University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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Bei ' ng piped aboard. .FOLLOWING QUICKLY on the heels of the Junior Prom is the crowning event of Notre Dame ' s social calendar, the much hailed Senior Ball. Early Friday, they began to drift onto a rain-swept campus, the dates of the Senior Class. There is an old saying that is much disputed by the editors that maintains that at the Junior Prom we catch a glimpse of some mighty beautiful girls, but at the Senior Ball, then we see the ladies. In any event and despite the weather, dauntless hundreds of these ladies flocked to Notre Dame to help seniors celebrate their last major social event of four years. Dillon Hall had a spartan order about it; Sorin re- tuned their piano, and those seniors in Walsh became suddenly disdainful of those kids the juniors. At 10 p. m. they escorted the lovelies aboard the Knute Rockne for a heady four hour Moonlight Cruise that included an azure sky of crepe paper, a thick corded ship ' s railing, a receiving line of future middies and some sweet, slow music by Johnny Long and orchestra. At moments the Rockne Roof was chilly enough to drive all sea-lovers into the confines of the gym, but the lure of the deck and the wash of the golf course, plus some deck chairs for the footsore kept many a senior and his date out in the elements of the deck. At 2 a. m., the house lights dimmed, and seniors and dates took off for heady half-hour whirl, then back to

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Freshman Dance .TOR A FEW BRIEF but memorable hours in the beginning of May, the Freshman class turned the Rockne Memorial into a Star- light Terrace. The transformation was com- plete as the couples danced to the romantic style of Russ Carlyle and his orchestra and chorus. All together, the decorations, the re- freshments, and the music contributed to one of the finest dances that the first year class has put on at school for quite a while. Most of the credit for this achievement must go to the dance co-chairmen, Ed White and George Welsh. Their respective queens were Miss Molly aim Brezette and Miss Joyce McNamara. The evening ' s festivities were highlighted by the crowning of the queens. The dance lasted from nine to one and the usual permissions were granted. The next day, the dance-goers had the oppor- tunity to atten d a special intra-squad game which was played by the football team on ( artier Field. The same evening, the Student Council put on another of its series of dances in the Palais Royale. On Sunday the freshmen and their dates attended the nine o ' clock Mass in Sacred Heart Church in which a special section was reserved for those who had gone to the dance. Thus an especially enjoyable weekend drew to its close. The two lovely queens and the co-chairmen of the dance. The queen again and some of the other lovelies. They looked especially happy for the photographer.

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A telescopic view of senior dancers. the halls by 3 a. m. The whole affair was gala, memor- able and much too quick for the disposition of the senior who would have liked for the evening to travel on and on. Saturday morning, after a few classes that many missed, came the proverbial campus tour, the Grotto, Sacred Heart Church, the labyrinthine ways of the Main Building and a jaunt down for a glimpse of the lakes. The caf buzzed with activity, underclassmen sat in groups, a green envy plain on unshaven faces, while seniors played the gallant. At 2:30 p. m. was the well known Old Timers game attended by seniors and dates plus some 25,000 less important people, and Williams and Groom and cohorts displayed some swift football. Saturday evening, Gene Hull and his band did the honors at the Palais Roy ale in the annual splurge of the Lettermen, who played hosts to the Senior Class, in a less flamboyant, but none the less pleasant dance. Sunday morning, at nine o ' clock Mass, the usual drab suits of the Notre Dame men were brightly dotted with the spring clothes of their dates, and following the Mass, Rev. Theodore Hesburgh, C.S.C. spoke at a Communion Breakfast in the Oliver Hotel. As the seniors watched them depart, the gay girls, in the gay clothes, and the end of a gay weekend, they turned resolutely around and facing term examinations, said, nevertheless, It was worth it. The conversation ' s entrancin ' .