Midwood High School - Epilog Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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Hj n mmuunllllllllllllllllmm K... 11-412 I I D . DAYS I'- flslilffff f NW :III 1 v '::'.'r- 5,Q5 fl' 5- - . g ' 'JF 5 S E.----esl' All 3 A Wm Z- f N ul? Obpooo oooaoov - T xxi Here we are ladies and gentlemen, outside the Mid- wood Theater and this is your announcer ready to de- scribe to you all the glamour of an opening night on Bed- ford Avenue There s a large crowd gathered here tonight anxiously awaiting the First curtain call These lucky ticket holders are going to witness in just a few minutes, one of the season s most spectacular openings The Senior Class of Q june 1952 is presenting its wonderful, new operetta- The A I 6 2653 .. ,r 125: 26: ' n r 0 ' Ai i' E- W A '? : Q 9 W 5--f Q 115127: -J i 3 E 2 Q fl I Q as ' e ' Q Q 625 y s . . J5 , . Q K a . Vandal. Newspaper people are jamming the lobby and front entrance of Midwood High School trying to catch a glimpse of the many celebrities that have come to witness the event. I dare say all of Flat- bush society is represented. I believe that the show will start in the next Fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, we switch you backstage where our announcer there will try to bring you some of the pre-curtain time excitement. Take it away . . . We are now backstage at the Midwood Theater where a new and gala production is about to premiere. Members of the chorus are running back and forth here, carrying the spangled costumes that they are to wear tonight. All around me props and sets have been arranged, and I do believe that I am in the midst of an old Dutch classroom, created by the Senior set designers. Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you could see the principals who have just come from their dressing rooms. The costumes are fabulous. Their many well wishers are grouped about them now giving them a Final few words of encouragement. 5 tIt looks like the hit of the year. Certainly exciting! I have been trying to get a 3 word with the producer of tonight's epic, but he is very busy. One moment, X here he comes . . . Oh, Mr. Producer . . . Our radio audience is anxious for , ' some first hand information about this big show that we are about to see. ' X , Would you please say a few words? . I Gladly . . . X How long has this show been in rehearsal, Mr. Producer? f Well, rehearsals began in March, but this show dates back much ! further than that. You see, we first got the idea to do this musical H way back in December, when we learned that the Midwood Theater would be available tonight. It was around Christmas 4 p.lL

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Q 2 H af Q 3 I Q . 5' 0 A 0 5. Q heralded with campaign signs that were all a'glitter. The Iunior backdrop painters busily worked on a reasonable facsimile of Midwood. And so went the busy hub-hub of Sing preparations until the big night came. The night of Sing arrived bringing with it the fulfillment of months of work and preparation, It was an exciting evening. A mild blizzard had placed a four inch deep white cover over Brooklyn and had even stopped the buses. Nevertheless, the Midwood auditor- ium was filled. The smiles and applause of the audience led us to believe that Midwood's Fifth Annual Sing was going to be a success. As harbingers of song, we really didn't rate, but what we lacked in talent we made up for in spirit. All for one, and one for all was our motto that night QSeniors for Seniors and Iuniors for Iuniors naturallyj. In song the Iunior scorned the legs of any senior but the Seniors retorted that the only two words Iunior girls knew were- The Prom. For twenty minutes Midwood vanished from the lunior stage and all the efforts of such notable sleuths as the junior Detectives and 'Charlie Chauncey to recover it seemed in vain. Notwithstanding . . . the mystery was finally solved with the return of Midwood by a student who had used the school for her Westinghouse Project. Continuing the razzing, the Seniors exclaimed that Doctor Ross is very shy, likes to see those necklines high. Seniors spotlighted Cecil Billj' T. Vfs choice, Dagmar, every manis best bet, Phil E. Busterf' and UB. O. Plentyf' for the presidency. After much debating it was decided that the only qualified person for the position was Senior Ioef, With the harmonious strains of the Iunior Alma Mater the curtains closed on a mem- orable event. Now all eyes focused on the stage. Mister Barney Cohen was ready to present the judges' decision. Then the announcement . . . the Iuniors had won, and the Seniors were a close second. The first words out of the four year Seniors, 'i mouths fafter a short cryj were a 2-4-6-8 for Mrs. Tillis, Sing's ever-popular adviser, and for the Iunior year. We will always remember Sing.', and this one most of all, as one of the most exciting events that we participated in here at Midwood. RITA BIZRMAN FDDIF, GOI.IJSl'INNliR i X Vxi X ' 0 9 p'QJ I , AZ S S 0 Qu LQ 53 Tulfllfjf-fl'C Y

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time as I remember. There we were, nothing more than a group G of enthusiastic Seniors bubbling over with ideas. We had our problems then just as we did all the way through production, but working together, we solved them. One of the biggest of these questions was whether we should use a legitimate Broadway show or write our own, and just what the theme should be if we did write it. Well, we decided upon an original musical. We pondered over the theme and finally hit upon the old Faust idea of someone selling his soul to the Devil. Using a little imagination and some knowledge of history, we are able to work in a Dutch setting and before we knew it, we had an outtline written. Music was our next consideration. Some wanted Gershwin, some even went back to Bach . . . but our final choice proved to be a good one. As you will soon hear, we are using only Gilbert and Sullivan songs. They seemed to Ht right in to what we wanted to say. What could be easier than changing Behold The Lord High Executionern to Behold The Lord High Dean Our Punisher? Mr. Producer, I'm sure the radio audience would like to know how this long show was written. Can we meet the writer?', Oh, I would have to introduce more than fifty people to take in our whole lyric committee. They were swell, worked like beavers, dreaming up new, more appropriate words to go with the old score, and intermittent dialogue. What a thrill it was to see the first complete scripts after working so many weeks. You had your problems when rehearsals began I guess. You can say that again. The biggest job was to choose the cast. Imagine auditioning 50 or 60 potential stars for the leads. We almost lost our minds before we finally picked the 23 soloists. We had to eliminate the audition and . . . well, it was tough. But the chorus presented less of a problem. They just signed up and sang along. Everyone was wonderful. 'ilt sounds as though this show took many long and hard hours to produce Well, actually, when you come to think of it, we had time on our side. Four months to rehearse, to be exact. And we didn't rush. That is what was most pleasant about the work. This gave us time to really enjoy putting this thing together. You see, we had our own showroom, which we used for rehearsing and general get-togethers, a veritable Senior Lounge. Theres one question, Mr. Producer, that most of us wonder about when we see a show on the stage. Q That is, how were the various aspects of so huge a production, such as the chorus, soloists, stage directing, set designing, knitted together to turn out a finished job? Well, I can only speak for this show. You see we worked accord- f ' ing to schedule to the Z lc, 1 I' Xll fl, Kllc ll