Birmingham Southern College - Southern Accent Yearbook (Birmingham, AL)

Page 33 text:

OL I, eaim Came September and a flock of eager amateur stagehands. But there was plenty for all of them to do — flats to be built and stretched and glued, the curtain to be hung and hemmed, mazes of wire to be put into the frame which Tommy and Mr. Ab had built from the soap boxes and which was to become Bet- sey, portable (so Tommy maintains) switchbox and pride of the Theatre. Technician Rt an Take it like this, Dunn, says Mr. Ab while Marjorie Jean Be is look on. . . . Rebecca Gray and Jennie Webb do flat work. . . . Alva Wade and C. M. Dend) ' rehearse tagc Door. . . . Rest hour at the Footlights Club. . . . And that ' s hew I became a movie star ... Tense moments in Stage Door. . . . Stage hands at work . . .

Page 32 text:

ke olleQe f Starting with a bare cubbyhole in the back of the Student Activities Building, two soap boxes, and a cat- alog listing of a course in Theory and Practice of Acting, Mr. Aber- nethy — who quickly became Chief Ab — and Tommy Ryan spent the summer in putting in a pin rail, building a traveler, and dreaming of Thespian accomplishments. ' Chief Ab Yiind Lady, a melodrama without screams, was the first major problem attacked by the College Theatre. Having glued the flats and hemmed the curtain, Rebecca Gray and Jennie Webb did a major part of putting up the set. Tommy was in constant demand and, in spite of his time-saving devices, managed to get the set up on time — fully five minutes before the curtain went up on the first show. Robert Burr even had time to finish his painting and get off the stage before the show began. When the curtain jammed and the lights failed, the actors, with brandy glasses in their hands and curtains draped over their left ears, went right on with the play. The stage technicians did a much better job on the next play, tage Door, and were ably supported by the cast. Eulette Francis surprised everyone by learning her light cues; Tommy came backstage to change the spotlights only once; Robert Green kept the curtain working smoothly; and stage manager Cecil Curtis kept things well-coordinated backstage. On the third show, Outward Bound, Robert Green, having worked faithfully on the first two shows, took over the job of stage manager. The entire organization functioned smoothly. The hams climaxed their season ' s work admirably. And everybody had a good time. In the Spring the College Theatre officially replaced the defunct Paint ' n ' Patches. For hard work throughout the production of three shows the following students were invited to become members. L Jean Arnold Marjorie Jean Bevis Robert Burr Cecil Curtis Wilbur Fite Eulette Francis Mary Garrett Rebecca Gray Robert Green Arthur Griffin em bers James Hatcher Margaret Hickman Doris Holtzclaw Nelle Howington June Jaynes Alice Jones Martin Knowlton Ford McDonald Flay McPherson Richard Morland Leland Nichols Marbrey Payne Olivia Belle Payne Tommy Ryan Florence Throckmorton Jayne Walton Charles Ware Jennie Webb

Page 34 text:

a added Most of ' Soutltrn ' s class-consciousness went the way of the Russian Revolution with thfe inauguration of the division plan, wherein there are only two groups — ifliose who have served two years and those who have more than two to |o. Students are no longer assigned seats in Chapel according to theirj standing, and comradeship cuts across class lines. Even the lowly Froai may sit beside the Senior beauty of his choice with- out arousing so much as an indignant whisper from other Seniors. Dur- ing their final semester, the graduates-to-be suddenly feel that hollow, poignant feeling, alid reminiscence wells up within them; they realize their seniority. Tm fact that there is no hazing except to those who ask for it lends an indeaendent air to the greenest recruit. e During the ei, than ever before, to force the Freshn ance to stir up the organized and rebel get their caps aftei month on the camp a something about it he becomes less harried Senior looki ing something coul hty-fourth session the classes became more unified n the Fall of ' 39 some upperclassmen hatched a plan en into rat caps. The Frosh, hoping by their resist- issue and bring down the tradition upon themselves, d. They overplayed their hand, however, and didn ' t all. The cocksure attitude of a greenhorn after a s sometimes arouses the harried upperclassman to do but nothing ever develops. As the Frosh grows up, , more worried. Years later he finds himself the g on the new crop of brassy newcomers — and wish- be done about it. cot vy But the classes jictually never fuse; there is a difference in the think- ing of Freshman ai d Sophomore, Junior and Senior. As each advances to a higher position in the School ' s activities, he feels the responsibility of scholarship, of soci« ty, and of the future demand to be made upon him. -gy- •.■ ?..