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QUEENS BLUES
December 15, 1949
QUEENS BLUES
PATRICIA KEESLING Editor
JUDITH KINNEY Managing Editor
CAROLYN FRASER Managing Editor
SUZANNE SCHEER Music Editor
ANN BAILEY Circulation Manager
FLORENCE DAVIS Make-up Editor
SARAH McMAHAN Business Manager
Reporters: Mildred Hancock, Rachel Stevens, June Patterson,
Louise White, Murphy Alexander, Ruth Mitchell, Mary Jo
Graham, Bunny Fowler, Bootsy Stafford, Jane Boyd Hum
phries, Bobby McCormick, Frances MacPherson, Belva Morse,
Coleen Lyn, Wanda Oxner, Gordon Freeman, Kathrine Hick
man, Jane Edmonds, Juney Major, Aliena Doggett, Emily
Shipp.
ALICE REYNOLDS Advertising Manager
Staff: Betty Pratt, Frances Mimms, Jacquline Otey, Peggy
Reeves, Virginia Easter, Dee Dee Shepherd, Sarah MacNair.
MARGARET HOWELL Head Typist
Assistant Typists: Ann Howell, Ann Smith, Nancy Hill, Betty
Mae Woods, Joyce Tucker, Pat Hill, Nora Norman, Jackie
Carter, Clarise Lance, Martha Kirvin,
Vol. XXVII
December 15, 1949
No. 5
Blues States Policy
We believe that it is time to state exactly what we think a
college newspaper should do and how it should attempt to
do it. It is not our intention here to prolong discussion on
specific articles and policies that may or may not be contro
versial. It is rather to explain what the position of the Blues
has been, what it is, and what we should like it to be.
The first and most obvious function of a newspaper is to
print news. By news we mean information about past events
unknown to -the majority of students, and also information
about future events. To us news means telling facts to people
who do not know them otherwise. News is not a printed
recital of stale happenings already familiar to the majority
of readers. News in the limited sense in which we have used
the word is hard to get and restricted in quantity, especially
on a campus the size of ours and in a city with two watchful
daily papers. Like a far larger and more brilliant contempo
rary, we shall continue to try to print all the news that’s fit
to print!
A college newspaper also has other functions. One is to
encourage student activities, support student government,
and stimulate student thought and opinion on local and
national issues. This function may be effected by several
different means: the programs and work of groups and
agencies may be reviewed; editorials may endorse or criticize
various attitudes and opinions or even programs themselves;
light humor and satire may be employed to call attention to
matters often too grave and serious in themselves to be taken
seriously.
Much has been written and said about the need and service
of a free press in a democratic society. Some months ago Dr.
Blakely spoke before a local civic group and emphasized the
incalcuable benefits derived from a free press in the United
States. Milton’s greatest prose tract, Areopagitica, was a pas
sionate defence of the free press in England. We believe that
a college, particularly a college with student government,
needs and gets the same benefits from a college paper that
is both active and critical (in the good sense of the word).
When any student body becomes unable to see its own short
comings, incapable of laughing at its own minor absurdities,
incapable of distinguishing between minor issues and major
ones, unwilling to accept criticism of any kind from within
itself—then we seriously question the desirability of its
having a college paper at all.
There has been much public and private discussion on the
campus regarding an article in the last issue of the Blues.
We were frankly surprised that any individual took it literal
ly or seriously. The incidents and actions described in the
article (which was not on the front page, where news items
are traditionally placed) were so trivial in nature and so
far-fetched in imagination that we find it difficult to think
that any student cmld honestly regard it as more than a good-
natured take-off. We honestly regret that the article was
misunderstood, but we make no apologies for it.
