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Colorful history ’ shows soi
(Continuned from cover.)
‘They had advertised for stu
dents to stay here during the
holidays to be extras,” Kunze
said. “Most of the kids that
stayed needed the money. This
was one way of earning a few
extra dollars. Besides, it was
more than I could earn at
home.”
People then didn’t react to
celebrities in the way they do
today, Kunze said. “Actually, we
paid very little attention (to the
film crews and stars).”
But the mere fact that the pic
ture was being filmed on cam
pus, affected just about
everyone in one way or another.
Professor Harry Kidd, Assis
tant Dean of the Graduate Col
lege, has a story about the
movie, too.
“I was teaching, I don’t recall
whether it was 301 (English) or
a literature class. Anyway, the
door burst open and there was
this Hollywood type in a roll
neck sweater. He said, ‘Prof, we
got to get ’em outa here, we’re
filming.’ I told him I wasn’t going
anywhere, that I was teaching.
Well, it wasn’t long before I got a
note to clear out, that they were
in fact going to film there. We
sat in the Rotunda (of the
Academic Building) for half a
day.”
Kidd has been, here for “40
years. I came in the Fall of ’39.”
Weirus and Kunze agree that
the movie does present a
slightly exaggerated account of
life at A&M then.
“I really enjoyed the scenes
of the campus,” Weirus said.
“But most of us were a little em
barrassed by the silliness of the
plot, even though we got a kick
out of seeing ourselves.”
“I guess my intial reaction
was they weren’t portraying
A&M the way I thought it was,”
Kunze said. “However, there
are a lot of things of historical
value in it.”
Kunze said he had friends
who walked in the “Bull Ring”
on Saturday afternoons to get
rid of “rams". A ram is sort of
like a demerit, but not as seri
ous.
And in the movie, Cyanide
Jenkins (Noah Beery, Jr.) warns
Brad Craig (Richard Quines)
that he better watch out or he’d
be “paddle-footing around that
Bull Ring” after a run-in with
Panhandle Mitchell (Robert
Mitch urn).
And in the Aggie Corps of
Cadets, many things are the
same today, too.
Jenkins tells Craig “you bet
ter get hip to the chatter, son, or
you won’t eat.” The chatter is
the special language used at
corps dining tables.
Mustard is baby, salt is sand,
pepper is dirt. Catsup is blood,
meat is bull neck and so on.
And the fish still have only
four answers to upper
classmen:
— Yes, Sir.
— No, Sir.
— No excuse, Sir.
— Sir. Not being informed, I
hesitate to articulate for fear that
I may deviate from the true
course of rectitude. In short, Sir,
I am a very dumb fish and do
not know, Sir.
The film treats its audience to
a recital of this speech at the
beginning. Craig was walking
on the sidewalk, a no-no for
freshman.
Weirus said that then,
freshman couldn’t even walk
even walk on the curb. Today,
the corps wants fish to walk on
the sidewalk. It’s the seniors
who get to walk on the grass
nowadays.
Courtesy University Archives
The dance scene in Sbisa is
also a tradition upheld today.
Most of the major military balls
are held there.
The music for the dance
scene was actually recorded in
the old Assembly Hall, where
the Chapel is today.
“They checked out the
acoustics,” Weirus said. “Man,
they were really good.”
And for the dance scene,
TSCWites were invited. The Ft.
Worth Star-Telegram reported
on Sunday, Nov. 22, that “next
Friday 300 Texas State College
for Women girls will come from
Denton to become temporary
movie actresses. They will
dance for half a day with 300
A&M students while cameras
turn on a corp dance scene that
will be a highlight in the produc
tion.”
Many girls showed up for
screen tests, Weirus said, hop
ing to be discovered.
The scene showing the
women arrive for the dance was
factual. Anne Gwynne tells
Martha O’Driscoll (they had the
two lead feminine roles) that
they’ll be put up in one of the
dorms.
“On the weekends, when the
women would come up,”
Weirus said, “all the men would
move out of a dorm or two, so
they’d have a place to stay. If
the girl could get here, she fulfil
led her end of the deal. The guy
would have to put her up and
pay for her meals.”
Weirus said that was a big
thing, if you could get your pic
ture made with one of the
“girls.”
“Look at those dimples,”
Weirus said while looking at a
picture of Gwynne. “Gosh, you
could fall in love with them.”
The bonfire is the original
thing, too.
“That’s what a raunchy bon
fire looked like. In those days,”
Weirus said, “they were really
trash fires. We didn’t have one
of those engineered things.”
“It was a state supported,
land grant, all male military
academy,” Weirus said.
Times have changed.