Belmont Hill School - Belmont Hill School Yearbook (Belmont, MA)

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jlw Sixfl. flaw .kfdforg The following is a historical document re- cording the footprints which our illustrious members, past and present, have made on the sands of time. Accuracy in this work has been subordinated to jocosity wherever pos- sible. September 14, 1943, found eight youthful adventurers surveying the horrendous road before them. The challenge to elude the Mole's ever hovering grasp proved more time consuming than any intellectual endeav- ors. The record of these first dark days re- mains obscure, since only one of the primordial eight survived. Composing this awed octet were Beggs, Iohn Bickford, Al Eaton, Pete Elliot, Murray Kidder, Woofie Klemperer, Frank Swan, and Tru Casner, the aforemen- tioned survivor. Beggs and Swan felt that their endeavors could be more fruitful elsewhere, and so at the end of Class B two fruits departed. To fill the ranks, Bill Porter, Tim Sturtevant, Howie Ulfelder, and jim Gill were signed from the surrounding communities. E. Bailey Frye and George Devine, seeing the obvious potentialities of our still embryonic class, im- mediately withdrew from the class of 1950 to join us. Howie Ulfelder started his long career of truancy by appearing a week after School opened. The strange disappearance of several of our members was finally explained by the revelation of the Madame Wong tor- tures administered by Moose Coflin, alias Madame Wong. It was not uncommon to find several classmates serving as targets of the society's knife throwing. The next year, Mole Densmore transacted one of the biggest bargains since the Man- hattan purchase as we exchanged Tim Sturte- vant for fourteen new members: Scrapper Boland, Bob Blacklow, Bob Copeland, Vito Da Prato, Charlie Donovan, john Crozier, Bucky Iohnson, Don Rabbit Earsi' McDavitt, Dick Kluckholn, Tom Metzger, Brendie Sulli- van, Bill Todd, and George Vrotsos. Bob Wat- son had spent a lonesome year without George Devine and so dropped back to join us. This year was featured by a mass exodus over the hill to the new clubhouse. And Longball Char- lie Carrol, a new faculty member, set an all time high of 1,391 hours of detentions. Char- lieis study halls were punctuated by exploding caps, ball games, card games, and other forms of scholarly work. Perhaps our most interesting newcomer was our little bambino from the Continent, Vito. His limited vocabulary included ushuddupi' and 'inof' Vito, once found with his foot hang- ing through the roof of the old Lower School building, quickly replied Noi when the Mole asked him if he had done it. The big jump from Class D to the Upper School was too much for Vito, George Vrotsos, john Boland, Charlie Donovan, and Brendan Sullivan. Pete Elliot departed our midst, but Pete Briggs, Kit Rice, Dick Saitow, Tom Nick- erson, Garr Cranney, Will Little, and Harv Smith swelled the Form total. The last three of these stayed with the Form to the end. The Thin Man and Il Duce were effervescent from the beginning, but it was not until the Sixth Form that Harv showed his true colors as one

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of our finest members. It was also during this year that we acquired the papa of the Form, Eddie Pride, who descended from above hand in hand with Moose Coffin. But everything else that happened this year was overshadowed by the great purge, which made away with the Moose and four upper formers. The next fall witnessed the change of our members from boys to men, making serious pursuit of studies, athletics, and women. Bob Blacklow was outstanding in the academic pursuits, and jim Gill and Fran Scanlan each acquired two varsity letters. The high point of the year was in the category of the third pursuit when Truman Casner was interrupted by Spike Downes in Room 12 during the intermission of the fall dance. An addition of heterogeneous members helped to bolster the Form: sharp-witted Whitey Hamilton, Dave Ware, the Lunenburg Flash, Dave Bull Perry, Boston society's contribution, Tony Cabot, Silent Ted Davis, Ben Draper, Belmont Hill's Al Capp, jumping joe Lussier, Tennesseee Walsh, and Burt Faulkner, the Great Smoke. We inherited a unique character from the form above in the person of Wentworth Huntington Barnes. This Thespian merited an Oscar not only for his performances in the School plays but also in every other phase of School activities. The year ended on a good note as several of our classmates were awarded scholastic and activi- ties prizes. fSee succeeding pages for this brilliant record.j Murray Kidder and Don McDavitt departed into relative oblivion after this year, but Woofie Klemperer went on to fame at Belmont High School where he was voted by his classmates most eccentricf' The next year, another big incoming crop brought with it such characters as Biff Baker, Larry Alphen, Taciturn Tony Porter, Buddha Staples, Well Now Bob Studley, Dave Turley, and Bob Ward. Mr. Koslowski's Fourth Form history course was featured by long winded filibusters which no one dared to interrupt. Besides this five day terror, we were also intro- duced for rather subjectedj to the mathemati- cal genius of Pythagoras Maxwell. In case the name of Biff Baker doesn't ring a bell with you, the authors after extensive research have discovered that he was with us for a mere two weeks. According to advance publicity he was a tremendous athlete, but during his short stay he fooled us completely. This year did, however, find our Form making great contributions to varsity athletics. Four of us, Gill, Casner, Little, and Turley, won football letters, and numerous letters were earned by our classmates in other sports as well. In extracurricular activities of another sort, Tom Metzger did a fine job in the lead of the annual School play. After the summer vacation we came back as Fifth Formers, except for Grozier, Perry, and Gorgeous George Devine, who by this time had become so attached to the School that they preferred to stay back rather than gradu- ate in two years. Pete Briggs and Whitey Hamilton had left for Kimball Union and, they hoped, Dartmouth. They were wrong. Kit Rice quietly departed for Concord High School, while Dave Ware and Larry Alphen were gone and not to be heard from again. But there were many strange faces in our midst who deserve description at some length. Omar Liscano was another two week wonder who didn't stay long enough even to learn the language. His sudden departure was explained by some as due to his preference for certain South American customs. Alvin This is disgraceful Sussman, better known as Uzzie, took a sabbatical from Belmont High School. Jolly Jacky Fisher often found this good-natured visitor listening to his his- tory lectures from behind locked windows on