DIAL 4-5444
STUDENT TRI WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER OF
TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE
CIRCULATION 5,400
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER
OF THE CITY OF
COLLEGE STATION
VOL. 39 122 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, TUESDAY MORNING, MARCH 12, 1940
Z725 NO. 62
Most Popular
Seniors Are
Announced
Varner, McCullar,
Pierce, Sullivan,
And Burns Selected
A. & M.’s senior class has nam
ed “Woody” Varner, Max McCul
lar, “Bodie” Pierce, “Sully” Sul
livan, and Bert Burns, as the five
most popular seniors of the class of
’40, George Smith, editor of The
Longhorn, which sponsored the
election, has just announced.
One hundred and fifty-four bal
lots were cast—excelling by 53 the
number cast in last year’s elec
tion. However, the percentage of
the class that voted remains ap
proximately the same—about 20
per cent.
Votes cast for the first five were
as follows:
1. Durward B. “Woody” Varner,
cadet colonel and captain of the
basketball team—126.
2. F. M. (Max) McCullar, sen
ior class president—77.
3. F. A. “Bodie” Pierce Jr.,
head senior yell-leader—70.
4. Walter “Sully” Sullivan,
student manager of A. & M.’s
Town Hall—55.
5. Berton H. (Bert) Burns, sen
ior yell-leader and president of the
A. S. M. E.—45.
A number of other seniors re
ceived scattering votes, Smith an
nounced.
Full-page pictures of each of the
five will appear in the 1940 Long
horn, as is the custom each year.
DRAMATICS CLUB
PLANS FOR FOUR
PLAYS THIS YEAR
At a meeting of the faculty
advisory committee of the Cadet
Players, newly - formed student
dramatics club, it was decided
that the organization should pre
sent one three-act play and three
plays of one act before the end
of the term.
However, the group is greatly
in need of some women players.
All single girls or young married
women of Bryan or College Sta
tion who desire to be in plays are
requested to get in touch at once
with Professor C. O. Spriggs of
the English Departments
The Aggie Play Committee, com
posed of R. L. Elkins of the Eco
nomics Department, J. J. Woolket
of the Modern Language Depart
ment, and Mr. Spriggs, voted to
dissolve the Aggie Play Commit
tee and to donate their funds to
the dramatics club, since little in
terest has been shown the last two
years in putting on an Aggie play.
The basement of Guion Hall has
been secured for the storage of
the Cadet Players’ equipment.
Next meeting of the club will be
Thursday evening at 7:30 in room
303 of the Academic Building.
The dramatics club has been
arousing much interest, and a
large number of students have en
tered. The faculty members serv
ing as an advisory committee for
the student group are professors
Spriggs, Woolket, Elkins, M. T.
Harrington of the Chemistry De
partment, and Captain C. F. Bur-
bach of the Military Science De
partment.
A. & M. Scientists To
Make National Meets
Dr. A. R. Kemmerer of the Divi
sion of Chemistry and Dr. P. B.
Pearson, professor of animal nu
trition in the Department of Ani
mal Husbandry, left by car this
morning for New Orleans. They
will attend the annual meetings
of the American Institute of Nu
trition on March 13, and the an
nual meetings of the American So
ciety of Biological Chemists March
14, 15, and 16. The last time these
meetings were held in the South
was in 1937 when they were at
Memphis.
Architecture Students Get Data for Cotton Style Show
The fifth-year class of the Department of Architecture visited The Fashion, ladies’ specialty store in Houston, last week to make a
survey of the new styles which will be shown at the ninth annual Cotton Pageant and Style Show on April 19. These students are com
peting for an award offered for the best setting for the Pageant. They are shown looking over a new costume modeled by Miss Josephine
Roche. Pictured from left to right are Jack Holloway, Francisco Ruiz, Marshall Biggs, Frank Mothes, Paul Rose, Brooks Martin, Theo
Holleman, C. A. Griesenbeck, Ross Miller, Arthur Bartel, Harris Northrup, Hal Moseley, and Edwin French.
BILL OWENS, COLLECTOR OF FOLK "Champagne Music” Adds
SONGS, SIGNS CONTRACT FOR TOUR To Aggiekmd’s Social Season
By Bob Nisbet -f
Nearly everyone connected with |
A. & M. either knows or has heard j
of William Owens, in his official
capacity of English instructor or
in connection with his hobby of
studying and collecting folk songs.
