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‘THE COLLEGE NEWS

Page Three



Big May Day Question Raised;
Pros, Cons of Issue Presented

Big May Day, long a celebration for which Bryn Mawr
was famous throughout the country and abroad, has not been

held since the Spring of 1936.

Imminence of war prevented

its being held in 1940, and since then all talk of May Day’s
rebirth has been postponed until after the emergency.

A poll was held last year,

in which the students voted

against holding Big May Day. in 1946. The subject has been

raised again this year and the

Undergraduate Association is

again sponsoring a poll to ascertain the atttude of the stud-

ents toward the holding of Big
future year.

May Day next year or in some

It is technically impossible to decide at this

date to hold Big May Day this year.

This poll will be the result
question be brought up again

of a request last year that the
this year. It will be held fol-

lowing a mass meeting on November 14, at which movies of
Big May Day will be shown and Mrs. Manning and another
member of the faculty will speak.

Miss McBride, when asked for a statement by the News
said, “Big May Day, which from 1920 to 1936 came once
every four years, has now missed more than two college gen-

erations. With the end of the

war we can consider Big May

Day again. The question is when we should consider it. The
- Board of Directors would have to make the first decision on
the question of Big May Day and the Faculty would have to
consider May Day in the light of academic work of the Col-

lege and particularly the plan

of the Senior year.”

Because none of the present undergraduates has ever

seen a Big May Day, at least
the News at the r
has undertaken to

during her Bryn Mawr years,

uest of the Undergraduate Association,
sent. the issues arising in considering

the question of whether or not another one should be held

next year.

We ask tolerance from supporters of both sides of the
question, for we must rely solely on the information avail-

able to us from past issues of

the News and on the opinions

of those members of the faculty and administration who were

present at past May Days.
in either of these columns is

None of the opinions expressed

necessarily that of the News.

We have merely tried to marshal the data for each side as
completely and convincingly as possible.

As “the specter of May Day
rears its flower-laden head’’.it be-
comes imperative that the problems
of holding May Day be kept un-
der consideration by all students.

Big May Day is the product of a
tremendous amount of effort both
menial and on a _ high artistic
plane, deriving almost entirely
from the student body. Though
.May Day has been conducted with
the aid of a large amount of pro-
fessional, paid work, it would seem |
more appropriately a student, and |
therefore a college, creation, if pro-
duced largely through student ef-
forts.

Such an attempt would involve
abandoning all extra-curricular ac-
tivities in which the college now
engages. League, Alliance, and
Red Cross activities such as the
Overbrook Blind School and the
Haverford Community Center and
-other similar projects, would of
necessity have to be relinquished.
The Blind School and Community
Center depend in large measure on
the voluntary contributions of
time and effort which the Bryn
Mawr students make. At this time
the thinking people of all coun-
tries are seriously engaged in the
tremendous task of world recon-
struction, it is felt by many that
May Day would intrude a note of
levity not warranted by the cur-
rent state of world problems.

Academically, the amount of
time and effort necessary in the
production of May Day would ser-
iously curtail the time contributed
to academic work, or, alternately,
radically lower the academic stan-
dards which Bryn Mawr sets for
itself. Big May Day has not been
presented since the comprehensive
system was introduced at Bryn
Mawr in 1937. It has been empha-
sized that the decision to hold Big
May Day would in no way alter
gine requirements or +time~-which
2? préfatation. dex
mands; no dispensation would be
granted seniors who transferred
their efforts to preparatior for
May Day. |

The chief argument in favor of
holding Big May Day this year is
both a sentimental and psycholog-
ical one. The tradition of May
Day has a glowing past. ‘The re-
search, the-intricacy, the art, and
the beauty of a Bryn Mawr Day is
literally known the world over.

A tradition zealously carried out,
and as important to the concept
of Bryn Mawy as it exists in the
minds of the public as well as the
alumnae, should not be discontin- |
lued.

Since the beginning of the war-
time emergency May Day has been
postponed, but postpuned with the
promise of its resumption when
peace came. Another May Day has
symbolized for every one connect-
ed with the college the return to a
civilized and cultured world.

celebrate not the yet-to-come _re-
turn to normalcy, but the coming
into existence of he _ post-war
world, where a great undertaking
devoted simply to beauty and art
is conceivable.|

Big May Day is furthermore an
intrinsic part of life at Bryn Ber,
The first one was held only 15
years after the college was found-
ed, and the tradition remained un-
linterrupted, except by the two
wars.

In the light of the Big May Day.
traditions many jof the smaller
ones acquire significance and
meaning of “which they are other-
wise devoid. Without it, even lit-
tle May Day loses all importance.

But far more important than
this is the effect of Big May Day on
| the Sig. caderaransate body. In the
tion of activity even under the
stress of war work, has been right-
ly attributed te the absence of
May Day.

