Classen High School - Orbit Yearbook (Oklahoma City, OK)

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Classen renditions . . . Wim 3,t,,,,,,B91f9 p F X ax: VK. ' xxx . .K QW X X t by Herbert Gage and Hansford Martin 'K,4,f'L- AS a school, Classen is full of traditions. Along with its less pleasant side, such as grade cards, finals, and makeup time, one of the brighter aspects of school life is its past history. The most noticeable and the most important Classen personage is its principal. Call him lrate Ira, Papa Baker, or The Great White Father, and still everyone will know whom you mean. Whether Mr. Baker ever heard these nicknames or not, no one knows. Anyway heys in on the secret now, so we hasten to reassure the gentleman. Nicknames, at Classen, are usually pretty fair indica- tions of a teacherys popularity. As long as they're nickl names instead of just plain names tacked by the pupils, teachers can be called a success. Mr. Baker has a longer list of nicknames than any one else in the building. I-lis popularity with the students is based largely upon his willingness to see both sides of a situation. If he makes a mistake as he sometimes does, he will do his best to remedy it. It is this innate reasonableness that makes pupils tend to regard Mr. Baker as a human being. One of the highest tributes to his instinctive honesty lies in the fact that Mr. Baker has no more loyal sup- porters than the news staff, yet more than once have those twain tangled on school affairs. A man who can come out of a verbal battle with a dozen students and gain both the victory and their respect ITILISI be more than a figure head and have more than a stuffed shirt. Mr. Charles Wallace, vice-principal, is another man in a difficult position, who has managed to retain the admira- tion of the student body. As head of school discipline, it is Une' Charley who must call down any Classen student who steps out of bounds. Fair in all cases, Mr, Wallace treats a 10B with as much respect as a six-foot footballer, or, if the occasion demands it, as little. Miss Helen Nance and Miss Margot Gainor, those two furies that slap out the make up time slips to sullen students, have become as traditional to Classen as the guil- lotine to France. The chief difference lies in the fact that France has only one guillotine. While all of the faculty are more or less institutions, only a few have become traditions. Foremost of these is Mr. C. E. Grady whom everyone calls K'Pops', behind his back. Way behind. Mr. Grady's mania has to do with cigarettes. The smallest whiff of tobacco is enough to start a temperance lecture, and smoke from a paper match will set Pops' nose twitching like a jack rabbit's. Une of Classenls red letter days was the a. m. some sly prankster deposited a fag on Mr. Gradyys desk. Hold- ing his nose with one hand, and the nasty thing with two fingers of the other, Pops swept the room with a glance that would have withered a cactus, and in his best oratori- cal manner, impressively declared, I even hate to touch that filthy weedf, A former member of the faculty who has even in this short time become a legend is Ludwig Hebestreit. Hebe, as everyone called the tempermental band conductor, spent C45

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The rbit of 1936 Published hy the 'senior class of Classen Highschool, Oklahoma City Foreword Q WITH the aim in mind of commemorating the joys, hopes, and aspirations of this graduating class, the ,36 Orbit presents a graphic account of a year at Classen. Q IT is our sincere desire that every graduate will derive a lasting pleasure and satisfaction from the memo- ries imbued in these pages. Q THE year of 1936 has left a colorful wake behind the Classen Comet. Athletics, Forensics, and Dramatics each has its own spot on the Orbit to flare briefly for a while and then dim as other events outshine its importance. Q AS sparks fly from the tail of the even-progress- ing Comet, so do little incidents of smiles and tears, pathos and humor, romance and friendship, cling to our thoughts in after years. Realizing this, our magazine at- tempts to portray not only the cultural benefits reaped from three years in this institution of secondary educa- tion, but also the more intangible side of our highschool careersg the things that can't be written about for lack of words, but can perhaps be caught in the fleeting snap of the camera. Q BUT really, you know, if you remember your stars, what we call the tail of a comet really points forward and precedes the main body in its travels through space. SO in Our Comet, we have told you what we could of the characters, the dispositions, the abilities, the nature their future careers, and give you an idea of what you may expect Of us. Q THE year 1936 has marked a successful climax for some five-hundred students at Classen. For many it is a finality-and we wish them the greatest success-in the fields they have chosen for their lives' work-for others is still an anti-climax, college, with still a greater road to travel-our wishes for final success are also with them. Q IT is with a sense of pride that we of the year book staff offer this journal for your approval. We have tried to conquer the commonplace in year book style and give you a truly informal slant on life at Classen High. Q THIS page poses as a Foreword. it really is a Back- word, for it is the last thing an Annual Editor ever writes, after all the experience and hard work is over and she has made her resolve that never in a thousand years would she edit another-and then two years later will be pulling strings to get on her college annual. Q MAYBE some of yoh will like it. Some of you certainly will not. Any number of you Could have got- ten out a darned sight better book myselff, If so, why didn't you help? Q But a lot of you did. This book is not the brain child of the editor alone or her staff, but of a lot of people who did help, with ideas and actual work. Q THIS is Our Book. Nancy Marsh, and the ideals of our Seniors as sparks that fly ahead of Editor. Contents FOREWORIJ CLASSEN ATHLETICS Nancy Marsh ,.,,., ....,.,.. P age 3 Vic Yarhorongh ..... tt.stt.., P age 40 O C Cl.ASSEN TRADITIONS YELL LEADERS Herbert Gage ana' Hansford Martin ,... Page 4 Laurie Lisle ...... ......,i.. P nge 48 O I I COVER THE FACULTY FRONT PEP Dick Breen ,,Y,e,A,,YYY,,,,,,o,,,Y,,,,v, ,,e,e-,,,, P age 8 Frances Blacleert .... .. ....,,,.. .Page 49 O I BOARD OF EDucATiON UP AND AT 'EM Laurie Lisle ,,,...,,,,.,,, ....,,.,,, P age ii Hansfora' Martin ,,,. .... .,........ P a ge 52 C C ROWBOAT TO REX SWEET Music Dick Breen v,,,, , ,,,, Page I2 Lillian Reddick ....... ..,,,... P age 60 I I SENIOR CLASS HONORS Hansford illartin . Y.,.. ....s..... P age I4 Nancy ilflarsh ,s......,. ...,...... P age 62 I C UNDERQRADS THOSE GLORIOUS DAYS lack Kilpatrick ,.,,,, ,,,,,,o,,,,,,,,,..,i.,,,,,,,.,.. P age 36 Dick Breen and Herbert Gage ..,.,..,.. Page 64 STAFF ASSTSTANTS-Pauline Gilalet, Virginia Miller, Virginia Hare, loan Ratliff. C35

