Eleanor McMain High School - Echoes Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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i. i 1 Q I X 1 I 3 .fr 1 -vu.-v -oo.. r ' J, A Festival of Pan-Americana NTAKE one cowboy chorus, one group of southern belles, numer- ous Latin-American beauties, blend together with appropriate -music and dances, season with a lovely queen and her maids, and you have the for- mula for one of the loveliest pageants ever presented by McMain High School. The McMain Spring Festival this year added its contribution to the Good Neighbor Policy of the Unit- ed States by choosing Pan-American- ism as its theme. Queen Columbia ruled, and the representatives of the various nations of the Western Hem- isphere came to pledge their friend- ship. Patricia Callahan was a beau- tiful and gracious sovereign, and her six charming maids were Kathryn Nelson, Margery Mendes, Gayle Bal- dinger, Virginia Rush, Rachel Fort- na, and Frances Guidry. The first half of the program was devoted to the United States and was called We're All Americans. Three dances typical of this country were performed-a gay country dance, a military tap dance, and an old-fashioned barn dance that was greatly appreciated by the audience. A tribute to the famous American cowboy was made by a group singing well-known Western songs, such as: Wagon Wheels, Saddle Your Blues to a Wild Mustang, and sev- Daphne Roy, '42 eral others, ending with the peren- nial favorite, Home on the Range. For the c-oncluding numbers of this part of the program the Glee Club sang We're All Americans, and, while six soldiers fMcMainians in uniform, of coursej performed a drill, rendered There's Something About a Soldier. The navy had its turn as a group of sailors swabbed decks with the Glee Club cheering them on to the tune of I Saw the Sea. The act ended with a thrilling tri- bute to the American flag called You're a Grand Old Flag, sung by the Glee Club with members of the Junior Red Cross, the soldiers and sailors acting as color guard. Between the acts the songbird of McMain, Etta Mae Palmisano, sang Estrellita in her usual delightful IY12.l'1Tl6l'. The second act opened with the stage darkened and bare but for a large American fiag in the back- ground with spotlights thrown upon it, and waving as bravely as though it were flying in the wind from the top of the highest flagpole. Stand- ing before the effectively lighted and displayed fiag, America sent her messengers to extend an invitation to all the nations of the Western hem- isphere. Each representative 'made her entrance to music identified with her country, and was announced by a commentator. Several performed dances native to their land-among them a Mexican. hat dance, a Cuban rhumba, a dance of the Dominican Republic-and the whole group joined in the Latin-American conga. In the midst of the gaiety of this dance, a symbolic note was intro- duced by the appearance of the three demons: Famine, War, Pestilence, and their followers. The Western nations were subdued for a while by these forces, but the spirit of Pan- Americanism was strong enough to overcome them, then the entrance of America brought new hope to the countries, and their representatives arose to sing, gladly and thankfully, God Bless America. This tribute to international co- operation was made possible by in- traschool cooperation among teach- ers and students. Special credit goes to the art, speech, and gym teachers for their excellent direction of the program. Laurels also are due Mr. Kirst and the orchestra, whose, fine musical accompaniment helped to carry out the theme. Time- ly in its relation to national policy and entertaining in itself, this pro- gram with its gay music, lightheart- ed dances, and the optimistic hope of its theme served as a fitting wel- come to spring. To You Iennie Bell Germann, '41 Days are long and hours years As I wait and dream of you. I long to hold you rlose. Alas, Your home is in the blue. Some time in long Eternity 1'll meet you once again- And whisper tenderly, At last- I did not wait in vain. Dim ples Muriel Bonie, 41 A dimple here- And a dimple there Those dimples, you just love to wear! Whene'er you laugh Or even speak, They dance across Your rosy cheek. E - C - H - O - E - S Thirty-seven

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'W 1-V . Y COTTON! Cotton! It is the life and breath of our Southland, and, therefore, we should be more aware of it as it surrounds our everyday lives. In order to make everyone cotton-conscious the business Amen of the South have banded together to educate the public on the subject of cotton. As a part of the program McMain was indeed privileged, one day this spring, to listen to a talk given by Miss Alice Beasley, the red-headed Maid of Cotton. Clad in a very becoming blue and white dress and an enchanting wide-brimmed white hat-both of cotton-Miss Beasley made a very charming picture as she told us- The aim of the campaign is to make everyone cotton-conscious- conscious of the many and various uses and advantages of cotton. In her brief but interesting chat Miss Beasley discussed the Memphis Cotton Carnival, which is the culmi- nation of this program and urged us The Cotton Maid Mary E. Knight, '41 all to be there through the week of parades, fireworks, flowershows, and balls climaxed on Saturday night by a spectacular parade after the ar- rival of King Cotton on a gaily-be- decked river barge. Visitors from far and near throng the streets to pay homage to Southland's king- Cotton. At the close of the program we approached her to obtain a closer look at her sheer cotton stockings and to discuss the Cotton Carnival. In the course of our conversation charming Miss Beasley, or Alice, as she asked us to call her, told us of her tour. For about 15,000 miles she has been exploiting cotton, the lifeblood of our com-munities, awak- ening the Deep South to the fact that her welfare is inseparably con- cerned with the welfare of her main product. Starting from Nashville and continuing from there to Miami, Tampa, St. Augustine, and Jackson- ville to Mobile, taking a plane to Houston which was forced down along the way, she finally reached New Orleans. Although this was not her first visit to our fair city, she still found much she had never seen. Some day, she said with a definite air, I'm going to live in New Orleans and really become acquainted with the whole city. There's so much to see, and every time I'm here it's for such a short time I never have any opportunity to explore. We will all be looking forward to the time when New Orleans will be again honored with the presence of the blue-eyed cotton sponsor. Indeed, after such an inspiring talk by the attractive exponent of charm we of McMain are now fully aware not only of the necessity of the ad- vancement of cotton but also of its desirability as a clothing fabric to en- hance our personal appearance. Pluma Darling jane Whiteside, '41 Early one October morn In a world of hate and strife, A little darling babe was born. 