We repeat that we are sorry that some readers misinter
preted the content and spirit of the article. After careful and
objective consideration, however, we still believe that articles
of this type have a justifiable place in a college paper which
seeks to play a meaningful place in campus life. It is true that
humor and satire may often be misconstrued; this is a fate
that has happened to the foremost satirists in literature. At
the same time we feel that it should be no more necessary to
label articles of this type with warnings like “The reader is
advised not to take the following seriously,” or “The article
below is intended for good-natured satire,” than it is to advise
faculty and students that skits in Stunt Night are intended
as genial take-offs and nothing else.
Possibly we are wrong; we do not claim infallibility. Until
we have more proof to the contrary, however, we somehow
feel that our position is one which will be endorsed by the
majority of campus opinion. Our minds are open.
Proclamation Of
The Boar's Head
Much of the happiness which at
taches to our lives is connected
with tradition. The re-enactment
of the pageantry of festival days
can bring color to our lives, and
lift the spirit to a “state of hallow
ed and elevated enjoyment.”
In merrie old England, in wild
and picturesque days, abundant
with feudal hospitalities and ba
ronial castles, Christmas was a
period of delightful and gay excite
ment. Presents of good cheer on
every hand, evergreens betokening
peace and gladness in home and
church, the sound of mummers
with their rude minstrelsy, and
above all, the warm grasp of friend
ships, made the season supreme
and benevolent. Foods, too, there
were in heavy abundance—capons,
hens, turkeys, geese, with plums
and spice, pies and cakes, foaming
tankards of ale which banished all
melancholy.
At great houses in Medieval
England, it was customary to begin
the Christmas feasting by the
solemn ceremony of bringing in
the boar’s head as the initial dish.
The smoking head was garlanded
with rosemary and laurel, a lemon
placed between its grinning chops,
and the master-cook, preceded by
musicians, followed by huntsmen
with boar-spears, brought in the
great platter and placed it at the
head of the table. The custom goes
back to pre-Christmas days and
connects itself with the Druids
who killed a boar at the winter
Solstice and offered its head in
sacrifice to Freya, the goddess of
peace and plenty.
Queen Victoria retained the an
cient custom, and at her Christmas
dinner at Windsor was performed
the ceremony of the Boar’s Head.
In many of the Schools and Uni
versities of England, the Boar’s
Head is still retained as the great
dish of the Christmas banquet.
Queen’s College, Oxford, is especi
ally famous for its retention of the
ancient ceremonial. There, a state
ly procession of Provost and fel
lows is preceded by Singers who
chant the “Caput apri defero” the
Latin refrain being joined in by
the entire company.
A local legend explains the cere
mony at Oxford. Some 590 years
ago, an Oxford student, deeply
bent upon his volume of Aristotle,
was wandering near Shotover Hill
when he was attacked by a wild
boar. By way of defense, he shoved
his book down the animal’s throat
and choked the beast to death.
And so, the festival is perpetuated
at Oxford.
Bearing, as we do, the honored
name of Queens College, we are
presenting for your enjoyment this
evening, our own tradition of the
Boar’s Head procession. We trust
our efforts will prove acceptable
to such of you as can enter heartily
into the doors of the past.
P.H.C. And S.C.A.
(Continued from page 1)
ing for one man for a year.
Realizing the need and that a
little will do so much, the sponsor
ing groups have asked students to
join them by contributing toward
the silver offering in chapel on
Wednesday, December 14th.
STEI NWAY
and other
PIANOS
HAMMOND ORGANS
RECORDS
Sheet Music
ANDREWS
MUSIC CO.
231 N. Tryon St.
Crandall Leads
Discussion Group
Each Monday
Each Monday afternoon at 4:30
the Reverend Mr. Robert Crandall,
rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal
Church, in Charlotte, comes out to
Queens to have an informal dis
cussion with the girls interested
in learning more about the Episco
pal service. These get-togethers
are held in the Hut or in the south
parlor of Burwell. In the first
meeting he discussed the breaking
up of the first churches into differ
ent denominations. Finally he will
explain the ritual of the Episcopal
Church.
