Manual Arts High School - Artisan Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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Manual ' s Reconstruction alter the earthquake. Another major beginning at Manual was the Crea- tive Art Program, known as Muse Moments. The students participating in this program wrote stories and poems that were presented by them to faculty and friends. Gradually as the years progressed, other forms of art were added to the program, original music com- positions, dances and dramatic readings, and event- ually art exhibits. This program was carried on with a great amount of enthusiasm on the part of both the students and the faculty. In art fields, too, the decade brought the famous Madonna, designed and modeled by Anita Brant just before her death. The first outdoor graduation in Manual ' s history was held during the earthquake term. Since then it has be- come traditional to hold summer graduations on Wilson Field. The students re-occupied Manual in September of 1934, with bungalows taking the place of the buildings that were condemned for use. Eventually six new build- ings were erected during the thirties to replace the ones damaged by the quake, the Administration and science buildings, auditorium, Wilson Hall, girls gym, and the cafeteria. There were many new beginnings necessary in ad- justments between students and faculty. The students greatly mourned the loss of Mr. C. P. Fonda, Boys ' Vice Principal. Mrs. Trummer, one of the members of the English faculty from the school ' s beginning passed away suddenly in this decade. The retirement of Dr. Albert Wilson, founder-principal, was a great loss to the school, but the new principal proved to be a very understanding successor in the Manual administra- tion. Many of the teachers who had seemed to be in- sperable parts of the school retired during the latter part of this period. The decade of beginning again was coming to an end. The close of the thirties found the world in a chaotic state, with war breaking out in Europe and the Amer- ican people wondering whether or not the war would touch American soil. Tremendous experiences lay ahead. Latin Banquet S ' 39. 4 rtnmnrtoA nrinn ihn pnrthmi.llr P

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The Third Decade By Edith Walker Quiet corridors and arcade S ' 32. Rose Arbor in front of the Practice House. New seriousness was in the air as people the world over felt the bottom drop out of the world ' s economy. The Roaring Twenties were gone and Manual, was beginning again. This decade, highlighted by an earthquake that shook the school and the community, new buildings and a new principal, proved itself to be truly the Memorable Thirties. For over three thousand students with many and varied interests Manual had on campus some seventy different service and interest groups. The idea of be- ginning again took a strong hold within the music department with two new music organizations being formed during that ten-year period. The recently or- ganized Aeolian Club made its place as the senior singing group for the boys, and the Acapella Choir as the newest musical experiment, a group that sang without accompaniment. The Lyric Club, during the W ' 30 Safari semester, presented a Chinese pantomime, The Cantata, while the Aeolian Club celebrated its ninth semester in the summer of 1934 with performances on KECA and KNX. Also organized by the Aeolian Club during the beginning of the thirties was the Man- ual Four, a group of four boys who achieved great success singing together. They were much in demand both in and outside of school. Later in the decade, a second Manual Four came into being. During the thirties the achievements in the dramatic field were many and great. Many operas and operettas were presented by the combined glee clubs and the Players ' Company. A production on a much larger scale of the first play ever presented in the aud, Pied Piper of Hamelin, was produced in opera form by the glee clubs, during the Modernist ' s semester of 1931. Added to Manual ' s array of club sweaters and em- blems on campus was the grey sweater and purple band of the Knights and Diaconians. Originally the Knights were sponsored by the Principal and the Dia- consians were called the Girls ' Service Organization. But when Dr. Wilson retired, the sponsorship of the Knights was assigned to the Boys ' Vice-Principal and the Girls ' Service Club became the Diaconians. Athletics are not to be left out. The Varsity football team won city championship in the W ' 35 semester for the first time since 1921. The B football team was city champ in 1936. The athletes made many impressive showings in the fields of track as city champs in ' 30, basketball brought state championship in S ' 29, the Class B team city champs S ' 30, and city champs in S ' 32; and in gymnastics we were state champs in sum- mer of 1929. The earthquake on the tenth of March, 1933, one of the worst disasters to the Southern California area, brought about any changes in the structure of Manual Arts. Manual was closed and the tenth year students met daily at Audubon Junior High, with the eleventh and twelfth year students going to Foshay Junior High. With the school arranged on a homeroom basis, all work was focused on individual efforts and achieve- ments. Half the teachers were sent to Foshay and the other half to Audubon. Books were retrieved from lock- ers that the students might do their class assignments. The earthquake and the temporary evacuation of Manual brought about the need for a more frequent communication between the students and the faculty. From this need was born on Friday, March tenth, the day of the earthquake, The Manual Arts Daily, making Manual the only school west of the Mississippi at that time to have a daily paper. Manual ' s destruction in the earthquake in 1933

