The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, April 09, 1940, Image 1
CIRCULATION 5,500 OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE CITY OF COLLEGE STATION The Battalion DIAL 4-5444 STUDENT TRI WEEKLY NEWSPAPER OF TEXAS A. & M. COLLEGE VOL. 39 122 ADMINISTRATION BUILDING COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, TUESDAY MORNING, APRIL 9, 1940 NO. 72 STUDENT BODY INITIATES CAMPAIGN TO SECURE FIRST-CLASS MOVIES FOR COLLEGE STATION Anson Weeks To Play For Cavalry Regiment Noted Band Here For First Time Well-Known Maestro Is Music Composer By Lee Rogers Coining to Aggieland for the first time is Anson Weeks and his nationally famous orchestra, who will play for the Cavalry Ball and corps dance this week-end. Weeks started on his road to pop ularity on the west coast during an engagement at the Mark Hop kins Hotel in San Francisco where he found his orchestra in great de mand with colleges of that region. His orchestra was one of the first to be heard on the Lucky Strike program from the west coast. ANSON WEEKS During the time that he spent in the west, Weeks and his orches tra made several musical shorts for Paramount, but their plans for a motion picture career were stop ped almost before they were start ed due to the demand for their ap pearances in the midwest and east. (Continued on page 4) Annual Highway Engineers’ Short Course To Open Sixteenth Meeting Of Group Begins Tuesday The sixteenth annual short course for highway engineers will open here Tuesday morning, April 9. Registration will begin at 8:30 o’clock in the lobby of the Y. M. C. A. and the opening talk will be given by Col. Ike Ashburn, execu tive assistant to the president, at 9:45. J. T. L. McNew, professor of highway engineering will preside at the morning session and Julian Montgomery, State Highway En gineer, of Austin, at the afternoon session. Bob Gentry, chairman, Texas Highway Commission, Austin, will discuss the problems in carrying forward a State highway program during the morning. T. R. Spence, vice-director of the Engineering Experiment Station, will also speak during the morning and will dis cus “Fact and Fancy in Engineer ing Research.” Regulation of traffic and traffic accidents and their causes and rem edies will be the main topic for discussion during the afternoon. Carl J. Rutland, Texas Power and Light Co., Dallas, and Captain B. B. Smith, Dallas Police Depart ment, are the speakers assigned to the traffic discussions and both are nationally recognized experts in their fields. It is due to their efforts that Dallas has risen to national prominence in safety con trol in the past few years. Aggie Killed In Houston Car Accident Silver Taps was observed Sun day night for Horace Jessie Long of Houston, a member of M In fantry, who was killed in an auto mobile wreck in Houston early Sun day morning. Long, who was visiting his home over the weekend, was killed in stantly when a car driven by Jack A. Downs, also of Houston, crashed with another car driven by M. T. Edmonds. Downs is an ex-student of A. & M. Funeral services were held from the Fogle-West chapel Monday, and burial was in Forest Park Cemetary. Long transferred here in Febru ary from North Texas Agricultural College, with sophomore standing. He was majoring in mechanical engineering. Noted Agricultural Economists To Talk Here During April Drs. Hibbard, Stokdyk, Will Deliver Lectures Two noted agricultural econo mists, Dr. Benjamin H. Hibbard of the University of Wisconsin,, and Dr. E. A. Stokdyk, president of the Berkeley, California, Bank for Co operatives, have been engaged for a week’s series of lectures here, ac cording to Dean E. J. Kyle. Dr. Hibbard will give four lec tures during the week beginning April 8. His subject will be “Re cent Agricultural Policies”; “For eign Trade in Relation to Ameri can Agriculture”; “Farmers’ Move ments”; and “Land Policies”. He B. H. Hibbard also will conduct three seminars for graduate students and staff members on agricultural economic problems. Dr. Stokdyk will appear during the week beginning April 15. His (Continued on page 4) MOURSAND TO SPEAK TO PRE-MED BANQUET IN SBISA HALL TONIGHT Dr. W. H. Moursand, dean of the Baylor Medical College, will ad dress the Pre-Medical College of A. & M. tonight at 6:30 following an informal banquet to be given in his honor in Sbisa Hall. Dr. Moursand wishes, during his stay on the campus, to speak per sonally with every student who in tends to study medicine after leav ing A. & M., no matter where the student plans to go. He will hold interviews in the faculty meeting room of the Administration Build ing between 2 and 5 p. m. today. A. & M. Greets