West Side High School - Legenda Yearbook (Saginaw, MI)

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We had planned to rest until eight o ' clock on the next day and then inform our friends we were going to the village show. We were sure our appearance at the village theater would be a complete surprise since the two musicians and the handy man, who pulled the curtain and shifted our necessary pieces of furniture, such as the looking glass, promised complete secrecy. The chorus girls of The Passing Show are certainly making themselves scarce! said one of the fellows at the hotel. I haven ' t even seen the vamps! They ' re probably good looking peaches, Mary suggested, as calmly as if in two hours she would not be exercising her vocal powers to such an extent that the Europeans would be glad they lived over the sea. At half past six, we all managed to meet at the cross roads with our make up and clothes. June Crofton was going to drive us to the back entrance of the rickety old show house. June was a flighty girl and as the car swerved aside to avoid running over a member of the suicide club — a chicken — she lost control of it, and we ran straight into a telephone pole. The windshield was shattered, the radiator dented, one light a complete wreck, and still worse, the occupants were a sorry sight. June ' s arms were badly cut, Mary ' s head bruised, and Ethel ' s ankle sprained; I was the only one uninjured. Sometimes things aren ' t as bad as they seem. After we had torn up some of our royal robes and bandaged June ' s arms, she tried to start the car and it actually responded. Shortly afterwards, a weary, disheartened group of girls drew up at the rear entrance of the theater amid groans, sobs, etc. Since I was the only presentable one left, I was delegated to announce the castas- trophe to the audience. But when I peeked out at the audience from behind the curtain, and saw the crowd of eager, expectant farmers, to whom such a show was an event, I changed my mind. I can ' t do it, I said, They need amusement as badly as the Europeans need food. Besides, there ' s Bassett ' s daughter who collected ten dollars and fifty cents, sitting in the front row. How she would laugh if she heard of our failure! What can we do about it? came a chorus of angry voices. I know! While you keep the audience entertained, I ' ll get the vaudeville troupe to put on a show. They ' ll only charge fifty dollars! We will still have a good deal left. Mary, you and June aren ' t hurt so very badly. You rig up and go into the audience and act like regu- lar ' rubes. ' Flirt with the men, and ask the women if they ' ve seen your husband. You ' ll simply have to suffer for a little while. Then I was off. The manager acted very ungracious. He said if a crowd of girls were putting on a show and trying to spoil his business, he could not help them out for fifty dollars. After much gesticulating, expostulating, and anything which con- sumed the valuable time, I succeeded in engaging the vaudeville troupe for one hundred and fifty dollars. When we reached the show house, the crowd was in a jolly humor. The girls had done t heir work well. When the performance finally began we slipped out and went home. The next day we met to discuss the situation. Ethel had been more seriously injured than the rest. We counted the money taken in and found a total of one hundred and seventy-six dollars. Sub- tracting from that one hundred and fifty dollars for the troupe, ten dollars for the hall, and ten dollars for the musicians, there would

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Home Talent Gretchen Roethke It was during the Summer, while I was spending my vacation at Green Island, that I attempted another of my wild projects which met with no better success than many of my previous ones. Although the war was over, many of its participants were still feeling its cruel reaction, and even in the secluded little village of Green Island, the resorters were not able to ignore the call to help starving Europe. One morning, as Mary Rogers and I were sitting on the veranda of Emerald Inn contemplating a game of tennis, my dear aunt, our chaperon, tried to interest us in a newspaper giving the most recent statistics of European deaths caused from lack of food. My dear children, you are too frivolous and too obstinately insensible to the griefs of others. Why don ' t you do something really worth while? Mrs. Bassett ' s daughter has made a house-to-house canvass and, so far, has collected ten dollars and fifty cents for war orphans. Yes, ten dollars and forty-nine cents of that she has used for her taxi bill, probably, contributed my cousin, somewhat acidly. Perhaps, but at least, that one cent will be given with a feeling of love and sympathy. This parting remark took a much deeper hold upon us than my aunt realized; we were so lost in our thoughts that we scarcely heeded her departure. The next morning found Mary and me making our way to the village where a troupe of cheap vaudeville players intended to put on a show for the coming week. After our lecture on selfishness, we had decided we must do something by which more than one cent would be sent to Europe. Two hundred dollars was to be our goal. After locating the manager of the troupe, we finally succeeded in extracting a promise from him that he would put on an entirely new bill, which consisted largely of acrobatic feats and a hackneyed magi- cian, for one night to help us in our charitable enterprise. Seeing it ' s for a good cause, I ' ll put it on for only fifty dollars! he announced condescendingly. Fifty dollars for that amateur stuff! we thought, but ended our interview politely, saying, We ' ll think it over. But we did no such thing. If people were starving, why should we diminish the proceeds by paying a part of them to a vaudeville troupe? Why not put on the show ourselves. The next few days found us very busy. After taking four other girls into our confidence, we finally made out a program consisting of some of the latest song hits, and such other features as Mr. Hoge ' s Interpretation of the Movies ; The League of Nations ' Dance ; The Looking Glass Farce, and the Imperial Green Island Ballet. Our rehearsals went on secretly until the hand-made posters were distributed, stating that a small company of actors would exhibit their talent on the evening of July fourteenth. By withholding further details, we hoped to arouse the curiosity of the villagers and farmers, and have a full house. We induced Bill Hanley to rent us the old moving picture hall for ten dollars. That ended our business transactions, we thought, and ' secured us a fine collection for the orphans.

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be six dollars left. Six dollars will be sent with love and sympathy, quoted Mary. Nothing doing! June interrupted. You ' ve got to help me pay for the smashed car. The garage man said it would cost eighty-three dollars and I need some help. In the end we each paid one-sixth of eighty-three dollars and sent the six dollars with love and sympathy. THE BONNET AND THE RAIN The day had been so dull and warm, It caused us all to sigh, When in a flash, we saw, afar, A cloud up in the sky. The air grew thick, and thicker still. We could not breathe so well. The whole sky, now with the clouds did fill; The rain came down pell-mell! Oh, wailed a trim young maid, aghast, As she began to fret; Pa says this bonnet is my last, And now it will get wet! A poor, old lady tottering came; The rain around her poured. The miss walked past her all the same, Her bonnet might get spoiled. The poor, old lady looked amazed at this young thing so rude. Ah, shelter me! she cried aloud. Impossible, I ' d spoil my hood, The pert young thing avowed. The old world rushes, helter-skelter, so We must look apart From those who have a bonnet to shelter Instead of a loving heart. C. L. PURCHASE.