Lafayette High School - Legend Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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1946 marked the initiation of a non-coed cafeteria system. The class of '64 did not pursue this policy and actually reversed the idea when, in 1962, Dance Gym nwent coed. 1964 was the year that politics went more coed than ever before as Margaret Chase Smith announced that she would be a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination. 1950 marked a year of economic crisis in New York City schools. At Lafayette, all extra-curricular activities came to a halt as teachers called for higher salaries. The class of 1964 witnessed another such crisis when, in 1962, teachers struck for higher wages and improved school conditions. There were no extra-curricular ac- tivities, but there was no school either. 1954 was a year of three great Nfirstsf' The first annual Sing was held and it was greeted with so much enthusiasm that Sing has become a tradition at Lafayette. Another first was the publication of the Lafayette Guide, which has continued to plague practical joke-playing Seniors in its negligence in omitting all mention of the Lafayette swimming pool. Still another first was the Book Fair. Seniors of '64 feel that they have benefited from the first 'ffirstf' suffered from the second, and improved upon the last. Now, Lafayette no longer has to depend upon the Book Fair as a sole means of obtaining the latest books. 1964 saw the completion of the new branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, located just one block from the school. Ripples of discontent are slightly audible from late session pupils who have no ex- cuse for not completing research assignments ....

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While Lafayette theater-goers in the early '4O's idolized Eugene O'Neill, to- day's theater-goers dismiss him as being quite uderriere-garden and are turning toward Edward Albee, writer of such avant-garde plays as THE ZOO STORY and THE AMERICAN DREAM. QNot that this preference is an indication of any signiheant change in the students themselvesj In the 1940's, a Mr. Milton Novak was teaching at Lafayette. Wlhile the school has no teacher of that name in the '6O's, many students will always remember how much they enjoyed watching the popular television program, MR. NOVAK. This program features the adventures of a young high school teacher, and many Lafay- ette students identified Mr. Novak with some of this sehool's handsome. intellectual and mature pedagogues. Students of 1941-1 showed their admiration for simple, country styles in their famous PTA Barn Dance, while Lafayette Seniors displayed similar tastes in their 1964 Hootenanny. fAlthough such contemporary stars as Peter, Paul, and Mary Could not be present, Lafayette music-lovers used their ingenuity and such stars as Susan, Vicki, and Jonny appearedj

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In the area of fashions, the chemise style became the rage of Lafayette in 1958. The shift dress, a beltless style dominating '64 fashions, is a direct descendant of the rage of '58. New York was the site of the 1939 World's Fair, and countless Lafayette stu- dents must have serimped for weeks to view the great spectacle. The class of '64 was also privileged when the 1964- VVorld's Fair opened in New York. Q1fVe're quite sure that proximity to Lafayette was a major consideration in the choosing of the site in both '39 and '64.j Wlho says that history doesn't repeat itself? Through 25 years, two wars, many innovations, five wonderful principals, and high intellectual and moral values, thousands of students will remember Lafayette and, reminiscing over the LEGEND, will repeat the name of the school with a certain inflection, a certain far away, fan- tasy-like tone, which will express all the milestones, triumphs, and ideals of the crucial four years which every Lafayette graduate has experienced. 23