News Highlights
Of The Exceptional
Year Just Finished
Special Edition
Pasadena Junior College, June 25, 1942
Rummaging through a pocketful of notes, scribblings of the se¬
mester’s news, we find the contents to be most momentous. In fact,
it was impossible to bury them in the waste basket, per custom, with¬
out reminiscing a bit.
DECEMBER 10, U. S. AT WAR
Two weeks later PJC’s Defense ....-Council fully; organized. In two
weeks an administrative organ, streamlined to safeguard two campuses
seven miles apart with more than 5,000 students, had arisen overnight to
put PJC on the alert. Set rolling by the boundless energy of Ed Davis, a
student working graveyard at Lockheed on top of a full social science cur¬
riculum, and Dean Hawes, the Council lost no time in making PJC first
in nationwide preparedness. Within a month, the original Council, com¬
prised of Administration members and mostly student leaders, was en¬
larged to embrace elected air raid wardens from all classes. Indirectly,
scarcely a student was without emergency responsibility. In the event
of a raid, Lancers were designated as couriers, ROTC men as rooftop in¬
cendiary spotters, first aid classes had tourniquets in readiness.
Dean Hawes supplemented counselor sheets with short unit courses —
telegraphy, first aid, war psychology, et al. Athletic Director Dunn en¬
gineered a physical fitness drive, with all
men’s gym classes put through rigorous cal-
esthenics, tests of balance, speed and endur¬
ance.
Another month and the Council content
that emergency duty and equipment was
well-planned, after several successful raid re¬
hearsals, instigated the first of numerous
Victory Drives. The “paper-or-penny-a-day”
drive and campaigns to sell victory stamps
were notable.
MARCH 15, EASTER VACATION DEBAT
For a month a controversy raged over
Easter holidays. It was argued that abolition
of vacation, and closing school a week earlier
would :
1. Release students for forestry and de¬
fense jobs sooner.
2. Discourage the usual flood of early
withdrawls in the first weeks of June.
shrieked and the meeting was doused in blackness. There the idea of the
“Blackout Carnival’’ was born.
Program Chairman Larry Wallace hopped to it and lined up an array
of top professional talent for a grandoise vaudeville show. To simulate
normalcy, Dale Iiiestand held a popularity contest for a queen and court
to reign. Campaigning ensued.
Editor Verbeck published a special edition of the Chronicle devoted
entirely to the Carnival. A P.A. system was installed in the student union
and for several days popular records and high-pressure voices were heard
during noon hours.
Friday evening, May 15, the auditorium was filled and the curtain
raised on OMD’s adaptation to war circumstances. Master of Ceremonies
Morrie Amsterdam rolled them in the aisles, Liz Tilton swooned them
and Gordon Jenkins’ orchestra had them hopping rhythmically.
MAY 28, SALVAGE DAY
As the Victory Drives of the Defense Council terminated, it was rea¬
lized that time was ripe for something momentous. Early in May, the
Restrictive Inter-Club Council drew up blueprints for a paragon Salvage
Day.
Reminiscent of extinct OMD Carnivals,
junior collegians forgot books and came to
school in levi-plaid shirt trappings. Five
hundred were exempt from classes to can¬
vass Pasadena in trucks. Housewives had
been forewarned of the tremendous Sal¬
vage Drive by leaflets, and had parking
strips piled with washtubs, hot water bot¬
tles, toothpaste tubes and “johnny” seats.
By high noon the women’s athletic field
was a virtual junk yard and by dusk, the
dark form of a mountain of scrap metal,
papers and rubber loomed over the campus.
By dark, the women’s gym was teeming
with grimy but happy couples swinging to
Duke Rinaldi’s music. RICC presidents Glen
Riley and Alice Graham, with organizers
Jean DeGarmo, Marilyn Morgan and Ed
Issett, had done a good job.
3. Curtail frivolous, unwaranted spend¬
ing of vacationists which totals $6,000 dur¬
ing ttie one week.
Nevertheless, the protagonists of vacation rebuttled by the conten¬
tions that:
The OMD Queen and her court. Left to right: Queen Betty
Heatherington, Marilyn Phillips, Katie Thomas, Janice
Bidwell, and Eunice Alder.
1. A mid-term respite would bolster the student morale.
2. A greater number of students would take AWOL during the week
than job-seekers in June.
The matter was ultimately dumped in Superintendent Sexson’s lap.
Considering both sides of the matter, he made the decision — there would
be Easter Week this year, but that others would be banned for the dur¬
ation. Restrictive clubs rushed to rent Laguna and Bal houses. Catalina
was isolated. One men’s club sought refuge at Big Bear.
New notes crept into beach life. Sun baskers on the sand eyed the
listing ocean, more as a reflex action, on lookout for subs. Clubs played
host to hordes of service men and defense workers, usually alumni. “Gow
jobs” were notably less prevalent and Henderson’s code for safe driving
was rather closely observed.
MAY 15, OMD CARNIVAL BECOMES “BLACKOUT CARNIVAL”
As time came for the OMD to lay plans for their annual carnival the
Defense Council banned plans of evening festivities outdoors, on the
grounds that carnival lights and throngs of pleasure-seekers would
court danger from a feasible air raid. Moreover, it claimed, the tennis
courts offered no satisfactory exits for a large crowd.
The OMD was faced with two alternatives. First to hold the cax-nival
per usual outdoors in the afternoon, and second to sponsor an indoor
show. The group was mulling over the problem one evening when sirens
But the dirty work was yet to come.
Lack of organization of the 1000 salvagers
resulted in a nearly worthless, unsegregat¬
ed heap. For a week, a handful of workers
dug into the junk, bundling loose papers, ferreting out rubber and rags.
Finally, in a partially segregated state, it was sold for $500. Yet the moral
is, that if bins were constructed for such items as aluminum, brass, rubber,
et al, and if the segregation was made complete as the trucks were un¬
loaded, the junk’s value would have been double and the labor halved. But
the restrictive clubs promise it’ss be different next time and have proposed
an annual Salvage Day for the duration.
PUBLICATIONS
Chronicle seldom hangs its wash on the line, consequently little know¬
ledge of its publication is understood by JC students. First semester, jour¬
nalistic tycoon Dave Davis incorporated into one solid staff a talented few
who turned out the smoothest volume of junior college history. Reminded
some of days when Max Colwell, Al Wesson and other notables did the
same here. Second semester, ex-sports editor, Norbie Verbeck took over
editorial board chairmanship, held together Davis’ masterpiece.
Other top PJC publication, Campus met with both adverse and fa¬
vorable reactions. Most students enjoyed return to formal annual, expect
better quality next year. Third on campus journalistic endeavor, Huddle,
was rejuvinated by Noel Young in the fall, became a profitable enterprise.
MAY 29, PRIMARY ELECTIONS
Aptly capping this historic semester was Stu Fitch’s primary elec¬
tions. Few, if any, student elections at PJC have been as singular and
successful.
Big news was obviously Dale Hiestand polling a majority over Eley
and Clement in the primaries, and Jim McCaffery taking the Associate
Presidency from unopposed Don Barry after a whirlwind, last-minute
campaign. McCaffery’s aides cleverly printed stickers bearing his name
to go write on the ballot as a write-in.