Roosevelt High School - Bwana Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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WAN people are known to have tried to ski on Art l-lill, with little or no success. Whether watching or participating in the fun, one enjoys the sled races on this precipitous hill. The lagoons furnish much amusement. When, in I904 the Louisiana Exposition was held in St. Louis on the park grounds, something was needed to add to the amusement of the visitors to this big affair. Someone proposed that the lagoons be used. This suggestion was carried out, and from the start of the exposition in 1904 and throughout every summer thereafter, a great number of visitors, as well as residents of St. Louis, has enjoyed the ride on the lagoons and the soft breezes from the smooth waters on a summer's evening. Time has played an important part in the changing of the lagoons. Today the water route is much more spacious and is enclosed by beautiful Hower- beds and spanned by several small bridges. For means of transportation there are the electro-boats, run by batteries, and the canoes. The cost of the canoes if fifty cents an hour for two persons. For the electro-boats, the cost is fifty cents a half hour. There are the cycle-boats, also, operated like a bicycle. Several small lakes in Forest Park are excellent for the sailing of miniature sail boats: the most popular of the lakes. for this. sport is found at the south- eastern end of the park. Early in the spring scores of children can be seen lined up on the shores ready to compete with one another. Some of the miniature sail boats made by these children are exact replicas of the real sail boat. Prizes are usually awarded each year for the best constructed and fastest sailing boat. Elderly men delight in fish casting. Although it seems comparatively easy to a person watching the contenders, he would find it a very difficult game of skill if he were to attempt it. In and out, on pleasant days, people ride horseback on the bridle-paths, or stroll along enjoying the grass, the trees, the flower-beds, and the fountains. ln the wide open spaces of Forest Park every member of the family, from little brother or sister to grandparents, can find recreation. GUS MAZAR 4 0 Fifteen

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OUTDOOR AMUSEMENTS IN FOREST PARK OLF courses, tennis. courts, and baseball diamonds compose one-fourth I of the one thousand, three hundred and seventy-five acres of Forest Park. There are two golf courses, a nine-hole and an eighteen-hole course, to accommodate the daily increasing golf fans. The eighteen-hole course is supported by the city, the nine-hole course by the A. A. A. fAmerican Athletic Associationl. For many years golf was known as the rich man's game, but because the cost of playing on the courses of public parks is low compared with that of the country clubs, this expression is rapidly disappear- ing. The courses of Forest Park are open to the public, whereas those of the majority of the country clubs are open to members only. ln Forest Park a person is usually able to play nine 'holes of golf in an hour, and eighteen holes anywhere from two hours to two hours and forty minutes, depending upon the number of players. The tennis courts are not so picturesque as the golf courses, but they are very popular. There are two sets of courts: one lying just south of the Jefferson Memorial: the other, west of Kingshighway Boulevard. A third set, north of Oakland Avenue, has been removed in order to make way for the recently completed super-highway. During the summer an average of eight hundred and fifty people play on these courts daily. The time limit for playing on one of the courts is forty-Five minutes. Permits are sold for a dollar a season. The courts west of Kingshighway Boulevard are supported by the American Athletic Association. This club is located just east of the Jefferson Memorial. The baseball diamonds in Forest Park not only tend to keep young men and boys off the streets, but also help baseball scouts who are searching for new talent. Many a pleasant Sunday afternoon is spent by both the player and the spectator on these diamonds. They have helped much in the increas- ing popularity of that great American game, baseball. They have also been of great advantage to society, causing boys. to form into friendly groups and to learn to respect one another. Over four thousand, two hundred young men and boys engaged in this sport the past summer on just two of the diamonds faccording to the statistics of a groundkeeper in Forest Parkl. Clearly, many men and boys appreciate the fact that they are able to have a place in which to amuse themselves. The baseball diamonds have also helped the business of the professional baseball park in St. Louis, Sportsman's Park. Thousands of St. Louisans have been attracted to Forest Park every winter to enjoy the thrills which Art Hill, located in the south-central part of the park, provides. Years ago only small sleds were used. During the past few years, however, the use of bob sleds has become very noticeable. Some Fourteen

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SWAN INTERESTING FACTS PERTAINING TO THE MUNICIPAL OPERA NY number of articles have been written about the Municipal Opera, , but most of them refer to the history of the opera and fail to mention as many interesting facts that are unknown to the average opera goer. Did you know that: The St. Louis Municipal Opera is the only theatre of its kind in the United States? it seats l0,000 persons, and that regardless of this great number, the theatre can be emptied in five minutes? The opera can be enjoyed by every- one, for there are seats to Ht every purse? There are 1700 free seats, and sixty-nine rows of seats ranging in price from 5.25 to S2.00? The advertised opening of the first opera was June I5, I9I9, but that a cloudburst which swept the dressing rooms and scenery into the River des Peres delayed the opening until June I9? The opera went into debt that year, but the guarantors were repaid their advances from the surplus of the next season? ln the last seventeen years one hundred and eighty-two weeks of enter- tainment have been given and one hundred and nineteen different operas presented and out of this number six have been grand opera? The operas are very carefully selected and usually current popular pieces? Many famous stars of the stage and screen have appeared on our stage? Irene Dunn, favorite screen heroine, once thrilled the opera audiencesg and W. C. Fields and Cary Grant have done their share on the Muny stage to entertain the St. Louis people? At the present time Allan Jones, star of the past few seasons, is finding success on the silver screen? The stars engaged during the opera seasons, are of national and international fame? The two giant oaks that lend so much atmosphere to the stage are insured for SI 500 and are examined twice a year by a tree surgeon? These trees are given a certain amount of water a day and are equipped with lightning rods to protect them from storms? The sound amplifiers were not installed until l924? The revolving stage was installed in June, l930? The opera guarantors have never lost a cent of the money they have put into the organization? Our opera is something every St. Louis citizen can be proud of? This fact is well known, for each night during the opera season the theatre is packed to its capacity? Each year the interest in the opera has intensified and probably in ten years from now the Municipal Theatre Association will be the greatest organization of its kind in the world? PATTY MANSFIELD Sixteen