Bryn Mawr College - Bryn Mawr Yearbook (Bryn Mawr, PA)

Page 22 text:

well, for she has never been allowed to do anything else. The enthusiasm that the cavemen called forth would have been a good argument for Ibanez; and if Maude Adams had asked, Do you believe in fairies? anyone who had seen Zin dance would have had to answer, Yes. The Light Blue had flashed in triumph from behind the footlights! Doris Pitkin Leading Ladies We sing of the mighty Red Seniors Who made our young lives simply — well, They were typified by those fair Graces, The trio, Peg, Monic and Hel. Oh ! Monica flirted with Savvy, Who thought that her writing was swell ; And as for athletics, they centered In mighty Peg Thompson and Hel. The class as a whole was quite bumptious. As Monica showed us quite well ; And Peggy was not far behind her, But greatest of these was our Hel ! Then sing of those mighty Red Seniors, Whose exploits we still sometimes tell ; And those very remarkable ladies, The trio, Peg, Monic and Hel. Doris Pitkin 18

Page 21 text:

Where There ' s a Will There ' s a Way Our education was progressing famously under ' 17 ' s able supervision, when the time arrived for Lesson Two. It came in the shape of Freshman Show. They told us that you never know your class till you give a play. It would be equally true to say that you do not know the office till then. But before the play is over, you arrive at a working knowledge of its nature and habits — unless you have perished in the struggle. The first hitch in proceedings came when Milly Peacock discovered our animal was to be a Jabberwock. As soon as it had been changed, the committee kept it a secret even from the class, although it did not require a brilliantly inductive mind to guess t hat nimble little Fox made an excellent rhyme to lair among the rocks. After that, our indefatigable committee made eight abortive attempts to compose a show that would not require: a. Too much effort for the class. b. Too much expense. c. Too much tolerance on the part of the Seniors. Finally, P. T. made confusion worse confused by saying that we must give a Noah ' s Ark, waxworks, or a vaudeville. Some master mind — probably Lorna ' s — saw an opening at this point. The show, as presented to P. T., consisted of (a), song; (b), dance; (c), whistling stunt, etc. Then it was presented as a full-fledged musical comedy, while someone in an inconspicuous spot set up the appropriate letters for each feature. P. T., as we had been at some pains to find out beforehand, was not in Bryn Mawr at the time. At the crucial moment, a new merit regulation deprived the choruses of their best voices. This difficulty was easily overcome by slipping the girls in question in as negroes, where detection, to say the least, would have been difficult. The dress rehearsal was a long-drawn-out agony. The singers were flat; the dancers were everything they shouldn ' t be; the spotlight left the principals in darkness, and played erratically over the holes in the choruses ' stockings and unpainted por- tions of the backdrop. Encouraging people told us that the worse the dress rehearsal went, the better the play would be; and then predicted enormous success for the next night. Miracles occasionally happen. Minstrel Show was one, the Circus was another, but Freshman Show eclipsed even these. Gerry alone was worth the price of admis- sion. Even one of The News ' well refrigerated write-ups thawed a little when it came to her. Everyone who had seen the rehearsal was agreeably startled when the choruses began at the same time as the music. Jinks started by captivating the leader of the orchestra, and ended by enthralling the audience. She whistled not wisely but too 17

Page 23 text:

One Girl ' s Influence We were young and very unformed when we arrived here, but soon, to quote a famous line of Kipling ' s: We learned about College from her. We learned, (or at least those in Rock did I that it was a place with two varieties of bath-tub — the ordi- nary, free-for-all kind, and Hel ' s Tub. It is really unnecessary to state that Hel ' s Tub ivas the first to grow that Shower immortalized in song and story. Verses covered the walls around it. Helen Marie herself began the custom with a little prose poem to the effect that Ladies Will and Others Must. Then Longfellow contributed, This is the bathtub prime evil, and after that poets became so numerous everyone lost count. Sometimes, when our peace was broken by a splash and a scream, we knew that the Shower Bath Belle was ejecting a naked victim who had presumed to use Her Tub. Belinda was the only person who escaped vengeance, and that was certainly because the door was both bolted and barricaded. Inspired by a high resolve, Belinda waited within while Hel waited without. If hunger had not forced Belinda to vacate. Hel would probably be waiting still. I regret that the vagrant dog which Lorna tied in the tub had less fortunate experiences. I always like people to be kind to dumb animals. But don ' t think Hel ' s refining influence was confined to Rock. Everyone on the campus soon knew her as well as they kn9w that there were quarantine regulations. Of course there is the exception of Jule Conklin, who, when writing up a game with the alumnae in 1918, turned to Hel and asked innocently, Name, please ; but cases like that were rare. All our song committee were brought up by Hel in the way they should go, after we once sang a song commencing, Oh Hel- o, oh ' 20, and from that day to this our songs have been noticeably free from profanity. Everybody remembers how Hel kept the Endowment Fund in the public eye. I have often wondered why they passed her over for Isabel Foster in this year ' s publicity campaign. She had unparalled genius for the limelight. Hel was such stuff as myths are made on. By 1930 people will be saying that she threw bathtubs into the corridor and carried the head of Juno about, to use as a missile. I won ' t say Hel couldn ' t have done this, but she never did. However, it is fact and not legend that the florists ' boxes outside her door blocked the traffic every week-end. These degenerate days no longer know the meaning of a crush! Space is wanting to describe Hel at basketball ; at water-polo, with the water of the deep end just reaching her ankles: or, most magnificent of all, in hockey. Only a motion picture could do justice to her unique variety of gallop. But, after all, ath- letics were not her strongest point. She expressed her individuality better in fire drills. They gave scope to her idea of humor and opened up chances for pleasant personal relations with people. 19