Erasmus Hall High School - Arch Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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HISTORY WHEN WE WERE ONE: Annex DoTes and Deeds was The TiTle oT our DuTchman column-iT was The TirsT Time ThaT Treshmen had broken Through The ominous press board in The main building-and we were inordinaTely proud. Alla Shainin wroTe languorous descripTive passages abouT her childhood in China, and RuTh Sacks wroTe abouT The AncienT Mariner. Remember? Leo BogarT Tilled iT Tull oT guppies and Tadpoles and prowl- ing caTs. Marcia HeaTTer Told abouT winning The RoosevelT Medal and how very much everybody liked Mr. ElberT. Tom BenneTT was The CapTain oT The Guards lin shorT panTsl, and we even sTarTed a baseball Team. WHEN WE WERE TWO': Mr. Zimmermann goT up in Chapel and presenTed Tommy wiTh a CooperaTion in GovernmenT Medal. So ThaT was Mr. Zimmermann! We goT To know him in liTTle biTs, and The liTTle biTs began To grow and Torm even regular paTTerns1 and iT came To us suddenly ThaT we were an exTremely lucky eighT hundred. We've ThoughT so ever since. HerberT King and Helen Howard and Alla Shainin were Boy and Girl Leader and SecreTary oT Junior ArisTa, and we were raTher glad we hadn'T boughT Those gym spoTs They had oTTered us in The very beginning. WHEN WE WERE THREE: We had whaT They called ATTernoon Session, or The BlighT, and we-us-our grade, Tormed The TirsT Tour aTTernoon clubs: Thespians, Speech Club, Bios Logos, and Les CadeTs de Sans Souci. Our very own Grade Adviser was in compleTe charge OT The building during Those TwilighT hours, and when we used To sneak up behind him and yell Miss Hodgdon, well-nobody minded very much. We were such nice, whimsical sophomores. WHEN WE WERE FOUR: We Tormed The ETTodians. lT was iusT a liTTle biT OT a Thing Then, buT inTeresT and Mr. Israel have waTched iT progress swimmingly ever since. OharloTTe Feldman received her TirsT MaTh award ThaT Term: and aTTer ThaT iT iusT rained honors in Dr. Wedeck's division. We seem To remember Marie Meisel, very eloguenT, winning The French DeclamaTion ConTesT, side by side wiTh Ralph Campanale and his awards in Spanish. WHEN WE WERE FIVE: We came inTo our own. We waTched I2 proud ones be iniTiaTed inTo The Senior ArisTa. Remember Their solemn Taces in The DuTchman ? We had a slam bang Jinx 7 ParTy, The TirsT dance sponsored by Grade Fivers in hisTory. Zimmy was wonT To say oT his brood: My, buT I have some exTraor- dinary inTanTs. WHEN WE WERE SIX: We had our Junior Prom. Re- member Gerry Passaro doing a Spanish dance and luring The peo- ple? Wasn'T ThaT The Term ThaT we discovered ThaT HerberT FusTeld G. O. Officers Sr. Class Officers

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Wheel We were enTering our TourTh year. ThaT was The auTumn oT '36. We were Tound everywhere, in The Quadrangle, in deTenTion, and slaving in The classrooms. In The Erasmian oTTice The ediTors were discov- ered doing LaTin homework. ln The DuTchman oTTice The page ediTors and The TaculTy advisers were eaTing dinner while The headlines were be' ing composed. The EooTlighTers were Teaching a new villain To snarl. The Year Book sTaTT was degeneraTing inTo a debaTing socieTy. The SenaTe was arguing abouT knocks and boosTs in The Year Book. ln The eighTh Term The seniors were melancholy. They wanTed To leave Erasmus l-lall and yeT They did noT wanT To leave. ParTing was being such sweeT sorrow. The upper-classmen appeared To vary wiTh The weaTher, and aT Times They would approach