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

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scene, and Goldberg Qof the Goldberg-Hunt De- bates fameb arrived just in time to alter the history department at Belmont Hill. To make a place for him, Mr. Ryerson moved down to Shady Hill. Crazylegs M. Forman, H. Bolan, Leech, Scoop Sumner, Charles Ashley and the News, and even J. Havice Qfor a whilej, added greatly to our herd. So too came Harold Estabrook who brought us Arlmont and 5 years, 2 months, and 17 days Debbie. Many new things were experienced as the Fourth Form year got under way in the fall of 1952. One of the most inspiring experiences came as a few lucky souls underwent an uproarious year in the clutches of Smiley,s Spanish I. How- ever, the year on the whole was a quiet one, if one can judge it by the scarcity of material produced for this summary by the foremost brains of the class, and eventually the year drew to its end. We got through the exams with few casualties, re- ceived our share of prizes on Prize Day, watched the graduating class get their diplomas and clapped till our hands were sore. Then we sat back to prepare for what was supposed to be the tough- est scholastic year of all-and we'd like now to think it really was since nearly half the class was destined to win a Fifth Form Honor Pin! As the class moved on to the Fifth F orm, there were a few personnel defections. Buzz Miner, George Ekwall, and John Havice abandoned us in favor of the Class of '56, and Thug Clark, Binx Carrier of questionable repute, John Gan- son, and the famous Joe Dow all departed for other institutions of one sort or another. Garry Paine also left us, advancing remarkably to the Class of ,54. Replacements were at hand, however, in the persons of Pete Beacham, Kraut J aspert, Nate Pusey, and Pete Cole who promptly left again for Venezuela and points south thus making room for the one and only Foggo. In the Master's department, The Moose Mulliken, beloved by all, left the Lower School while Ned I will be down in Cole's Hole this aft- ernooni' Ryerson also left following the havoc wrought by Send a blotter to Ned week. The supply of masters was soon replenished, however, by the arrival of Mr. Morton, Mr. Tibbetts, Mr. Woodward, and Mr. Tuplin Csoon to be known as the one-armed banditwj. This was the memorable year when Mr. Test drove the crew bus through a red light at the bot- tom of Clifton Street and was stopped by a cop, when there were several raids on the Sixth Form room, all of which ended in failure, when Animal', Taber chased Mr. Tibbetts around the desk in History class, and when signs of stoutness first began to appear on The Beak Togneri. The PANEL began to flourish in these days and the memories of many Thursday nights are still fresh. The fund for the pitching machine got started but quickly struck out when only seventy-three cents were collected and this was lost. The Lagoon League, with one or two football stars from the Class of '55, flourished well into the lagoon, the night, and the month of January. Mr. Max taught us all how to gamble mathematically under the thinly disguised front of pretending to teach something called Permutations, Combinations, and Probability , and we are still anxiously wait- ing for the publication of Mr. Croke's promised book on how to be a good spectator at a tennis match. Denny Corcoran's morning showers to avoid the 4:30 rush became so popular that there wasn't any more 4:30 rush. The dance committee elected Dave Canneld chairman, a job that soon succeeded in getting on his nerves so much that after producing four dances, he has falmostj de- cided to try a different career. ' The year finally did come to a close, and once again we sat through the commencement speeches. en we were Sixth F ormers, and almost everyone laid plans to get out at once and earn some money to spend on cars and girls. Only Pete Beacham de- cided to repeat the fifth form and some accused him of doing it just so he could give another party for fifth formers after the Senior Prom. Among the masters, unfortunately, we lost some of our best. Messrs. Loomis, Whittier, Test, and Smith from the Lower School, all departed much to the regret of Belmont Hill. The fall found four new faces in our midst: a new Mr. Smith for the Lower School, Mr. Wright, Mr. Aloian, and Peeps Mason who just barely survived the '54- '55 open season for masters and then left again. It wasn't such a surprise-but it was impressive -to find ourselves Sixth F ormers at last. We took over the hole outside the chapel as if we had held an option on it for years. The Form behind us even had some respect for our physical prowess and we were forced to defend our domain only twice in the whole school year. The pent up wrath of the Form did descend on some of its own mem- bers, however, and Arthur Murphy's clean white bucks weren't white very long, especially after he was dropped in the mud of the soccer field. Charlie Ashley was forced to cut off his tie when he found he could no longer breathe after vain struggles to free it from the grasp of a window in the Sixth Form room. But the pride and joy of the F orm, in fact of the school, the model Belmont .Hill boy, Robert Charles President of the Class of '55 Togneri, affectionately known by such names as Slobby Bobby, Pear-Shape, Cyrano, and The Beak, was the object of so many Scoff Togneri Days that it might as well have been called Scoff Togneri Year. The leaders of this campaign were Chris Benda and Ted Davis, who had by then, aided by the tutelage of Thug Clark, ex-955, become full fledged hoods them- selves. In fact, Itch found so many references to himself and his Billerica friends in the column of the PANEL known for various obscure reasons as 57,,' that the PANEL nearly had its first law- suit on its hands. Very early in the year there came the annual argument between those who like to take their exams wherever they feel the urge to go, and those conscientious students who feel that there is too

