Elmwood School - Samara Yearbook (Ottawa, Ontario Canada)

Page 15 text:

SAMARA 13 VI Upper Summa Summarum ; with these words the magic carpet floated gently upwards into the air. It was a beautiful day and as we floated peacefully over the Atlantic, a tiny speck became visible on the horizon. At a closer range we discovered it to be a small yacht, and the strains of A Life on the Ocean Wave reached our ears. We then saw a figure dressed in patched blue jeans and a beige shirt striding across the tiny deck with mop over shoulder and pail in hand. Who should it be but Dee Collens. After a few cheerful greetings, we turned towards the English coast. It was the day of the Grand National and the horses were at the starting gate. In the spectators ' stand Ann Edwards was nervous- ly pacing up and down. Then they were off — it ' s a fight from the start. Now they are coming down the home stretch, neck and neck; it looks like a tie. Suddenly a horse shoots forward over the finish line. Who should it be but Macduff, Good work Ed; after twenty years of trying you finally made it. Now off to Paris. Suddenly beneath us we see a large crowd frantically buying books. Approaching we see a figure standing on a platform, obviously the author. To our sur- prise we find it is Barbara Gibson. Barb has just written Better Cake Recipes in five different languages! Congratulations, Barb! Turning back, we float to New York, where the neon signs are flashing the hit show of the year — ' ' ' ' The Merry -go-roimd . The composer, director, leading lady, critic and audience is our own Lucinda Crozier. Later at Colombia University we find Dor- othy Gates H.P.S. (head Professor of Span- ish). It is said that the Spanish classes are the largest on record, and everyone (except the other blondes) receives top honours! It is quite late and so our carpet floats northward over Western University; we no- tice all lights are out except for a dwindling candle. Here, buried among books, we find Betty Gibbs trying to find an immediate re- mover of silver nitrate. Finally, passing over a small farm buried in a forest, we see Marjorie Cottingham hap- pily milking a cow. At least she has found the profession at which she is the happiest. So we leave a happy, if not prosperous group, and return home. VI Matric. VI Matric is one of Elmwood ' s largest forms this year. Our popular form mistress, Miss Dixon, though busy with other school duties, always finds time to pull us out of scrapes! At the Hallowe ' en party in October, we combined with VI Upper and put on a Minstrel Show. This was great fun, and en- joyed by all present. The characters of each of us are, I think, best summed up by the following quotations: Betsy Alexander — Every why hath a where- • fore. I Mary Code — We tire of those pleasures we take, but never of those we give. Andrea Hadley — Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet. Jackie Nothnagel — Good humour makes all things tolerable.

Page 14 text:

12 SAMARA finds herself lost and frightened in this out- spoken family. There is no doubt about the audience ' s en- joyment of the play. Very soon they were laughing freely at a witty line, or a dramatic pose from Judith. As we left the theatre, all the comments we could hear around us as friends compared notes, conveyed how much everyone had enjoyed the play, and how much they felt the cast deserved very high commendation. For the following account of Pride and Prejudice , the play of the Elmwood Senior Dramatics Class, we are indebted to the Ot- tawa Citizen : By Carl Weiselberger At Shakespeare ' s Globe Theatre the parts of women had to be played by young men and the female charm of Julia, Ophelia or Rosalind often enough depended on the more or less white and smooth cheeks of the young male actors who had to portray them. The Senior Dramatic Art Class of Elmwood School, who acted out Pride and Prejudice last night did the opposite: With only girls on hand, the elegant gentlemen Darcy, Bing- ley, Wickham, Rev. Collins from Jane Aus- ten ' s novel, were portrayed by young ladies who in picturesque, late i8th century frock- coats with embroidered sleeves and frills, looked convincingly masculine. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen in their elegant but confined homes, said Charlotte Bronte of Jane Eyre ' s Demon Lover . . . The fundamental theme of Pride and Preju- ' dice, which has been turned by Helen Jerome into a charming, witty sentimental comedy ' is that old tradition by which hero and hero- ine must either marry wealth or at least in- herit it, and Mrs. Bennet shows her undis- guised anxiety to make good matches for her daughters. Charming Play Produced by Betty Briggs (Central School of Speech Training; London University Di- ploma in Dramatic Art), the charming play developed at a lively pace, and the large audience enjoyed fully the witty dialogue and fluent action. There was hardly a dull or dragging moment; the grouping of the characters on the stage was natural, and with their elegant, courteous, rounded gestures the charm of Rococo pictures was achieved. Beautifully designed, colorful period cos- tumes, the lovely stage-sets of the Bennet home and Lady De Bourgh ' s drawing room, added to the i8th century atmosphere of the gay-sentimental comedy. It would be unfair to single out individual players for particularly gifted performances. The emphasis was obviously placed on team- work and smooth co-ordination. Considering the youth of the players and the fact that some of them had to portray their opposite sex, surprisingly good characterizations were achieved. We liked the clear diction and in- telligent phrasing of the students, results of careful speech training, which is usually one of the weakest points with amateur produc- tions. As in previous years, the principal roles were again divided in order to give as many girls as possible a part large enough to show the progress each has made in voice and ex- pression during the year. Warm applause, and many chuckles and hearty laughs thanked producer and players for a splendid evening, which revealed talent and artistic taste far beyond the level of an average school play. In addition to this play by the Senior Dra- matics class, Forms VA, VB, and VC are putting on Shakespeare ' s Merchant of Ven- ice and IVA, IVB, and IVC are to give Rip Van Winkle by Herman Ould. Both these plays are to be presented after Easter. Also after Easter, the ballet class is to give a demonstration, which we look forward to with interest. '

