Providence Technical High School - Review Yearbook (Providence, RI)

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1930 THE TECH REVIEW 57 Howard Scholz, who, ever since his grad- uation from Annapolis, had been with the Albee Stock Company, played the part of the villiain. I he theme song was written by Ira Redinger. The play was followed by vaudeville which opened with a specialty dance by Dot” Pcden and Ruthie” Pease, a one-act comedy with Vincent Bat- tle and Eli Malatt, and the presenting of Ralph Daniels and Merrill Faxon, who had succeeded Correll and Cosden, as the inim- itable Amos and Andy. Following their annual scrap was an exhibition of archery shooting by the world’s champion, Ray Westcott, after which Esther Almy, who had lately returned from her ranch out West with a collection of cowboys and rattlesnakes exhibited these curiosities, dur- ing which time several of the women pres- ent (myself included) fainted. When I came to, the first thing which caught my attention was Ernie Ahnberg and Milton Alemida explaining the miracle of how they travelled around the world in a Ford without having one flat tire. The secret proved to be that the tires were made of cast iron, and following this marvelous reve- lation, a group of clog dances by Earle Clarence brought the program to a close. As we were about to leave we happened to glance up toward one of the boxes where we beheld Francis Pickering, the newly-elected Governor of Rhode Island, with three members of his staff; namely, Edward Robinson, George Messier, and George Cairo. As we were filing out, we received cards soliciting the patronage of the new Crossley Hotel, which stood on the site of the old Biltmore Hotel. As it was too late for either Grace or I to return to our respective home towns that night we decided to remain overnight at the Cross- ley. Upon reaching there we registered, and were shown to our room by Leslie Cross- ley himself. After we had freshened up a bit we went down to the lounging room where we discovered Dot Skirrow and Ruth Nodine. We recited our adventures, and received in exchange some news equally interesting. “Dot” said that she was a stenographer for the law firm of Miller Meadus in Boston, and Ruth ex- plained that she was making a tour of Prov- idence collecting autographs of famous people before leaving on her annual trip abroad. Dot said that Fred Del Nero, Joseph O’Beirnc, Walter Kubat, and An- thony Fonaro were with the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, also that Albert Ferri and John Lombardi were newly elected Congressmen. Ruth happened to know that Rudolph Occomy was teaching the three R’s in a country school in New Hampshire, and that Sydney Leibo was a swimming instructor at the Olneyville Boys’ Club. Grace said that Dan Earl, the fa- mous model for Ads of Arrow Collars, was registered at the Crossley, also Peter Tarlaian and Louis Geremia, two promi- nent young aviators, who had recently re- turned from Honolulu. At this point there was a lull in the conversation, and I idly picked up a magazine which I scanned in- terestedly when I found it was edited by Theodore Zenofsky, and published by the Dimase Publishing Company. I spent a half hour in reading an article about Vin- cent Grossi and Joseph Pignatelli who had the plans for the new White House well under way, and I was deep in an account of the National Umbrella Makers’ Ball, in which Diriar Mukitarian and Vahan Mikaelian figured prominently as stock owners, when I was brought back to earth by a stifled yawn from Dot” and a re- mark from Grace that it was way past little girls’ bedtimes. However, we con- tinued to sit there for some few minutes after “Dot and Ruth had gone, thinking soberly of days gone by, and of the many happy hours spent at dear old Tech.

