Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 1985)
-5- party y By GIGI SHAMSY Reporter Three pallbearers approach a women’s dormitory and sol emnly ask a young woman to come with them to a party be cause there has been a death — Paddv Murphy is dead. Not the beginning of an ordi- nary weekend for the members of Texas A6=M’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity or their dates, either, for that matter. More than the fraternity party with the required theme, this weekend will become a unique event with an all-university party, 300 kegs of beer and a lively wake to ignite the festivi ties. Social chairman Ray Walker said that before the weekend is over the men will form a fune ral procession through cam pus, witness a showdown be tween gangster Paddy Murphy and Al Capone and pose as corpses in a morgue. Paddy Murphy was a legend ary gangster of the 1920s who may have been an SAE, Walker said. Murphy traveled through out the southwest leaving a trail of crime behind him until he was killed by an antago nist’s gun wound. Social chair man Mark Rudolph added that Murphy allegedly supplied the fraternity with booze which he bootlegged across the country. Walker said the fraternity at Texas A&>M will honor Paddy Murphv by inviting students to a party at the Brazos County Pavillion on Friday, March 22. “We'll have 300 kegs of beer and dance music provided by the band ‘Ultimate Force’,” Walker said. “The profits from the dance will benefit the Boy’s Club of Brazos County.” There will also be soft drinks and food provided by Randy Sims Bar-b-que. He said the party will cost more than any previous party, but he hopes it will be a large fundraiser. Sororities will set up dunking, ring-toss and other game booths outside the Pavillion to raise money also for the Boy’s Club of Brazos Count}'. “Fraternity members will also patrol the parking lot looking for guests who may have had too much to drink." Walker said. “We will offer a taxi senice to these guests by driving them home." This party will kick-off the Paddy Murphy celebration continuing with a private wake, funeral and evening party on Saturday Walker said. The preparations and the pri vate Paddy Murphy party itself are unlike any party on cam pus. Each fraternity member is allowed to invite a female as a guest to the private party. She will receive a call from a frater nity member asking her to re main at home until they arrive to invite her. Soon, a coffin car ried bv the men appears out side her home. Walker said the men have been known before to carry the coffin up four flights of stairs. She is escorted to the coffin which contains the body of Paddy Murphy and she is sere naded with Paddy Murphy songs. The young woman is then asked to kiss Paddy Mur phy’s corpse (the SAE presi dent) as a sign of acceptance to the party. Last year, Walker was the fraternity president and fondly remembers playing the role of Murphy’s corpse. “I had a ball when I was be ing kissed,” he said. “Luckily, I was wearing dark sunglasses so no one could see my eyes during the kissing.” On Saturday at 11:30 a.m., the women will be picked up by Cadillacs driven by frater- nitv members and taken to Kyle field. Then they will all proceed to a rented hall for the private wake. Here, the women become spectators to a reen actment of a post-poker game showdown where Paddy Mur phy kills Al Capone’s brother. Soon, Al Capone appears with revenge burning in his heart and combats Paddy Murphy. After the fraternity members brandish real pistols loaded with blanks, Murphv and Ca pone struggle until Murphv falls to the ground whispering “I’ll see vou burn in Hell, Capo ne.” The women are then driven home where they prepare for the night’s funeral. “The girls go all out and get dressed up like mourners with veils, long cigarettes and feath ered hats,” Walker said. “Do lores Hajovsky, one of the fra ternity little sisters, is infamous for blowing soap bubbles to show her grief even' year,” he said. The men stage a funeral with organ music piped into the speakers until it is suddenly interrupted bv soul music. A fraternity' alumni disguised as a preacher then dances to the coffin and delivers a light hearted eulogy. The fraternity' pfedges, dressed as angels, prance around the female guests supplying beer. After the eulogy, the pledges take the fraternity members to an adjacent room where they put the men on tables, remove their shoes and put numbered toe tags on their feet. The women then enter this room with their numbered invitation in hand and try to determine their date by matching the in vitation number to the toe tag number. “When the girl finds her guy,” Walker said, “the party begins.” \ V* 'A ^ s I'-' ■ <*-<: ** \w''.: j, N \ . ^ -* vy <''v *• -' M '<■ ' & / - i ' ■ SAE’s hold an annual Murphy celebration Carnival’ coming to Rudder The Texas A&=M University System has begun a cultural ex change program between it’s schools. The program was first conceived by Chancellor Ar thur Hansen's wife and will in volve students traveling to other schools and performing. The Tarleton State Unversity cast and crew of the musical “Carnival” will be the first pro duction in this unique cultural exchange. “Carnival” will be performed in Rudder Audito rium at 8 p.m., March 25. The show, written by Mich- eal Stewart, has nearly 100 people involved as cast and crew members. The perform ing cast alone includes about 75 actors and actresses, many playing two or three roles. “It’s sort of like directing a small whr,” said director and Tarleton State University Asso ciate Professor of Speech Dr. Mary Jane Mingus. On stage, the war comes together in a ka leidoscope of excitement and color. “The costumes, of course, have a lot of color and sparkle, but basically, the carnival af fects we create are done with light and color changes,” said Mingus. “We use technical de vices to play the same kinds of illusions on the minds of our audience as real carnivals often do. It has the same attractions as a circus or carnival — the kind of magic that appeals to children of all ages, always has and probably always will.” The story of “Carnival” be gins when the uncurtained stage lights up as roustabouts carry in poles and canvas and erect a carnival before the au dience. An orphan named Lilli, wide-eyed and chalk-faced, wanders onto the carnival and is enchanted with the idea of joining the magic. The charac ter is unsuccessful at several jobs with the raffish, run down and thrid rate troupe. But she is still dazzled with the spirit of the jugglers, animal acts and aerialists. Finally, she becomes the cen ter of rivalry between the troupe’s magician and the crippled puppeteer. The musical score for the show was written by Bob Mer rill, and while many of the songs may not be immediately recognizable, “Love Makes the World go Round,” is familiar to everyone. 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