These meetings are not for
Episcopal girls only. They are for
everyone who is interested in
finding out more about the Epis
copal beliefs and rites. This is an
excellent opportunity for any girl
to ask Mr. Crandall any questions
that she wants answered about
this particular faith.
Networks Plan
For Christmas
All major radio networks in the
nation have scheduled special and
appropriate programs for the holi
day season. Some of these have
been regular features for many
years; others are local or occasion
al in nature.
ABC has already announced sev
eral attractions, among which the
following deserve special mention:
December 24 (Saturday)
9:00 p.m.—Christmas Tree Dress
ing Time
10:00 p m.—D i c k e n’s Christmas
Carol with Lionel
Barrymore
December 25 (Sunday)
12:00 a.m.—Excerpts from The
Messiah
6:15 a.m.—Christmas Carol with
Barrymore
2:30 p.m.—Nativity
4:30 p.m.—Christmas Carol with
Ronald Colman
7:00 p.m.—The Littlest Angel
CBS has not as yet completed
its Christmas program, but attrac
tions already scheduled for Christ
mas Day are:
7:00 p.m.—Jack Benny
7:30 p.m.—Amos ’n Andy
10:00 p.m.—Contented Hour.
NBC arrangements are also in
complete at present, but the follow
ing items deserve mention:
Beginning Saturday, December 10
3:00 p.m.—Shine Smith’s Christ
mas Party
5:00 p.m.—J immy Durant e’s
Christmas Party for
Crippled Children.
NBC has also set aside the hour
from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Christmas
Day for a special program, but de
tails of this have not been an
nounced.
Compliments of
Foy Electric
Company
Compliments of
SIMPSON'S STUDIOS
118 Baldwin Ave.
GAY
Holiday Formals
at
feufu>lci6
/mum iMfRffMir
Play Receives
Much Applause
Years Ago, Ruth Gordon’s auto
biographical comedy, was present
ed by the Queens College Players
last Thursday and Friday evenings
in Ninniss Auditorium. Each per
formance was attended by an ap
preciative and enthusiastic audi
ence.
The play relates the trials and
tribulations Miss Gordon experi
enced in persuading her father to
let her become an actress. The
story goes back nostalgically to
1912, to the town of Wollaston,
Massachusetts, where Ruth Gordon
Jones is a stage-struck high-school
girl, surreptitiously writing to
actresses and singing and dancing
to the music of The Pink Lady.
Her father, an old seaman cur
rently employed by the Mellon's
Food Company, grumbles and
growls at his family’s extravagance
and at Ruth's unwillingness to be
come a physical culture teacher.
Ruth’s persistence, with her
mother’s sympathetic assistance,
however, eventually wins Mr.
Jones over so that he even offers
to pawn his valuable spyglass to
help defray expenses of her first
weeks in New York. And so, after
affectionate admonitions from her
mother and a rather cold farewell
to her boy friend from Harvard,
the final curtain goes down on an
elated Ruth ready to ride the par
lor cars to adventure and success.
Although the play is really un
eventful, there are many relation
ships, sacrifices, separations, and
a touch of romance to lend charm
and humor to it. Its unpretentious
and sentimental portrayal of the
respectable family life of the
Joneses and its period detail make
it an appealing comedy, especially
to those of the vintage of middy
blouses and high top shoes.
The Queens production was
carefully detailed and well cast,
the characterization as a whole
being very good. The role of the
heroine was convincingly played
by Virginia Easter. Franklin Davis
and Wanda Oxner as Mr. and Mrs.
Jones did real credit to long and
difficult parts first played on
Broadway by Fredric March and
Florence Eldridge.
In the minor roles Raymond
Casner as Mr. Sparrow was out
standing. Thomas Samond looked
and acted the part of fhe young
man from Harvard. Barbara Ham
by and Colleen Lynn as two gig
gling school girls were also good,
as was Louise Peterson as the
physical culture teacher and Jim
mie Hancock as the Y.M.C.A. phy
sical director.
The play was directed by Miss
Helen Strickland.
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