Middlesex School - Yearbook (Concord, MA)

Page 40 text:

MIDDLESEX ScHooL CoNcoRD. MASS. GIGS Club Due to wartime transportation difficulties the fall Cilee Club concert could be attended only by the boys, a few nearby friends of the school, and a group of Concord Academy girls up for the informal dance held afterwards in Ware Hall. For the Christmas Carols in the Chapel, Middlesex and Concord Academy were to join as they had the previous year in singing parts from Bach's Christmas Oratorio. But Concord Academy was suddenly quarantined, and we were forced to sing alone, but with great success. The Dining Hall festival that tra- ditionally followed the Carols had to be cancelled because of unavoidable food and transportation complications. After its members had participated in the March Gilbert and Sullivan show, the Glee Club combined with the glee clubs of Concord Academy, Brooks School, and Concord High to form the first of what is hoped will be a series of Concord Choral Festivals. The combined choirs sang the Bach Christmas Oratorio, the first time that this had ever even been attempted on such a scale by the glee clubs of a group of secondary schools. The concert was held in the Concord Acad- emy gymnasium before a large audience that was gratifyingly enthusiastic over the whole performance. To Mr, Lamb, Mr. Kemp and Miss Loring great credit is due for their work on this, the most ambitious of the Glee Club under- takings for the year. On Memorial Day the Glee Club gave its last performance, singing parts of the Brahms Requiem in a short service dedicated to those graduates who had been killed in the war. Greatly hampered by sickness and the lack of transpor- tation, still the Glee Club was able to maintain its high quality of singing, and enjoyed a very successful year. ln the annual elections held the previous year, Draper was elected President for this our first-class year. with Little as Vice-President, and Parsons, Secre- tary. But because of Draper's departure to the Marine Corps in early Decem- ber, and l,ittle's sickness contracted the following month, new oflicers had to be appointed to fill the vacancies, Parsons becoming President: Reynolds, Vice- President: and Mead, Secretary. Page 'f'h1'rty-Six

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The Dramatic Club this year presented only two pieces, one the play, The Devil and Daniel Webster, and the other this year's Gilbert and Sullivan show. Hlolanthef' The Devil and Daniel Webster was produced under great pressure, being re- hearsed and staged in the last four weeks of the fall term. The excellence of the play was no small tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Farns- worth. ln the play, Jabez Stone, played by Speed, sells his soul to the Devil in return for prosperity. Later, the Devil, very ably played by Reynolds, calls to collect. Howe ever, Daniel Webster is paying a visit, and after a long argument, climaxed by a speech before a jury of the dead, wins the case. L. Clay, as Webster, showed his oratorical pow- ers to the full, especially when confronted with the jury of the dead. The sweeter side of the play was presented by Caldwell, as Stone's newly married wife, and all were well supported by a group of dancers, recruited mostly from the lower classes. The Gilbert and Sullivan show, lo- lanthe, presented on March l0 and ll, was the twenty-seventh to be produced by the school, and the second to have the profits do- nated to the Red Cross. J. Bisbee and Mead, as Lords Tolloller and Mountararat, very ef- fectively quarreled for the beautiful Phyllis, Dramatics played by Shattuck. Caldwell, as Strephon, eventually won her fair hand through the help of his aunts, the Fairies, led by Austin, their Queen, who pass any bill Strephon de- sires through the House of Lords, The poor Lords, completely captivated and bewildered by this time, finally succeed in marrying themselves oi? to the innocent fairies, while J. Clark, as lolanthe. consoles the unhappy Lord Chancellor by claiming him as her hus' band. Above all, Reynolds must be com- mended for his striking characterization of the Lord Chancellor, and the fairies praised for their unexpected grace and attractiveness. As is usual, the success of the opera was due to Mr. Lamb, who overcame everything from changing voices to chicken pox, and to Mr. Kettell for conceiving and supplying the scenf ery.

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DEBATING TEAM Prem! Row: I.. Clay. Gooding Hunk Row' Peabody. Bacon. Mr. Briggs. ANVII.. lfronl Row: E. Ward, Peabody. H. Clay. Caldwcll. XV.1dv, limdk Row: l cu. Mr. 'Ix.1vlor, Sm mour. Klinc. Flclchcr. Mr. Briggs. Slodghill,