Columbia University - Columbian Yearbook (New York, NY)

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ionship to its members, as long as it will have connected with it fond associa- tions of energetic Work for this or that project: enthusiastic advocacy of this or that view, and as long as the Weekly meetings, Where so much is said and. fortunately, so much less done, are not only looked back to With pleasure but anticipated with eagerness, as long shall Philolexian subsist and deserve to subsist. Its history clearly indicates that the indulgence by its members of their major intellectual passions,-Whether eloquence or tiddle-de-Winks,-is its sole and sufficient reason for eziistence. M. .f2.Q,,a,'.,,,. .silmf JA! ' ,11.'.v.,, za W ,M 2, ,..........-la., efvv- . it ' 4. ..,,gv-LZ: 4 A., .., 1. N e .., M. T.. V. fc ,, 'fa Ziff.-1..-pi' M. . M, . , .. , P Msn.. .sa rn ,.-.,,.. ,flu y -,,,..., w...r4..' ...W fr. --. .vw 1 51 7 5 tm'

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It was not until 1880, after Barnard had been founded, that joint public debates were held. The result of the first was so disastrous to Philo that for a number of years the Society remained intra muros forensically. From 1894 on, however, the joint debates were resumed, ceasing only in l909 after ten Philo victories and one default to Barnard's twelve' and three. - During these years a number of now prominent alumni tried their wings in oratorical flights of no mean altitude to judge from the nature of the ques- tion at issue and the persistence of their trials. We note such names as A. G. Hays '02, Wellington Koo '09, Dixon Ryan Fox '11, Arthur W. McMahon '12, Parker Moon 'l3. Some of these indeed, were instrumental in the inception of the Philo- lexian play tradition. D. R. Fox and A. W. McMahon were on the committee that produced the first Philo play, which is also the first English comedy, Ralph Roister Doisterf' The next year, A. W. McMahon was Chairman of the Committee and Manager of the second production, Frier Bacon and Prier Bongayf' With that second success, dramatic Philo was fairly launched in an activity fully as engrossing as moral suasion or argumentative endeavor had been to literary Philo in the past. Together with the annual dramatic production, the custom has developed again of reading literary pieces, either original or from books, before the Society. When the committee has finished reporting on plays or moving the House to sit as a Committee of the Vifhole, a previously designated member brings to the attention of the Society perhaps a new masterpiece of his own composition or an extraordinary find These very often excite the other members to criticism, discussion and even to the exposition of esthetic theories of the utmost interest. Within the memory .K F f, ...., , ., , in of present members, the f .it ffwfff' 0 ip reading of James Joyce's 1,1 3 ,,7gfQ'Q?,i2g2f'j1i7g3f'i'j'iff. At'. Q, A' Ulysses fpassimj, p 5 A f if ',fy 2 Milne's When We Were ' A f .X 1' l ,., ' 1 Very Young, selections Q e - qfblii. e p .,- -pp ip I from South Wind, ,Q f Q, ,g 17 gg? i'Richard Kane, Zu- 1 Nfft jf, leika Dobson and the f 1 ll, l ' P fi Children of Morning- ' Cf 5 ' I 4' 5 A 'if M' , - f' if.,-tp., side evoke most happy .... i'70UV,m5ffT353bli0.ifcfflifai' , ,I fi g . . A h Q s fgfxgffjlf-5. . .' M+2:v -.,. p: .,, ISQCOHCCUOTIE- P50125 TC 5 i'o.z,i,a-:mi t3l:1'hllgfiQNI:QNBCU73Ql30RA.i'ES-eS'l'5 Nl must not e exe u e t e . 5 X-afgfidg fVJ'fE J,?ff-':L - Q ' annual intimate dramatic i fy if offering presented by the E ff ..,... ..,f, ,,,.. A newly-elected members. ya, . ,,.p. .,.. , .,,. .,.,.,.',LQ.1,gy,i,y,,.a,, f,E,g,f5 ,.,. 4 5 Such gems as 'iPelleas and f Qf,,,,, pl ,Q ,,,,, A ,.,, . ,,,., alia...-, ,,,, .,,.iQ,,,L. ,..,,,,z,,,?g p Mel1S3Hd6,,, The Ciolden 5 ...aa l A 3 A Star, and Spooks, de- ' ii 7,L.,,,,..' , Sefive feqgi-ding fOr 3 pqg- A l,7,m,,7,,,, 4.,jw?JWi 11, 1 terity which we trust will 3, Q i J FET- I 1 - '- 5 Q 1 -A. 'wk' '- 'z'7':'fff5 -T last -another century Or in g p. two. . T5 'I in 3 . 5. in ' 1 f As long as Phdolex- i - ian will mean intellectual ',,,- stimulation and compan- l 35 1'

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llllllIlllIIll'lWks,..' 3-5:35.11 5 if H12 -f - la F- 4 ' W- E 'E -am The Story of Spectator BY SAMUEL E. MURRAY III U dig IFTY years! A half a century of overwhelming changes, a para- ' 132' doxical half century of gradual growth, of swift retardation: iff .uflfii . . , . . . . kaleidoscopic images of the College it mirrors. Such is the history 94 5417125 -' T:ffci25 QI ..,,.,'1 of Spectator, such will be its future. The forbears and rivals of Spectator have been few. Going back in remote history, we find that The Philolexian is the first publication of any sort of which we have any record. Stillborn, it appeared on February 26, 1815, and was a manuscript newspaper, designed to be read before the society. The idea of a college paper had, however, evidently taken root, and in December of the same year we find its successor, The Philolexian Observer, patterned after The Philolexian, but achieving a life-period of some four months, and coming out twelve times under anonymous editorship. The suggestion that it be printed and distributed more widely was discussed by the editor and firmly turned down: and the distinction of being the first college newspaper in America was thus lost for posterity. Academic Recreations, next in chronological line, made its bow two years later, and after a short time it too suspended publication in July, 1815. It was sponsored by the Peithologian Society, ancient rivals of Philolexian. Fifty-three long years elapsed before anything appeared that can be con- sidered a predecessor of Spectator. ln 1868 the first issue of Cap ana' Gown was published. lt took as one of the planks in its editorial policy, the establishment of the so-called New System, by which marks and strict classroom discipline would be abolished. After a short trial of the system the Faculty decided that it was a failure, and substituted what is, with minor changes, the present regime. ln line with its policy of expansion, Cap and Gown added a board of editors from the School of Mines and enlarged its scope in the Fall of 18733 at the same time changing its name to Acta Columbiana. This was as much of a magazine as a newspaper, and it seemed to perform its double function well. A sudden luxuriating of extra-curricular activities was responsible, among other things, for the establishment of Spectator, Athletics had become popular 1371