THE BLACKBIRD
VOL. XXXVII—No. 11
Pabltehed by the Journalism Class of Rocky Mount Senior Hi»h School
rocky mount, n. c.
FRIDAY, MAY 5, 1967
Ben Gazarra, Popular T. V. Actor
Judges 196T Jr.-Sr. Beauty Court
KATl >»>» «.**« ... 1 . _ _
BEN GAZZARA, 1967 BEAUTY COURT JUDGE
Students Elect Benjie
As 67-68 S. O. President
Benjie Smith was elected
President of the Student Or
ganization in the ischod-wide
election held Friday, April 28
Bobby Thompson won the vice'
president’s position, and' Ken
Thompson was elected seore-
tcry to complete the slate
Thesie officers are for the 1967-
68 ischool year.
Band Blasts Spring
With Aimual C
Thursday, April 27. at 'eight
o’clock p. m., the Rocky Mount
Senior High School Band present
ed its annual Spiring Concert in
the auditorium of R.M.S.H. This
was its first under itihe direc
tion of its new conductor, John
C. Sykes, Jr.
Among the ^selections played
by the band were “Red’s White
and Blue Mairch,” from “Red”
Skelton; “Symphonic Suite,” by
Clifton Williams; “Irish Tune”
from “County Derry,” by Percy
Grainger; seelctions from “The
Sound of Music;” “Bom Free,”
by Don Black; “Concertino,”
by C. M. von Weber, with a
clarinet solo by Carolyn Ro-
bards; “Lemon Merengue,” by
James Stuart, conducted by
I^ug Fitzgerald of East Caro
lina College; “Shenandoah,” by
James Ployhar; and “ColoneJ
Bogey,” by Kenneth Alford.
Benjie, Stephen Battle, and
Oharlotte Looney weire nomi
nated for president; Bobby,
Bil Griffin and Woody Bobbitt
camjpaigned for vice-president;
and Ken, Brenda Thompson,
and Fran Warren wieire compet
ing for secretary. The treasur
er will be selected under the
guidance of Miss Kltchin, the
Studeirt Organization advisor.
Voting was done by the pjie-
ferential ballot. To eliminate
tbe nccen^ty^of voting again,
the vot€srFnumbered ,tJie candi-
da/tes in ordej* of their i>refer-
ence.
All of the 'Candidates elected
are experie.nced. Among other
things Benjie is serving as Pre
sident of ibhe Junior Class £tnd
was past chairman of the fire
drill committee. Bobby has
served as Vice-President of his
class anid has helped a great
doal in the organization of the
Junior-Senior. Both Benjie and
Bobby are rising seniors. Ken,
a rising junior, has held the
office of President of his class
and attended the Eastern Dis
trict Leadership Convention.
Ben Gazzara, an extremely
talented acitor, and star of
motion pictures, television, and
the theater, will judge the 1966-
67 Junior-Senior Beauty Court,
which is siponsored by The
BLACKBIRD.
^e five-feet-eleven, dark
haired actor is most well-known
to ithe istudenits for his starring
role in the current television
series, “Run for Your Life”
and for his earlier performance
on “Arrest and Trial.
Gazzara was born in the
East Side district of Manhattan
on August 28, 1931. He made
his stage debut at itihe age of
five in the Madison Square
Boy’s Club production of “Lit
tle Reid' Riding Hood,” and ap-
peamed in many Club produc
tions throughout bis teens. After
two years of study at City Col
lege of New York, he quit to
work at the Dramatic Work
shop at the New School of
Socdal Research.
The first professional part
performed by Gazzara was in
“End as a Man,” first pro
duced by the Actors Studio as
a laboratory project. The play
was produced off-Broadway, and
then moved “uptown,” where
Gazzara, at twenty-two, was a
Bax)adway hit. He later created
two other hisitorical Broadway
roles, one in “Cat on a Hot
Tin Roof” and another in “A
Hatful of Rain.” He will star
in a new play, “Traveller
Without Lugpge,” which has
a fall opening on Broadway
next season.
His motion picture perform
ances include parts in “Ana-
^my of a Murder,” “The
Y>ung Doctors,” and a recent
ly completed film shot in EJur-
ope “Tile Captive City.”
Gjzzara maintains two resi
dency, one in New York and
one 11. Hollywood, and likes to
I between them
ooth. Be is married to actress
amceRue, whom he met when
they co-ttarred in the Broad
way play, “Night Circus.”
Change In Scheduk Brings
Added Responsibility To All
Several changes to bo made
in registration for the school
year 1967-68 have been an
nounced by Mr. Colombo. The
complete program for next year
has not yet been released; this
is a general outline of the 1967-
68 schedule:
AH students must register
Spring Festivities Highlight
Community Service Of FHA
fflghli^ting the spring fes
tivities at Senior High will be
the annual F.H.A. Mother-
Daugihter Banquet.
1966-67 has been a fruitful
year for F.H.A. girls. They
have sponsored many projects
this year, among them “Opera
tion Santa Claus” — colecting
and contributing toys to the
Salvation Army at Christmas
time, volunteer ®e.rvice -at Nash-
mont Nursing Home, “Teacher
Appreciation Day,” when the
girls served cake to the facul
ty, and participation in Rocky
Mount’s Clean - Up, Fix - Up,
Paint-Up campaign by select
ing and carrying out a home
improvement project.
