Roosevelt High School - Lariat Yearbook (Oakland, CA)

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Dmmatics UR Hilltop Workshop Players, under the direction of Miss Marietta Voorhees, have presented to us during the last year the highest class of drama to be obtained. The first class in Workshop history set the standards and ideals of production and also established the watchword Together,', which has been observed and closely followed by the succeeding players. Other departments of the school have contributed much to the success of the Workshop. The special dancing class, instructed by Miss Irma Rayburn, added to the beauty of the productionsg while the stagecraft class, under the direction of Miss Juanita Nicholson, provided the appropriate atmosphere. The Workshop initiation is a new custom which has been introduced by the players of the last year. Some of the members worked under difficulties, since they had never played before and lacked experience. In order to do away with the ordeal of a first appearance, an initiation ceremony, open to the parents and friends of the Workshop members, was given at the beginning of the season be- fore actual work was begun. Each member of the Workshop gave a selection from a famous story, poem or play. The initiation was presided over by Miss Marietta Voorhees. This is perhaps the first initiation of its kind to be observed in the Oakland high schools. The idea was originated by Miss Voorhees to introduce the new members into Workshop activities. The ceremony is beautifully solemn and reverent. A bill of one-act plays, given in the early fall, was the first offering of the Hill- top Workshop. The plays presented were: 'fThe Slave with Two Faces, The Green Nose, and The Mother of All. The Slave with Two Facesn is an allegory portraying the well-known saying, f'Life is what you make it. The character of Life was cleverly played by Mar- garet Stowell. Bernice Ehrenfort and Louise Bird were the two queens who undertook to control life. The Green Nosef, a farce, was interpreted by an entire cast of boys. The villain, played by Oliver Blanchard, is foiled in his plot to marry the innocent young princess, Kelsey Otteson, and get possession of the kingdom ruled by the king, Dan Thornton. The queen was very realistically portrayed by Wallace Lawson. This play proved to be very popular and was given at several class parties, and at Letterman Hospital for the soldiers. The Mother of All is a war play. It takes place in a wrecked French Chapel, the principal characters being the Madonna and a wounded German sol- dier. The Madonna was beautifully played by Ethel Robinson and Frances Pertosa. The annual Christmas play was the Evergreen Tree, by Percy Mackaye. This pageant was the 'most elaborate performance attempted by the Workshop. The stage setting, the dancing, and the acting all blended to give a most spec- tacular effect. Fifty-fou 1'

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Council '26 HE Roos1Qvi4:1.'r s'rcnEN'r coUNc1L for the fall term of IQ26 continued, under the leadership of President VVallace Lawson, the student dansants. The Student Body supported the dansants very well. The big Hower in the cap of the fall council was the Class Day evening show. Bill Ramsey was in charge of the show and his efforts resulted in the best student programme yet staged at Roosevelt. The council budgeted all the money coming from Student Body funds. This money was used for athletics, class activities, and many other student events about Roosevelt. The Student Body Council met once a week to discuss current problems of the school. The council members were all on the floor committee of the dansants. It was their business to see that the proper introductions were made. The council sought more dansants but, because the school social calendar was filled to capacity, none was added besides the three scheduled ones. The council members were: NVallace Lawson, president, Marie Deitz, vice- president ,Gordon Lindsley,secretary ,Virginia Howard,treasurer ,Dudley Graham, junior representative, Don McPherson, yell leader, and Harold Halliday, Cffimson editor. Council ,27 A great desire was granted the fifth Roosevelt Student Council when it left the school with a giftdthe Honor Society. As the council wanted to leave :1 lasting gift, the choice could not have been better, although the society was not started for that purpose. i Something else done by the spring council was the perfecting of the dance club. Although it was much talked of by other organizations, the dance club did not be- come organized until under the direction of Don McPherson's council. The way in which the council backed and aided the production of the Fire Princef' by advertising and ticket selling, was highly lauded by everyone. In making over the usual Dansant program, adapting it to everyones ideas, and renaming the affair the council did a good stroke of work. As the Student Body parties, they were better attended. Through various methods, the wild wall flowers were partially harvested by this council. Besides solving special problems, the spring council, under McPherson, attended to the making of a social calendar for the term, a budget and other routine work. Fifty-1'lzree

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Two scenes from Abraham Lincoln were produced for the students at an assembly in the early spring. Following this, the Worksliop gave a bill of plays at which the Jesters' Worksliop of Fremont were guests. The plays were: The Romancersf' The Brink of Silencef' i'The Birthday of the Infantaf' Dust of the Road, and Moontidef' . The closing play of the season of 1927 was Shakespeares comedy, HA Mid- summer Night's Dreamfy This was given under student management. The managers were: Business-Ray Jerome, Georgia McLarty. Publicity-Harrietta Romayne, Jay Gould. Music-Peter Hansen, Kelsey Otteson. Prompters-Eilien Aldridge, Frances Pertosa. Program-Charles Roach, james Dwyer. Make-Up-jay Gould, Ruth Carlson. W'hile the Midsummer Nights Dream could not be given in full, the two acts that were chosen proved to be a great success. Titania's court in the forest and the palace scene were the two acts produced. Puck was cleverly portrayed by jole Merlo. Gwen Kelly played the part of Thesius and the character of the Queen of Amazons was given by Vera Bluman. The clown scene in which the workmen give a play before the duke was very cleverly done. The fairies and elves were given by the special dancing class. The play as a whole was a very successful finish to a very successful year. Fifty-Hzfe