Torrington High School - Torringtonian Yearbook (Torrington, CT)

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ll 1 l l i was awakened to the fact that the ship's orchestra was something to brag about. Such players as Nick Mecca, Ray Stecewicz, Wellington Leach, Bob Driscoll, and Frank Iacino astounded us with their playing. The orchestra and members of the cast were invited to present a program at the Junior Republic, and Commodore A. W. Smith was very proud to be able to present such a fine program. Meanwhile, Commodore Varnum had established a Debating Club. We were pleasantly surprised one day to find Helen Radzevich and How- ard Haas, whom we were accustomed to hear singing, striving to win for us, the debate between our team and the Senior members. Inexper- ienced as our shipmates were. the older seamen of the T.H.S. '33, were no match for us. But we were to get back at them for having put us to shame. Our orchestra, of whose merits I have already spoken, was requested to play for Senior graduation, the first time that a Freshman orchestra had played for a Senior graduation. Were we good or were we good? Madeline Siegel, whom most of us considered a very sensible person, emerged from her cabin one day wearing buttons. Not on her dress where they should be worn, but on her ankles. This might have been ex- cused if Madeline hadn't topped it oi wearing one black stocking and one white stocking' and then casually wearing mittens on a hot fall day. Back from a week's shore leave, Skipper Johnson warned us that We were again approaching rough weather, and he was afraid that some of us were going to fall overboard beyond the point of being rescued. His predictions were very correct. The weather became rougher and rough- er-storms rose threateningly-a few of us despaired-fell over-board --finally, calm again-Final Exams were over. We looked about us-a few were missing-and thus ended the first quarter of our voyage. As we felt energetic after a three month's vacation, we decided to continue our voyage in September, 1933. However, this time we were not alone, but had to contend with the seamen of the good ships '34 and '35. Warned to keep on our own decks, we showed our impudence by domin- eering every club and activity of the ship, and established by foothold which gave us the title of the most energetic crew to sail from home port. This year, we again failed to elect officers, and in spite of Skipper Jefl'rey's entreaties we remained in this condition for another year. Perhaps the crowded condition of the ship affected some of us. Any- way, several of the girls were accused of acting rather queer and child- ish. Sis Kennedy came to classes carrying one of her long discarded dolls 3 such otherwise sensible girls as Bernie Kearns and Esther Doyle were seen wearing dresses backwards, gloves, and carrying umbrellas on ----1936-- - - -

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with the wails of Paul Horvay, Kenneth Werner and Patsy DeGiovanni, who howled and moaned away their misery. Remember the first party we had in the gym? Everyone turned out in his best bib and tucker. The antics of Homer Wheeler in an effort to learn how to dance were something the crew will never forget. Four years of ardent practice have made him T.H.S. '36's Astaire. The only drawback of these parties was the lack of bold male seamen. To observe Tommie Quartulli now, after his course on how to overcome bashfulness. who would guess he was classed with the shy members? A Do you remember the play Commodore Wood presented to us the week before Christmas shore-leave? Jerry Dwyer convincingly played the old grandmother, supported by Angela Wall. and upset by Homer Wheeler, the appalling detective, who scared Kay Malahan and Mike Catino out of their colored make-up. Harriett Coffey had a mania for arranging flowers. Upon return from a two week shore-leave. the ship encountered rough weather. We retired to our cabin rooms, storm clouds rose,-a few men fell overboard-then mid-term exams were over. We were mustered together again for the freshman speaking con- tests. Our crooner shipmate, Arnold Rocco. was one of the contestants, but Rufus discovered that he had better luck when he stuck to his singing, in which he couldn't be beat. It was a long time before we were assembled together again, but finally hearing strains from the assembly hall, we peeked in and found the famous Freshman Quartette, composed of such members as Lois Brenker and Helen Przemylski, led by Mary Gleeson, valiantly striving to sing to the Maine Stein Song, the words written by our own Kay Malahan. At about this time the cooks in the galley rooms complained of the theft of several boxes of Wheatena and a few cans of spinach- The mys- tery was solved by the famous policeman, Ken Werner. Ken knew that Jerry and Kay were greatly in need of extra muscle in order to pull him and Reiny Herman over the window sill and suspected the two young lady gobs of being the thieves, a presumption which turned out accord- ing to his theories. Most of us were puzzled about this window-sill bus- iness, but when we saw the play, A Case of Suspension , the haziness was clarified. What we were not aware of was that Commodore Wood and the other members of the cast were worried lest the added strength of the two girls would pull the scenery as well as Ken and Reiny over the sill. It was during this same production that the crew of the T.H.S. '36

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sunny days. Mary Gleeson tried to give Juliet competition by enacting the famous love scene from one of Mertz's upper windows. Several of the crew had caught the romantic atmosphere that pre- vails on every ship. Bill Morrison and Harriett Coffey, the girl who stopped traflic by insisting upon eating a hot-dog in the middle of a busy thoroughfare, could often be seen, heads together, sentimentally humming I'm in Love With You, Honey, while Heney did his best to persuade Kitty to harmonize Two Together with him, but Kitty could- n't be persuaded. Eddie Kaleel, Camel-Rider in person, made the art of dog-chasing his business. Eddie was seen trying to chase a poor little dog out of the school. We wondered if Eddie was chasing the dog or the dog was chas- ing Eddie. To this query Eddie replies, It's as good an excuse as any for not attending classes. During this voyage, Commodore Pease, one of our best liked com- manders passed away, and although few of us had known him, we sin- cerely regretted his passing. Seasickness was not as prevalent on this voyage as it had been on the first, but just to be sure that no one had, in the course of our rough goings, been encumbered, X-Rays were taken of every seaman on board. The results were not too saddening and everything was declared ship- shape. Am I late? Am I late? What time is it ? -without a doubt it's Jack Tynan, keeping his reputation of fooling the bell by arriving at 7:59M, and causing many bets to be lost on the clock. Declamation contests were still in vogue, and we find several of the crew in assembly hall valiently striving to be second Demosthenes. Among them was Elizabeth Clark, who, anxious to hasten the holiday with its promise of another shore leave, sweetly recited 'Twas the Nite Before Christmas. Rubbers! Rubbers! and more rubbers! Cabin 11 was struck with a deluge of rubbers. In spite of the fact that the accusing eye pointed to Ernie Lacore, under whose seat the deluge had occurred, he emphatical- ly declared he was innocent. It never was discovered who had collected those rubbers, was it, Alma Buzzi? Elsie Sawitzke, one of our brighter seaniates, wandering around the decks with that far away look in her eye, Woke up to find herself in Cabin 37, much to the Wrath of the seniors. Was her face red or was her face red? Whether Elsie did it intentionally to impress a certain senior or whether it was accidental is one of the unsolved mysteries of the class. Unfortunately, our voyage was again interrupted by rough going.