'Twas a flower brought to life. Her eyes were of a heavenly hue, Her hair like a sheaf of goldf And in those eyes of deepest blue A tale of love was told. She filled our lives with hope and light, Her laughter made us gay. She stood for everything that's right ln her loving baby way. But even God knew all these things In his Eingdom of the sky, And now she, with the angels, sings, Never again to die. It Happened Etta Mae Palmisano, '41 It did not happen on a moonlit night- Nor on a midnight still,' It did not happen in starry light- Nor by a freaking mill. It happened amid a lot of noise- With lots of people aboutf It happened so sweetly, quietly- I wanted to .ring and shout! What happened to me was just this- And here's just how it goes: He seemed so nite and gentle, that I thought he might propose. He's hind and good, I like him lots- He's swept me off my feet. He happened on me suddenly:- just when our eyes did meet. Thirty-six E-C-H-O-E-S

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The International Conference of Rotary AT present, our attention is turned to tne Pan Ame1'ican countries, and our art classes at McMain under the direction of Miss Peters, worked on their latest unit-masks, head- dresses, and costumes for the Inter- national Conference of Rotary held Monday, April 21, at the St. Charles Hotel. The headdresses, each 1'epresent- ing the natural resources of a Pan- American country, were as follows- leather, from Argentina, was repre- sented 'by a bull's head decorated with all the prize winning ribbons. Bolivia exports tin, and our students worked this idea out in a geometric designg coffee leaves and coffee beans formed the headdress for Brazilg cop- per, from Chile, was portrayed by a headdress worked into huge copper threaded circles. Everyone wishes for a headdress like that of Colum- bia--made of emeraldsg Costa Rica sends us tuna fish, hence the two Hshg eight stalks of sugar cane formed the chapeau of Cubag the immense headgear for the Dominican Repub- lic was made of tobacco leaves, al- though the headpiece of Ecuador was not so large, it was attractive, being made of small panama hats. Stalks of rice decorated the headpiece of El Salvador. Guatemala's hat was two huge bunches of bananas, and, since Louisiana and Haiti a1'e com- petitors in cotton, the head covering from Haiti was symbolized by two bales of cotton leaning against each other. From Honduras we have a bunch of coconuts. Mexico's head- piece was silver ore, while Peru's was gold orc. Nicaragua's gift to the conference was an immense pineap- ple. Shells of various sizes were Panama's contributiong the headpiece of Paraguay was different kinds of citrus fruits. From our own United States, the headpiece represented agriculture with various vegetables decorating the crown, a sack of wool was the hat of Uruguay, and the fam- ous black gold or oil was the cha- peau of Venezuela. Canada's head- clress was made of furs. But the headdresses were not all that were made for this conferenceg the art classes also made masks de- Famine, Death, picting Pestilence, Intolerance, Power, War, Greed and Tbirt V-eig bl . 4 7 ,D ' V N-2 Fire-all the disastrous consequences that are caused by war. The process in making these masks and headpieces is most fascinating- first, clay is shaped into a design, then the object is covered with cello- phane. After this is completed, a layer of crushed brown paper is put over the design, and two more layers of the paper are put on with the aid of paste. When this is finished, the mask or headpiece is either painted or covered with colored paper in the same manner as the process with the brown paper. All costumes for this conference were designed from authentic pic- tures of our Pan-American neighbors. Each outfit, having been created by the art students, was complete in every detail from the shoes to the hats, a few costumes were originals, having been worn by the natives, others were made in the art classes, or by experienced dressmakers, but ALI. were designed by McMain's own students. Congratulations to Miss Peters and her art students for their very ex- cellent work! 'lf ,lf Sis Miss Hester's first course class is at present being taught Creative Floral Designs by Mrs. Witherspoon of Newcomb. Miss Hester's classes have just finished Carnival Posters, masks, and designs for costumes. As special work, Valarie Fitzgerald and Nancy Lockwood are making an il- luminated poster of the Spanish- American War Veterans' definition of Americanism for our principal, Miss Leckert. Pk ak Sk Miss Doize's classes are now doing designs of action taken from photo- graphs which will be painted in water colors. lk Pl: Pl! At present both art rooms are dis- playing beautiful water color paint- ings by contemporary artists. Among the displayed are the following: Winter by the Sea and Brighten- ing Siene by John Wharf, Skating in Central Park and Sponge Fish- ing-Bahamas by Winslow Homer, The Cobblers and Sunset by Jules Merving Wild Horses painted by Allen Saalsburyg The Flying Codonas by John Stuart Curry and Summer by Max Weber, Nobody's Cast by Peggy Bacon and Harlem River by Preston Dickerson. Vera Barton, '41. Cordell Hull is an extremely cautious speaker, striving always for scien- tific accuracy. One day, on a train, a friend pointed to a fine flock of sheep grazing in a field. Look, those sheep have just been sheared, he said. Hull studied the flock. Sheared on this side, anyway, he admitted. -American Magazine. E-C-H-O-E-S