1948

In the College notices of the Friday, May 28, 1948, issue of The Dartmouth was a caption reading, "'48 BEER-BUST today at 5 p.m. Chase Field. $.50 for all the beer you want." Remember? Did you go? I'm surprised the College sponsored this event and wonder who was behind it. President Dickey? Dean Neidlinger? Chick Camp? Al Foley? (After all, the wondrous humorist entertained us in the gym when we first arrived in '44.) Who?

Lloyd Krumm phoned to say he remembers the aforementioned outdoor party, went with roommate, Gordie"Bud" Robertson, saw John Conlin there, but cannot recall other details except that the Chase location was on the soccer field level somewhat east of the east entrance of today's Thompson Arena (near where Stan Alger used to play goalie for Bill Ivins and Howie Westney back in '44). Unfortunately, Bud remembers nothing while John vaguely recalls it without being able to identify others there. This was just prior to '48 graduation, so perhaps many of us partook of Eleazar's largesse as one last chance to get together before facing the outside world. The event was '48 history. Please write or phone if you recall anything. Try me at (713) 783-6284, please!

Gordie today lives at Leland in upper Michigan (not the Upper Peninsula), well retired after a lifetime in manufacturing with Ford Motor Co. He still enjoys his memories of Hanover as though they originated yesterday. John Conlin today speaks from Anandale, a Virginia suburb of Washington, where he and Janice have lived ever since he became an attorney out of Georgetown and went to work for the F.C.C. John well recalls his association with Bud and Bob Munson, and sends his regards to them.

Jim Sheaffer remembers very well that 1948 issue of The Dartmouth because it referred to the "only" issue of The Jack-O-Lantern that academic year. Jim says that note was in line with rivalry between the two on-campus publications. In fact, the Jacko actually put out seven issues that year containing good humor which many people such as Bob Jeavons, GeorgeMichalek, Pete Smith, and Jim worked long hours to produce.

Jim cites wars between Ivy publications, such as when, just prior to the 1946 Harvard game in Hanover, the Harvard Lampoon distributed a fake issue of the Daily D on campus with the headline, "Seven Dartmouth Starters Stricken with Ptomaine—Able Bodied Students Asked to Report to the Gym." Many students actually did report in the heroic effort to help Coach Tuss McLaughry put 11 on the field to face the Crimson. (We lost even though the story was a hoax.)

Jim also recalls sitting around with others to find captions for the famous Two Dogs cartoon. A new caption each issue was tough to come by, but he now remembers, even these many years later, those who wrote, "He says he got it from a lamp post" and "He just got a litter from home," plus "No one's going to get the jump on me this year!" Jim says, "Your Brown quote brought back a ton of memories of a campus that, maybe like today's, needed a little less pomposity." Thanks, Jim.

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