Harvard University - Red Book Yearbook (Cambridge, MA)

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A Small but Devoted Group Keeps the Debate Council Going Though lack of interest and other difficulties, financial and military, reduced Harvard debating to a bare subsistence level during the war, '46 members took a leading part in the ne of the seven '46 men already debates that could be held. O on the Debate Council in 1942-1943, Francis D. Woidich, won one of the annual Coolidge prizes awarded to the best speakers in the trials for the Harvard-Yale-Princeton triangular debates, ' ' ' f U 't l and s oke against Princeton on the question o a ni ec P Nations Federal Union. He was subsequently appointed resident of the Council, an office he was to hold until 1945, P with Philip Troen '45 as secretary-treasurer. Leopold H. Haimson '46 and Ellis Kaplan '46, added on their debate against Haver- ford on the topic of a post-war military alliance with Russia. Another member of the Class, William Cahill, entered the ' ' d c- Boston Renard- Amerzmn J oratory contest and compete su Woidich, Troen, to the Council the next year, w cessfully in several of their tournaments. Haimson and Kaplan bore the load of Ivy League debating in the spring of 1944, which included a special election year idential fourth term, but Ronald illiam Gorvine '46 also spoke in the Columbia and Holy Cross debates, andjohn Rowe '46 teamed up with Woidich to take on Tufts the following fall. . . . . . .b.l. the As intercollegiate debating declined in feasi iity, Harvard Council instituted intra-Council debates, with student judges and informal critiques, to improve platform technique and debate procedure and to stimulate interest, andjohn Rowe '46 and Edwin jacob '47 drew up a report to the Committee on Liberal Education outlining plans for increased scope of debating activity in peacetime. ' Cambridge University Wins The plans began to bear fruit in 1946, as membership and alumni financial support materialized, and the Debate debate with Yale on the pres Newburgh '46 and W b Marks '47 Ronald G Newburgh '46, CLEFTJ 1943-44. Back Row: Al ertj. , . . ' ' ' f ' f D, Donald S. Willner '47 Arthur D. Sporn 47. Serum! Row. G-orge H Fenne Philip Troen '45 CSecretary-Trearurerj, Francis DeS. Woidich '46 CPrer1dcnlj A C lill '46 Front Row' Henry H Nattens '47, William Gorvine '46 William . ai . . . CRIGHTJ 1947-48. Bark Row: William J. Gibbons '49, Sedgwick W. Green ' ' ' ' '4 L onard H. Schwall '47, Hugh H. Hill '48, 50, Richard D. Klerndienst 7, e Edwin -I. Jacobs 47, Monroe S. Singer 47 fMmm,r,er , ' ' ' e . ll '46,john G. Rowe 46, Ed Jacobs '47 and Bill Bailey '46 confer during their debate with Cambridge University. derick Council adopted a new constitution, added Professor Fre C. Packard, jr. '20 as faculty adviser, and debated a wide variety of subjects against teams ranging from California to McGill. The season's climax, witnessed by a record crowd of 350, saw William P. D. Bailey '46 and Edwin jacob '47 match wits and words creditably but unsuccessfully against a crack team from Cambridge University in England. The Council has since continued its expansion, or- ganizing inter-House debating and a Freshman Debating Council, and joining the newly-formed Ivy Debating League. The resulting renewed interest and stiff competition augur well for the future of debating at Harvard. G. R. Melvin L. Zurier '50, Eli Kaminsky '47,john A. Lucal '48, Edward F. Burke '50. Second Row: Robert S. Hirschfleld '50, Morton J. Franklin '49, Paul L. Wright '49, Peter H. Clayton '50, Claude G. Richie, jr. '49, Don S. Willner '47, Lynn W. Eley '50, Richard Firth '48, Howard L. Swartzman '47. Front Row: Ray A. Goldberg '48, William P. D. Bailey '46, Daniel M. Pierce '49, Monroe S. Singer '47, Robert M. Beren '47 fPreridenlj, Detlev F. Vagts '49f Vire Preridentj, Mortimer . S. Steinberg '47 fTreururerJ, J. Philip Bahn '49 Uecrelaryj, Lucian C. Parlato '50. mumwjsw 17

