1927

The Green Peach was tie name of the extravaganza musical in two acts put on by The Dartmouth Players in Webster Hall during Winter Carnival, February 7, 1927. Your scribe was in the pit, playing his trumpet as a member of the orchestra. What follows is a tribute, in absentia, to the cowriter of the show and my three-year roommate and fraternity brother, one Neal R.(Nibs) Dowe, well-known in Hanover for his outstanding musical talents as a composer, pianist, drummer, and xylophonist.

The glamour of The Green Peach is as vivid in my eyes and ears as though it occurred yesterday, and if I could sing, I could recall all of the notes, tones, and words of it. The opening number was entided "Sex Appeal" and here is how it went: Whenever I walk down the street, the girls all turn around. I guess it's sex appeal, that's all. And when I go to dances and wander up the hall, The girls all leave their partners and I break up the ball What makes me so attractive to the women, The girls for me their love cannot conceal. There's but this very simple explanation, I'm saturated with sex appeal.

But the main thrust of this tribute is not The Green Peach but my memories of Nib's connection with the Nugget, that place in the alley, next to the Big Eats Cafe and to the left of Casque and Gauntlet, where we saw movies. I can remember standing in line for half an hour after supper, waiting for a chance to buy peanuts and popcorn, and when finally admitted searching for a hard chair on the sloping cement floor of the theater. This was before the days of both sound and color movies, and there was Nibs seated at the upright piano in front of the stage and screen, dodging peanuts and popcorn and accompanied by ample vocal assistance from the audience. He improvised on the piano whatever mood music slow, fast, or dreamy that came into his mind, to befit what was being shown on the screen above him. Nibs's distinguishing mark was the rhythmical and persistent movement of his left hand over the low bass keys, and if you sat in the front row, you could see the heel of his left foot being raised or lowered to keep time with the music. Those were the days, as anyone who was at Dartmouth in the twenties will attest. For these memories, "Thank you, Nibs."

To end on a less happy note, the class is saddened to hear of the following deaths: AllanDavid Gould in April 1989, BruceMcKennan on October 31, 1990, Dimon W. Benson onNovember 22, and Justin JosephDoyle on December 14.

B.Paddock, 11 Rolling Lane, Wayland, MA 01778