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56 T II E T E C II R E V I E W 1930 there she added quite a bit of information as to the whereabouts of our classmates to what we had already learned. We found that Herbie Thornton, who used to jerk sodas in the Boston Store, now owned the store, but because of his exrteme modesty was still jerking sodas; also, that Eraclio Del Sesto and Edmund Castignacci were the most successful Real Estate Dealers about Providence, and that Russell Hager and Armand Ferrioli were reporters on the Evening Bulletin Staff. Ruth was just giving us a funny account of how Leonard Sherman, the Superintendent of the Hos- pital, had slipped on a banana peel left in the corridor by Clinton Dawson, a young interne, and fallen downstairs into the scrubwoman’s pail, when Doctor Walt Waterman came in to look at Ruth’s arm. He informed us that Lillian Jacobs, be- cause of her beautiful blonde hair, had been allowed to double for Betty Compson. He also said that Roy Pearson and John Goodwin had recently returned from a hunting trip in Africa with the Prince of Wales, and were now living at their re- spective estates in Hollywood, California, where Roy was employed as a scenario writer. He pronounced Ruth’s arm greatly improved, and after leaving a string of orders with the nurse, which proceeding caused Ruth to make several faces at him, he left, and after bidding Ruth adieu, we soon followed his suit. As we were going down the corridor, I happened to look in one of the open doors, where I beheld Mildred Pierce soothing the fevered brow of Mr. Cush- man, who, it seemed, had suffered a ner- vous collapse after correcting a set of Civics papers which were all A’s. To my remark to Mildred that I was surprised to see her there she replied that many of our class- mates were employed there. Evelyn Mowry, Kathryn Nadeau, and Mary Crowell were nurses. Claude Chadwick, George Bans, Irving Rubin, and Bob Byrne were doctors, (imagine it!) while Emerette Barden was the head dietitian. After leaving the hospital time hung rather heavily on our hands, so we decided to attend the evening performance of That’s Why” at the Albee Theatre. As we still had a half hour to spare we stopped at Pitassi’s Drug Store, which was located on the site of the old Pond Annex for the convenience of High School students. We ordered our sodas and sat down to wait and look about us, which latter part we found most interesting. Over in one corner of the room sat Muriel McLaughlin chew- ing the rag” with her old side-kick Evange- line Jerald, both of whom had been in- structors at Handy’s School for Dancing, until Muriel had discovered the notorious criminal who had robbed the Industrial Trust Company Bank, and thus received a million dollars reward. Since that time she had been in training for a woman de- tective, and having completed her training had gone into business, taking Evangeline as her partner. A few minutes after they had left, Henry Decring, whom we had heard was now a model for Men’s Snappy Clothes at a shop on Fifth Avenue, came in with his better half. As we were going out of the door we bumped into two sailors, who proved to be Arthur De Cesare and Fred Costello. We extricated ourselves, apologized, and managed to reach the theatre without further mishap. When we reached the theatre we found Bill Gregson and Herbert Stromberg tak- ing tickets, and after securing good orches- tra seats we settled down to enjoy the play. It was an amusing comedy written by Harold Lindberg, and dedicated to Mr. Manchester, directed by Don Jeffrey, and starring Leila Briggs and Ed Cullen, both of the Albee Stock Company. The cast included Mason Daniels, Alice Peacock, Fred Colagiovanni, Milton Kaufman, and

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58 THE TECH REVIEW 1030 Finally, when twelve big booms of the clock announced the hour of midnight, we went to bed where sleep soon shut out all thoughts of reminiscence. So farewell to you my classmates; on life’s broad way may success ever crown your efforts, and may the memories of dear old Tech never cease to spur you onward. Au revoir. A Momentary Mystery Kenneth L. Godfrey, '30. On a certain Saturday in August Detec- tive Snoop decided to take a walk in the country and clear the cobwebs from what he fondly called his brain. Accordingly, he pushed and jostled his way through the milling noonday throng to the railway station, where he soon became entrained for a certain country town which lay be- tween two great cities. As a friend had told him that there they took in the side- walks at nine o’clock, he thought that it would be sufficiently peaceful for relaxa- tion. After arriving at the station, he started up a small road, bound for nowhere in particular. Soon the road entered some woods, and after following it for about five minutes Detective Snoop came upon a house. It was set well back from the road. The few blinds that still hung on the house showed the devastating effects of time and weather. Some bricks from the tottering chimney lay on the sagging roof. From between cracks in the rotting boards of the sunken veranda grew grass and weeds. The trees, which grew closely around the house, so filtered the sunlight that the scene was in a state of perpetual shadow, while two bare windows in the front of the house seemed to look forth with a sad and dis- consolate air, the whole giving the place a singularly gloomy and melancholy appear- ance. As Detective Snoop approached the house he unconsciously ceased whistling and leaned up against the decaying fence. As he did so, a shriek from one of the upper windows rent the air. “Help! Murder!” smote upon his ears. Then silence reigned. Detective Snoop consulted his correspond- ence school notebook and then, opening the gate which groaned protestingly, he crept up the overgrown path to the house. An ominous silence hung like a pall over the place. The detective cautiously opened the front door and peered into the gloom within. The room was empty. He slipped inside the room and was peering about, when a heavy step crossed the floor over his head. A shriek, a muttered curse, the sound of a falling body, and then deathly quiet. From between a crack in the spread- ing boards over his head, something red and sticky fell on the hand of Detective Snoop. “Blood!” he muttered. Drawing his trusty revolver, he leaped up the stairs and flung open the door of the room from whence had issued the sounds. What a sight met his eyes! There, on an old chair, sat a man munching a sandwich. In front of him on the floor lay an overturned table and a broken bottle of catsup, while in a corner, with a morsel of bread still in his claws and a handkerchief wrapped around his beak, fluttered a parrot.