Ashbury College - Ashburian Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 29 text:

THE ASHBURIAN mi played with skill by Harben ll, and the confusion caused by his eritrurice provided the greatest comedy of the play. Pegram as the detective recitefi his lines, but in his part this was lust what was required Although some of the dialogue could not be heard the audience were laughing almost continuously The mayor port of the evening's entertainment was lan Hay's The House- master, also known as Bachelor Born, The difficulties of producing a light and subtle comedy of this type were well overcome, and in spite of the limited rehearsal time and the strain placed on the actors by the length of their parts the play went off extremely well. It is the story of a housemaster of an English public school who has his privacy altogether shattered by the sudden arrival of an old friend and her three young nieces, who proceed to get themselves and their friends into all kinds of adventures-and misadventures. The difficult and long part of Charles Donkin, the housemaster, was played with exceptional ability and understanding by Chapman. No one better could have been chosen for the part, and much credit is due to him for the hard work he did. Shenstone as Hastings, the witty and sarcastic maths master, gave a first-class performance. The thankless part of the Reverend Edmund Ovington, the school's conceited and narrow-minded headmaster, was played by Hooper, who managed to be extremely funny. Sablin played Beamish, Mr. Donkin's sporty young assistant, very well, and Bautin, showed much feeling as de Pourville, the music teacher. Woodward as Barbara Fone, Donkin's old friend, Atherton as Rosemary, and Warburton l as Chris, all overcame well the difficulties of their feminine parts, but Price ll as Button stole the show, many of the audience wanted to know who that little girl was. Spencer as Bimbo Button's twin brother was the perfect schoolboy, while Winser as Flossie Nightingale gave a good performance as an older boy. The man- nerisms of Nelles as Sir Berkeley Nightingale, the astute and slightly pompous politician, were both convincing and funny. Mr. Archdale is to be congratulated on the excellent job he did in casting both plays, and both he and Mr. Belcher should be thanked for their good work in producing the plays. We would also like to thank Miss Gordon and Dr. Renny for making up the actors, our stage managers, Bulpit and Price, and also Tony Lee, who very kindly came down and helped us, and our ushers, who did such an efficient job. The general opinion was that this was a very entertaining and successful evening, We were able to turn over S240 dollars to the Red Cross. SCHCDOL PARLIAMENT FTER some false starts a long cherished dream of the Headmasters' really began this year. A representative body, at present called School Parlia- ment in default ofa better name was elected. It consists of the Prefects, one elected monitor and a representative from each form in the Middle and Upper Schools. The Headmaster, at present takes the chair. lt is hoped that from being as it is now, an advisory body, and a sounding-board of school opinion, the School Parliament will take unto itself more responsibilities as time goes on. lt is intended too that the Junior School should have a similar body to represent them.