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After the regular weekly quota of removed light bulbs, unscrewed pencil sharpeners, busted desks and windows was finally established for the year, many found other diversions. Arthur Freeman be- gan expounding theories to the effect that the world was flat but he soon gave flatness back to Dior and squared off for the following year at Cambridge. Many were the strength tests between Barbell Doty and Braintrust Kellett, but these were necessarily inconclusive since the Animal had not yet started growling. One of the chief diversions Qanything, of course, to keep from doing homeworkj was give-a-rough- time-to-the-sixth-former-taking-study-hall day, which occurred most every day throughout the year. Amid showers of spit balls, William Todd Cnone other thanj and Bob Ward did much yelling and stamping. But Jesse listed in the Social Reg- ister as Gilbertn Swift's little electric motor out- did them both because the bearings needed oil. Back in those dark ages, when Mostrom, T. Knot to be confused with lipstick-lapel PJ was still go- ing out with girls, the Juniors really racked up the opposition in football. The backfield of Pounder Parkhill, Mauler MacArthur, and Tiptoeing Togneri aroused many loyal Italian fans into much celebrating. It was also in these days that bi strong J. Wilson displayed his might and heaved a baseball over J. Taft's head and created much havoc when it finally came to rest in 7th period History class. But Spike remained unruffled with W. Wilson's 14- Points. The Second Form year finally ended with Dance-Committee Dave chucking a no-hitter against Fenn. And after Kos's science exam, there was rejoicing galore as one by one the scahby and battle-worn brethren filed into Whit's office to retrieve the many water'guns, yo-yo's and paper- clip supplies collected over the year. And so they went and pretty soon they came again. Many new faces and the prospect of note- taking in History added to the flavor of the re- opening of school and to the annual and increas- ingly heavy dose of September blues. We no longer saw Shaky Jake or Jolly Jack, but few will forget lending a pinky little hand to the thrilling task of heaving J. J ack's Crosley up the gym steps. And memories were still fresh of Mr. Innis's last will and testament before retiring from the school. Many hastened to see what could be done about adding to the conflagration but all that was left of Mr. Innis's pipe and coat was a few pieces of char- coal, some singed beams where it had hung, and a little sign which read, Never put a lighted pipe in one's pocket. The Third Form soon made its headquarters in Mr. J enney's room-and much was the noise that issued therefrom. Also, many were the hours that were given therein, and equally many were the erasers drop-kicked therefrom. On one well- remembered occasion, H. MacMahon drop-kicked but the eraser didn't move. His shoe did, however, and scored a goal dead through the uprights, to the tune of tinkling glass. Our losses were few that year Cand two of them looked a lot like Freeman and Kellettj, and we gained by the many that thron ed to our midst. The Happy Wanderer wandered in, Pollard and I hit a home run for the J ayVees Colburn dropped around for a short but sweet year, Dad- e-o Hurd and tiny E. Sears came, as did also P.- Childs, J. Ganson, J. with the soccer trophy Lindenberg, and Jaguar Kelleigh. These, to- gether with the man Greg MacArthur had been waiting for, the buttercup of the daisy patch, the doodling king of the world, the one and only Thinker', Brooks, swelled our numbers to forty. That year was also marked by many other things. Some of the brethren took five subjects, most four, and more than we ought to admit Ceven nowj worked in as few as possible. History didn't accomplish much that year, no one ever built a pyramid or learned Egyptian, so after another year of frustration, Mr. Ryerson graduated to a more progressive school in the swamps near the Charles River. But Nasal Ned, the star of the history de- partment, never ceased to attract attention. Dur- ing one of the recurrent water-gun epidemics, he especially inspired one of the more jumpy students Cwho might have been named Clarkl and got showered for his pains. But nothing happened, he merely retired further behind his horned rims, gritted his teeth, and sunk another notch further down into his trustworthy 1935-style Army boots. The great triumvirate of Clark, Runt Davis, and Bantam Benda, Inc., was just being formed. Also, the Squeal for O'Neil campaign got under way and swung a solid south, but the wind was in the north that year and we wound up with Coun- cilman Togneri and President Hugh MacMahon. It was also during this year that La Chunk and Mr. Test joined us, but it wasn't until the following year that they really began to make an impression on us adolescent youth. Mr. Moore's history projects became a battle of quantity versus quality and he who wheeled in the largest gross tonnage received the highest mark. Also, the beef boys playing under Coach Test will probably wish they could forget some of his more active demon- strations. Anyone for soccer, Harold? Before we plunge into the dusty records of the Fourth Form, it needs to be added that six mem- bers of the Third Form delegation passed on to happier hunting grounds: Wilson, Brooks, Doty, Taylor, Colburn, and Pollard. This could hardly he charged to President MacMahon but in order to take no chances we once again resorted to the Florentine F easter for leadership. The gaps in our ranks were soon filled, however, by the heavenly twins, Binx Carrier and the Wal-lex Kid, G. Ekwall. Joe Dow dropped around for a while but he soon left, to be remembered chiefly because his actions so often gave rise to the deep-tbroated dirge-like chorus of Dow, Dow, Dow. Also, slide-rule Garr Paine stayed for a year but left when he found the lowly Fourth wasn't enough of a challenge for somethingj. Cor- coran of Corcoran's also flashed red upon the

