Lehigh University - Epitome Yearbook (Bethlehem, PA)

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Mil Department on review Hall. The festival began to look like big time show business, and it was at that. The f estiva I played to a full house for three nights in March. Almost half of Grace Hall was built up as the stage for the show that went with the music of the Collegians, the Band, and the Glee Club. Cedar Crest and Beaver College girls danced in the show too. I guess half of the student body must have been doing something in the produc- tion. Both festivals were great, and I ' ve never for- gotten them because they showed me that things really could be done around Lehigh besides the grinding out of answers to engineering problems Mv thoughts were interrupted by a new line in the conversa- tion. Sam said, Do you remember the Arcadia elections back in ' 48? That question was typical of Sam. He was a politician from way back and once ran for Arcadia. That was a real campaign that year, continued Sam. I thought everyone at Lehigh was out for office. All the trees and telephone poles on campus had a poster on them campaigning for someone. You ' re right about that, Sam, said Chick. I remember the last night of the campaign when they came around to the dorm and made all kinds of noise to vote for Swanson or someone. Chick Nicholls was elected president, said Sam. Andhowabout you, Sam, asked Doug, you got elected to Arcadia, didn ' t you? Well, not ex- exactly. I ran for class office a couple of weeks later and sort of flopped at that too I guess I wasn ' t much of a politician, said Sam. Ed Leaton was elected president of our class, and I can ' t say now that I envy him the job one bit. It had more work to it than I ever would want to do. We all laughed, and just then I noticed that the pitchers were empty. I spied Joe Kinney and called him over to get us a refill. Twenty years hasn ' t helped Joe any, remarked Chick as Kinney waddled off to the bar. Twenty years, I thcught, it seems like yesterday. While we had our own little politics at Lehigh, there was much New faces in Lamberton Hall 18

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Here, Steve, let me fill your glass, said Chick. The boys were talking about wrestling and Sam was saying, Do you remember the ' Easterns ' back in ' 48 when they held them in Grace Hall? Lehigh did all right and took the championship without much strain ' Yes, that ' s right, Chick said, and they held the ' Nationals ' here that year too. But in ' 49 we lost the ' Easterns ' to Syracuse by one point. That was hard to take. Billy Sheridan really turned out some wrestling teams in our day, said Doug. Do you remember Jackson and the way he ' d wrestle with his legs? He always wore a poker face and never seemed to use any effort on the mat Ke Isey was one for getting around, Chick said, he was ' Easterns ' champ for two years in a row. And there was Mike Filipos too and the Ericson brothers. They all worked like machines. Jim Hildebrand, Arcadia ' s Chick Nicholls, and Lehigh ' s new cannon Mike Cunningham breaks ground for the new gym It ' s strange how Lehigh should go so strongly for wrestling while the other sports got such little support, Chick said. But then, Lehigh only went all out for some things like houseparties, exams, and the music festivals. Music Festival. The name set me thinking about the big shows that were produced under the direction of Pro- fessor Schempf and Ralph Schwarz. I remember the Spring Music Festival of ' 48 in particular. Nothing as big as this had been tried at Lehigh before by the students. One side of Grace Hall was made into a stage with a screen that went the length of the room The music of the Glee Club, the University Band, and the Collegians was com- bined with special lighting effects and terrific staging. I ' ve always remembered Dean Congdon in phosphorescent make-up singing Way Down Yonder in the Corn Field and Dick Elrick in his handstand act and the Pershing Rifles d oing Queen Anne drill to swing time music. Of course there was Pat Lockwood, the Beaver College singer, who c?used a furor with her singing and healthy looks. But the festival of ' 49 was even bigger. Ralph Schwarz returned early in the fall to direct the production. An office and movie studios were set up in Drown

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Hawkers for the Campus Chest Drive, Bill Brennan, Jack Brenner, Al Beardslee, Bob Courtney, and Al Pettit more politicking going on in the world only with higher stakes. 1948 was an election year, and all the fuss began early in the spring. The U.S. stand with Russia, the European Recovery Plan, and the Palestine issue were the big factors in U.S. foreign policy and they got talked about by all political parties. The big issue on the home front was high prices and both the Democrats and Republicans claimed to have cure-alls for the inflation. The Republicans nominated Thomas Dewey and the Democrats ran Truman for another term. There was dissension in the ranks when the Solid South split with the Democrats over States Rights and Thurmond was nominated with the hope that he might collect enough votes to prevent Truman from winning the presidency. Of course Henry Wallace and his Progressive Party captured some campaign notice, but the Com- munist tinge in Wallace ' s platform was too much for the voters to stomach. The campaign raged all fall, and it looked like a sure victory for Thomas Dewey; at least, that ' s what the poll takers and half the nation thought. I remember how I stayed up until three in the morning listen- ing to the election news. Harry S. Truman piled up a good lead and won the election for the big- gest upset of the year. Since I was a diehard Re- publican, it seemed like the end of the world to me. The loud laugh- ter around the table and the noise of the crowd in Joe ' s stopped my reminiscing and attracted my attention to all the goings-on. Joe ' s hadn ' t changed one bit since I had last been there. I ex- cused myself from the table and went walking around the room, mingling with the after game crowd. The back room was still the same dingy dungeon, and the men ' s room had its trite say- ings penciled on the wall. I wandered over to the ' 49 class table top and looked for my name. 19