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T261 THE ASHBURIAN THE PLAYS QUEER STREET Produced by A. B. Belcher Bill l'lOrt ...e.. ..,................,e,...,v,,,,.,,,.. S ,.,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,-,,, , P, I-latgh Liza l-lOtt ......... .J. Northcott Eclith l-lart ....,. -,,,,- , P, Arahdale Albert Smith .,..,. ,,,,,,,,,, W , Eliot Joe Smart ,.e.... ..............,.......,................ ....,.,,,, B , l-larben Detective ...,.. .................. s .,,.,,..,,.,..- , ..,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,. A S , Pegram THE HOUSEMASTER . Mr. Donkin ..... ,...................,.............,.......... ,,..,.,, L , Chapman Mr. Hastings ,..... ....... M , Shenstone Mr. Ovington ..... ,,,,,,,,, , D, Hooper Mr. Beamish .,,.... ,,,,,,,. , R, Sablin Mr. de Pourville .,........ .,,.,,,,,,,.,, , R. Boutin Barbara Fone .......,.....,. ....... . A, Woodward Rosemary Faringdon ....... .,,,,,,... s J, Atherton Chris Faringdon .... ......... ....... . P , Warburton Button Earingdon ...... .,.,......... , A, Price Bimbo Earingdon ......... .......... J , Spencer Flossie Nightingale ........ ......,.., T , Winser Sir Berkeley Nightingale ........ ......... W , Nelles Motron ..........c...................... .,.......... J . Lennard Travers .......................... ........ D . Matthews James .cc.....,...o.o...........,................ ............... , s ..,.............o....,..................... E, Pilgrim Crump EE,...................,..... ..............,,,.........,.................,.. ............... ................ T . K enny Produced by N. lvl. Archdale Stage Managers-l-l. Bulpit and l-l. Price N the night of Saturday, March l l, the school presented its annual plays at the Technical School Auditorium before an appreciative audience of nearly 600 people. The performance was honoured by the presence of Their Excellencies the Governor General and the Princess Alice, who afterwards went backstage to meet the players who had made the evening such a success. Departing from its usual custom of presenting three short pieces, the school this year put on two comedies-a one-act play and a shortened version of a full length one. The first play presented was J. A. Kelley's Queer Street, which was pro- duced by Mr. Belcher. lt is the story of a respectable burglar whose daughter gets engaged to a policeman, and of the complications which ensue when the policeman enters his home. The role of Bill l-lart, the burglar, was con- vincingly handled by l-latch, whose only fault lay in rather hurrying his lines. Northcott gave a finished performance as Liza l-lart, Bill's wife, his voice and diction were the best of the cast. Pat Archdale, the only female member of either cast, was charming as Edith l-lar.t, the burglar's love-sick daughter. The part of her fiance, Albert Smith, was played by Eliot l, who gave a creditable performance in a rather thankless part, but was inclined to overact. The character role of Joe Smart, I-lart's bungling and slow-witted assistant, was

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T281 THE ASHBURIAN THE SCHOCL DANCE l-lE l944 School Formal Dance was held in the gymnasium on Friday the nineteenth of May. We could enlarge upon this subject almost indefinitelyhwe could mention the mad rush to get the lights and decorations placed in time, the excited and collar-strangled boys pacing the floor below the ladies' dressing room, and Mr. Saunders' indomitable orchestra. We could tell how all the events planned for months past slipped by in seconds, about the refreshments so welcome to the dancers, about the ingeniously-made bandstands, about the kindness of those friends and diplomats who coura- geously dared to lend their flags for the decoration of the front hall. And we could dwell at length upon the gaiety of the scene on the dance floor-the bright-coloured array of the long evening dresses contrasted with the more conservative blues and blacks of the boys. Instead we will merely say how much we, the boys of Ashbury, enjoyed the dance, and how sincerely we hope that our guests-among whom were several members of the staff, many Old Boys, representatives from Lisgar and St. Pat's, and of course the ladies-enjoyed it as much. One of the charming girls who came wrote graciously about the dance: For a month before the nineteenth there was something in the air. Something that started with a murmur of are you going? and ended in a feverish pitch of day-long discussions of new dresses, hair-do's and long fingernails. All this shows that a boy knows nothing of a dance, for he merely collects the finished product of weeks' work, and dances. l-low horribly dull! From a female point of view it was the piece de resistance of the spring. You could see this in the faces of all those gathered in the the Infirmary as they shrieked with joy over each others' dresses and talked in voices that sounded as if they were competing for highness. The gym was barely distinguishable through United Nations' flags and a ceiling of Ashbury-coloured streamers, and on entering one got the feeling that it felt as happy as the couples gliding across the floor. After an hour or so the orchestra received reinforcements amidst cheers of approval, and the dance went on at a renewed pitch, until a crocodile-like Conga line led out from the gym to the school for refreshments. These were as good as ever and were met with the usual ravenous approval. After eating the time seemed but five minutes and then before anyone knew it the strains of God Save the King sounded, and all came to attention with faces that were a mixture of sadness and happiness. Sadness because it was over, but who could be entirely sad after such a wonderful evening? l wonder if anyone left without the thought 'l wish I could come back to the Ashbury formal every year as long as l live' The Dance Committee would like to extend their sincere thanks for the hard work done by all the boys concerned with the dance. And we must thank even more the Dance Committee itself, Boutin and Pilgrim, for their skilful planning and painstaking efforts, lt was the leadership of this Committee and the cooperative spirit shown by the boys that contributed so much to making the dance the great success that it was. MAS, Vlb.