Montreal High School - Magazine Yearbook (Montreal, Quebec Canada)

Page 59 text:

THE HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE 57 HOW IT FEELS TO BE A SUPER ET us begin by explaining the word super',. It is a corruption of the word Hsupernumer- ary , one of the mob or crowd of people in a stage production. In motion picture argot, they are known as Uextrasn. In this case, the stage production was f'Julius Caesar . An offer had come to the sixth form boys through Mr. McBain. The Stratford-Upon- Avon Festival Company were to give a few of Shakespeare's plays in Montreal. For these plays a number of supers would be required. The offer of playing as supers in these plays was accordingly made to us. Most of us accept- ed, and we soon took part in the plays Richard III and Julius Caesaru. Cf Richard III I do not care to write, since I was so busy that I do not remember much. I had a much more leisurely time in Julius Caesar , and so had more time to look about. Before my debut, imagining somehow that I was really of importance to the company, I practised taking curtain bows and signing autograph albums in an offhand manner for enthusiastic admirers. Came the Dawn! I made my way on Saturday afternoon to the Princess Theatre determined to play Julius Caesar as it had never been played before. I arrived at the stage door to find the rest of my comrades in various stages of cold feet 3 and, to cheer them up, I told them about the things they should not do. We all had a very agreeable time until Mr. Bridges Adams, the director of the company, who had already rehearsed us, took us in hand and led us down to the costume room, directly under the stage. Here a rather lugubrious individual distributed the costumes. Yours truly received a piece of red cloth about the size of an ordinary handker- chief, and was informed that That's all there is, they ain't no more. Blushing furiously, I changed into my costume, and when we were all finished, we turned around to look at each other. After the hysterical laughter had some- what died down, we went on the stage to await the curtain, and to have a little chat with some of the actors. They were a very pleasant lot of people, and gave us various tips on stage deport- ment, facial expression, etc. Suddenly, all the lights flashed out twice, as a signal to the actors that the overture was to begin. We were told by the stage manager that the orchestra would play two bars of C Canada and the curtain would rise immediately after. Suddenly the band crashed into music. The whole group of amateurs jumped like startled deer. The band rounded off the first bar, while we fidgeted nervously back-stage, trying to control our shivering legs. The stage manager, over at the switchboard, with his hand on the curtain lever, hushed the whispering, and one of the tribunes took one last puff at his cigarette and threw it away. All of a sudden, the band finished with one last flourish, and the curtain rose, presenting the revolting spectacle to the astonished audience. The footlights glared in our faces, and the play was on! When the tribune spoke, I wondered at the strangeness of those words which I had formerly known only in black print. It seemed almost a sacrilege to speak those words to gestures, as the actors did. Somehow, they became human, slowly but surely-so different from the lines of poetry we had to study at school. It was easy to support the tribune, for, spoken with the ordinary ges- tures, his words seemed perfectly natural, The scene was soon ended, and we flocked off to compare our feelings and express our relief at getting through so easily. We promptly took up our positions right in the way of the stage hands, who were changing the scenery. After several vituperative encounters, we moved en masse to the stairs and sat down to restore our equanimity. As soon as we were all settled comfortably, somebody bustled in and announ- ced that the next scene was about to begin. Of course there is not space enough to tell everything, so I shall touch only the high spots. After one scene, I came off with my hands rather dirty, for I had leaned against a rather dusty back-d1'op. Seeing what looked to me like a fingerbowl, I put my fingers in. When I withdrew them, they dripped blood! I almost shrieked for an ambulance, but restrained myself sufficiently to investigate further. I found it to be red ink, used in the scene where Caesar is stabbed, murdered, assassinated and otherwise killed. Imagine my relief! My next shock was seeing Caesar, or rather the man who played him, gazing at his wrist watch while out on the stage. He did it swiftly and secretly, but still I thought the audience

Page 58 text:

56 THE HIGH SCHOOL MAGAZINE A WEEKLY SORROW It was about the lovely close of a dreadful dreary day, There came a gentle hustle as all books were put away 5 Their owners had been working 'till they all felt stiff and sore, And now they all were just opposed to working any more. And as they sang about the task of gathering up their books, Each saw the others turn around, and cast disdainful looks, And thus it was on looking up that each became quite pale, To hear the teacher calmly quote her usual Weekly tale. Why, what is all the fuss about? the lesson is not through, Will you two girls please close your desks 5 this nonsense will not do, You do not seem to realize-although you will quite soon, That 'though it is just two o'clock, itls Wednes- day afternoon! SONNETTE ROSS, 9-2-B. IMAGINATION MAGINATION is that creative power which enables us to take parts of our conceptions and combine them so as to form images. These images are more select, more striking, more delightful, and altogether more expressive and emotional, than those which we behold with our eyes in nature. Imagination aims at results of a definite character. All the great works of Hction are founded on imagination. The exquisite scenes of Milton's Paradise Lost, as well as the writings of many other famous men and women, are all products of imagination Over twenty years ago, Jules Verne, a famous author of the time, wrote about ships sailing under the ocean. These stories were products of his imagination, and were at the time considered fiction, but to-day they are realities. Certainly Verne was not the inventor of submarines, but it may be that the idea was taken from his stories, who knows ? From early times, highly educated people have been trying to analyze life, as did Addison in his 'fVision of Mirzahf' This vision is a Wond- erful piece of contemplation, and is purely imaginative. Many of the luxuries which wc enjoy to-day, such as automobiles, tramcars, and electric lights, are due to the fact that certain men imagined these things, which at the time appeared impossible, just think of a vehicle running on wheels without a horse to pull it, or light being produced by merely turning a switch! Impossible! Nevertheless these men set to work and invented things which have proved not only a luxury, but a benefit to mankind. Without imagination the world could not have progressed as it has done. Many poor people are happy just imagining the pleasures and happiness which the future holds for them. Just think how dreary would be the life of many of these poor wretches if imagination did not exist to carry them into a dreamland of bliss. MARGARET MORRICE, 8-1-E.

Page 60 text:

58 THE I-Izcx-1 Sci-xoor. MAGAZINE would rise up with one cry and put Caesar to Hight. Imagine! Caesar with a wrist watch! Now came the almost tragic scene. It was the great scene where Mark Antony delivered the immortal speech known to every schoolboy. Barrington and Huggins were stationed behind Antony, right at the back of the stage. Next to them was a young lady. She was one of the principal actresses in the scene, for during the speech, when Antony said: These are gentle drops , she was supposed to break down in sobs, while Antony patted her on the head to comfort her. We had all been told to look very sorrowful at this point, and they were prepared to obey instructions. The young lady, a really experi- enced actress, broke down into sobs all right, but in a spirit of mischief, I suppose, she tried to make them giggle. She was between them and the audience, and while apparently sobbing as though her heart would break, she turned her head towards them so that Mark Antony and they could all see her plainly. She then pro- ceeded to laugh, while still sobbing loudly. Antony was an expert at facial control, and although he saw quite well what was going on, he just permitted his face to twitch quickly and that was all. The unfortunate youths, trying to look sorrowful, grew red-faced in the attempt. That scene, however, was the last in which we were to take part. After we were dressed, Mr. Adams kindly let us go up into the boxes to see the remaining two acts. We enjoyed them very much, since now, if any blunders were made, we were not to blame, and so could laugh to our hearts' content. JOHN LAZARUS, 6-A-1. THE HIGH SCHOOL BOARD OF PREFECTS Standing, left to right:-M, Decarie, Kydd, Dr. Gammell Cllectorj. Seatedg-R, Colgnigui, Millar, 0, Ross fCilf1If1I12LH,,W. R. Carmichael QSec'yD, N. Caplan. REPORT OF THE HIGH SCHOOL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY FOR THE SESSION OF 1928-1929 HE society opened this year earlier than usual with the election of its oflicers on January 16, 1929. The following were elected:- Dr. Gammell, Hon-President Mr.McFee, President Mr. Rexford, Vice-President Farmer, Chairman Kerr, Vice-Chairman Shaw, Secretary , Smith, Treasurer The society followed the usual plan of visiting several plants. Those inspected this year were the Elmhurst Dairy, the Montreal Water Works, and the Vickers Aeroplane Factory. Every inspection was well attended. On the evening of March 15, Professor Lloyd of McGill University gave a very interesting lecture to the visitors from the Girl's School and the members of the society. The subject of the lecture was the Utricula plant and Prof. Lloyd had his talk illustrated by both lantern slides and moving pictures. The society wishes to express its thanks to Prof. Lloyd for his