Few, if any, however, know of
his latest achievement, because it
has just happened. Bill has re
cently signed a five-year contract
with Lee Keedick to cover the
United States and Canada lec
turing on folk music that he has
collected from over the South
west.
His tour is scheduled to start
in November of this year under
the exclusive management of
Keedick, the man who also spon
sors such well-known lecturers as
Grant Wood and Carl Van Doren.
In fact it was partly through the
interest that these men showed
in Mr. Owen’s work that he was
able to make the tour. Also
among those who have listened to
and admired his folk music is
Lawrence Tibbett, the Metropoli
tan Opera star.
In collecting his folk songs Mr.
Owens uses a recording machine
and makes records. He has over
400 of these. The reason for mak
ing the collection was not just a
matter of “having something to do”
or “just to be collecting something
as one collects stamps,” but it was
to preserve the songs that repre
sented the various cultures found
in the southwestern part of the
United States. Quite a number of
different groups contributed to the
building of the Southwest. There
were German, Italian, and Czech
immigrants, Mexicans from across
the border, French Cajuns in
South Louisiana, and many groups
of negroes. Realizing that the
folk songs of these clans are dying
out, Bill Owens decided that it
W. A. Owens
would be a good thing if they
could be recorded and preserved
before they disappeared altogeth
er. He has been working at this
task for about ten years.
During his search he has come
in contact with all kinds and man
ner of people. According to him,
the most interesting group with
which he has had dealings is the
French “Cajuns” of the fabulous
“Evangeline Country.” In obtain
ing his Cajun music it was neces
sary for Mr. Owens to penetrate
into a territory where the only con
tact the population has with the
rest of the world is by their little
flatboats hewn from cypress logs.
He has drunk their black French-
drip coffee and witnessed life as
they live it.
Several clubs and organizations
have had the pleasure of hearing
Bill Owens lecture and have
heard him play his records. In
every case the enthusiasm ran
high.
(Continued on page 4)
Aggieland’s current social sea--f
son SAvayed merrily on Friday
night as the Coast Artillery regi
ment presented its fourth annual
ball with the officiating of Law
rence Welk and his nationally-
known “Champagne Music.”
Future coast defenders and their
dates waltzed and tangoed for
three long-to-be-remembered hours
as the lovely Jayne Walton sang
her way into the hearts of every
cadet in Sbisa’s main dining room.
Nor was Friday night the first
time that Lawrence Welk had ap
peared at A. & M. Back in 1932
he played for one of the earlier
Engineers’ dances with a five-
piece combination band. “This
campus has certainly grown tre
mendously since that time,” he de
clared.
The thousand persons who at
tended the prom were with one
accord in appraisal of Welk’s fam
ous “Champagne Music.” Blessed
with a fine personality himself;
fortunate in having an attractive
singer who, in contrast to the gen-
ei'al run of girl singers Avith popu
lar dance bands, could really sing;
and the director of a versatile and
capable band, Welk’s return to the
campus will be anxiously awaited
by many cadets.
Like the other orchestra lead
ers on the campus this year, Welk
could hardly say enough about the
college. “I like very much your
unique spirit of good fellowship.
It’s one of the finest things I have
ever seen.” He added that he
hoped someday he would be able
to have a Texas Aggie in his
band. 1
Chairmaned by Curtis Kizer, the
dance committee Included Joe
Slicker, Bob Little, H. B. Parris,
Marshall Biggs, Mayo Thompson,
G. H. Reynolds, Henry Hertner,
Tom Hill, and T. H. Stovell.
■ Previous to the dance the Coast
Artillery juniors held a party at
the Bryan Country Club.
Kumen, Expert On
Air-Conditioning,
To Give Talk Here
Herbert J. Kumen, manager of
the transportation department of
the Anemostat Corporation of
America, will visit A. & M. Wed
nesday to speak on the subject of
air distribtuion in air-condition
ing, in which he is a widely- known
specialist.
Professor C. W. CraAvford, head
of the Mechanical Engineering De
partment, announced yesterday
that information had been receiv
ed that Mr. Kumen would be in
Houston for the meeting of the
Houston section of the American
Society of Heating and Ventilat
ing Engineers. Through a long-dis
tance call, Mr. Kumen’s Ansit to
A. & M. was made possible.
He will speak to all those in
terested in mechanical engineering,
and air-conditioning in particular,
Wednesday at 7 p. m. in the Me
chanical Engineering lecture room.
