Occidental College - La Encina Yearbook (Los Angeles, CA)

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The wielders of the slide rule and the test tube, needless to say, are responsible for the high academic standards of the college. fust as every American boy who is a Democrat can look forward to the day when he will move his baggage into the White House so may every Freshman blissfully dream of the day when he will be elected president of his class. Obviously this high honor can only be won by four students per annum. Those whose dreams have come true are Ed McNair' who will lead the procession of the Capped and Gown, Bill An-drus, President of the funiors, fim Buell who carries the unblemished escutcheon of the class of '37, and Carter Yates who tops the oft tubbed Frosh. Prexies elect are Dick Geer, Bill Burt, and Malcolni MacCluer. Class offlcers not mentioned here will find some recompense by scanning their intelligent faces on pages 28, 29, and 50. high academic standards of the college. FW-QJQ-fmr7Q5 UPREME LEGISLATIVE authority is vested in the Executive Comf mittee, a group of vicious reactionaries, 'LOld Dealers . This venerable body gallantly defended the legendary Constitution, and let an occaf Alia f ' l th esca e from the A. S. O. C. ocketbook. Donald Fareed gig ow siona mo p t p t , ll j- sweet tongued orator, who was swept into office with the Roosevelt ' g - landslide, presided the first semester. The year 1935 witnessed the ref ' ' vival of the Phi Gamma Delta political dynasty. The pride of the Fiji's, Alfred Hartley, with no planks whatever in his platform, took the electorate by storm, and now wields the gavel. Frank Hughes, exfKing of Fools, reasoned I correctly j that the next logical office was the student presidency, but with only the backing of Zeta Tau Zeta, the White Hope of the Psi Delts went down to defeat. The left wing was completely repulsed. The Torys were again in power. At the first meeting of the Executive Com' mittee, it was unanimously agreed that the fountain in the library needed repairs. That the spirit of the Suffragettes is not dead is evinced by the multiple organizations of the fair sex. The accident of birth makes every women a member in good standing of the Associated Wonie'ri Students. This sedate body keeps alive the glorious traditions of Occidental Womaiihood, and instills in its members that fierce spirit of independence that keeps the women at one end of the College Union, and the men at the other. Shy neophytes are properly tagged, assorted, and given into the keeping of Big Sisters for instruction in Io Tri-umphen, Occidental Fair , and the shortest path to Sycamore Canyon for the pause that refreshes. The Dove Reception, the Procession of Lanterns, and the May Day Festival, traditional highlights of the feminine calendar occurred as expected, and are ref corded here in their usual places. And, of course, there were Presidents: Florence Williaiiis and Ruth Babcock. Those unfortunates, not residing in Orr or Erdman, call themselves I so descriptivelyj the K'Off'Campus Womeri , and try hard to break into the social whirl. Male counterpart are The NonfOrgs . Not to be outdone, the men of Occidental are banded together as the Associated Meri Students. Membership entails nothing more diff ficult than the possession of the fundamentals of masculinity. There are no dues. Num' ber one event of the year was the Meii's Dinner, a strictly stag affair, featured by tough steaks and an illuminating talk by Bill Henry on the necessity of recruiting desirable stu' dents and also some athletes. The Annual Meiias day saw numerous high school heroes flock to the campus to visit classes, fraternities, and sororities, and then partake of the hos' pitality of the College Union. After the tough steaks and the speeches, the young men atf tended the premier showing of Captain Applejackug then home to ponder the mysteries and vicissitudes of College Life. Political careers, however, are not the only roads to col' legiate success. Defeated office seekers invariably turn to the held of belles letters where they pour their thwarted souls forth in print. The l'Occidentall' absorbs the bulk of the 1

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fx -NKNJ HROUGHOUT the college year, crowded as it is with things of no J rw 4 import, the student gives little thought to that vaguely defined entity, -906 TXOL the Administration. This oversight, no doubt contributes materially to wk the popularity of the year book, where such matters are discussed in FP'5 g'3,F' minute detail. Had you stood atop College Hill in the spring of 1914, 'Qvwwg you would have looked down upon barren, dusty fields, stretching as fa' Vfmfl far as the eye could see. But it was in 1921 that Remsen Du Bois Bird, a courageous dreamer, laid the cornerstone of the greater Occidental College. An-d in the years since, he made of his vision a living reality. Slowly, as is the way of great things, the College has grown and prospered., and throughout these many years of storm and strife, the spirit of President Bird has been the spirit and the life of the College. Atop the hill overlooking Erdman Hall, Dean of Faculty, Robert Glass Cleland, may look down at will upon the broad acres of the campus. By virtue of his high office, the Dean directs the academic life of the College and is curator of the morals of the students. Of late, the rapid growth of the trees that encircle the Creek Bowl has greatly increased the burden of the Dean. Other assorted Administrators are: Arthur C. Coons, Dean of Men, who returned this year from a sojourn in China where he instructed the heathen, and julia A. Pipal, Director of Residence and Social Activities. In Mrs. Pipalls capable hands the untamed hectic whirl of social events, prevalent on most Campi, was reduced at Oc' cidental to a quiet, unpretentious, and well modulated flurry. Once embarked upon a college career, the student soon discovers that the greatest obstacles to the coveted diplof ma, and the sweet oblivion of alumnihood are embodied in the persons of Fredrick F. McLain and Florence N. Brady, guardians of cash and credits respectively. Comptroller McLain hoards the College gold, signs bills, checks, and foreclosures, and wins honor' able mention in the annual popularity contest. Due, no doubt, to Mr. McLain's efficienf cy, the Wolf that stormed simultaneously the many gates of Occidental has been success' fully repulsed. Water, Cas, and Lights were kept going, and a new board walk was laid through the gulleys in front of the library. Miss Brady denies entrance to eager but un' enlightened freshmen, marks down transcripts, and acts as hostess to the many prospecf tive students visiting the campus. During their fifth year, funiors discovered the existence of another menace, the departmental heads. That -numberless horde, aspiring to literary glory, cringes under verbal lashings administered by Benjamin Stelter. This noble prophet of the Sacred Muse, depises bujfoonery, and if fortunate enough to read this will un' doubtedly consider it of low taste. Those material minded who hope some day to become Tycoons of Industry or Money Barons, learn the varied methods of enslaving the Prolef tariat from Dr. Young of the Economics Department. Dr. Hardy's classroom quips, and Professor Adam's English accent yearly ensnare many innocents into the perusal of His' tory. Those anxious to resurrect dead languages and murder live ones, seek aid. and solace from Dr. Lowther. High minded idealists who -desire to carry the Gospel to the harassed heathen, receive praise and encouragement from Dr. Odell. Dr. Ballard, erstwhile head of the religion department is now ministering to the populace of the Pacific Northwest. Future school marms and professors listen to the gilded promises of Dr. Sinclair, and then are irretrievably lost in the pursuit of teaching credentials. Wouldfbe demagogues and ra' dio announcers dubiously dub themselves Speech Majors and settle down to long years of antics on the chapel stage under the personal direction of your announcer, Charles Fred' erick Lindsley. Esthetes and such gather i-n the Music Building under the guidance of Professor Hartley. Despite the unutterable smells emanating therefrom, it is in Fowler Hall that campus savants and sages convene. Here Professor Allen dispenses Mathef matics, Dr. Chandler, Chemistry, Dr. Smiley, Biology, and Mr. Richardson, Physics. C . 3 fi, .1 F :TY C il' 3

