Niles Junior High School - Milestones Yearbook (Bronx, NY)

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AMATEURS MAKE GOOD On The TirsT day of January. I944, a Troupe oT amaTeur singers from Alma MaTer lOld Nilesl. Traveled The ancienT l.R.T., nervously biTing Their Tingernails. The Troupe. conTaining: - l. AlTred GaeTa lG.O. SecreTaryl 2. Ray Weisemfield 3. Jerry Yenchilc ' 4. Donald ChiaTTone 5. George BishoTT 6. Joseph Yaccavelli 7. AnThony D'Orazio 8. Murray Goldman TirsT conceived The idea oT adverTising Their vocal TalenTs ouT oT Thin air. On ThaT day. The boys seT ouT Tor Maiqr Bowes' oTTice wiTh iusT some oT Mrs. Sueur's music lwhich she obligingly submiTTedl and Their high hopes. While They were a biT nervous on The Train, aTTer They arrived aT The audiTion- ing oTTice. They became quiTe iovial and acTually TaceTious, Tor AlTred GaeTa amused The oThers in The waiTing room wiTh a Tew gags. ' All was noT roses Tor Those embryo singeri Tor on Their Trip To The oTlice, They goT oTT aT The wrong sTaTion and were losT 'Tor awhile. EvenTually, They arrived aT The R.C.A. Building and inquired where They should go To be audiTioned. They were led To an oTTice. where a skepTical secreTary lisTened To Them. buT one .who was noT so skepTical aTTer she heard Them. AT The audiTion The group sang, Buckle Down Winsockee and Oklahoma, They made an excellenT impression immediaTely and were Told To come back nexT day, when They were inTerviewed by The greaT one himselT, Major Bowes, who was also impressed. lFavorably?l The nexT Thursday. Uanuary 3rd, Mrs. Mack. The secreTary, TranTically Tried To geT Murray Goldman on The phone. buT he wasn'T home. Finally she conTacTed AlTred GaeTa, and Told him To inTorm The resT oT The boys To reporT Tor ThaT evening's broadcasT. This was raTher shorT noTice. buT They reporTed ThaT evening. and aTTer The rendiTion oT Their song They received a Tremendous ovaTion. and received TirsT prize oT 380. As a happy conclusion, They had Their picTures Taken-on sTage. BUT This is noT The end oT This yarn. Tor Three weeks laTer-Murray Goldman Told Al GaeTa To gaTher The boys To sing aT The Loew's l75Th STreeT TheaTre. The purpose oT The gaThering was Tor Talks on child Tolerance and 3.000 children. and priesTs and represenTaTives oT all religions were presenT. Well, you mighT call ThaT The TirsT phase of Their careers as a singing group. They ?ried To geT TurTher bookings buT were reTused because oT Their youTh. BuT here's a cheer Tor our TuTure Nelson Eddy's and Bing Crosby's. No Tolks, noT Frank SinaTra's. ' ' ARNOLD ISMACH. 9BI - 49 - T

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PARENTS' ASSOCIATION MEETINGS ' The TirsT meeTing oT The ParenTs' AssociaTion To be held in IIB, our school. was Tilled wiTh sTars, buT oddly enough, Tew people showed up. As usual The meeTing was gpened aT 9:00 P.M. wiTh The address oT welcome by The presidenT. Mrs. WeisenTel . and The reading oT The minuTes by Mrs. Klein. LeTTers oT Thanks were read and among Them was a Thank you Trom The Red Cross, congraTulaTing The parenTs on The splendid collecTion They had donaTed. AT 9:30 an inTeresTing moTion picTure was shown. enTiTled VicTory over Handicapsf' buT The main evenT was a WarTime Food showing by Miss l'loTTman. a senior nuTriTionisT in The New York STaTe Emergency Food Commission. The Tood was prepared in The audiTorium and consumed wiTh Ohs and Ahs wiTh Tavor- able resulTs. The demonsTraTion ended aT lI:OO. The raTTling oT The door prize was nexT. You guessed righT, I didn'T win. The meeTing was Then adjourned. A personal appeal To The parenTs: Please show up en masse aT The TuTure meeTings, because They are inTeresTing and delighTTul. You will also have a chance To meeT your children's Teachers and Tell Them oT Johnny's and Mary's plighT. The TuTure generaTion oT America leT iT be known ThaT iT Too had someThing To say on one oT our greaT warTime problems. The problem was ThaT oT Juvenile Delinquency and iT was aT The May I6Th meeTing oT The ParenTs' AssociaTion oT Niles J. H. S. ThaT They leT Their views be known. ' In all. There were TwenTy young Americans who were going To speak ThaT nighT. As The presidenT oT The l?arenTs' AssociaTion inTroduced Miss WaTers a wave oT nervous exciTemenT ran Through The children Tor They knew ThaT Their Turn would be nexT. - ATTer her s eech Miss WaTers began inTroducing The speakers. One by one The boys -and girl? mounTed The sTeps ThaT lead To The sTage. Each in Turn sTood beTore The microphone and gave his or her views on The problem oT juvenile delinquency. The parenTs l believe were very surprised and pleased To hear The children speak inTelligenTly and easily. Tor iT was obvious ThaT all The speeches were well prepared and showed wide ThoughT on The subiecT. 4The children generally agreed ThaT in mosT cases iT was The arenTs who were To blame iT Their children become delinquenT. There was one slighT conTro- versy however. One speaker declared ThaT all children were good and anoTher persisTed ThaT all children were bad. DisagreemenTs like This one I believe show ThaT American youTh is wide awake and has iTs own views on The subiecT. Though many parenTs did noT aTTend. iT was indeed acpleasure To noTe The courTesy and graciousness wiTh which The speakers were accepTe by all Those presenT. ATTer The speeches The children were hearTily Thanked by all Those presenT who included our principal. Mr. Flaum, and his wiTe. Miss WaTers. many members oT The TaculTy, and The parenTs. ROBERT POYDASHEFF. 9AI .-48...