Ex-Aggie, Owner of Bryan
Radio Shop, To Marry Soon
K. S. Halloran of Fort Worth,
graduate of A. & M. in electrical
engineering with the class of ’30,
and proprietor of The Radio Shop
of Bryan, Avil be married March 25
to Miss Anna Toastis of Dallas.
The couple are planning on go
ing “down Mexico way” on their
honeymoon, after which they will
return to Mr. Halloran’s home in
Bryan.
George Hamilton To
Play For Engineers
Dope Ring’
Is on WTAW
Each Friday
This is how those “cockeyed”
radio programs come to be broad
cast. Imagine that you are eves-
dropping in the vicinity of Stinky
Glutz, an M. E. student from “X”
Coast. Glutz has just been handed
his corrected paper on an A Quiz.
Glutz is muttering in a four-day
beard . .
“Wise guy . . . yeh, that smart-
aleck! . . .whudduzee thinkeeis,
anyhow? Like ta see him pop up
with the right answer to some
questions I could ask . . .”
Hence—a radio quiz program
with genuine reverse English.
That’s the new idea for WTAW’s
popular Friday afternoon student
broadcast, the Aggie Clambake.
Tentatively named The Dope Ring,
the program will feature four
good-natured faculty members and
a student master of ceremonies,
disguised as Simon Degree, with
questions submitted by students.
WTAW director John Rosser
said the idea, proposed by Paul
Ketelsen, managing editor of The
Battalion Magazine, would be tried
out this Friday afternoon from
4:45 to 5 o’clock. The four fac
ulty victims probably will be C.
O. Spriggs (English), W. S.
McCulley (Mathematics), P. A.
Nutter (Economics), and R. W.
Steen (History). Auditions of stu
dents for the role of M. C. will
be held Thursday night, Rosser
said.
Ralston Purina Mills,
Danforth Foundation
Offer Fellowships
The Ralston Purina Mills and
the Danforth Foundation are of
fering two summer fellowships to
junior students at A. & M. this
summer, D. W. Williams, head of
the Animal Husbandry Depart
ment, has announced.
A total of 38 fellowships are
offered in the United States. The
course coA^ers intensive training
under actual business conditions in
St. Louis, followed by two weeks
of leadership training at the Amer
ican Youth Foundation Camp on
Lake Michigan.
Last year Durward B. Varner
and Wilson B. Buster were award
ed fellowships for this college.
Dean E. J. Kyle of the School of
Agriculture has appointed a com
mittee to select the students who
will be given the awards this year.
The committee will meet in the
Animal Husbandry offices Wed
nesday, March 20, at 1:15 p. m. On
ly agricultural students will be
considered.
Announcements are available on
the bulletin board in the Animal
Industries Building and in the
offices of the Dairy Husbandry,
Agronomy, and Agricultural Eco
nomics departments. Any student
who wishes to apply should read
the details of the announcement
and consult the head of his de
partment.
Orchestra Is
Well-Known For
Music-Box Music
Ever since his first professional
engagement at the Opera Club in
Chicago, George Hamilton has
been in the public spotlight as one
of the prominent orchestra lead
ers. His present orchestra, fea
turing Louis Chicco at the harp,
and the tenor voice of Lee Norton,
is by far the best organization
that has played under the baton
of the “Music Box Musician.”
It is this orchestra that comes
direct from Chicago’s famous Pal
mer House to play for the Engi
neers’ Ball at A. & M., Friday
and the Corps Dance Saturday,
through arrangements with the
Music Corporation of America.
Following four successful years
at the Opera Club, George Hamil
ton moved to the north side of
Chicago and the Edgewater Beach
Hotel. After a lengthy stay, the
band was booked for two years at
the Book-Cadillac Hotel in De
troit. While in Detroit, the then
mayor of New York, Jimmy Walk
er, heard the band and liked it so
much that he induced the Cen
tral Park Casino in New York to
hire the band.
George Hamilton scored a big
triumph at the Casino which did
much to popularize his music with
dancers everywhere. From then
on he had smooth sailing and the
name of George Hamilton has
burned in bright lights throughout
the country. Among the hotel en
gagements are numbered those at
the Waldorf-Astoria in New York,
the Di-ake in Chicago, the Mark
Hopkins in San Francisco, the
Cosmopolitan in Denver, the Baker
in Dallas, the Gunter, San Antonio,
and the Roosevelt, Hollywood.