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The Second Man r. Floyd R. Honn The shadow of the second man blended now in the formation of the institu- tion, Manual Arts. Mr. Floyd R. Honn, too, took joy in the growth and develop- ment of young people. Born in Artesia, California, he was the third in a family of nine children. At nine years of age he and three younger brothers and sisters accompanied their missionary parents to China. For six years the family lived in Cheng-Chow and other cities of Honan province, a life rich in experience, but totally strange to an American. Even the language they learned to use was Chinese. Life was a bit dull, though, for the danger of disease and the lack of educational facilities kept the children confined to the home grounds except on summer trips to the mountain. When the family returned to the States in 1910, our future principal attend- ed a small denominational school now part of Los Angeles Pacific College. His college work was done in Greenville, Illinois. After college he accepted a teaching position in Superior, Nebraska, where he taught journalism, debate and history. Further teaching assignments took him to Memorial Junior High School in San Diego, and to Huntington Park High School. There he was evening school principal. As principal, next, of South Gate High School, he was active in community contacts, and spear-headed the movement that resulted in the development of an 86 acre public park. Then, in final preparation, came a year as principal at Roosevelt High School, where he directed the organization of student activities in a very capable program. To Manual Arts he brought his talents for consolidating gains, for clarify- ing issues and for promoting cooperation. This, with his keen interest in young people made him a propitious co-shadow of a great institution. The Fourth Decade With tension that gripped America, as well as the rest of the world, Manual Arts felt a compulsion under its new political regime to make more definite and precise the self-government program for which it was famous. Under Mr. Honn ' s encouragement and the able direction of Mr. Willis Newton, the rambling constitution of earlier history was condensed and the briefer version spelled out clearly and decisively the powers and responsi- bilities of the cabinet. Under this interpretation, the cabinet was given legis- lative, executive, and judicial powers, with supervision over all functions of the school government. The school Code, which resulted from this period of clarification, has become a model for the Los Angeles City Schools in general. To the requests which came asking that charts and diagrams of Manual ' s self-government program be sent, the answer was given that while these bulletins might show how it worked, a full understanding of the spirit behind the program was necessary to make the plan really functional. Even though the fourth decade opened to the sound of war abroad, Manual still tried to bring world understanding and tolerance to its student body. A ship adoption plan was initiated. Captains of ships wrote descriptions from abroad to Manual. The Scholarship Society chose as a S ' 40 theme Scholar- ship for Defense , and in that semester Scholarship reached a high peak of usefulness. It operated with volunteers coaching during every period of the day. But this frantic effort at understanding was not enough. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was bombed. A tense student body heard President Roosevelt declare a state of war and Mr. Honn ' s: Study, work, or fight . As an immediate result of the declaration of war the senior play was can- celled. Blackouts caused Friday evening socials to be ended. All students who owned cars were requested to register them in the vice principal ' s office, for use in an emergency. Manual became a Civilian Defense Center for the neighborhood. The buildings used for night school were prepared for black- outs; teachers were given first-aid instructions; drills were carried out seri- ously by the student body thus preparation was made for something that Manual hoped would not come. A number of teachers joined a branch of the service. During the last week of February, 1942, school adjourned at 1:40 so that the faculty members could work at ration boards, the first of many such tasks.