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A MIDSUMMER NIGHTS DREAM WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 9BR and 9B-4 were Taken by Miss Haskell To see The Warner BroThers' movie version oT A Midsummer NighT's Dream . l would like To see The producTion wiTh William Shakespeare, himselT. l am sure ThaT he would have agreed ThaT iT was magniTicenTly done, buT somehow iT sfill does noT capTure The True Teeling ThaT Shakspeare puT inTo iT. IT seems To me ThaT perTecT dramaTizaTion oT This play is pracTically impossible. ln my esTimaTion, iT should be read, wiTh The reader picTuring The Tairy aTmosphere as his Tancy chooses. Considering all These TacTors, This movie version is really excellenT. lTs casT was superb, including VicTor Jory as Oberon, Dick Powell as Lysander, James Cagney as BoTTom, Joe E. Brown as FluTe and many oThers. Mickey Rooney, who was only TourTeen aT The Time The picTure was made, did a Tine iob as Puck. i-lis anTics TiT The parT perTecTly alihough his laugh, l believe, was highly overdone. The mechanicals which included PeTer Quince, Nick BoTTom, Francis FluTe. Snug, SnouT, and STarveling, supplied The comic relieT and comic iT surely was. Much oT Shakespeare's original TexT was omiTTed, buT whaT remained was usually given unchanged. l don'T believe ThaT Dick Powell did as well as possible in The role oT Lysander. James Cagney, who played Nick BoTTom The Weaver, probably did The besT job in The enTire picTure, alThough his was noT so large a p-:rT as some as The oThers. UndoubTedly Joe E. Brown as PeTer FluTe The bellows mender, was regarded as mosT humorous by Tar oT all The laborers. This is probably The TinesT dramaTizaTion oT This play ThaT ever has been produced. lT meriTs my hearTiesT recommendaTion. By all means see iT. A . RICHARD DELAGI, QBR THE MUSIC PROGRAM - On May 3, The Glee Club, under The direcTion oT Mrs. Sueur gave iTs semi- annual music concerT. The program was excellenT and was well received by The audience. The selecTions were well chosen and all were rhyThmical and harmonious. One oT The numbers on The program, a piano dueT called Bolero , was beauTiTully rendered by EsTelle l-lirschler and Leonore Goodman. Among The oTher numbers was a solo by KaThleen De Mario which we all enjoyed. ln The Evening by The MoonlighT, was sung by a Trio oT girls. The Harlequin Serenade was sung as a dueT. BoTh Tunes were lovely. The Boys' Chorus, noT To be ouTdone by The girls sang a group oT Two songs, The popular rousing March oT TheMuskeTeers and a SouTh American Ballad Flying Down To Rio. George BischoTT and AlTred GaeTa also sang solos. To end This perfecTly lovely program The enTire chorus sang Bambalina a TuneTul and lively air Trom The FireTly . As The Iasf sTrains oT This melody Taded away, The audience clapped enThusiasTically insisTing on more. Two honorable guesTs, Mr. Flaum and Miss Hopkins, also voiced Their approval and Thanked on behalf oT The pupils and Themselves, Mrs. Sueur, Miss GibeT. Miss Tighe, and The enTire Glee Club Tor working so hard To give us an enioyable period. We hope There will be many oThers iusT as delighTTul. - HILDA RUBIN. QBR - 50 - '