Extra-curricular activity is an
»andeniably-important,,p , of € 1.
Hegewtife,providin,- .—.
community activity and co-opera-
tion. It has been proved by past’
celebrations that the complete
joint activity required by May Day

Therefore it would seem right to!





Continued on Page 4

Continued on Page 4

Pianist and Cellist
Will Offer Recital

The Tri-County Concerts Asso-
ciation’s second offering of the
season will be a sonata recital by
Samuel Mayes, solo. cellist of -The
Philadelphia Orchestra, and Vin-
cent Persichetti, pianist and com-
poser, Friday night, November 1,
at Radnor High School, Wayne.

It will bring together two of
Philadelphia’s outstanding young
musicians, both of whom also have
attained considerable reputation
outside of their own city.

Mayes, who entered Curtis In-
stitute at the age of 11 as a spec-
ial student of the distinguished
virtuoso and teacher, Felix Sal-
mond, was made a@ member of The
Philadelphia Orchestra when he
was only 18 and still a° senior at
Curtis. In 1942, at the age of 25,
he was promotéd to the first desk,
probably the youngest musician
anywhere to hold such a respon-
sible position.

In recital and as_ soloist with
some of our major orchestras, in-
cluding The Philadelphia, the

Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, and+

the St. Louis Symphony, he has
become recognized throughout the
country as a “solo musician of
fine capabilities” and has _ been
chosen by Mitropoulos to appear
this winter with the Minneapolis
Symphony under his direction.

Persichetti, who has been Or-
ganist and Director of Music of
the Arch Street Presbyterian
Church since he was 16, graduat-
ed from Curtis Institute in Con-
ducting under Fritz Reiner. In
1942, at the age of-27, he was ap-
pointed head of the Composition
department and special instructor
for post-graduate students at the
Philadelphia Conservatory of Mu-
sic,

Besides winning first honors for
his. piano and organ playing, he
has achieved national rank as a
composer. In the NYC Festivals
of American Music of 1944 and
1945, two. programs were given
over to his compositions exclus-
ively. He announces that he has
“just completed” his Third Sym-
phony.

The two young musicians have
chosen for their Tri-County recit-
al a program of three sonatas: von
-Weber’s Sonata_in—A, the—Soenata
Opus 6 of Samuel Barber, and
Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 in F major;
with Beethoven’s Seven Variations
on a Theme from “The Magic
Flute” serving as the opening
number.

' Admission to this recital is free
and it is open to the public.

Bridge Tourney

Seeks Contenders

The Intercollege Bridge Tourna-
ment Committee will sponsor an-
other contract bridge contest this
year of nation-wide scope. Bryn
Mawr finished highest among. the
women’s colleges in last year’s con-
test, which was limited to eastern
colleges.

The 1947 event will be a dupli-
cate tournament for undergradu-
ate pairs with the title of National
Intercollegiate Champions going to
the winning team. Preliminary
rounds will be conducted by mail;
16 teams representing all sections
of the country will then be chosen
through the mail competition and

--will meet-for-faee-to-face-finals in}

Chicago on April 18 andl9. The
event is supported by the Tourna-
ment Committee so that there is
no..cost to the college or to the|¢
competing players, but the official
approval of Aces )

‘icipating a 1) > ane 4
before entries” will be ’ shel,
The committee sponsoring the



tournament is a group of alumni
interested | in developing bridge as
jan. inter ha ope,

seen Ee Ae

36 Big May Day
Pageant, Plays,
Beauty Depicted

The 19386 Big May Day repre-
sented the culmination of the whole
Bryn- Mawr tradition of pageant-
ry... In that issue of the College
News Christopher Morley contrib-
uted an article which seems to us
best to describe the spectacle as a

whole.
Quoting the program he says,
“Among the pastimes on the

Greene the tumblers perform cer-
tain pretty feats of agility ...

turnings and ‘castings, springs,

gambauds, somersaults, capret-

tings and flights.”
Authentic Fun

Continuing in his own. descrip-
tion he says, “Bryn Mawr’s May
Day is indeed what the» Oxford
colleges call a gaudy (a rejoicing),
and true to her Minerva instinct,
learning has kept pace with fun.
In these 36 years she has gathered
a unique library of source-mater-
ial on Elizabethan pageantry, mu-
sic, folk dance, and the mystery
plays. Costumes have been sedu-
lously reproduced from old prints,
and when unblemished milk-white
oxen proved scarce (to draw the
great Maypole to the Greene) they
found some by broadcasting. If
the Man from Stratford dropped in
at Bryn. Mawr on the afternoons
of May 8 and 9, 1936,-he-would-see
the May Queen crowned; Elizabeth
herself present in the person of
some distinguished alumna; and
then the players separating for
their various doings.

