Spaulding High School - Our Echo Yearbook (Barre, VT)

Page 26 text:

The Helen Hayes and Lionel Barrymores of our Senior Play. ooe ccteo t£e lR.cuio yi —S xCC Hot IRuh 07oKt t{ Reviewed by Faith linsley, ex-Spaulding Well, well, I never expected to see on the Spaulding stage ''The Perils of Pauline, that hoary old serial in which each Saturday the heroine is about to drop off a cliff and hangs there until the next week same place, same time. With only minor variations that was the plot of the senior play presented in the high school auditorium on November 13 and 14. Given the Widow- ed Mother, Beauteous Daughter, Stalwart Hero, Dastard- ly Villain, Mortgaged Home, and Assorted Extras, the reader can make up the plot for himself. So let's have a few random notes from One-on-the-Aisle. The Symbolic scenery was very effective, especially the local Toonerville Trolley (otherwise the Barre — Montpelier — Graniteville). The delayed action of the train whistle, the repairs on the engine, and the rock (definitely the ROCK — Did somebody run up into the pasture for it?) was a bit of funny business much ap- preciated by the audience. Even Prudence's parasol missed its cue — or did it? The villain music (performed by Carole Rizzi) was an excellent running accompani- ment, the stylized duels were pure farce, and the mus- tachios were fearful and wonderful adornments for teen-age faces. (Did your mother know you, Howard? Or did she want to know you?) If an occasional part was overacted, small wonder and small blame in this unfamiliar melodramatic hodgepodge. The surprise lay in the fact that most of the acting showed the proper restraint, a result which can no doubt be attributed to skillful direction by Spaulding's new dramatic coach Mr. Robert Pierce. 22

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liUl Where would you look for the gang on Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday nights? Why, at the Lighthouse, of course! We were fortunate in having a teen-age club started during our freshman year by civic-minded members of the student body who could see that there should be a place where we could meet our friends, talk over the latest social affairs, and have an evening snack. With the aid of parents and friends, such a club was soon formed, with a large membership. It now plays a large part in the life of most Spauldingites, and all of us will long remember the grand evenings we've spent at our own Lighthouse. '206ic£ t£e at t£e

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Our cast breathes a sigh of relief after giving a wonderful performance. '2 Ve 'Produce au OCd- pdodco cecC ’?7teiCendr z H4i. Among the principal actors. Prudence Hopewell, the heroine, (Mary Lou Politi) should be highly commended; not once did she lose her poise or the audience, a truly remarkable feat of dead-pan for the effervescent Mary Lou. Mother Claire Laferriere and her rocking chair made a charming picture. Saucy Sandra Smith, as Fifi, twitched attractively through her part. George Karnedy, the noble hero, handled well a difficult role. Gail Aid- rich and Ruth Anton, as two women no better than they should be, were horrible but adequate examples of the old-fashioned Siren. And Ha! Ha! Yaeger!! For a dashing villain Pat is on the small side, but he blew in and out with such an outside snarl that the audience often forgot his normal dashing appearance in the Spaulding corridors. Skits between the acts were suitably reminiscent of the old Ten-Twent'-Thirt' shows. However, some numbers were less suggestive of the South than of the East (East Barre). Isn't that right. Mister Richard Lafreniere? 23