Attend
JR. SR.
THE BLACKBIRD
BE SURE
TO VOTE
Published by Journalism Class of Rocky Mount Hifh School
VOLUME XXIII
ROCKY MOUNT, N. €., TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 1952
NUMBER 12
Candidates Begin Campaign
.The above students are candidates for the offices of Student Organ
ization. Mary Wilkinson and Tommy Looney (not shown), president;
Baxter Savage and Charles Putman, vice-president; and Mary Aiin
Braswell and Elsie Williams, secretary. The treasurer is put in office
by presidential appointment and will be announced after elections.
—Photo by Albert Rabil.
Committees Prepare
ifor Annual'ilr^f.
Time is passing and the night
for the annual Junior-Senior dance
will soon be here. The various com
mittees are hard at work and
promise this to be one of the best
in many years.
The Food Committee with Alice
Diehl Barnes and Donald Bryan as
co-chairmen are working with Mrs.
Corbett to see that a well planned
meal is prepared. The Music and
Figure Committee with Janet Ful
cher and Mary Wilkinson as co-
chairmen have announced that
Dick Levin of State will play. The
Decorations Committee with Ed-
wina Jones as chairman will let the
decorations remain secret, but it
will be in line with the theme of
Showboat.
The time element of the dance
plays an important part. Between
7:00 and 8:00, an appetizer will
be served on the terrace, from
8:00 to 9:30 the dinner after
which the clearing of the floor
for dancing. Then comes an hour
of dancing from 9:30 to 10:30. At
(Continued on page 4)
N. G. Jymphony Gives
Tiii^biicerts In City
Children from the city schools
marched from their respective
schools to the RMHS auditorium
to hear the N. C. Symphony
Orchestra perform in two concerts
given Monday and Tuesday after
noons. Members of local kinder
gartens and representatives from
Eastern Carolina Training School
also attended these programs.
A total of more than 2,000
children attended the children’s
concerts on the two days. Monday’s
concert for children began at 2
p. m. and Tuesday’s program was
scheduled for 10:30 a. m. The
Monday afternoon concert was
broadcasted over WCEC so that
children unable to attend could
hear the music.
Program For Adult’s Concert
The concert for adults, which
was held at 8 p. m. Monday con
sisted of a variety of selections
both from the pens of the con-
Bunny Crowley went up to V,
M. I. to two dances last week-end.
Sounds like she had a swell time!
(Continued on page 4)
Scrapbook Ties First,
Poster Plaees Third
Amid shouts of “Good luck”
and “Have fun”, twenty-six dra
matic students left Wednesday
afternoon for Chapel Hill to at
tend the N. C. Drama Festival
heM there April 23-26.
During their stay the local stu
dents presented “Sham” by Frank
T. Thompkin, and “The King’s
English” by Herbert Bates. The
expense for the trip was paid out
of the treasury of the dramatic
department.
Under Mrs. Mildred Petway
Kramer’s direction, the Edsonians
won honorable mention for the
production of “The King’s. Eng
lish.” Julia Jordon took third place
in the poster contest for her
“Seven Keyes to Bald Pate” pos
ter. Rocky Mount and Goldsboro
high schools tied for first place in
the scrapbook division.
Last year the dramatic depart
ment received an honorable men
tion, a citation for good acting
£tnd first place ratings in threatre
art exhibits at the festival.
Newsees
Debaters Lose In Semi-Finals
Albert Rabil and Donald Rooker
went to Greenville last Thursday
to debate. They were debating on
the subject. Resolved—That all
American citizens should be sub
ject to conscription for essential
services in time of war.
Rose Booth and Lee Parker,
Rocky Mount’s affirmative team,
had earlier been eliminated in
Kinston.
In Greenville during the first
round of debates there four nega
tive and four affirmative teams
in the room. The best negative
and affirmative teams were chosen
for the next round of debates.
Albert and Donald won this round
for the negative side.
Later in the afternoon, in the
semi-finals, they were put in a
roim with Scotland Neck, Selma,
and Elizabeth City. Selma and
Elizabeth City emerged victors.
The winners of the final round
of debates will go to Chapel Hill.
Mr. Ralph Gorham went with
the students as coach. Lee Parker
attended because he is planning
to go out for debating next year.
HI-NOC-AR STAFF CHOSEN
Alice Deihl Barnes will head the
1953 Hi-Noc-Ar staff in pulishing
the RMHS yearbook. She was
elected editor last Friday along
with Sheila Robbins, feature
editor; Marie Tyler, business
manager; Jimmy Daughtridge,
circulation manager; and Janet
Fulcher, advertising manager.
The Hi-Noc-Ar has done much
to bring honor and recognition to
the school. The one rating it
received last year from the
Columbia Scholastic Press Associa
tion has ranked it among the best
yearbooks in the nation.
The name, Hi-Noc-Ar which
means High North Carolina, was
given by Kay Kyser, editor of the
1923 edition.
