New Utrecht High School - Comet Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

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By Marvin Lucius Aronson EVERY SCHOOL TERM BOASTS at least one outstanding highlight. Pew terms can claim the distinction of witnessing an event as spectacular and as memorable as our Victory Paradef, Several months ago, at a time, when people all over the nation were anxiously asking themselves, What can I do for National Defense?l' sev- eral of Utrechtis teachers hit upon a plan whereby Utrecht would be able to make its contribution to the general welfare of the nation. These teachers conceived the idea of producing a gigantic musical revue in the school auditorium, the proceeds of which were to go to various relief or- ganizations. The show, supported by the Parents-Teachers Association, local churches and synagogues was primarily designed to raise money for the U.S.O., the Red Cross War Relief, and the Junior Red Cross, as well as to afford aid to those students and teachers of Utrecht who had joined the armed forces of America. The generalplan of the production, like everything else about it, was formidable. Lasting for more than two and a half hours, the show was to revolve about five central themes-Pan-Americana, The 100th Anniversary of the Board of Education, What We Have to Eight For, The United Nations, and The Citizen and the War. A group of teachers, who had demonstrated their prowess in previous productions, were called upon to perform the almost superhuman feat of recruiting hundreds of the school's outstanding singers, dancers, and actors from among a student body numbering several thousand, and to coordinate their talents into one great unit-all within a period of approximately two months. Some of those members of the faculty who most actively contributed their efforts to the K'Victory Parade were Mr. Serwer and Mrs. Dopkin fwho directed the whole showj, Messrs. Ehrlich, Eelcher, Charry, and Miss Bromberg and Miss Marinello. Weeks of backbreaking, nerve-wracking work followed, and then- Opening Night. On Thursday night, April 16, after a school day distinguished by the virtually complete absence of studies in the classrooms, the curtain parted for the first time on the long-awaited Victory Paradef, It is difficult to describe the show without plagiarizing Hollywood's press agents'-it was stupendous, colossal, gigantic. It was a hit! That night, a full house gaped in amazement at seventeen numbers ranging in content from serious drama to hilarious comedy-amazed that high school students were capable of turning out such a remarkable show. The audience got its first premonition of the Parade's grandeur dur- ing the very first number, in which the New Utrecht Victory Orchestra, under the capable leadership of Mr. Ehrlich, rendered the stirring, spine-tingling American Fantasy. Eighteen

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I Am cz Catholic Prize Winning Essay By Alice De Lorenzo I AM A CATHOLIC which means, for one thing, that I must go to church every Sunday. It has been difficult, sometimes, to drag myself out of bed on those sleepy Sunday mornings, but fortunately, there is a 12:15 mass which I have usually managed to reach on time. Do I sound as though I'm not religious? Maybe. But I think the trouble is mostly that I never thought much about religion. That's it, I just didn't think. My part, the role of Maria in the Victory Parade, opened up a new line of thought to me. In the skit, Maria feels great anguish because she is forced to absent herself from church. A big bully of a storm trooper shakes his fist at her and quells any desire she might have to protest at this unjust treatment. Maria didn't mean much to me in the beginning. She seemed like a very remote, vague personality then and I found that the minute rehearsals were over, she disappeared from my mind as quickly as the blues on a bright summer day. But as time went on and opening night arrived she took definite shape. And when the moment came for me to squirm,,' as my friends say to tease me, I found that the whole business really wasn't as silly as it had seemed at first. It was easy to look as though my soul were twisting in misery. I really felt a little like that. In fact when my friends, who didn't see the show, ask me to show them how I squirm it isn't too hard for me to do, now just from the mem- ory of the skit. In the beginning I used to have to tell them that I had to get in the mood of the thing during a performance before I could squirm. I won't stay that because of my experience in the 'lVictory Paradei' that I jump for joy from my bed on Sunday mornings, hustle out of the house at 6:30 and spend the whole morning in church. It is true enough that I now appreciate the privilege I have in this country of being allowed to go to the church of my choice, and I appreciate my religion a little more too, because I feel that it must be pretty good if people like Hitler are so set on taking it away from me. Sevefzteefcf

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