THE MICH16AN DAILY
PAGE "TE
THE MICHIGAN DAIIN PAGE FIVE
AMONG OUR SOUVENIRS:
Previous Pep Rallies Were Rowdy But Fun
Education Standards Stem from Industry
By MARY RUTH LEVY
Two roasted oxen, an empty audi-
torium, and tear gas riots, have all,
distinguished University of Michigan
pep rallies.
Student spirit apparently swings1
from one extreme to the other; some-
times as a 1929 cheerleader put it,
"lousy," and sometimes, as in 1899,
"howling success in every way."
Students in 1901 were tempted by
two roasted oxen, "coon singers," and
"buck and wing" dancers. By 1909
the response was so great that the
meeting place, University Hall, was
dangerously overcrowded. Seeking to
reduce the fire hazard, the authorities
made what proven to be a serious
blunder-they banned girls. The re-
sult was a storm of protest that rein-
stated the girls in just four days.
A 1911 The Daily quotes the first
speaker of the rally as asking, "Are
we feeling tonight as Jonah felt when
the whale swallowed him?" Two
thousand voices, the article states,
"replied in a mighty shout, 'No!'"
Nov. 3, 1928, The Daily recorded the
first rally in the history of the Uni-
versity in which the audience did not
outnumber the speakers, there being
three each. The entire audience, it
continued, was brought to its feet by
the stirring speech "I shall not men-1
tion any number of things." Nov. 23
of the same year saw the breaking of
the previous record. The band, one
cheerleader and several speakers
faced a totally vacant Hill Audito-
rium.
A Boston columnist paid tribute to
University spirit in 1934. Our team,
he said, hd been outstanding for
four triumphant years, and on its
return from "away" games it had
been met at the station by a few cab
drivers. Roundly defeated by Chi-
cago, the team returned to find an
overflowing station, with the band
and the cheerleaders leading a cheer-
ing student body. Michigan, he said,
had proved itself.
Eventually students got out of
hand. For several years, apparently,
they had demanded free shows after
the pep rally from the Michigan
Theater-without success. In 1937
about 1,500 students stormed the
theater, breaking bulbs, throwing
garbage, lighting a bonfireand being
similarly destructive until the fire-
men arrived. They they removed the
tires from the fire truck, took out the
MESSIAH:
Guest Soloists
Will Sing in
Presentation
Four guest soloists, the Choral
Union of 300 singers, and a special
"Messiah" orchestra will headline the
65th annual Christmas performance
of Handel's famous oratorio, the
"Messiah," to be presented at 3 p. m.
Sunday, Dec. 16, in Hill Auditorium.
Traditional Program
A traditional presentation of the
University Musical Society, since its
organization in 1879, the "Messiah"
has been performed either during the
year or at May Festival. The annual
December performance began over a
quarter century ago. The entire en-
semble will be under the direction
of Prof. Hardin Van Deursen, of the
voice department in the School of
Music. He is acting conductor of the
University Musical Society while Thor
Johnson, the conductor, is in service.
When the Musical Society organ-
ized the Choral Union chorus for the
first season, the group was known as
the "Messiah Club" since its prin-
cipal purpose was to sing choruses
from that oratorio. Later, however,
it expanded its repertoire to include
other great choral works, and mem-
bership was extended to include both
University singers and townspeople.
Text from Bible
Written in the latter part of the
composer's life, Handel's well-known
religious oratorio takes its text from
the Bible. Composed for a special
Dublin performance, the oratorio was
completed in September, 1941, at the
time Handel was becoming blind and
paralyzed. He devoted the last years
of his life entirely to the composition
of an uninterrupted series of orator-
ios which poured out the fullness of
his genius in complete expression.
After the initial performance of the
"Messiah," the German composer's
authority remained uncontested. He
had given a fresh, independent char-
acter to the oratorio form by adapt-
ing it to English words.
Oratorio Soloists
Featured in the Christmas perfor-
mance of this monumental work will
be Rose Dirman, soprano, of New
York City, who will make her first
Ann Arbor performance; Kathryn,
Meisle, contralto, former Metropoli-
ton Opera Company member; Arthur
Kraft, popular tenor, to be heard here
for the first time in many years; and
Mark Love, basso, of Chicago, also
appearing here for the first time.
Frieda Vogan of the School of Mu-
sic will be the organist, while Hugh
Norton of the speech department will
be the narrator.
Tickets are on sale at Burton Me-
key, and put the truck on the side-
walk. They dispersed after three sep-
erate tear gas bombings.
Another riot in 1938 brought about
a stern admonition in 1939 that fur-
ther destruction would terminate all
rallies. It brought results, for a crowd
of almost 10,000 confined their ener-
gies to cheering.
In 1941 the last year of pre-war
rallies, found Tom Harmon telling
students that if they didn't back the
team they would be, "the biggest
bunch of rats that ever lived." The
police were quite satisfied with the
6,000 crowd, for they had merely to
remove a car from the Alumni Me-
morial steps.
Improved stanaards of technical
education In the Floutiwest are a di-
rect. result of Industrialization in that
section of the country said Dr. H. H.
Willard of the Chemistry department.
With industrial opportunities open
in their own states, students in the
Southwest will not longer feel the
need to seek employment in the
East. Schools, particularly the Uni-
versity of Kansas and the University
of Wichita, had this in mind, said Dr.
Willard, when they began organizing
departments similar to he University
of Michigan's Engineering Research,
so that they might take in industrial
projects.
Exemplifying this interest shown in
new enterprises in a region where,
before the war, only the oil industry
readily flourished, the Midwest Re-
search Institute has been established.
Started by popular subscription, the
Institute, closely akin to the Mellon
Istitate of Pittsbutrgh, is now work-
ing on twenty-five full time projects.
Lecturing for the American Chemi-
cal Society, Dr. Willard, an authority
in the field of analytical chemistry,
has just returned from a three week,
2,500 mile trip through the South-
west. He spoke on "Improvements in
Separations by Precipitations" in a
number of cities in Louisiana, Texas,
Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.
Automatic Jack
DETROIT, Nov. 24 - P) - Three
Detroit inventors announced today
that they have perfected a built-in
automatic jack that will enable a mo-
torist to raise one or all of his wheels
without leaving the driver's seat.
IM
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from th
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is good greeting ristmas 0
At peace once more -
e world busy mending VI0
its scars of fvar.
j4.world where men tried
By flame and smote,
Can work and love
And pray an joke. 0
/07
in a series of Christmas rhymes straight
e heart of a store filled with Christmas.
here heavens are lit
By a kinder liglt
* Than the sudden flash
Oja bombing flight.
J'1'Tere mothers can sleep,
A d cildren dream
O reindeer a-prance
On a wite moonbeam.
1
Its go
.it afc
Not fet
Te pc
0e
0
1I/
aC
ad trimming trees
. .
JO
w ent
anily ring,
,a ring a m essage
3stman
might bring.
t? s good seein
in love once ag
No longer depe
, rt
On memory and pen.
I s
good knowing
arms
Are no longer munitions
But means of embracing
A'Iore tender ambitions.
'nnil arvn~t~- h"1 m~