Artful

“The Old Wives’ Tale, The Mask
of Flowers, The History of Robin
Hood and Maid Marian, and Gam-
mer. Gurton’s’ Needle, they are
among the proved favorites. .. A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, of
course; and this year there are to
be two Wagon Plays, The Creation
and The Deluge which haven’t been
publicly acted before.

“And besides those lamprey tum-
blers there are sword and Morris
dancers on the Green; bowling,
juggling, bell ringers, madrigals,
strolling motleys and mountebanks.
I don’t know of any other project
that brings together a whole col-
lege body, past and present, in
such unity of zeal. It is as intri-+
cate, as artfully put together, as
an Elizabethan sonnet. or the ac-
rostics they loved.”

v

Music

Bands, trumpeters, heralds, ser-
enaders, and itinerant singers and
bell ringers provided the music.
In addition to the scheduled plays,
the campus was dotted with jug-
glers, tumblers, a human. bear,
Queen Elizabeth and her court,
conjurers, fools, witches, fairies,
and milkmaids.

The animal cast of May Day
included not only the white oxen
who carried the Maypole in the
procession to its place on the
“Greene,” but also two falcons,
two fighting cocks; horses, a goat,
three lambs and’ three dogs.

Maypoling

Another article in the same is-
sue of the.News describes the

Tiling group of May Day” revel=

lers, having’ paid homage to Maid
Marian, their queen” who was car-
ried in on a faculty-borne litter,
eats off on the Dacia ne
ing.

At sha end of the song, order
had suddenly imposed itself. “For
a moment the lines and circles are
completely still; then, with. appar-
ent abandon, (which is never’ al-

lowed to disrupt the perfect sym-

be ed =the daric-
ers swing into action, whirling,
skipping, whirling again, the tra-
ditional preface to May Day, in
which the whole college takes



| pn



Complete History
Of Big May Day
impartially Given

In the year 1900 a group of Bryn
Mawr Seniors met in the home of
Elizabeth Walkew Andrews (’93) to
discuss ways and means of raising
funds. for a students’ building. It
was Mrs. Andrews who first rec-
ognized the possibility of trans-
forming the campus into an Eliza-
bethan village and suggested that
the college give an old English

May Day.

This suggestion was enthusias-
tically accepted by the student
body and in order not to interrupt
the regular academic routine, all
agreed not to take any cuts. The
alumnae took charge of costumes,
properties, rehearsals and finan-
cial arrangements, so that the un-
dergraduates could devote their
time to rehearsals.

Six weeks of intensive work fol-
lowed, under Mrs. Andrews’ direc-
tion. She revived the peasant
sports and dances of sixteenth cen-
tury England, after painstaking
research into the period.

Costumes and Elizabethan mu-
sic were worked up and the pro-
cession formed on the grounds of
Wyndham, marshalled by two her-
alds from each class. Then, march-
ing through Pembroke Arch to be-
gin the festivities, they opened
Bryn Mawr’s first May Day.

1906-18

In 1906 six months of prepara-
tion were devoted to the pageant,
and Masques were first presented
in the newly-completed Cloisters.
The Elizabethan banners flying
from the towers also date from
that year.

The pageants of 1910 and 1914
were directed by Elizabeth Daly,
701, who dramatized the life of
Robin Hood in Sherwood Forest,
making the adaptation from plays
written by Anthony Munday in
1597 and Robert Green in 1587.

Cornelia Otis Skinner made her
debut in the 1910 May Day as
Moth in Midsummer Night’s Dream
and appeared again in 1920 as
Sacrapant in The Old Wives’ Tale.
With her began the tradition of
using an alumna, successful in
dramatics, in the role of Queen
Elizabeth.

War

In 1918 the War interfered with
the usual performance which was
therefore given in 1920. This fete
was the first occasion in which the
faculty took”part; it was directed,
as was also the next, by Mrs. Otis
Skinner, mother of the actress, to
whom in great part the present
magnitude and beauty of the pag-
eant is due.

Mrs. Chadwick-Collins, Miss Ap-
plebee and Mr. King, who had been
directing plays at Bryn Mawr
since 1906, managed the presenta-
tion of 1928. This festival coin-
cided with the completion of Good-
hart and also introduced Katherine
Hepburn as an actress in the role
of Pandora in The Woman in the
Moon.

In 1932 Elizabethan tents were
erected to serve as headquarters
for refreshments, and’ genuine
thatched roofs were provided by an
old Irishman who lived near the
campus. Five big nfovie compan-
ies were on the scene to make
sound recordings of the events. For
the first time, selected parts of the
festival were seen all over the
country and helped to verify the

statement that a Bryn Mawr Big

May Day is “one of the few really
beautiful spectacles in America.”

The 1936 pageant, termed by
Mrs. Chadwick-Collins “the best
of all, and requiring the least_

L5. , Calaaae

time;*was more unde athe m

agement: of abe. Eee
directors than any of the previous
ones. The students, thus relieved
of much of the executive work
were required to spend less time

on this production.