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Band set new records in marching and drilling that fall, and after the Yale game Mal Holmes, the Band's severest critic, told them As far as I'm concerned, you've had an unbeaten season. A Symphony Hall concert with the Radcliffe Choral Society climaxed a rich and ambitious musical year for the Band. justly proud of past successes, departing '46 Bands- men look for their successors to reach new musical landmarks, as they, too, partake of the rigorous training and devoted es- prit de corps that has made the Harvard Band the nation's best. Ten Thousand Men of Har- vard. Intricate formations are a Band specialty. The 1946 Band defied Musician Union boss Petrillo to record the very popular Ivy League Album of college medleys A second album appeared in April, 1949. 12791

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The Language Clubs are a Valuable Supplement to Classroom lnstruction CLUB FRANCAIS As the pre-war Cercle Francais disintegrated in 1943, the Club Francais was organized, with the sponsorship of Dr. Pucciani and Professor Morize of the French Department, to encourage social gatherings and conversation among French- speaking students and promote the study of French culture. Besides these traditional pursuits, the French Club founded a literary periodical, Le Cube, to stimulate creative writing in French, and staged several French plays before appreciative audiences. La Comeclie de Celui Qui Epozzm Une Femme Muette, by Anatole France, was given in December 1946, shortly followed by Deval's Towzritela, capably directed by Olivier de Messieres '46, later president of the Club, and starring jean C.'Guiet '46 as the Russian Prince Ouratief. Student caps and beer add color to the Verein Turmwaechter, which, true to its name, meets in the Lowell House Tower Room. CLUB HISPANICO DE HARVARD The Spanish speaking members of '46 played a large part in the organization of the Harvard Spanish Club in August 1943, and Thomas A. Wood, jr. '46 and Ivan Diaz de Aldrey '47 became its first presidents. The Club's first active year included lectures on Latin American literature, talks by South American diplomats, travel films, and a full-length Mexican film, La Noche de Los Mayas. Club membership decreased during the wartime doldrums, but a reorganization in 1946 under the name of Club Hispanico de Harvard and the avail- ability of the facilities of the Modern Language Center have enabled the Club to schedule an increased program of lectures, films, cultural and social gatherings. 12811- VEREIN TURMWAECHTER Beer and a lively club spirit has always characterized Harvard's German Club, and the periodic meetings in the Lowell House Tower radiated Lieder and Gemuetlichkeit in all directions. The Club strove to preserve the better traditions of German culture during the war, with German music, carols and songs, and social gatherings such as the Ausfiuege nach Radcliffe. A revived postwar German Club has augmented its activities by presenting the best of German language motion pictures, such as Willi Forst's Die Operette. CIRCOLO ITALIANO Lacking the large numbers of language concentrators and foreign students that support other language clubs, the Circolo Italiano has had an up-and-down existence. The latest reorganization brought new strength to the Club in 1946 under President Raphael Zariski '46, and by the next year the Circolo was able to produce the first Italian play in its history, Pirandello's La Giezra. The Club's policy of serving fine Italian wines to loosen reticent tongues at their conversational gatherings has continued, as has the valuable collaboration of the group's Radcliffe auxiliary. ORIENTAL CLUB Organized in 1943, the Oriental Club drew its member- ship from Harvard students from China, India, Turkey, and other nations of the Middle and Far East. Club officers, including Harish Mahindra '46, presented a dance in honor of Pandit Nehru's nieces, Chandralekha and Nayantera Pandit, and a public concert in january, 1944, with the co-operation of Dr. and Mrs. Eliot Perkins of Lowell House. Hoping to acquaint Western audiences with the unfamiliar traditions of Oriental music, members of the Club performed melodies native to their homelands on the instruments for which they were composed, and danced in native costumes. Native costumes and musical instruments appeared at the Oriental C1ub's concert in Lowell House in 1944.