Niagara Falls High School - Niagarian Yearbook (Niagara Falls, NY)

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Senior Year Bools 29 factories, churches and suburbs of Niagara Falls, should close their scholastic days in the finest of educational buildings. W-e hold the distinction of having studied in no less than five and no more than nine different places during our high school career, and at times we hav-e felt a great longing for a home of our own. The first half of our Senior year was passed quietly enough. XVe enjoyed the comforts of our full day, and took life easy, while we could. After the mid-year exams, things be- gan to hum. It all started with the posting of the Senior List. Soon after, our first meet- ing was called and we elected the following officers: President-Calvin Kell-er. Vice-President-Doris Taylor. Secretary--Arleighn Bacon. Treasurer-Harold Meyers. XV-e then became deeply engrossed in pic- tures, rings, pins and plans for Commence- ment. The first Senior function was the play XVappin' VVharf, which was presented on April 30th, May lst and Znd. Our class cer- tainly showed unusual qualities in successful- ly staging the play three times, instead of once, as is usual. But then we are a most exceptional class! Again we dispensed with junior-Senior Day, but we had become used to doing without it. The last days of the term came and went with a rush, and we found that our days in N. F. H. S. were done. Thus ends the history of the Class of '25. We pride ourselves upon the record we have made. VVe feel honored at being the first class to graduate from this magnificent school. We hope that future classes will consider us a worthy example to follow, and eventually, to excel. VVe beli-eve that the new traditions and customs for which we have built the founda- tion, will, in the years to come, grow' to be as revered as those with which we had a brief acquaintance in the old building. Our school days have been days of wandering. Following this tendency, our lives may be lives of wan- dering. But on the back of the last page of the history of our Class of '25, let this be written: VVhat e'er we become, where-ever we roam, At N. F. H. S. the heart is at home. 1 -Salem Mansour. LQ it ' 5 L 0 , 3 'Rfb c 4-in s - ,90- Class Prophecy For Any Day in Year l950 5593 ' mi Y SOME trick of fate, it turned out I that I was an inventor. My great- 'Ql est invention was along the princi- ple of the radio wav-e theory. I will ' ' ' give a brief description of my in- vention, so that you will clearly understand how I received the following information of my classmates. This apparatus is ableto bring the image of anyone on a screen which I have. I can direct the wave that does this, to any place where I want it. By another wave, I am able to converse with the person or per- sons on the screen. Two nights ago I per- fected this machine to such an extent that I decided to experiment with it. My first thoughts were of my classmates, so I started out to find them via air. I knew where most of them lived but had forgotten a few. The first person that came upon the screen was that of a stout prosperous business man. I failed to recognize him, but I decided to talk to him. First I asked him his name. INhen he told me I nearly fell over with surprise, for it was Calvin Keller. I found out that he had eventually bought out Cowpers' Stationery Store and was running it himself. Nvorking for him were Robert Clarke and Garvice Ham- mond. He also mentioned the fact that Hazel Barber was a poetess and that she had written about tweny-five books. One of them had a good chance of being printed. Elliott Bailey was now billiard champion of the world, and Melanie Guillemont was a prominent doctor. He also said that Doris Taylor was new vice- principal of the still new N. F. H. S. He was about to tell me more when the light faded and the machine was dead. I noticed that a wire was loose. Though I soon had it fixed, Cal had disappeared so I directed my light ray in another direction. I recognized it as the Fred Scott Drv Goods Store. I found him in his office and began to talk to him. Fred told me that he had started out as a clerk in one of the A. 81 P. tea stores, but had finally branched out into the dry goods business. He said that there was some one I knew working on the top floor. I sent my ray up there and saw that it had entered a nursery rest room for the convenience of mothers who were shopping. I was iust about to direct my ray away from this place when I spied Arleighn Bacon at one end of the room. I put the ray directly on her and began to talk. She told me that she was in charge of this department. That s-ur- prised me for she had always said thatshe