Page 16 text:

14 SAMARA Judy McCulIoch — Nothing succeeds like suc- cess. Sofia Setton — Man has his will — but woman has her way. Persis Brunet — Take care of the minutes and the hours will take care of themselves. Shirley Smith — Laugh and the world laughs with you. Sallie McCarter — What is thine is mine, and all mine is thine. Chris Nothnagel — Much study is a weariness of the flesh. Judy Nesbitt — Make use of time, let not ad- vantage slip. Gail Baird — For there was never yet fair woman, but she made mouths in a glass. Alannah Busk — My heart is ever at your service. Sheila Hughes — Man is a social animal. Wendy Weston — Temperate in all things. Sascha Mavor — O call back yesterday, bid time return. Form V A Do not expect our form notes to be very exciting — 5A did not expect to be 5A, and we did not have time to prepare an exciting year for you to read about. Quite innocently we came to school in Sep- tember planning to be 5B, but Fate decreed otherwise; to our infinite surprise we were promoted to 5A. So if you notice us acting a bit oddly, and our exalted teachers find us a bit fuzzy, have pity on the Afflicted of Al- lah; the vortex of work has us quite dazed. We have managed to produce the odd bits of excitement, however. The first was the Form Play, ' ' Mortgage Manof a tragic drama about a little family faced with expul- sion from the old homestead. The roles were taken by Norma Baird as the Heroine, Wen- dy Quain as the Hero, Leslie Jackson as the ' illain, Diane Boyd — Aged Aunt, Judy Har- greaves— Detective, Mary Burns— Uncle. The lights were managed by Marion McKenzic, and the play written by Mary Burns. The next happening of interest was our Social Event of the Season — the form tea. It almost didn ' t take place because of a slight difficulty with the sandwiches— there weren ' t any — but we were saved by the gallant Les- lie Jackson who disappeared into the horizon at lunch time and came back in the afternoon with unlimited supplies. It must have been Magic . . . However, the Tea was a great success. The Guests of Honour were Miss Dixon, Miss Adams, Miss Smith, and Miss Neal, who poured tea. The latest excitement has been the discov- ery of a wonderful movie house in ' UU called de Bijou, which is our favourite ' angout. Per- haps you ' ave ' eard us talk aboud it — it ' s wan fine place, dat! ' Bye now see you dere sometime, eh? Form V B For a long time V B had the distinction of having only three members and we could boast of being the cosiest form in the school. Even though increased to four we are still pretty compact. We share some things with V A, but are not to be confused with them. We held a joint form tea early this year, and we share their passion for de Bijou. These are our members — Norma Baird, our form captain. She is indeed a social b(a)ird! Norma ' s happiest mom ent of the school day comes at lunch time — but that also goes for at least three-quarters of V B. She has found that not a gentle answer, but also a sweet and appealing face, turneth away wrath. Pat Knowlton is our vice-captain. She is good at sports, and is the Intermediate Bad- minton Champion. At the moment, Pat ' s greatest interest is in letter writing. Judy Maclaren is the skater of the form. She recently carried off honours by winning the Devonshire Cup. If you should happen to see a blue streak with a brown coat on racing for the streetcar, you ' ll know it ' s Judy head- ed for the Minto again. And if she should have a book under her arm it ' s because of Aliss Smith ' s campaign to try to make our Judy more literary.