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inky horde. ferome Hull was stopping the presses the hrst semester, while Paul, t'Eront Page Manning, who worked his way up from office boy, now warms the Editorls chair. Hull was conservative, L'Old Dealish , and attempted, to correct the evils of the earth by firing militant editorials at the worldls wicked. The tone of the paper was alarmingly chaste. The shift in editorial policy was dehnitely to the left and up. To the delight of the gay social set, Manning turned mildly Wiiichell, and the Occidental blossomed forth with two society columns and a dirt column. Scores of lesser columnists neatly filled in the rest of the space. Paeans of praise to Bill Burt, hard working Sports Editor, who so loudly sang of the exploits of the Orange and the Black. We might also thank the mem' bers of the Track Team who invaded the journalism office. Tho-ugh only appearing once a year, La Encina is definitely worthy of mention here. Gordon Goodhart completedhis second year as Editor, and developed an -unparalleled ability for pasting pictures on straight. To his fertile imagination are due the astonishing novelties contained in this year's Annual. Dorothea Davis, Assistant Editor, may also bask in the limelight soon to be focused on La Enci-na's staff. A staff of experts, captained by Burns Lee, call themselves the Occidenf tal News Service, and keep the wires hot with campus publicity. Hence hometown pa' pers occasionally feature local boy makes goodw tales which are then meticulously pasted on the postoffdce bulletin board next to the ash can. Inquisitive students are eligible to ref ceive I free Q the Campus Directory, an intriguing publication glowing with such tidbits as the name, address, and telephone numbers of Faculty and Student Body. Passing from imperishable print to the spoken word, we pause for a brief moment to consider the achievements of the Forensics Department. Such veterans as Donald Eareed, Ralph Boyne ton, Melvin Nelson, Richard Lund, Woodruff Deem, Dave Gerecht, and Ed Croh added to the store of speech trophies. Early in the year the orators took up the question of Arms and Munitio-ns and precipitated an arms inquiry in the U. S. Senate. The wom' en debators took up the cry, and nearly broke the back of Basil Zaharojjps Munitions Trust. At the Salt Lake gab fest, during Thanksgiving vacation, Occidental entries ran off with half of the prizes. Bonnie Kiser, Martha Sanborn, Vivian Andre, and Floy Hendricks dem' onstrated beyond any reasonable doubt the prefeminence of the female sex in matters of oral articulation. Lucille Goldsmith, local Bernhardt, frightened the judges of the South' ern California Dramatic Reading Contest into the awarding of a JQTSC prize her rendition of Edgar Allan Poe's Tell Tale Heart . If you have lost the Yell Leader election I won this year by Kenneth Cary and Vernon Baker you may yet satisfy your cravings by joining the glee clubs. This year's vocal aggregation, directed by Howard Swan, took sec' ond place in women and men's divisions at the Santa Barbara contest, competing against hve Southern conference schools. The Men's Glee Club journeyed the length and breadth of the San joaquin valley, warbling before awed audiences at such well known metropoli as Wasco, Lindsey, and Dinuba. The Thespian, arts are kept alive by the activities of the Oxy Players, a group of dramatic artists led by William Parkhurst and Charles Hall. The dynamic melodrama, Rip Van Winklew, starring Parkhurst and the inimitable Vivian Andre was the year's first theatrical venture, presented in the Little Theater. This same magnificent structure was the scene of five smashing onefact hits. With their bud' get swollen by these successes, the Players were able to go into the production of a more stupendous undertaking, L'Captain Applejackn, a story of pirates bold, and love that conquers all. The original plot and the stellar acting of Rod Markley, Bill Parkh-urst, and Virginia Allison won the plaudits of the dramatic world. Campus dramatic and musical talent effected a merger late in April to start rehearsals for Von Elotow's light Opera, Martha , the most ambitious undertaking in the history of Eagle Rock Beaux Arts. The production was under the direction of Walter E. Hartley, with Kurt Baer von Weisslin'