Bel Canto
Group To
Sing Here
Quartet To Appear
On Town Hall Soon
The next Town Hall program
will take place on March 19th
and will consist of musical offer
ings to be given by the Bel Canto
Quartet and Mrs. Nancy Swin-
ferd, all of whom are Texans.
For the past ten years the Bel-
Cantos have been the featured
artists of Radio Station W.F.A.A.
in Dallas. To date they have sung
in many of the largest cities of
the North American Continent, in
cluding personal appearances ia
the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
Stadium, where they sang to an
audience of 100,000 persons. This
group is reputed to be one of the
best of its kind in the South and,
in the past, has proved to be a
success on every occasion as a
result of their many years’ practice
and their splendid blending of
harmony.
(Continued on page 4)
KING UGLY I ABDICATES! Love and Beauty
Cause Thompson To Yield--Hall Wears Crown
By George Fuermann
King Ugly I has abdicated!
Throughout the realm of the
Kingdom of the Uglies excitement
and confusion are the order of the
day. Elected King of the Uglies
by virtue of the balloting of his
loyal and worthy supporters, Irvin
Thompson has abdicated his cele
brated throne in favor of his close
runner-up, Robert C. “Eddie” Hall.
Asked to give The Battalion an
exclusive statement, Thompson de
clared, “I feel that I am unfit to
reign as King of the Uglies. I’m
too handsome, and anybody knows
that you’ve got to be ugly to be
a king of the uglies.” Investigat
ing further on its oavu initiative,
however, The Battalion found a
more concrete reason for Thomp
son’s abdication. It was disclosed
that Thompson had received a tele
gram from his fiancee which read,
“IrAdn: If you go through with
this Ugly Boy championship,
you’re through with me too.” The
telegram was signed “Sophronia.”
So now his exalted and magnif
icent excellency, Eddie Hall," reigns
supreme as the august and mighty
King of the Uglies. His corona
tion, which will take place on the
steps of the Y. M. C. A. tonight,
will, be an affair of majestic
grandeur and stately beauty; one
long awaited by his loyal and pa
triotic subjects.
Said King Hall from his spa
cious throne room in the palace,
“I still think Thompson is uglier
than I am, but, as the voters in
dicated, there’s little question but
what I’m the second ugliest man
in the kingdom.” The King went
on to say, “At least I’ll get one
degree from A. & M. College.”
And right he is, because each year
the citizens of the Kingdom of the
Uglies confer upon their King the
B. U. degree—Bachelor of Ugli
ness.
From his modern little home in
Uglyville, the abdicating Thomp
son made his historic renounce
ment of the throne through an ad
dress via a world-wide radio net
work.. “At long last,” he said,
“I haA'e come to this difficult de
cision. I have a choice between
my kingdom and the woman I
love, and it is to her that I choose
to go.”
But back to the coronation again
. . . An occasion of pompous and
regal splendor befitting his
majesty’s dignity, the kingdom’s
town crier, Bodie Pierce, will pre
side over the royal festivities. Im
mediately after supper tonight the
Kingdom of the Uglies will croAvn
a new sovereign as his majesty-
to-be, Eddie Hall, becomes mon
arch of the uglemugs, King Ugly
n.
Voting in the runoff election of
Backwash’s Ugly Boy contest fell
off slightly from the record vote
cast in the first primary. Two
thousand and eighty-four votes
were cast in the runoff with Irvin
Thompson, Field Artillery junior
from Silsbee, leading the ballot
ing with 571. Close on Thompson’s
heels was Robert C. “Eddie” Hall,
Infantry senior from Electra, with
522. S. D. Martin was third with
430, Roy Chappell fourth with
416, and Maurice E. Shepherd last
with 145.
Bureau of Standards
Division Chief To
Address Chem Society
“Hydrocarbons in Petroleum”
will be the subject of an illustrat
ed lecture by Dr. F. D. Rossini of
Washington, to the A. & M. Sec
tion of the American Chemical So
ciety at 8 p. m., Wednesday.
Dr. Rossini is chief of the sec
tion on thermochemistry and con
stitution of petroleum of the U. S.
Bureau of Standards.
Due to the large quantities of
petroleum produced in Texas, the
subject of the address is of great
interest, and the talk will not be as
technical as its name suggests, it
was announced by Dr. G. S.
Fraps.
The meeting will be held in the
Chemistry lecture room.