Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

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SAMARA 19 Under the able direction of Mrs. Meikle- john, we have presented quite a number of plays this year, all of which were successful. We began with the traditional house plays, these being directed by the house heads. Nightingale came first with its Royal Touch. Vicky Brain was outstandingly good, as were Jo- Anne Davis and Esther Prudham. Fry sup- plied the comedy with The Ghost Story in which Janet Hanson did her usual best. Jane MulhoUand is to be highly praised for her part of the chamberlain in Keller ' s The Golden Doom which she learnt the day before the play was put on. Sheila McCormick also did very well. Next we presented the Christmas Play, St. Anne and the Gouty Rector — Betsy-Jane Davis made a lovely St. Anne and Sue Hislop and Sally Wright showed their acting ability in the parts of the gouty rector and Nicholas, respectively. On the night of Feb. 27 the Little Theatre was filled to capacity when the combined Ashbury-Elmwood Dramatic Societies staged the well-liked comedy Dear Ruth — Jennifer Woollcombe deserves credit for her role as the precocious kid sister of poor Ruth, the latter capably portrayed by Jane Mulholland. Janet Hanson did very well also in her por- trayal of the mother of the two. The day before we broke up for the Easter Holidays the Senior Plays were enjoyed by all. This year they chose Quality Street and The Dmnb Wife of Cheapside. In the former, Sandra McKee and Joan Fagan were very good as two of the sisters of Quality Street. As the dumb wife of Cheapside, Sheila McCormick, having not said a word in the first act, made up for her lack of lines in the second act when she talked incessantly, much to the anguish of her husband played by Janet Hanson. These have been the plays presented by the budding actresses of Elmwood this year.

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JUNIOR ART by Efi Malamaki SENIOR ART by Sonia Tarantour

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20 SAMARA Public Speaking There was only one interclass debate this year, between the 5Bs and 5Cs. The 5Bs suc- cessfully proved that The dress of Western women should not remain static for twenty- five years in the styles of the 1950 ' s . The Public Speaking contest is to be held on May 1 5 this year and there should be a wide variety of subjects. Last year ' s winners were Sheila McCormick whose subject was Flying Saucers and Madge Macbeth who spoke on Be Kind to Animals Week . Dances This year, through Mrs. Graham ' s kindness, Elmwood had three dances, which were all successes due to the energy of the various dance committees. The first, a house dance, was attended by the majority of the school and among the numerous dances were elimination , bingo and spot dances, which heightened the amusement. The Annual Formal, on February 13, was a marvellous success. The gym was beautifully decorated by Freiman ' s generosity, also by the seniors ' hot air used in blowing up the balloons, which hung in all possible, and some impossible, places. The orchestra, Toby Rochester ' s, played various types of wonder- ful dance music. 5A organized the square dance, which was a very strenuous affair. The band played un- ceasingly, while whirling dervishes danced equally unceasingly in the gym, this time festooned with saddles and other farm accou- trements. All these dances were supplemented by wel- come refreshments. The Mothers ' Guild de- serves the highest praise for its timely aid in this direction which greatly contributed to the undoubted success of the dances. Ballet Notes Although the ballet class this year is small, it is still very enthusiastic and at Christmas was joined by Myrna Badham who has done marvellously in catching up with us. This year there has only been one ballet recital which was held the day of the Bazaar along with several other forms of entertain- ment. The solo was very beautifully done by Sheila McCormick; the duet by Margo Frei- man and Andrea Rowley and the Gypsy Dance by Efi Malamaki, Jana Stephanova and Lilias Ahearn. The music was very ably provided by Mr. MacTavish. Ema Pilupe has now finished her extremely successful year of teaching at Elmwood and we hope to see her back next fall. Free Day It was the thirtieth of January and one of our most anticipated days had arrived — Free Day. This day has been an annual event at Elmwood for many years, and always turns out to be a great success in its own peculiar way. Each class is free to arrange its own time table for the day and many extra-curric- ular activities are had which ordinarily the pupils would not have the opportunity to par- ticipate in. A favourite period for the junior school was an extra skating lesson. The inter- mediate classes even tackled a German gram- mar text and some listened to Madame Krup- ka ' s languages and fascinating stories about the many European countries she knows. We were very fortunate this year in having films for the senior school which corresponded to our studies in science. Many of the classes held a period of musical appreciation to which classical, semi-classical and valuable collectors ' records were brought. Thus another Free Day passed and we all agreed that again it was a success, but more- over we proved that we could pass a free day in a constructive manner.