Farley Royally Above are shown a few of the events that took place at Aggieland “Farley Day”, last Thursday, when A. & M. welcomed United States Postmaster-General James A. Farley as its honored guest on the campus. Upper left, “Genial Jim” delivering his speech which was broadcast by WTAW, at the banquet in his honor Thursday night which was attended by nearly 1,000 students, faculty members, and distinguished visitors. A. & M.’s President Walton is seated at Farley’s right. Lower left, at the banquet, “Jo-Jo” White, senior letterman this past season, is shown handing Farley an unusual gift and one that pleased him greatly—a white football autographed with the signa tures of the entire football squad for 1939-40. Upper right, Farley is shown meeting Bill Duncan, another senior football star of this past season, at the mounted, full-dress review of the entire corps held in the Postmaster-General’s honor Thursday afternoon upon his arrival. Lower right, Farley, with Colonel George F. Moore, Commandant, at his left, and Cadet Colonel D. B. Varner and the corps staff at his right, is shown reviewing the corps. Paul Haines (extreme right) bore the Postmaster-General’s flag. Shep Fields and Entertainers Make Hit With Infantrymen; Weekend Crowded With Festivities By George Fuermann From “Rippling Rhythm” to ring ing swing, and jumpin’ jive to swaying waltzes, versatile and ca pable Shep Fields and associates played to what is generally held to have been the most successful of Infantry Balls. “Singing Cadets” Plan Houston Visit The A. & M. Singing Cadets will leave College Station Thursday morning to make several appear ances in Houston. The group will arrive in Houston at 9:30 a. m. and during the morn ing will appear for programs be fore two high schools there. It is not known at present which schools the programs will be presented. From the schools the Singing Ca dets will go to the Rice Hotel for a broadcast over station KTRH at 11:30, and during the noon hour they will be the guests of the Hous ton Rotary Club where they will again sing. The series of programs will be continued Thursday afternoon with an informal picnic and meeting with the Houston A. & M. Mothers Club at the George Washington Junior High School at 5:30. At 7:45 Thurs day evening the Singing Cadets meet for a performance for the Houston A. & M. Mothers Club at the George Washington Junior High School. The trip will be made in two chartered busses and the boys will return late Thursday night. as belles and coeds adding half a thousand to Aggieland’s populace, fifteen hundred Infantrymen and their escortees celebrated the an nual festivities with a continual round of functions. Beginning Friday night with the Town Hall presentation of maestro Fields and orchestra, the festivities included a junior class party at the Country Club and the Infantry Ball Friday night, and the corps dance Saturday night. But “swing,” rather than the ex pected “Rippling Rhythm,” was king. “We play the kind of music that our dancers want,” Shep de clared. “There was little question but what the Aggies wanted swing and that accounts for the almost total absence of the ‘Rippling Rhy thm’.” Even so, his unique air bubble music was also popular with cadets and their dates. “Na turally,” Shep further pointed out, “we use ‘Rippling Rhythm’ on radio programs to identify ourselves.” Blessed with a fine personality which makes him a number one “front” man, Shep was surrounded with a galaxy of capable stars. Heading the list was vivacious, lively, and gay Claire Nunn—a singer with a definite “Aggie ap peal.” As well as being an ace with the ivories and a conductor, Weeks has turned his musical abilities to ward composition. Some of his ori ginal compositions include “I’m Sorry Dear”, “Sorry”, “Tuck Me in to Sleep”, “The Last Dance”, and more recently, the haunting Hawai ian strains of “Pali”. (Continued on page 4) ANNUAL HORSE SHOW WILL TAKE PLACE SATURDAY Seventeenth Yearly Show Will Include 24 Classes The Seventeenth Annual Horse Show will take place here at the college on Saturday, April 13, ac cording to an announcement made by Col. George F. Moore, Command ant, and chairman of the horse show committee. A total of 24 classes will be shown and others may be added for any class for which there is a sufficient demand. The morning events will begin at 10 o’clock and end shortly before noon. The after noon events will start at 1:30 and conclude at about 5:30. Many well-known Texas horse men have forwarded entries for the show and others have signified that they intend to enter their hors es. Campbell Sewell, Houston, has always shown his best horses here, and has been a consistent winner with his gelding, William the Con queror, but since he sold his na tional champion, the field will this year be wide open for other top saddle and harness horses. Stock owned by the college and the U. S. Army will be entered and cadets will participate in events open only to them. Support-Local-Show Move Effected At Jr.