Belmont High School - Blueprint Yearbook (Belmont, MA)

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of our finest members. It was also during this year that we acquired the “papa” of the Form, Eddie Pride, who descended from above hand in hand with Moose Coffin. But everything else that happened this year was overshadowed by “the great purge,” which made away with the Moose and four upper formers. The next fall witnessed the change of our members from boys to men, making serious pursuit of studies, athletics, and women. Bob Blacklow was outstanding in the academic pursuits, and Jim Gill and Fran Scanlan each acquired two varsity letters. The high point of the year was in the category of the third pursuit when Truman Casner was interrupted by Spike Downes in Room 12 during the intermission of the fall dance. An addition of heterogeneous members helped to bolster the Form: sharp-witted VVhitey Hamilton; Dave Ware, the Lunenburg Flash; Dave “Bull” Pern’; Boston society’s contribution, Tony Cabot; Silent Ted Davis; Ben Draper, Belmont Hill’s A1 Capp; Jumping Joe Lussier; Tennesseee Walsh; and Burt Faulkner, the Great Smoke. We inherited a unique character from the form above in the person of Wentworth Huntington Barnes. This Thespian merited an Oscar not only for his performances in the School plays but also in every other phase of School activities. The year ended on a good note as several of our classmates were awarded scholastic and activities prizes. (See succeeding pages for this brilliant record.) Murray Kidder and Don McDavitt departed into relative oblivion after this year, but Woofie Klemperer went on to fame at Belmont High School where he was voted by bis classmates “most eccentric.” The next year, another big incoming crop brought with it such characters as Biff Baker, Larry Alphen, Taciturn Tony Porter, Buddha Staples, Well Now Bob Studley, Dave Turley, and Bob Ward. Mr. Koslowski’s Fourth Form history course was featured by long winded filibusters which no one dared to internipt. Besides this five day terror, we were also introduced (or rather subjected) to the mathematical genius of Pythagoras Maxwell. In case the name of Biff Baker doesn’t ring a bell with you, the authors after extensive research have discovered that he was with us for a mere two weeks. According to advance publicity he was a tremendous athlete, but during his short stay he fooled us completely. This year did, however, find our Form making great contributions to varsity athletics. Four of us, Gill, Casner, Little, and Turley, won football letters; and numerous letters were earned by our classmates in other sports as well. In extracurricular activities of another sort, Tom Metzger did a fine job in the lead of the annual School play. After the summer vacation we came back as Fifth Formers, except for Grozier. Perry, and Gorgeous George Devine, who by this time had become so attached to the School that they preferred to stay back rather than graduate in two years. Pete Briggs and Whitev Hamilton had left for Kimball Union and, they hoped, Dartmouth. They were wrong. Kit Rice quietly departed for Concord High School, while Dave Ware and Larry Alphen were gone and not to be heard from again. But there were many strange faces in our midst who deserve description at some length. Omar Liscano was another two week wonder who didn’t stay long enough even to learn the language. His sudden departure was explained by some as due to his preference for certain South American customs. Alvin “This is disgraceful Sussman, better known as “Uzzie,” took a sabbatical from Belmont High School. “Jolly Jack Fisher often found this good-natured visitor listening to his history lectures from behind locked windows on

