Fillip

Homecoming festivities included an added fillip this year. At 4:48 a.m. on the morning after Dartmouth Night, alumni and friends foregathered outside the Hanover Inn. The gathering was colorful but subdued, and, according to eyewitnesses, the dress code was lax. "They looked like anyone who gets up at 4:30 in the morning," said Hanover Fire Chief Stewart Corpieri, whose company responded to the alarm which turned the hotel chock full of the most elderly and distinguished of alumni inside out.

Chief Corpieri brought along four fire engines and an aerial ladder, and his firefighters searched the building until they discovered that the alarm had been pulled. They reset it, and its silence confirmed that not so much as an 80-candle birthday cake was at that wee hour burning in the Hanover Inn. Maliciousness, said Chief Corpieri, and no suspects yet available.

Meanwhile, back on the sidewalk, cameraderie was reported to have been sluggish. With no flames licking up the walls, some evacuees had trouble deciding just where they were and what was happening. Those still reeling from the night's festivities were particularly confused. Some older alumni began to wander off through the halls, awakened perhaps from a dream in which they were late to class. People watched the fire crew go about its business, staring somewhat blankly at the bright red trucks. The trustees, Merrow confirmed, opted against an impromptu meeting. As far as Merrow or Corpieri could tell, no unexpected pairings raised either eyebrow or ire.

The event was enlivened, however, by an unusual display of coiture and coiffure. Lacking time to primp, the guests had emerged from the elegant rooms in a stunning variety of terry robes, down jackets, slippers, bright silk pajamas, old t-shirts, and combinations thereof. Many chose the understated dignity of bathrobes provided free to Inn guests upon arrival. Hair styles were on the wild side. One alumnus, Merrow recalled, elected even simpler attire and came running down the stairs in his skivvies, followed closely by a wife yelling, "For God's sake, put on some clothes!" It was, after all, a cold night.

There have been three false alarms at the Inn since July 1. Given the Inn's delicate and historical structure, the fire department responds automatically with four engines and an aerial ladder. Four more engines are kept on standby alert. One member of the class of 1976 who was among the evacuees voiced concern over the inability of what he termed "the senior members of the Dartmouth family" to evacuate at more than a putting-green pace. But had there really been a fire, Corpieri said, the recent installation of heat detectors in every room, smoke detectors in every hallway, and of a new stairway in the east wing would have given all graduates plenty of time to get out safely.

Some of the guests stayed out and chatted after the engines left. Most, however, went back to bed, reserving their discussions until breakfast, by then just forty winks away anyway.

President and Mrs. McLaughlin escorted MylesLane '28 (center) to the pep rally for the Harvard game. The former All-American hockeyand football hero was grand marshal of theDartmouth Night parade before the rally.