-Sr. Class Meeting Date-to-Date Showing With Bryan Of Best Pictures Is Ultimate End and Aim; Varner Says: “We^e Going To Get ’Em!” By Bill Murray SIX THOUSAND TEXAS AGGIES SUNDAY TOOK CONCERTED ACTION TO GET FIRST-RUN, FIRST-RATE, DATE-TO-DATE MOTION PICTURES WITH BRYAN AT COLLEGE STATION BY REMAIN ING AWAY FROM BRYAN THEATERS FOR AS LONG AS NECESSARY TO EFFECT A SATISFAC TORY SETTLEMENT. The movement first took ef fect at the stroke of midnight Sunday. Initiated last week at meetings of the organization commanders and the Student Welfare Committee of A. & M., the movement became a reality with a unanimous motion on the part of 1,500 members of the senior and junior classes in a joint mass meeting at Guion Hall Sunday night, to abstain voluntarily from attending any of the three Bryan motion picture houses. At the meeting, Cadet Colonel Durward B. Varner, chairman, pointed out that the Aggies spend at least $64,000 annually in Bryan theaters, and $14,000 for Y. M. C. A. Assembly Hall movies on the campus for second-run shows 45 days (by existing contract) after Bryan. It was also stated that the average attendance of Aggies at the Bryan theaters, according to the Bryan management, has been 40 percent of the total, up to the present time; however, leaders of the student body believe this average to have been more nearly 50 or 60 percent of the total. Speakers pointed out that the additional cost of a 20-cent taxi fare to Bryan and return makes seeing the movies there cost 45 cents. "Vo Half-Way Measure,” Declares Cadet Colonel In the belief that the resulting decrease in attend ance at the Bryan houses during the coming weeks or months will do to convince the Dallas motion picture distributing agents for this area that the city of College Station with its 6,000 Aggies and 3,000 or more other citizens is equally as fertile a field for motion pictures as is Bryan, and at the same time that it should convince the management of the Bryan theatrical enterprises that existing contracts should be altered in the interests of the A. & M. student body and of all parties concerned, the entire student body of the college has joined whole heartedly in this movement. Stated Cadet Colonel Varner: “This isn’t any half way measure. We’re all working with the same end in mind—to secure first-class shows here at the same time Bryan has them—and we’re going to keep up this stay- at-home, save-our-money, support-our-local-theater movement until we do get them, whether it takes two weeks, two months, or two years!” • Organization Meetings Quick To Get Movement Under Way Following the well-ordered, business-like meeting of 1,500 juniors and seniors—the largest percentage at any class meeting this year—activity was quick to get under way in preparing an effective and united front to gain the desired end. Company, troop, and battery meetings of every organization on the campus were called to carry the ap peal for cooperation to the sophomores and freshmen; managers of the seventeen campus project houses and ten off-campus houses were quick to secure the co operation of the 1,200 non-dormitory students; many faculty members and college employees added their sup port to the move—and throughout Aggieland the senti ment was the same ... to get first-rate, date-to-date moving pictures with Bryan for College Station. Aroused to fever pitch after many years of high- pressure theater discrimination, Aggieland’s six thou sand students are mobilized in an undertaking of com plete accord, and the campaign is already arousing wide interest and attention. The story of the local theater situation went out to the Associated Press and the United Press from the Col lege Publicity Office Monday morning. STATE BOARD OF REGISTRATION FOR ENGINEERS MEETS WITH SENIORS The State Board of Registration- for Professional Engineers wilj hold a meeting at College Station this evening at 7:30, in the Chemistry Lecture Room, according to an an nouncement made yesterday by Gibb Gilchrist, Dean of the School of Engineering. Members of the Board will explain to senior engi neering students the engineers’ license law which is in effect in Texas. This information will be invalu able to prospective engineering graduates who expect to enter the field of professional engineering, and Dean Gilchrist expects a large attendance.