Torrington High School - Torringtonian Yearbook (Torrington, CT)

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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.

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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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Exams faced us for the third time-and We again lost some of our ship- mates. Resuming our usual routine with a few scars and wounds, we began to notice our crew was fast becoming a necessity to the welfare of the school. We took the cake everywhere. Angela Wall walked off with the laurels of the Senior Speaking Contest. Albert Signorelli, better known as Siggy to his seamates, and publicly as T.H.S.'s Clark Gable, stole the show in the production, A Hidden Guest , even if his appearance in a bathing suit was rather indiscreet. Were we beginning to rate, or weren't we? Our young lady gobs were also trespassing on upper-class decks. Elinor Abeling, who has the reputation of being the crew man-getter, ,firmly held in her net a much-in-demand senior athlete, and refused to let go..Alta Granger also Whipped another upper-class mate into her embrace. Most of the sailors attributed the charm of the '36ers to the cookies Pete Hoysradt very often sneaked out of the back door for, whenever the opportunity and money prevailed. Speaking of Pete and his cookies, recall, my dear shipmates, those nf us who had given Pete our well-earned, saved, or stolen dimes to buy us cookies, only to learn that Skipper Jeffrey, who had gotten wind of the situation, had encountered Pete on deck and sweetly asked him if he intended to eat all those doughnuts by himself. To Pete's meek Yes , the Skipper replied, Prove it! So Pete went to it. Needless to say Pete was absent for a few of the following days. Some say it was a case of suspension. but most of us say it was a case of too much doughnuts. In spite of the fact that I haven't previously mentioned report cards, don't think We didn't have them. There were times when some of us were sailing in the hot-waters surrounding the Red Sea. It was around this time that we ran into another one of those ter- rible storms. The effects on some of us were so great that we were as- signed a three n1onth's shore-leave. Back from our shore-leave, we found a political upheaval in Cabin 25. The crew, after two years without guidance, finally chose officers. Gene Hubbard manned the helm, Alma Rossi acted as First Mate, Dot Dwan was ship's yeoman, and Pete Hoysradt iilled the duties of Slop- chest's Keeper. Silence reigned! The gobs in Cabins 34 and 25 held their breaths in silent admiration. From the top deck to the hold could be heard the strains of Aupres de ma blonde and Au claire de la lune emanating from the resonant chords of Siggy , who did his best to relieve the mon- otony of the French class. 1- --1936- - --