PACE TEN ~

THE MICHIGAN DAILY

SATURDAY. MAY 8- IqNl.'

THE -M^CHIGAN DAILY"l lAl. .vlf 1lAVMyl i 1(194G

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History Of May Party

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NOVELSCHEMES OF
DECORATIONS USEO
Architects Introduced Bali To Vnife
Memubers of College; Had :'lodest
1eginning in "'Trots"
REORGANIZED IN 1921
By George F. Green
In the decade and a half of its ex-
istence, the Architects' May party has
become so well established as one f>
the important social functions of the
year that it might prove interesting to
glance back upon the earlier parties
from which the May party has sprung.
Approximately 15 years ago, the
students of the architectural college
felt the need of some social function to
aid in uniting more firmly the mem-
bers of the college. At that time the
architectural college was much small-
er than at lpresent. However, it was
decided to stage a dance, and the Pack-
ard dancing academy was modestly
decorated for the affair. Only stud-
ents- in the architectural college at-
tended, but the dance seems to have
been a success, for each succeeding
year a similar party was given. These
parties, which came to be known as
"T-Square Trots" were mostly infor-
mal, smocks being worn at several of
them. Two parties were held in the
old Union dance hall which is now
known to the campus as the Mimes
theater. At neither of the latter two
parties were dectrationms of a very
pretentious character used.
New Era in 1921
In 1921, the May party entered a
new era, the affair being held for the
first time in the present Union build-
ing. The entire work of organizing
this affair was in the hands of a
small group of five students who
staged the event largely by their own
efforts, being obliged to make up a
deficit in expenses personally. Dee-
orations for the 1921 party were chief-'
ly candelabra, acid palms which were
arranged along the walls of the Union
ballroom. At this party, white flan-
nels and dark coats were worn by the

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Responsible For Decorations

After the music has ended, after the dancing's

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through, you will always find that
crowd talkin it over at

same old




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A Michigan Institution

Phone 4545

1116 South University

IWilliai'IE. IPres tonm, '271

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Winner of the competition for the
decorative scheme used in ithe Archi-
tects' May party.

Ben Wyalt, 27A
In charge of the execution of the
dlecoration scheme for the Architects'
May party, who designed all of the
panels used in the decorating.

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various steps in the -ncient production I tian decoralive art. This was the first
of brick, including every process up iyear that the May party decorations
to the actual use in a wall. Other Egyp- were painted, an example which was
tian crafts were likewise shown in the followed this year, building paper be-
decorative work. A touch of humor ing the background used. Crepe paper
was lent to the scene by the maps was also employed extensively for the
which were often decorated wkth an- extras. It was stated at the time that
cient Egyptians in a modern setting. these decorations could not be d(upl-
The tomb of Ti, the famous Egyptian cated by professional decorators for
architect, which stood near the pyra- less than $15,000.
mid of his ruler, was shown in a large The Egyptian party was given ap-
panel. preciative notice by many of the lead-
In another such panel, an Egyptian ing papers of the state, as well as by
boat was portrayed under full-sail, many architectural journals of the
with I he temple of art as its cargo. country. Since that time, the Arch i-
On its sails were drawn an escutcheon, tects' May party has been recognised
the symbol of Hope. In a third panel I as one of the chief social events of the
was the Pharaoh mounted in his char- year, and has easily been first in dce-
iot and attacking a fortress before orative interest.
which many warriors were shown to Costumes Introduced
have fallen. For some time prior to 1924, there
A winged goddess was similarly por- had been considerable agitation about
trayed, pointing to an egyptian in- the campus for a costume ball. Real-

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Architects

Always

mal gusts .scription. The Sphinx and many pyr a-3
male guests. lseralolctdpoielyn
In the last six years, the May party mils were also located prominently in
has been entirely in the hands of the the scenes. Around, as well as above,E
Architectural society and has been the large frieze was a wealth of color,
carried out in a more efficient manner, gathered from studies in the architec-,
with better artistic results. The pies tui-al and main libraries. The prin-
ident of the Architectural society au- cipal colors used were the primary'
tomatically becomes the general chair- ones, which are so noticeable in Egyp-
man of the May party. Under his di-1
rection, the sub-committee chairmen
formulate the plans for the party.
The committees have based their
Prof. Emil Lorch, head of the archi-
tectural college, so that now the party
resembles the Beaux Arts Ball of T
Paris. Professor Lorch is an enthusi- po0
astic supporter of the party as are tho-: -
other members of the architectural
faculty, which has been favorably dis-
posed towards the party since its in-
ception, and which has done all in itspoar
power to make it a success. For the f
last six years, the students in design
classes have been allowed to neglect
their classroom work temporarily in
order to work on the decorative
2cee. Te:aulyfel ta nons
Sem.Tefclyfestanotime has been wasted, since many in.- II1I
teresting and valuable problems are
met.
Inugurate (Competition
Beginning with the May party of +
1922, the decorative scheme for the af- A
fair has been subject of competition
among the students of the architectur-
al college. Many excellent plans are
always submitted and a jury selecte
from the faculty picks the winning
plan. From this stage, the work is in
the hands of the Architectural society.
The decorations for the 1923 party
were based on a peacock motive aAd
were carried out largely with colored
crepe paper as the decorative mnater-
ial.
Several novel schemes, in additon
to the general decorations, were in-
corporated in the arrangement of the
party. Corsages were given, these be-
ing lowered in baskets from the bal-
cony of Barbour gymnasium, which
was the scene of that year's ball.
Informal summer dress was worn at
this party as well as at those of the REPU Ti
preceding two years. The event drew
state wide comment and was recog-
nized as the most elaborately decor- FOR
ated affair up to that time.
The Egyptian party of 1924 was an The surest way to be
innovation in the line of May parties.
Never had enthusiasm run so high' i o here's just a w
the college, nor had such an ambitious Ours is the Ann
scheme of decorations been under-
taken. rJ he theme chosen was partic-T
ularly aTpropriate because of the re-
markable archeological discoveries be- T
in-Tailored ~
imade at the time, and the tremen-
dous publicity which was being given known everywher
to the popular King Tut and Egyptian" -koneryhe
art and architecture. in good appearance
Use Egyptian Setting wide as the favoreds
Fronm the rich store of Egyptian art
the decorative scheme was evolved, i; Come in and see it
which a very novel idea was incor-
porated. In order to lay out the de- have to explain th
tails of the decorations on a large you'll understand.
scale, a stereoptican machine was used 4
in the manner is which the design por- 4$40"$
iraying the epic of Confederate sol-t

izing that it would noI t be ictcessary
attempt to excel the decorations of the
previous year, as they had excelled .1l1
those preceding, it was decided to il-
crease the colorful effe4'Ts by iain ,
the affair a costume partly while i t;o
same time maintaining the high stmal-
(Continued on Page Eleven)
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Draw

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From the large number of more
or less dependable laundries, they
have drawn the beet. They send
their garments to us.
TH addTROJA

Copygk 1926

ATIONS
SALE
e dull is to say it all."
word to the wise:
Arbor home of
1 19Suit
uppenheimer
e as an investment
e"-famed far and
suit for college men.
and we'll not even

LAUNDR
514 E. W~illiam~ Street
Phzone 915

e reputation part-
45 -$50

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