The following staff members of
the rising senior class were elected
by the junior class. They are Son
ny Hallford, Mary Ruth Divine,
Fred Lee, Myra Padgett, Jim
Barksdale, George Patsevouras,
and Beryl Peters.
RMHS To Send Junior
As Student Press Rep.
One Rocky Mount junior will
spend an expense-paid month in
Chicago as a student representa
tive of the press. He or she will be
among three hundred juniors from
other schools associated with the
Citizenship Education Program of
Columbia University who will at
tend and report on the Republican
and Democratic Conventions,
Seventy-five teachers will act as
chaperones for the four weeks’
stay.
The students will attend the
conventions on press cards along
with reporters from all the big
papers from over U. S. The Rocky
Mount delegate will write a daily
report during each convention
which will be published in the
Evening Telegram.
A committee made up of three
faculty members, Superintendent
Johnson, Mr. Edson, Mr. Josh
Horn, editor of the Evening Tele
gram, a member of the Commun
ity Council, and a representative
of the Junior Chamber of Com
merce will select the RMHS stu
dent. The student must be a mem
ber of the punior class; be able to
speak well to adult as well as stu
dent groups, have journalistic writ
ing ability, and be a person who
will be a good representative for
the school.
FOLLIES PRESENTED
Eighteen RMHS girls were
featured when the Junior Guild
Follies held their annual per
formance last Friday and Saturday
nights.
The Follies were made up of
skits, chorus lines, and other
“leggy” stunts. The high school
girls made up one chorus line.
Under the direction of Chris
Carter the annual performance was
given to raise funds for the
children’s museum and for the
cost of amusements at the River
Side Park
Among the acts was a very
witty one by Mr. Edson, Miss
Murchinson, and Mr. Jack Mur
chison. Their act was on the order
of a “Three Stooges” comedy.
Their glum facial expressions
made the skit perfect.
Kay Places Second
In Speaking Contest
Kay Finch, a senior at RMHS,
won second place in the Regional
National Finals of the annual Na
tional Speaking Contest in Green-
v’ille. South Carolina. The subject
of her talk was “Our Constitution
—The Choice of the People.”
Before she and Mrs. Mildred
Kramer, her speech director, went
to Greenville, Kay won first place
in the N. C. State contest.
Kay has made a fine record' dur
ing her four years in high school,
winning many high honors in
speaking for herself and her
school.
Wilkinson, Looney
Run For Presidency
Posters once again have almost
papered the halls of RMHS as six
candidates begin their campaigns
for offices of Student Organiza
tion. The elections will be held
Thursday for the juniors and sen
iors and on Friday the week-long
campaign will end when the fresh
men and sophomores vote. The fol
lowing regulations were decided
upon Thursday at a meeting of
the candidates, Miss Kitchen, and
Bobby Owens, chairman of the
elections committee.
1. Not more than six dollars
may be spent by a candidate or by
anyone else in the candidate’s be
half.
2. Campaigning must be con
fined to school premises and the
Teen-Age Club witli Miss Lou’s
Permission.
3. Cars may carry campaign
posters with the owner’s permis
sion.
4. All propaganda will be limit
ed to presenting the merits of the
candidate.
5. All campaigning for a candi
date must be done with the candi*
date's consent.
Mary Wilkinson and Tommy
Looney are candidates for presi
dent and have chosen Billy Cooper
and Wallace (Judge) Johnson,
respectively, as their campaign
managers. Baxter Savage and
Charles Putman are in the race
for vice-president. Alice Deihl
Barnes was nominated but with
drew her name when she was elect
ed editor of the year book. Bax
ter’s campaign manager is Lloyd
Thrower and Charles, the only
petitioned candidate, has George
Parmer as his manager. Mary Ann
Braswell, with her campaign man
ager, Billy Rawls, is running
against Elise Williams, whose man
ager is Worth Hobbs.
In a special assembly tomorrow
the managers will present their
contestants to the student body.
In past years, these assembly pro
grams have proved highly compe
titive.
Ben Williams Leaves On Trip
Accompanied By Miss Parker
Ben Williams, one of the win
ners in the district speech contest
held in the RMHS auditorium,
April 16, will leave tomorrow for
a four day trip to New York and
Washington, D. C.
Tno contest was sponsored by
the World Federalists and the
topic was “Building World Peace:
What is the responsibility of the
United States in the light of Com
munist Aggression?” The purpose
of the contest was to help promote
world peace.
To Tour New York
Ben and Miss lola Parker, his
history teacher, will leave tomor
row for Greensboro where they |
will join the other N, C. district
winners and their teachers and go
on to New York. While there they
will take in sightseeing trips, meet
United Nations personalities, at
tend the Narcotics committee, and
take a tour of the United Nations
Building. They will also take in the
Broadway hit, “South Pacific.”
After three days in New York
the group leaves for Washington,
D. C. There they will visit a dele
gation of North Carolina senators
and representatives. It is not de
finite yet whether they will tour
Washington or not. They plan to
leave Washington May 3 and ar
rive in Rocky Mount early the next
day.