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much cheating going on and that for the good of the school the honor system ought to be abolished. After several furious and unorganized debates and as many more polls, ballots, and showings of hands, it was finally decided to forget the whole thing. Thus passed the quaint custom of taking exams at Homestead. When the class President lost his little brown book and made an announcement about it at lunch, the whole school started a careful search. It was later discovered that someone had just hidden it as another, albeit a sneaky, joke on gullible lovable Togneri. While on the subject of Togneri, it is well to record here that this was the first year of the Sixth Form Advisor system inaugurated by him and Mr. Funk. General opinion holds that the system was a great success. Several other hot issues have come up in the past year and some were dealt with adequately. There was, for example, the debate over whether to have Mr. Keller's traditional talks on the mem- bers of the Sixth Form or not. It is too bad, at least from the point of view of source material for this History, that these were rejected as too stupid, a waste of time, and completely in- ane. Among the questions which have not been satisfactorily answered is: What was Hugh Mac- Mahon sloshing through the marshes near Logan Airport on New Year's Eve for? His answer, looking for a friend seemed a little incomplete and leaves the matter somewhat up in the air. A far reachin principle was involved in the answer to: Why did Bill Griswold nearly drown when Mr. Mattladge put a piece of cardboard over a glass of water and then turned it upside down over Bill's head? All the Newtons and Einsteins of the Phys- ics classes are still stumped and suggestions have been made about submitting the problem to the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study. Another stickler, Who put the sign saying 'Town of Lin- coln Water Supply' in the lagoon, was finally an- swered but no names will be mentioned here in or- der to protect the guilty. Many projects were inaugurated or continued by the industrious Class of '55. After many years of fretting and fuming over the necessity of start- ing some kind of conservation project at Belmont Hill, Mr. Downes' dearest wish came true. After 10 cents had been collected from everyone in the class, Denny Corcoran was appointed head of the committee to buy the tree. The resulting sugar maple was planted alongside the Lower School driveway, a spot which later proved to be very vulnerable as it has been hit by several cars since. In spite of an adhesive bandage around its mid- section, which does hold it up, careful study this spring produced no evidence of even a single bud. A qualified T.D. CTree Doctorj has pronounced its chances for next year as hopeless. Another project involving Mr. Downes is the production of the monstrosities called Creative Art. Many people moaned over the prize winner, Dave Sumner's Leg Segments in a Garden, say- ing that they could have done just as well if they too had the raw material to work with. An attempt early in the year to get suggestions for a second Class Project, in addition to the stone wall, Hubbed out when there was only one volunteer to chop down trees in the swamp. The stone wall, however, under the leadership of Animal and Pear Shape progressed famously, although we did not quite succeed in carrying it all the way around the school as was originally planned. We did, never- theless, finish as much of the wall as any previous Class had, and much more than several did. As we leave the Sixth Form now, and become alumni, let us briefly remember such innovations as fall tennis, charm bracelets for the football- soccer dance, J on Shaw's motor scooter, Dick Fogg's awakening when he received his hockey numerals, Math VI classes in which marks were drawn from a hat, the chopping of panels in Cole's Hole, the pills and bricks in Dave Taber's locker, various automobile accidents Calways a favorite subject for conversationj including the burning oil truck which everyone went to see, and last but by no means least, the round of parties after the Prom which found several potted boys playing tennis at four o'clock in the morning and Foggo drinking beer out of a bugle. When the party making finally died down and each new graduate went his way, three or four of the loyal literates remained behind to carry on and finally to finish the copy for this handsome Year- book. In spite of sweet rumors to the contrary, only 30 out of the 136 pages had been completed by commencement time. It took more than two solid weeks of working from nine in the morning till eleven at night on the part of the two top edi- tors, not to mention the in-and-out assistance of a few others, to clear up the myriad tasks still re- maining. Pictures? Wow! Has this yearbook got pictures CD-more, we believe, than any other in the long line of Yearbooks to issue from Belmont Hill. And, alas, it wasn't until we had pasted up montages till the rubber cement was coming out our ears that we discovered that this task had been farmed out to a commercial studio in previous years. It seems to all the members of the Class of '55, who without much surprise, awe, or regretvwalked up to receive their diplomas on Commencement day, that the total amount of money they had shelled out for various contributions during the year must run into three-figure numbers. At the request of several boys, a Certified Public Ac- countant is calculating the exact amount, but un- fortunately the results cannot be printed here as the job is expected to take several months to complete. CP.S. Class Agent Eaton is prepared to accept from anyone the first contribution to the Alumni Fund by a member of the Class of '55.j And now, without further ado, let us say good- bye to Belmont Hill, confer our praises and grati- tude on the School as a whole rather than on cer- tain individuals, knowing that without everyone, the School could not function, and then move that this history come to an end. Anyone second the motion?