a Tellow-graduaTe-To-be and announce darkly, l'm maTriculaTing. Don'T Touch iTl You'll geT iT dirTy, said The girl as she Tolded The Third page oT her col- lege applicaTion blank. See whaT you've done now wiTh your dirTy old hands? You've messed Eorm S and Forms X, Y, and Z are so much cleaner. Ch, now They won'T leT me inTo college and iT will be all your TaulT! Do go away! You have already smudged my characTer raTing. One day in our lasT year The incineraTor Y ' S' sTarTed To Tlame and The school was cleared oT sTudenTs. Eire engines drove onTo The campus X. , , ' and burly Tiremen dragged a sinewy hose up Three TlighTs oT sTairs. l-leroic Teachers Threw ,V Q coaTs ouT OT The windows To warm The Chilly T sTudenTs. Freshmen quivered and seniors Told Them To buck up. Girls snickered and The boys waTched, engrossed. Then The blaze was exTinguished. The TireTighTers leTT. The Tlagpole 'had supplanTed The ancienT sTaTue oT Erasmus as a meeTing place. The cause oT This was The liTTle Tlower garden ThaT was sTruggling Tor an exisTence aT iTs base. The year beTore seeds had been planTed in Tour square boxes surrounding The l pole. They had been nursed and waTered, buT as soon as The sprouTs saw daylighT, They in- variably lay down and died. This creaTed quiTe a sTir among The sTudenTs, and liTTle groups be- gan To gaTher around The garden To cheer The lingering sprigs. Thus, The Tlagpole became The new meeTing place. Now as we wake up in The middle oT The nighT Tor Senior Singing, we realize ThaT CommencemenT is noT Tar oTT and ThaT noThing can sTop us excepT The English regenTs. So The Class oT June, i937 will leave, secure in The knowledge ThaT iT has per- peTuaTed The spiriT oT Erasmus l-lall.

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Senior ArisTa had been holding ouT on us. Tom BenneTT and Alla Shainin were elecTed To STudenT Council. RoberT Levine promised Mr. Zimmerman an ice cream soda if he won an award in The New York Classical Club ConTesT. Bob goT SSO, buT Zimmy is srill waiTing. The Shainin whiz won a ciTy-wide vocabulary TesT in l.aTin. We realized suddenly ThaT in Two monThs we were going To be seniors. WHEN we wERE sEvEN We Took over The DuTchman and The Erasmian alTogeTher. Ted Goodchild ediTed our iournalisTic oTTeringg and Marcia l'leaTTer headed The Erasmian sTaTT. G. O. elecTions were TasT and Turious. We appreciaTed Jerry Blumberg, Elaine Pear, and l-lelen Howard aTTer The hubbub and The shouTing. Allan Names won a huge currenT evenTs bee. Senior ArisTa was suddenly in our hands. Bill l-loman, Alla Shainin, and Rickie Brown were doing nicely, Thank you. Qscar Brand was elecTed presidenT, noT only oT The school organizajrion, buT oT The Boro Coun- cil oT Pan-American Clubs. LesT we TorgeT The Arch PaTrol, remember Al Napoli's superlaTive job? l.esTer McPherson was busy wiTh The Service Squad. Wl-lEN WE WERE EIGHT: The new Old Building sTood ouT in all iTs glory, iokes abouT The P.W.A. workers having gone Their way. The new walk across The Campus shone brighTly in all iTs graniTe elegance aTTer our noble G. O. PresidenT had chrisTened iT wiTh The aid oT a speech and The Track Team. Elaine Pear ediTed The Erasmian. We had anoTher and Tinal elecTion. Torn BenneTT, Muriel Goodman, and Alla Shainin were our Senior Class OTTicers. lT was spring. The campus was in bloom. The grass was green and weT and sweeT, The chapel dim and s+iIl. Desiderius read his iron words as we passed slowly Through The arch wiTh measured Tread. SeniliTy? No, raTher The beginning.