Pekin High School - Pekinian Yearbook (Pekin, IL)

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Page 29 S E N I O R EDITION ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE DIRECTOR ''Captain Applejack, by Walter Hackett, was the mystery-comedy produced with a double cast by the junior class this year. The play, under the direction of Mr. George Sparks, centered around a meek, middle-aged bachelor seeking romance and adventure. Captain Applejack, the bachelor, was portrayed by Eugene Alesandrini. He found adventure and romance, too, when Anne Valeska, Russian dancer, played by Norma Rockwell and Louise Coryell, interrupted the tranquil quiet of the Applejohn home with her story that she was escaping from the Nazi spy, Ivan Borolsky, enacted by Clyde Parrish. Actually, she was the famous crook, Big-eyed Gladys, who was using that story to gain entrance into the Applejohn home to search for hidden treasure, and Borolsky was her accomplice in the case. Denentt, Ronald Champion, appearing as a policeman, was the third party in this crooked business. Ambrose's ward. Poppy Fairefi dramatized by Donna Jean Snyder and Vera Pearl Green, was a young woman of about 25, who secretly loved Ambrose and resented Anna's appearance at the house. She suspected Anna from the beginning and was constantly by her guardian's side, fighting for his affection against the subtle flirting of Anna. Another criminal pair were the Pen-gards, who came to the house under the pretense that their car had broken down and that they had to wait for the chauffeur to get it fixed. They, too, had heard about the hidden treasure and were out to get it. Mrs. Pengard, portrayed by Margaret Flynn and Jean King, was an amusing character who flattered Ambrose into thinking they were interested in buying his home. Mr. Pengard, Don O'Keefe, pretended to be an oriental seer, Zoroaster, whose mysterious attitude baffled Ambrose. Members of the Applejohn household were Lush, Marvin Jenkins, who had been with the family for years, and showed it in his stiff posture and gray hair, and Aunt Agatha, haughty, old-fashioned lady of the house, who couldn't understand the unusual goings-on about the house. This role was enacted by Ella Mae Williamson and Helen Hayes. Johnny Jason, played by J:m R:chards, had persuaded Ambrose to sell his home and start out in the world to look for adventure and romance. The second act was Applejohn's dream when he fell asleep while awaiting developments in the expected robbery of his home. The respectable Applejohn changed character to a bold pirate captain. Mr. Pengard became a slinking Chinese sailor, and Borolsky was leading the crew on to mutiny. The scene also involved Anna, as a captured beauty, and Poppy, as the cabin boy. The play took place in an old home on the coast of Cornwall in England with all the action happening within a few hours on a rainy, winter night.

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SENIOR EDITION Pag© 28 STUDENTS AND COUNCIL COOPERATE TO MARK SUCCESSFUL YEAR Under the leadership of president Bob Herget, the student council this year has had an added purpose for functioning at PCHS. Besides its regular activities, such as the Lost and Found, Book Exchange, Lyceum programs, and sponsoring The Pekinois, the student council has met the change in foreign relations by entering whole-heartedly into helping win this war. The formation of the Junior Red Cross committee and the one hundred per cent enrollment of PCHS students in the Junior Red Cross was probably the biggest effort of the council. So far the Junior Red Cross committee has already sponsored the knitting of afghans, collecting of magazines, awarding gold star pins, and the purchasing of a service flag for the school. The paper committee has diligently planned campaigns and contests to make the collection of paper for national defense more interesting. The money from the paper drive aided PCHS boys and girls and als othe Pekin hospital. Even all the council's regular duties have in a minor way contributed to the war effort, for through work on the council, PCHS is being educated for the democratic way of government. Also, during the past year, Pekin high was represented by an article on the Community Sing in a national magazine. This article was prepared and submitted by a student council committee. However great the job, the student council believes that its social events shall strike a balance between all work and no play. In the fall many students were delegates to the district convention held in Galesburg, while this spring the state convention in Chicago was attended by nine PCHS members. The faculty party, where students and teachers meet for a common purpose, fun, is a council social event every fall. Spring means picnics to all organizations, including the council. Cooperating wtih the president this year were the officers: vice-president, Mary Ellen Thomas; secretary, Vera Green; and treasurer, Toula Ragias, as well as the rest of the council, the whole of the student body and faculty members. Miss Edith Gramlich, Mr. Mason Grigsby and Principal A. G. Haussler are the advisers who make the council a bigger and better democratic organization READY FOR THE FUTURE. Girls' Club members are now looking back on a very successful year in which many new projects were successfully initiated. The main governing body of the club is the cabinet, composed of five girls representing the president and the four classes. Jean Rogers was the senior member; Mary Pauline Barthel, junior member; LeVonne Hainline, sophomore member; and Maxine Arnett, freshman member. The council consisted of the cabinet plus Margaret Lutz, Norma Rockwell, Lorene Maxwell, Harriet Brosmer, Nita Mae Allison, Merla Hundt, Phyllis Bonk, Wanda Six, Margaret Ann Friedrich, Jean King, Ella Mae Williamson, and llene Ozella. For their Christmas project this year the girls continued with the Alaskan project of the year before. They sent two large mirrors and two pairs of ice skates to the young children of St. Mark's Mission, Menana, Alaska. Christmas cards were also collected by the girls, and they will be used in connection with the project for next year. Coming in for their share of glory are the programs, ably prepared by the members of the council. Many original ideas came forth, with the clever skit dealing with manners and presented by Dorothy Rohrs, Ella Mae Williamson, Frances Lam-pitt, Mary Ellen Thomas, and Jean Rogers being one of the best. Again the Unland sings rated high, as did the Boys'-Girls' Club quiz program. The Easter fashion show, announced this year by Nita Mae Allison, had for its background the nation's capital with a bevy of PCHS beauties modeling the latest fashions. G.C. COUNCIL REPRESENTS SCHOOL'S LARGEST CLUB