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The boys' pep clubs are the Hell Hounds and Blue t a decade ,teaching Llassenites orchestra and band, trying to educate inhabitants of Oklahoma City to ap- Qeciate and listen respectfully to good music. It was the latter, 11013 the former, that drove him from his post to a position as a guest conductor for the Victor Music Com- pany. QWill the few cynics who persist in mumbling about salary raise, please leave the room?D While some few will remember the artistic quality of his concerts, about I-lebe one most remembers his ec- centricities and tempers. A born flirt, he made eyes at Classen's prettiest girls, pinched their cheeks, and after the now celebrated band preview in which for the first and last time Classenites threw something more valuable than mills on a stage, firmly planted a kiss on Betty Escalanteis fair brow. But that last can't be called eccentric unless you want to consider Ned Nedved crazy, too. But I-lebels temper was epic. His savage denunciation of audiences, and his scathing lectures to restless students have left an image upon the minds of Oklahoma Citians that will wash deeper with time rather than be eradicated. As the semesters pass, Ludwig will become a legendary fig- ure, half monster, half genius, until the day arrives when todayls subdebs of Classen will make their children's spines tingle with tales of this artistic bogey man. ' Classen has one song which is its own particularly. It is not Dear Classen l-hgh, nor any of the pep tunes, but instead a popular song - l-loagy Carmichaelis lovely and unforgettable Stardust A year ago Guy Lombardo played the piece over the radio in response to a petition of Classcn students. But even before that, so far back no one can remember just how it started, 'KStardustl' has been the school anthem. Today to old grads the play- ing of the refrain brings back not only Classen but a host of half-remembered memories of years gone by. Because it is part of Classenls heart, Stardust'l remains above and beyond all other numbers, Classen's own song. lt is another Stardust which forms another Classen tradition-the annual school anthology. It has been five or six years since the first issue went to press, and since that time the fame of the volume has spread across the United States. No other Classen activity covers so much territory or reaches so many widely separated people. Be- cause of the excellent writing of the contributors, Star- dust has been acknowledged the best highschool publica- tion in the nation, and it, together with Miss Elorette Mc- Neese, who has charge of its publication, and the Creative Writing class, has become one of Classen's proudest tradi- tions. Like brandy, which mellows with age, faculty mem- bers who stay at Classen merely deny traditions about being tt-ched in the haul. Classenls old standbys who have been here longer than the mice in the halls, and the cafe- teria smells include: Ethel Basinger, Iulia Denny, Martha Denny, Isabel Eastland, Marguerite Flood, Edna l-ledges, Arthur Kincaid, Mary Lawson, Della Link, Emma Me- neely, Blanche Paul, Bess Snell, lvlarye Stevens and Edna Stevenson. They were here when they put the building up, rumor has it they'll still be here when the edifice gets C0111 down. Other Classen institutions which have made history include the boys' and girls' pep clubs. The Comes and Classettes have never as yet come to blows over their rival- ry, but you can expect black eyes or cauliflower ears any day. And about as close as Mrs. Stevens and Miss Hol- C55 fs To 4 rnmz who can unhena' without being political, and who can give jiistice f1na'fairnes.v without always being absolutely within the lizw, we give this hook. To iz man who is the stnricnts' friend, and who holds their sincere admiration with nom' of the zisiml student distaste for authority-to iz rnizn, not iz priiitiptil, to ii good sport, and ri gentlerniln, to iz lender, to Ira W. Baker, we give this, the Orhit of 1936. landl' is a darn good synonym for anything plenty far apart. lackets, or have you heard? Besides beating on each other, they beat on their pledges. CWe ought to know.j The Yellow Iacketsl initiations got so brutal last year that after one particularly bloody fray, Mr. Baker, who helps sponsor the organization, ordered all hazing cut out, and since that time the membership list has jumped remarkably. The Blue Iackets instead of having an initiation have six hot alleys, one a week, and the combination of a hot alley and a cold night is something that has left lasting impressions on more than one Classen lad. Between halves of all Classen football games the pep clubs usually vie with each other in marching Ollf on the field, waving flashlights in all directions, or forming curves and pothooks, generally giving the appearance of a bunch of Busbee Berkley chorus girls on a big drunk. This is known as a stunt, We've heard it called other things, too, but can't print them here. Normanfis filled with cases of spectators driven frantic trying tb figure out what these stunts were supposed to represent. No one has ar- rived at a satisfying solution yet.