacation during the second half of March, have missed out on one of the more significant character-building experiences of the "old" Dartmouth, to wit, being cooped up in Hanover during "Schlumpf," that nondescript non-season of thawing days, which sent askew the duckboards of yesteryear (which are no more), and freezing nights. The letdown from the euphoria of Winter Carnival, coupled with a hiatus in athletic contests, drove us up the walls. Our senior year, "spring" vacation did not start until March 31.

For diversion, there was always the Nugget, then resident in Webster Hall. The March 1951 bill of fare included something called Mississippi with W. C. Fields and Bing Crosby. There were two films starring Ronald Reagan: Bedtime for Bonzo with Diana Lynn; and StormWarning with Ginger Rogers and Doris Day. Then there was Bitter Rice, starring a bosomy Silvana Mangano wandering about the rice fields in a scant, tight, and generally wet costume. The evening I was there, I thought the brass balcony rails were going to be ripped out of their sockets.

Halfway around the world, the tables had turned in Korea. Our side crossed the Han River; and Seoul was recaptured, almost without a shot. President Harry Truman sacked General Douglas Mac Arthur, who returned home to a hero's welcome and the Daily D's somewhat less than reverential "Sun God" issue. Needless to say, that paragon of journalistic virtue, The Manchester Union-Leader, took umbrage at this further evidence of un-Americanism perpetrated in that hotbed of New Hampshire subversion, Dartmouth College.

As for the impact of the Korean "incident" on us, President Truman announced a draft deferment plan for students based on grades or performance on a special College Qualification Test. Presidents Conant of Harvard, Dodds of Princeton, and Stassen of Penn denounced the proposal as "undemocratic." Our President Dickey viewed the plan as breeding "irresponsible and dangerous attacks on the whole system of higher education." He was right; college students were denounced as "draft dodgers."

While there may have been few sports events in Hanover during "Schlumpf," there was plenty of sports news. New York City had its college basketball fix scandal. On a more ethical note, captain Cliff Harrison was named the Ivy League's outstanding hockey player; and Eddie Jeremiah was named American College Hockey Coach of the Year.

Practice was beginning for spring sports; and our captains were "Bo" Fiertz, lacrosse; JoeWelch, tennis; and Dave Krivitsky, track. Thanks to Jack Skewes' efforts, Dartmouth's first rugby team wheedled an invitation to compete on the collegiate Easter vacation circuit in Bermuda.

In the Interfraternity Play Contest, which Warren Pfaff directed, Phi Kappa Psi's Eeyore's Birthday Party, an adaptation of A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh, came in second; JeffO'Connell shared the best actor award; and DonGold write the best original play, Pi Lamb's TheGirl from Vienna. The Experimental Theater gave Dartmouth's first theatre-in-the round production; the play was Moliere's The Doctorin Spite of Himself

The third "Little Green Weekend" for freshmen and dates was held in mid-March. For the occasion, the Green Lantern offered Sunday dinner at $1.50. For those who stayed in Hanover, Easter Sunday dinner at the D.O.C. House was $2.50.

White bucks, de rigeur in our era, were adver- tised by various merchants from $10.95 to $16.95. Campions' offered Haspel cord suits at $20.75; Palm Beach suits at $29.95. The Coop advertised Hart, Schaffner & Marx suits for $60 and $65.

Travelwise, if you wanted to go home for spring vacation via Albany, there was a special vacation bus at $4.77 (tax included) for a four-hour ride. As for summer in Europe, University Travel Co. of Cambridge, Mass. offered "Round Trip via Steamship $280 up . . ."

Distribution of Jacko's parody issue of the Saturday Review, which merged Budd Schulberg '36 and F. Scott Fitzgerald into "F. Scott Fitzschulberg," was enjoined from distributing in New York City in a suit filed by the Review. John Boardman and Mike Choukas ran a quiz (I presume as sociology majors) on "46 time-honored misconceptions and four true statements" and conclusively proved women more gullible than men!

To the present: New York Life has named John Smith regional vice president of its East Central Region. John started with the company as an agent in 1954. After serving as an assistant manager and a regional manager of sales development, he was named a general manager in 1962 and assigned to the Austin, Texas, office. John was appointed regional superintendent of training in 1967 and resumed his role as a general manager at the Shaker Heights, Ohio, office the following year. He came to New York headquarters as superintendent of agencies in 1973.

Bob Capps is a senior manufacturing engineer, concerned with developing new products, with Kodak in Rochester, N.Y. He and wife Lo have two children: David, 16, and Deborah, 12. Bob spent four years in the Air Force during the Korean War and then com- pleted his undergraduate work at Syracuse in 1957, earning B.A. and B.S.E.E. degrees. Before joining Kodak, he worked as a field engineer for IT&T and a sales engineer with Hewlett-Packard and Xerox.

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