West Bend High School - Bend Yearbook (West Bend, WI)

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4-gn ' -In 'fi' 'S Page Twelve

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Page Eleven

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The Houselights Are Dimmed- - And the play is on, but it is the work behind the scenes which makes a fine dramatic effort possible. While stage construction, make-up, costuming, and lighting never come before the public eye or gain as much importance as the acting, nevertheless, their importance cannot be denied. This year the work of the stage crew was felt more than ever. Precious free periods and time after school were set aside for building new flats and renovating old ones. Regardless of the fact that there is no dramatic club in school, Thespian-minded persons are given many opportunities to prove their skill. Early in fall, four one-act plays were produced for the benefit of dramatics, the forensic department, and noon mov- ies. The plays, with all-school casts were: The Powers That Be, an impressionistic drama, and There's Always Tomorrow, a comedy, both directed by Miss Stanfield, Who Gets the Car To- night?, a farce under the direction of Mr. Olson, and Miss Podruch's production, At the Stroke of Twelve, a mystery-comedy. ln April, the senior class play,H Lady Spitfire, with Miss Stanfield directing the cast and the stage crew, was presented. Against a striking modernistic Learning Engli The most important milestone in the speech and English curriculum this year was the installation of a combination recorder and phonograph. The ma- chine, a gift of the class of l94l, and used in con- junction with the music department, has proved useful in speech correction. New items were introduced into the courses this year. Precedents were not broken, however, for practicability and interest in the subject were still the governing factors. Under the auspices of the English teachers, Misses Hickey, Stanfield, Podruch, and Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Olson, the speech instruc- tor, the paramount aim was the rudiments of lan- guage and literary appreciation. Looking forward to the peace time after the present war, the seniors, after prolonged research, wrote extensive themes on their conceptions of Utopia. The project was correlated with the social problems course. As a climax to this study, an H. G. Wells movie, Things to Come, was presented to the entire school. Mr. Olson's two speech classes contributed their bit to the entertainment of the school by presenting such skits as The Life of George Altendorfu and Mother Goosen at the pep-meetings. ln order to gain a better appreciation of liter- ature, many students joined a club called the Book h setting, Beatrice Puestow as Lady Spitfire, spoiled heiress, displayed her spirit much to the disapproval of Torn, a handsome young college boy, played by Austin Hancock, while George Altendorf, alias Bud, Tom's harum-scarum young pal, attempted to tame her. The action took place in Miss Prudence's fMir- abel Hansenl School for Young Ladies -- the young ladies in this case were Florence Nielsen as the lov- able Cindy, Marion Wilcox as the eternally nibbling Ginger Reid, and Flobelle, the haughty social climb- er, played by Audrey Wolf. Complications in the form of Lady Spitf1re's father, portrayed by Richard Malzahn, Jed, the town constable, played by Cal Huber, and Henri, a smooth crook fWillard Dheinl added to the hilarious, fast pace of the story. When the curtain descended upon the final act of Lady Spitfire, many students had gained ex- perience in play production and enjoyed the fun of such creative activity. ir 1. Make-up master Podruch turns H. Ross into Miss Sample and C. Hansen into Liza, 2. Lady Spitfire QB. Puestowb manhandles Tom and Bud QA. Hancock and G. Altendorfl. Miss Stanfleld muses with The Powers That Be, R. Bennett and J, Monday. 3. and Using I - - League. At another time, the seniors filled out appli- cation blanks, stating why they wanted a particular job. Local business executives criticized these and spoke to the students. Many students also entered the essay contests which were promoted by the Kiwanis Club and the American Legion. Many students became interested in using their English knowledge in the form of extempore speak- ing and reading, oratory, and declamation. ln inter- school forensic work they brought honors to West Bend and gained invaluable speaking experience. At the close of the season, four of them, still not eliminated by league and district tournaments, went on to the state contest. There the greatest laurels were won, for Mirabel Hansen received an A rat- ing in extempore speaking, Austin Hancock and Calvin Claus rated A's in oratory, and Grace Grogan claimed a C in extempore reading. West Bendis English and speech courses keep in mind college preparation and practical knowledge. ir 4. Suzy Geib, explodes in speech class before H. Kirch- ner, W. Turner, and Mr. Olson. 5. Record-breaking record-makers await their turn in Eng- lish II. 6. Freshmen producers A. Schemrnel and R.A1thaus proud- ly present 'iThe Romancersf' Page Thu teen