Robert Louis Stevenson School - Circus Yearbook (New York, NY)

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K , v fmt ' 'lil' JH A . it i in ' I r g .. qv X 'R 1 , 4 I ,rr lil' 'lielFll'YEIV A f 'N l f itll ,l, l.l'l !' I 'M ll gl '. f x If .ll ,, in In .0 'P ll 'J f 9 fff X' v A A 'A A: I A ,L IU uf y l V 5 !' hi ' 11 'tv I ' n 1 y A ,KXI.:':.v ll if ,fi U l 'N H, , 'Q if l fi e iv, . , 4 lf . 4' ! I , '1-A H fl I U Y t ' Q ' X ,, l i ' 6 ' N ' NYG THE GREATEST SHOW CN EARTH Yep, as I have always said, Agnes, the circus is the personification of America. Sort of like baseball-real old American tradition. Please get off my toes Ma'am! Hurry up Aggie, we want to see all of the side show. And a lady, with all life drained from her, holds up a prattling head for all the world to admire. The armless and legless wonder, who can type and write and do count- less things, just as you and I. Look at that, will you. My goodness, I wouldn't like to be a freak, sort of horrible. What's that you say? Well, money ain't everything. Gosh just a stub of a hand. Sure love the circus. Makes me proud to be an American. God, what a crowd! Flab upon flab drools down a shapeless leg. Forever, that smile that's as false as the day is long. Fat and formless, Lord what a posterior! Wizened little chaps who seem to have a fountain of knowledge that far exceeds their tiny forms. All wrinkled, they sit and smile on a gullible public, who are willing to pay to see folks smaller than they. lt's ghastly the way that lady swallows those neon tubes! She seems to glow from the inside. Sort of spooky like. My see the midgets! just like little monkeys. Gosh the' smallest one made a face at me, I'll slug him. This is fun. So democratic. The musty smell of the basement and the electric lights, and the pink! fuzzy candy that melts in your mouth, the roar of a tired lion, the roar of a tired barker, the roar of the crowd all seem to fuse together into one colored mass. I love side shows. All the people having a good time. Stop pushing! This mob doesn't know how to behave. No consideration for others. Look at the midgets, and the sword swallower, gee! a tatooed man. Gosh this is as American as peanuts. Hurry up, Agnes, sneak ahead of that old woman with the crutches. .fdfklll Walldefldllhl , .ll

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X xx' 1. Alf 4 'X 4. ,Jo l 'J i on A ? lllxm K X V ttv. u Cf , M t,r-- 'il 'V ' .ii 17x . K p ,I p ,zrgllgg .5 I i ' KA ix W g t I ,f Q I . t 5 Q j f -I, 'L X af- Wh The Theater Gommy ls An llptimist The theater was in darkness. A soft lid of dust fell over the tired eyes of the footlights. The curtains hung limply on each side of the wings giving a dismal atmosphere of the gallows. A tiny grey mouse cautiously scurried across the stage and up onto a large stretch of canvas. His tailwas his train and he sniffed his way along. The audience seats were straight and still. They appeared endless and lost their army in the darkness. Now, no place was ever more quiet. But! - what was that!! A tiny voice . . . Cno it muttered more than that of the little grey mouseb . . . there was something or . . . someone behind that scenery. A tiny speck of a figure C no taller than ten or twelve inches with his stocking cap tassel on endj darted out from behind the sets and stood in the middle of the stage floor. He stretched his arms out. Come on fellahs . . . I say . . . come on out . . . for there's trouble in the air tonight. A whole score of gommies appeared from behind the orchestra, the eaves, and the last one came out of a playbill, which lay discarded on the end of the stage. They all gathered about their leader muttering. Yeee . . . a new show opens tomorrow. There's a new show opens tomorrow. There's a big job ahead. We'll make the floor more slippery where the acrobat dancer does his spins and . . . And the seats in the third act don't squeak enough! said a fat stubby one. How about raising the microphone for the little short singer? the skinny one replied again. Or change the number of that act on that piece of scenery, answered another. Soon the ommies were bus at their mischief. The are usuall a talkative crew, of course, in their Y y Q . a own language. However, when they are at work never a sound is uttered because they are so intent in doin somethin to s il the act of a erformer so well that he or she will make u some sort of alik 8 y , Y such as: I had to leave the theater because . . The gommies know full well no true artist even says this, even if he has been foiled ten or twenty times by their efforts. In this way they eliminate false actors and the like. During rest periods their muttering goes on: Say you should have seen the trick we played on the new chorus dancer in the theater I used to work in. I loosened the straps on her toe shoes and she went out dancing, wabbling about so that she said she would never go back as a dancer. Of course, if she were a real dancer she would never have for- gotten to bring the good slippers and I would never have been able to loosen them an eighth of an inch. Come men . . . it's to work again until the morn when our tasks are complete and we've left lots of traps for the stage people! Some will stumble over them, some will fall in them, and some will see the tricks and step over them, and go on to their success. So . . . back to your jobs again . . . Yeee . . . This is why the actor attends dramatic school and studies correct pronunciation for hours. This is why the singer trains so that she may be heard, even though a gommy has raised the mike beyond her level. This is also why the dancer practices so regularly his correct positions, and, if his shoes are too slippery he sand papers them before the act. Most performers have the fear to do their talent well but few realize that fear is really the gommies! So, you see - even though the backers of a play, the directors and producers, and playwriters pull their hats down and go out and get drunk, the theater gommy never loses faith or hope in a new play until it closes. They know the real performers are always on guard against their pranks. You under- stand, now that you know them, that they're really not bad fellows at all! And . . . without them there could never be a Broadway hit! .ANNE JOJEPA

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'Rx - f to af- c s N 1 i' A .3 f f 4,5 I 4 Q , L as 1 X c I X f I X X, 'yi 'st . I +C' Two wendy +8 I would never have gone if I had known we'd meet. It was a big surprise seeing him there walking toward me on 34th street. I tell you I would never have gone, and I would still be living in blissful peace, no thoughts haunting me - not see his face. You see it's night. All this happened today, a few hours ago. The day had starred beautifully, little puffs of clouds, blue, blue, sky, and a warm May sun. Yes the day was beautiful and I was going dancing. I was happy. Then I saw him. He saw me at the same time. His face lit up and he smiled a broad grin, he walked toward me. Yes, I'd known this boy well, I'd lived a whole summer with him, sung, danced and eaten with him. We'd gone to the same camp, laughed, cried, and played together, and'now we met. He hadn't changed, he looked the same. I was glad to see him and we stood and talked about camp, his sister, how he was, and then I looked around. People were looking at us, staring at us, staring at me. Two women, well dressed and sleek, brushed past me and I caught the word Shame Outraged stares, indig- nant stares, stares, smres, stares, everyone was staring at me. I felt as though I was on a stage, a huge stage, I was an actress, I'd forgotten my lines. I knew. I knew then what was wrong. Somehow my joy felt forced and wrong. My skin felt tight and stretched across my face. I didn't feel right. He realized the trouble and his face tightened. I shall never forget his face. His head held high and his shoulders taut. We both began to speak and stopped embarrassed. He said he'd see me soon and went on. I knew I'd probably never see him again. I was there alone at 34th street, the crowds pushing past me. My fun was spoiled. Yes I got a dress, a beautiful dress, a dress to have fun in, to dance in. This all happened today, and now it's night and I can't help thinking, thinking of a Negro boy whom I hope I shall never see again. .jdlly glint!