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SENIOR EDITION Page 30 Successful dramatic productions seem to be traditional in PCHS and Mr. George Spark's first directing at PCHS of the presentation, Skidding, was no exception. This sparkling comedy concerned a typical mid-western family with troubles typical of the neighbors next door. Humorous dialogue kept the scenes moving, and calm sincerity assured it a success from the first moment of rehearsal. The ten players who portrayed this true-to-life family were: Aunt Milly, Mary Alice Renfer; Andy Hardy, Vernon Lewis; Mrs. Hardy, Mary Galbraith; Judge Hardy, John Houston; Estelle Campbell, Mary Ellen Champion; Marion Hardy, Mary Ellen Thomas; Wayne Trenton, James Richards; Myra Wilcox, Vera Pearl Green; Mr. Stubbins, Al O'Hara; and Grandpa Hardy, Harry Williams. The Hardy family consisted of Judge and Mrs. Hardy, Andy, Marion, Grandpa, and the two married daughters, Myra and Estelle. One of the scenes filled with comedy was when the two married girls came running home to mother. Mother Hardy, already shattered by her problems at home, retaliates by taking a leave of absence to visit her mother. The play ended with everyone happy, for Aunt Millie went out to do the town, Judge and Mother Hardy began anew, the mar- ried daughters returned to their homes, Andy was working his way up in the real estate business, Mr. Stubbins saw his candidate, Judge Hardy, reelected, Marion gave up her political career for Wayne, and Grandpa was happy with just his memories of the colorful past. Two outstanding acts in the Variety Show were the Human Caliope, upper photo, and a girl's trio, which sang the popular number, For All We Know. Boys, in comic outfits, blowing into bottles ore, left to right, Jim Richards, Jim Moses, Jim Bruce, and Bruce Brisendine. Harriett Martens, Lois Kerrlck, and Jean Myer are the vocalists. After scoring hits with Skidding and Captain Applejack, Mr. George Sparks once more selected a clever yarn this time named Tish, and came forth with an unforgettable piece of entertainment. May 7 and 8 audiences literally rolled in the aisles each time the two old maids in the drama, Lizzie (Mary Alice Renfer) and Aggie (Helen Walter), waddled onto the stage. The responsive theatre-goers applauded Jean Myer's portrait of the indomitable Tish, while Jack Hackler and Dorothy Rohrs, in the persons of Charlie Sands and Ellen, flitted through the story to supply the needed romantic entanglement. The arrival of Denby Grimes (Al O'Hara) supposedly a Hollywood motion picture director, and Dorice Gaylord, (Loralne Bailey) the star for his new picture, added to the mystery which Tish, in her usual methodical manner, solved. Lem Pike (Paul Fogliano) was the rough-and-ready, al-ways-get-my-man westerner who went after bandits with the thought of reward money foremost in his mind. Mary Ellen Thomas as the unhappy novelist, Bettina Trent, scorned the attentions of Clare Leiby as Weslie Andrews until their compromise in the last scene where the young couple patched up all their difficulties. Callie Hopkins (Jean Powers) was the young girl of sixteen who was treated more as if she were six years old by her money-mad father, Luther (Warren Ferguson). Luther's villainy was also uncovered by Tish, causing the disgruntled man to flee the United States and never return. Navajo blankets tacked onto the walls of the brilliant red-speckled scenery lent a realistic western atmosphere. The setting, a combination hotel lobby and lunch room, was the site for the action of the entire drama. 'Thank Heaven for the Spinster Mind' T I S H