The Future Homemakers of
HUNoc-Ar Elects New Staff
Miss Alm'a Louise Murchison,
Hi-Noc-Ar advisoir, has announc
ed yearbook officers for 1967-68
Beth Celebrates Birthday
With Annual APS Banquet
April 26 at 7:00 p. m. the
American Field Service chap
ter of Rocky Mount Senior High
School presented its annual
banquet at Josh Bulluck’s. The
banquet was held for the pur
pose of honoring the American
Field Service Exchange Stu
dent, Elsebeth Kamstrup. Caro
lyn Je-nkins opened the banquet
by introducing Hen Winstead,
who presented i!he invocation.
Following the invocation, al
most 125 schocl officials and
students enjoyed a barbeque-
brunswick stew dinner prepared
by a local re*stauraot. At the
conclusion o fthe dinner Caro
lyn recognized Arthur Marcus
who, in a short speech, summed
up the student body’s warm
feeling and friendship towards
Eteebeth. The presidents of the
three classes then briefly ex-
pnessed the importance of her
stay in Rocky Mount both social
ly and economically.
Mtis. Harold Minge«, past
President of the American Field
Service, foUowed by summariz
ing the year’s work. Mrs. Ben
Winstead, who is presently in
charge of the AFS, continued
by expressing her optimism for
the future and urging the stu
dents to support tjhe pi^gram.
Tte banquet was also in cele
bration of Elsebeth’s birthday.
With this in keeping, Carolyn
presented her with several
gifts. Elsebeth then spoke on
how much the AFS' meant to
her. She stated thait the past
yoar had been one of the hap
piest in her life, and that her
eighteenth birthday would sure
ly be one of her most memor
able. Following this, she was
given a birithday cake, while
everyone sang.
Margaret Winstead and Doug
Bradham will lead the staff
as' co-editors.
All the officers were eleotod
by this year’s staff. Barden
Robbins was elected advertis
ing manager; Dianne Joyner,
circulation manager; Tommy
Smith, business manager; and
Kitty Keel, copy editor.
Miss Murchison, in remark
ing about the newly elected offi
cers, said that they are a fine
group and have proven, so far
this year, that they are capable
of filling their new posts. She
believes that under their guid
ance, the 1968-69 Hi-Noc-Ar will
be as good as this year’s.
Margaret Winstead, comment
ing on ithe relationship of the
editors with other members,
stated, “Doug and I realize the
responsibility that is ahead of
us. We are looking forward to
a thrilling year of accomplish
ment. Our relationishilp with the
staff is that erf dependence —
none of us could get along with
out the others!”
All of the juniors on the
annual staff have learned about
yearbook production this year
through the guidance of Miss
America club at R.M.S.H. was
organized in the fall of 1966 as
a part of the Vocational Home
Economics program. Thirty-
four home oconomics situdents
became members. The club,
which is the only one open to
sophomores, meets on the third
Wednesday of each month.
The Rocky Mount chapter
became affiliated with the
State and National Future
Homemakers of America Asso
ciation and adapted the state
program of work, having as its
Projects “Good Family Rela
tions Through Communications,’
Leisure Time — Consitiructive
Time,” and “Citizenship Chal
lenges You.” Chapter programs
have helped to interpret the
goals set up for these projects.
Special emphasis has been
placed on “Citizenshijp Chal
lenges You” tliis year.
F.H.A. Week was observed
^ring the first week in April,
^rough an assembly program
the members of the organiza
tion 'told its meaning and pur
poses to the student body in an
emblem service.
for five, five ara one-half, or
with a B averai£> may take
five and one-half u,its a itii
dent with a C aver J;' ^
may take no more iian five
umla. For the 1967-t? year
Senior High students Tin be
required to take Physica. Edu
cation in grades 11 anc 12.
These studenilis will (receive ^0.
half unit credit (per pear. P-,.
sical Education will be electiv
in grade 10. Beginning in 1968
69, students wiU be required
to take Pliysical Education in
grades 10 and 11; it will then
be elective in grade 12. To sup
plement the half unit a student
oarro by taking Physical Edu
cation, several other courses
for which students may re
ceive one-Jialf unit credit next
^ar are PubUc Speaking,
Roading 2, Developmental Read
ing (for juniors and seniors).
Nevvspaper Journalism I, Dra
matics I, Yearbook Jouriialism
I and II Personal Typing. Note-
hand, Clothing, Girls’ Chorus,
^ys Chorus, Art I. World
Geography, Advanced Govern
ment, and General Music.
Several new courses will also
bo offered at Senior High next
year. Among these are Ad
vanced Government—one half-
unut credit, Reading I, World
Geography _ one half-unit cre
dit, Latin 1, Biology X, Ad-
Biology II J, Advanced
Math 12 J, Trigonometry/Alge
bra III, and General Music-
one half-uMt credit. Accelerated
TOurses will be offered in Eng
lish 10, 11 and 12, T.V. Ameri
can History, T.V. World His-
tory’ Science, Mathematics, and
m Foreign Languages.
DITONE JOINER, Margaret Wtofcaj. jr.dha™
Eobbu.., a.a Kilt, Keel ar, selecM af iS wS
M^chison and of some patient Hi-Noc-Ar officers. Absent is Tommy Smith mo
and interested senior members. next year, ’ manager