Sacramento City College - Pioneer Yearbook (Sacramento, CA)

Page 33 text:

The dramatic activities that have taken place in the Junior College this year have been under the auspices of the Art of Acting class, which comprises the active membership of the Drama Club. The several public appearances of this group of students are written up in detail below, so it will be sufficient to merely call attention to them here. The work of the class for the first semester was on one-act plays, among which were “Enter the Hero, ' 1 “Two Crooks and a Lady,” “The Twelve-Pound Look,” “Trifles,” “The Wonder Hat,” and others. This work was splendid preparation for that done in the second semester on longer plays, somewhat more pretentious. Before any of the plays have been presented in public, they have been carefully worked out in class. The instructor of this class and the coach in all the plays, is Miss M. A. Murphy. The class is heavily indebted to her for her ready and valuable assistance. She has assisted us at all times to a full realization of what the plays and the parts have meant. The president of the club during the first semester was Roy Portman; during the second, Verna Hannah has served in this capacity. Due to the efforts of these two able executives, members of the club were able to secure reduced rates to a number of worth-while productions, among which were “To the Ladies,” by the Wheeler Hall Players, the Stuart Walker Portman¬ teau Plays, and Tony Sarg’s Marionette presentation of the Willow Plate story. “Spreading the News” The first public appearance of the organization was in “Spreading the News.” This Irish comedy, written by Lady Gregory, was given as a feature of the Carnival held in the Auditorium on October 12. There are many amusing situations in this play, all of which were very well brought out by the cast. While the plot is simple, it is highly interesting. Through the misunderstandings of Mrs. Tarpey, the deaf apple-vendor, Jack Smith was supposed to have been killed by a pitchfork at the hands of Bartley Fallon, after a quarrel between the two over Smith’s wife. The villagers were greatly 29

Page 32 text:

The Debating Society closed the spring semester of 1923 with the en¬ viable record of having triumphed in every contest in which it had taken part and claimed among its opponents the Nastoria Debating Society of Stanford University. Anxious to maintain the interest which had been aroused, the society began the fall semester with much enthusiasm. Manager Broughton promptly secured a triangular debate with Modesto Junior College and Fresno State Teachers College on the question: Resolved, that the United States should enter the World Court according to the Harding-Hughes proposals. Ed Smith and Paul Bruton upheld the affirm¬ ative and Percy Westerberg and Phil Broughton the negative. On the 19th of December the affirmative team traveled to Modesto and were able to carry the day by a unanimous decision. Three weeks later, on January 9th, the two supporters of the negative met the Fresno team in Sacramento. Here the tables were turned, the college losing by a three-to-nothing decision. Our team was handicapped by the fact that one of its original members was unable to take part, making it necessary for Phil Broughton to take his place just a few days before the debate, but we have no alibis to offer and hope to square accounts with Fresno in the near future. This year for the first time the debaters of the Junior College had the opportunity of meeting a team from a state university. On the 18th of December Phil Broughton and Merle Shreck journeyed to Reno to meet the lower division team of the University of Nevada. They upheld the affirmative of the question: Resolved, that compulsory arbitration should be used in the settlement of all labor disputes. Our team upheld the honors of the school and the outcome was in doubt until the judges, who included an ex-Governor of Nevada and a federal judge, rendered a two-to-one decision in favor of the Reno team. No debates have been scheduled this semester, due to the fact that studies must come first, but all are looking forward to next year with the hope that our teams will continue to climb the ladder of success. May our future debaters carry on and may they make the name of the Sacramento Junior College one to be respected in inter-collegiate competition in the state, for no student activity can be more beneficial to the college than debating and more profitable to the participants.

Page 34 text:

interested in the report, and helped in every way they possibly could to spread the news. Finally Jack reappears, and both he and Bartley are led off to jail, with the villagers following to learn as much as possible. The work of Vesta Raynsford, Roy Portman, and Merle Shreck was particularly com¬ mendable, although Alvin Beach deserves favorable mention for his interpre¬ tation of the magistrate so fully appreciating his own importance. The cast for this production was composed of the following: Bartley Fallon .Merle Shreck Jack Smith.....Roy Portman The Magistrate...Alvin Beach Joe Muldoon, policeman..Percy Westerberg Tim Casey...-.Lloyd Bruno Shawn Early......George Ronk James Ryan..Charles Gimblett Mrs. Fallon....Charlotte Krebs Mrs. Tarpey.-..Vesta Raynsford Mrs. Tully.Jean Worthington “Thursday Evening”--“Suppressed Desires On the evening of January 28th, two one-act plays were staged at the Tuesday Club auditorium. These plays, “Thursday Evening” and “Sup¬ pressed Desires,” were highly successful, satisfying our highest hopes in their ability to “get over.” “Thursday Evening” is a skit by the well-known essayist and columnist, Christopher Morley. When the young people in the house disagree and start quarrelling, the two mothers, visiting the young couple at the same time, fixed a plan by which the youngsters were made to see their own follies. The charm of the play lies in the cleverness of lines rather than in complexi¬ ties of plot or unusual situations. The cast: Gordon Johns....Roy Portman Laura, his wife...-.Alice Warren Mrs. Johns, Gordon ' s mother.Vesta Raynsford Mrs. Sheffield, Laura ' s mother..—Helen Rohl Between the plays, delightful vocal solos were given by Ethel McNeil and by Charles Gimblett, both accompanied by Alice Whalen. The Junior College String Quartette also gave numbers both before the first play and during the intermission. The second play was “Suppressed Desires,” written by Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook. This is an exceedingly clever satire on psycho¬ analysis, which abounds in clever situations. This play was interpreted by: Verna Hannah as.-.Henrietta Brewster Alvin Beach as....Stephen Brewster Jean Worthington as.Mabel, Henrietta ' s Sister The club takes this opportunity of thanking Percy Westerberg and Henry Sleeper for their valuable services as stage manager and electrician, respectively, which were donated on this occasion. 30