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28 Senior Year Book C life? s 'W flIHSY'ifl'l ' I 'Mlllllfllm I XIII-.IW 2 f x g? X 9 X X fl 1 x ,f x du' it History of the Class of '25 ffgt .Lili Class of '25 will forever hold a unique and honored place in the 74: N , . annals of Niagara Falls High School. The unusual and signal ac- 'MUCTQ' complishments performed at N. F. H. S., in the face of adverse circumstances, place this year's graduates in a position by themselves, among the hundreds who have stepped out into the world with sheepskins from Old Niagara. From our earliest days in the old building, to these last days spent in this magnificent edifice of learning, our Class has been distinguished. VVe were not the common type of Freshmen, when we started high school, and after one look, no one will dare say we are' the common type of Seniors. But I must pause in the praise of this noble Class and confine myself to its illustrous his- tory. The first half of our initial year at N. F. H. S. passed by happily and uneventfully. We were forced to submit, for a little while, to certain indignities heaped upon our innocent heads by those worthies, the juniors and Sen- iors, but at no time did we lose our composure. And then along in january, 1922, the great calamity of our school career happened. Our school building burned down. just when we had learned to make our way about without a guide. and had reached the point where we could open the combinations on our lockers, once in a while,fthe school had to catch fire. But I guess it couldn't be helped. After ten days of freedom, which we used to discuss every phase and feature of the disaster, We were summoned to Fifth Street School and in- formed that henceforth, that building would constitute our abode of learning. XVith great fortitude we bore our affliction, and adapting ourselves to the strange conditions, we labored bravely on to the end of June. The following autumn, the members of our Class, now Sophomores, once more returned to school. Alas, no, I must not say returned I should say departed.', Forsaking the na- tive haunts of man, we betook ourselves to the outskirts of the city, and pursued our studies at that most pleasant spot, Maple Ave- nue. Cut off from friends and family, with only a single street-car track to remind us of the busy metropolis to which we returned at the end of our day of labor, we passed the second year of our high school course, making history for patient friends and relatives to hear on Class Night. Our hours at Maple Avenue were varied, but not long. Some of us went in the morn- ing, others in the aft-ernoon. Those who Went early rose with the sun, those who labored late usually got home in time to eat a cold supper and go to bed. But the fr-esh air and free life more than made up for any discom- forts, and we were happy. And so was Written the second page in the history of our brilliant Class. In the fall of 1923, all who had survived the strenuous rigors of Maple Avenue, met in the South Junior High School, to carry on their work as Juniors. Once again we found our- selves with a cafeteria, auditorium and all the other comforts of our old school. The first outstanding evenzt of the year was Wing- Collar Day. It certainly was a real exhibition of the old school life which we had missed for nearly two y-ears. XVith that behind us, those wtho remained kept right on studying, or rather, kept on coming to school. For certain reasons, known only to the faculty and the student body of Niagara Falls High School, we had no Junior-Senior Day that year, but we managed to get along all right without it. But then, we are an exceptional class! That year we held our first elections. XVe proved our wisdom, by electing the following officers: President-john Minnoch. Vice-President-Dorothy Nelles. Secretary-Ray Palm. Treasurer-Benjamin Atlas. And now we have come to the last and best page in our history. On a rainy day in Sep- tember, 1924, the Class of '25 entered the por- tals of this new building, for their last year in high school. This was the long looked for day when we should step into our own rights. It was only fitting that our deserving, persever- ing class, which had studied in the schools,