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Alie SlA Aonn Alls tor V The following is a historical document recording the footprints which our illustrious members, past and present, have made on the sands of time. Accuracy in this work has been subordinated to jocosity wherever possible. September 14, 1943, found eight youthful adventurers surveying the horrendous road before them. The challenge to elude the Mole’s ever hovering grasp proved more time consuming than any intellectual endeavors. The record of these first dark days remains obscure, since only one of the primordial eight survived. Composing this awed octet were Beggs, John Bickford, A1 Eaton, Pete Elliot, Murray Kidder, Woofie Klemperer, Frank Swan, and Tru Casner, the aforementioned survivor. Beggs and Swan felt that their endeavors could be more fruitful elsewhere, and so at the end of Class B two fruits departed. To fill the ranks, Bill Porter, Tim Sturtevant, Howie Ulfelder, and Jim Cill were signed from the surrounding communities. E. Bailey Frye and George Devine, seeing the obvious potentialities of our still embryonic class, immediately withdrew from the class of 1950 to join us. Howie Ulfelder started his long career of truancy by appearing a week after School opened. The strange disappearance of several of our members was finally explained bv the revelation of the Madame Wong tortures administered by Moose Coffin, alias Madame Wong. It was not uncommon to find several classmates serving as targets of the society’s knife throwing. The next year, Mole Densmore transacted one of the biggest bargains since the Manhattan purchase as we exchanged Tim Sturtevant for fourteen new members: Scrapper Boland, Bob Blacklow, Bob Copeland, Vito Da Prato, Charlie Donovan, John Grozier, Bucky Johnson, Don “Babbit Ears” McDavitt, Dick Kluckholn, Tom Metzger, Brendie Sullivan, Bill Todd, and George Vrotsos. Bob Watson had spent a lonesome year without George Devine and so dropped back to join us. This year was featured by a mass exodus over the hill to the new clubhouse. And Longball Charlie Carrol, a new faculty member, set an all time high of 1,391 hours of detentions. Charlie’s study halls were punctuated by exploding caps, ball games, card games, and other forms of scholarly work. Perhaps our most interesting newcomer was our little bambino from the Continent, Vito. His limited vocabulary included “shuddup and “no.” Vito, once found with his foot hanging through the roof of the old Lower School building, quickly replied “No! when the Mole asked him if he had done it. The big jump from Class D to the Upper School was too much for Vito, George Vrotsos, John Boland, Charlie Donovan, and Brendan Sullivan. Pete Elliot departed our midst; but Pete Briggs, Kit Rice, Dick Saitow, Tom Nickerson, Garr Cranney, Will Little, and Harv Smith swelled the Form total. The last three of these stayed with the Form to the end. The Thin Man and II Duce were effervescent from the beginning, but it was not until the Sixth Form that Harv showed his true colors as one

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the roof of Room 8. His excellency, John Gerard Govan, started his two year term as governor of our Form. John arrived continually late at parties with several mysterious looking companions, and it would not lx long before he was gone. This soft spoken lad had a way with the ladies. Belmont High School’s last donation to us was Bagle Stan Nowak, whose activities after 2:30 in the afternoon were extremely questionable. Stan has been tabbed as the Form’s big game hunter because of the many beasts he has brought back alive. Don Walters came to us from Choate and quickly established a name for himself as athlete and as Valentine of the class. Our representative from Maine, Pete Welles, joined us at midyears. Another strange but not unfamiliar face wandered into our midst as a scholastic catastrophe overtook Andy Sigourney. Andy, better known as the “Big Red Scare,” is Nowak’s only rival with regard to women. Another import from the form above was Ted Tillotson, who has a motorcycle route lx‘tween Clifton Street and Stone Road. By this year we were taking important parts in varsity sports and other extracurricular activities. Ted Davis had the lead in the Dramatic Club’s production of The Hasty Heart, while Will Little was presented the Karen Ix?e Burroughs Prize for outstanding contribution to music in the School. Spring witnessed the renovation of the Sextant under the editorship of Tony Porter. A disciplinary committee was organized by our class to curtail irresponsible breakage and other infractions around the School. The records and the general attitude point to the success of this committee’s efforts. We were sorry to hear at the end of the year that Mr. Loomis was leaving Belmont Hill, where he had first been a student and then teacher for several years, to study for a doctorate in history. His work above the call of duty and also below the gym in the lowest depths of Cole’s Hole merits our highest praise, and we wish him success in the future. As we finished our penultimate year, Tom Metzger, who had been with us since Class D, left to go to the University of Chicago. As the man said, nice work if you can get it. We were sincerely sorrv that Tom wasn’t J going to graduate with 11s. Socially the year was rather quiet for us since we were gathering strength for the Sixth Form year. In June we went our separate ways, reading lists in hand, anticipating the joys of our graduating year. After eight years of the selective process above described, we now had the perfect group for the home stretch. Leading the combination as president for the third year was “Spider” Scanlan. Assisting him with the duties of the Student Council were Truman Casner, Will Little, and Garr Cranney. Will Little was president of the Glee Club, while Ted Davis headed the Dramatic Club. Offsetting the losses of Uzzie A1 Sussman to the High School and Tom Nickerson to the Fifth Form were the acquisitions of Lank Dwyer, Blind Mike Patterson, and Pete Wilson, who staved around to run the canteen. J Patterson and Dwyer proved to lx; notable on our basketball and baseball teams. Uzzie A1 fell into complete obscurity at the High School until Smoky Burt Faulkner ran into our old friend. It was unfortunate that they were in cars at the time of this casual meeting because it cost Smoky fifty dollars to get his fenders straightened. Organizations with rather dubious intentions were introduced by Tiger Stan Nowak, Pure Jim Gill, and Rebel Barnes. The first of these worthy organizations was the Mole Patrol, headed by the High Potentate. The