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30 Senior Year Book never liked children. She mentioned the names of some of the tots on the Hoor and among th-em were VVilliam Mack, Marcus Oh- mann, James Mallam, Harry Ruben and Slo- cum Kohl. These were all juniors, of course, as my classmates had married and given their children their names. I left here and went from the top to the bottom of the store. In the cellar I noticed a magnificent office and in he chair was seated a person. On several doors leading from the office were the words Assistants, In the chair was seated Marion Laughton. I asked her what position she held that she needed so many assistants? She re- plied that she was chief janitress of the store and that she needed so many to keep her from working. I said good-bye to her, then decided I'd like to see a horse race, so I shifted the ray to Tia Juana and viewed the races. I no- ticed some one standing at the side lines and after looking at him a while, I recognized XVil- liam XVilliamson. Bill was a man of leisure now and enjoying himself to the full exftent of his money. He told me that he had just made a bet with a bookie by the name of Ar- thur Fitzgerald. He mentioned two of the jockeys that were racing that day and they were Eva McGargle and John Chapin. john surely did surprise me in the choice of his oc- cupation. Getting tired of seeing th-e races I decided to hear some opera, as I had never heard any before. So I directed my instru- ment to the Opera House in New York City. On the stage I saw a small person whom I seemed to recognize. At last it dawned upon me who it was. It was Dorothy Nelles taking the leading part in the greatest opera success of the year. H-er business manager was Har- old Meyers, who seemed to know how to han- dle money when he was treasurer of our Sen- ior Class. Harriett-e Jenne was her advertis- ing manager as I noticed from the advertising on the program. At another opera house, I heard Ella Scalzo sing, and she surely was a warbler, better even than she was during her high school days. I directed my ray from the opera house and was shooting it around the country and along the highways when it flashed over a billboard advertising collars. There was a sheiky looking fellow on the bill- board with one of the collars on and I gave a start of surprise, for the young man was Christy Blessing. A little below the picture XVilliam Bingham was named as the owner of the factory which manufactured the collars. Then I left for Florida with my ray. An large hotel at a popular beach I noticed a sign advertising the fact that young men could be hired by the women to act as escorts for them for the evening. Sitting on the settees and in deep chairs sat Loren Serek, Frank Nolfe and Jasper Kobler. I spoke with Loren and he told me that he was the most popular man on the beach. but that Nick Nolfe and Jasper Kob- ler were running him a close second and third. I-Ie also said that Melvina Cota was president of the Chesterfield Cigarette Company and that she was satisfving more than a few mil- lion, including Abe Kushner and Marion VVoolcock. I shifted mv rav back to the Falls and into the Gazette office for I wanted to talk to Bob Mack. who was now owner of the Gaz- ette. I was sure that he would tell me of some of my classmates. VVhen I got him on the screen, I began to talk with him and following are some of the things he told me. Edward Eggleston was helping him to run the paper as he was assistant janitor of the place. Jack- son Lyon was runninrr one of the printing presses and one of his helpers was Ethel Ba- ker. Robert told me that he had received a letter from Franklin Lee. who was customs insp-ector in New York Citv. inspector of cus- toms for Ziegfield Follies and that Franklin told him that Emanuel and Robert Atlas were making a big hit in Keith's Vaudeville Cir- cuit. They put on an athletic show and called themselves th-e Two Dumlaells of the Gym- nasium. He also mentioned the fact that Mariorie Adams was running a millinery store in which she sold manv shoes. Bob then men- tioned th-e surprising and good news to me that Toe Laspisa was the manager of Salvatore Sa- luri, who was astonishing the world in his breaking of Nurmi's track records. XVhen Bob said that Andrew Havens was conducting a school, I just about passed awav, but when he said that it was a school in which people were taught to play bagpipes, I recovered. Well. I said good-bye to Bob and wondered what I would do next. I shot the ray to Ziegfield Follies and there, behind scenes I noticed Thomas Muldoon. I asked him what he was doing there and he said that in high school he had taken up so much mathematics that he had become good at figures and Ziegiield had hired him to choose his chorus girls. I noticed quite a line of pretty girls and asked who they Were. Some of them were Sarah Altman, Ruth VVeil, Alma Borem fbut she didn't bore 'eml, Sara Cummings, Olive YYilson. Charlotte Deering and Helen Fitzgerald. All these were my old classmates. Vera Brydges was the leading lady in this show and she surely eclipsed all other leading ladies whom I had seen. Out in a box-seat sat Jack Hackett. I