Friday, Nov. 5, 1954.
Page 3
Homecoming Spotlight Not Always on Queen
By Madelyn Brite
The 21st homecoming queen will reign at the KU-MU game tomorrow. She will be escorted to her throne in the traditional halftime ceremonies amid the playing of the band and hearty cheers and whistles from the stands.
Homecoming queens have not always held the spotlight in the annual celebration. For years after the first homecoming in 1912, parades, house decorations, and Hobo day festivities were the center of interest. At first the interest in homecoming centered mainly in the game itself and the returning alumni.
The first record of a homecoming queen was in 1933. Lucy Edna Trees, representing Chi Omega, was chosen by the football squad, the undisputed judge in early years. Candidates from the 13 Hill sororities competed for the honor. The queen, without attendants, was escorted by the band and the Jay Janes at the game.
A more democratic method was used in choosing the 1935 queen, as the student body voted for Betty Grove in a secret ballot at a pep assembly.
The football squad again chose the queen in 1936. Her highness Betty Smith was presented on the Jay Jane float in the torch light parade the night before the big game.
In 1934 Avanell Bushmeyer was elected "Hostess" by the team. She and the other 13 candidates welcomed the cornhusker squad when it arrived, and sat with them during the game.
The first attendants to the queen appeared in 1937. Doris Johnson was chosen queen that year, with Jane Blaney and Patty Payne completing the royal court. The three beauties were presented at half-time ceremonies.
The greatest change in methods of choosing the queen came in 1939 when four Lawrence business men and a faculty member interviewed the candidates and picked the winner on the basis of activities, personality, as well as beauty.
In a "coronation in the rain" the first of many ill-fated ceremonies, Greta Gibson was crowned queen in 1940. Queen Greta, chosen from a secret committee of businessmen, was mentioned in press releases which were sent out that year. Sky-rocket booms, early horseless carriages, and the Swiss flag corps made an impressive ceremony.
The governor of the state, Payne Ratner, crowned Mary Louise Lockhart queen of the 1941 festivities. "Beauty, personality, and oomph," was considered by the Junior Chamber of Commerce in their selection.
The increasing importance of homecoming queens was shown when house decorations and other traditions, but not the queen, was abandoned during some of the war years. The 1942 queen, Ruth Ann Boviari, was introduced to the student body at a Friday night rally in Hoch auditorium.
Technicolor motion pictures were taken of the 1945 candidates for the title. The films were sent to Kansas State where the Wildcat squad chose Joy Godbehere for queen.
Personal interviews with candidates were again in the vogue in 1947. The judges who were carefully screened to prevent any affiliation with campus organizations, made Carolyn Campbell their choice.
Queen Ann Cowger was presented with her attendants at a talent show-rally in the stadium the night before the 1948 homecoming. At the game's half-time ceremonies, the queen was escorted to her tissue-paper throne, and crowned with a brilliant red and silver crown while the band formed a heart and the Jay James, an arrow.
At the 1949 ceremonies, a crown and MU bands. Jay Janes and Red outlined on the field by the KU Peppers were the "jewels" in the Dixie Bowl was escorted to her throne by 150 members of the ROTC units.
Ada Hatfield was the queen in 1950. Her identity was not announced until she was presented on the field by Chancellor Deane W. Malot, adding to the suspense in the occasion.
In 1951, Jeannine Neihart was announced queen at the Homecoming Follies at the half of the varsity-freshmen basketball game. During
the next day's ceremonies, a heart-shaped formation replaced the former crown by the band.
Latest additions to the royal list are Mary Lou Lavy, a freshman, crowned in 1552, and Barbara Korn, 1553. The question of the identity of the 1954 queen still remains a question mark.
The method of choosing royalty has been altered somewhat, and the fan fare attached to the occasion has increased through the years. There is considerable contrast in recent queen ceremonies with the first in 1933, described by the Nov. 23, 1933 Daily Kansan "The presentation ceremony will be a simple one." In 1954 all eyes are on the queen as one of the most important figures in homecoming.
There has been increased fan-fare attached to the queen tradition in recent years, and methods of chosing her have varied.
Women Alumnae Lead Their Professions
"It's a woman's world"-ank anyone who has watched KU women alumnae zoom to the top of their respective fields.
Among some of the women who hail from KU is Dr. Leona Baumgartner, New York City's first woman commissioner of health, who has been announced as the winner of a 1954 Albert Lasker award for "distinguished achievements in public health administration."
Dr. Baumgartner received the first of a long string of degrees from KU, where her father was a professor of zoology. She is now watching over the health of 8,104.-000 New Workers from a large walnut-paneled office.
Hiring the help for the Hilton Hotels International is a far cry from her first job as a music teacher in Kansas, but Melva Good finds it a satisfying and fascinating career. As personnel director, Miss Good has the responsibility of training key personnel who operate the Hilton overseas hotels, part of the chain which includes such famous stopping places as the Waldorf Astoria and Roosevelt hotels
Classmates of Miss Good will remember her as the Phi Lambda Theta who was librarian in the Carnegie Music room at the Student Union. She was active in the Girls Gee club, A Cappella choir, and the First Methodist church where she frequently was a soloist
in New York, the Town House in Los Angeles, the Conrad Hilton and Palmer House in Chicago, Istanbul Hilton in Turkey and the Castellana Hotel in Spain.
One of the most successful of our women journalists is Doris Fleeson, who undoubtedly has received more prizes for outstanding contributions to her field than any other woman journalist.
Her first newspaper job was in Pittsburgh and from there she went to New York. She has covered national political campaigns in Washington and is the only woman correspondent to travel regularly with former President Roosevelt. She has a syndicated column now appearing in many daily newspapers throughout the country.
In the education field, Mrs. Louise Troxell Greeley is now dean of women at the University of Wisconsin.
Mrs. Olive Ewing Clapper, widow of columnist Raymond Clapper (a KU man himself), is director of the Washington, D.C., office of CARE.
Bernadine Read, former song leader of Delta Delta Delta social sorority, is now a featured soloist with Fred Waring. "Bernie" also has appeared on numerous radio and TV shows on her own.
Wac Major Katherine Stull, who is now retired, held a very important position as director of information for the Armed Forces Information school until quite recently. She also served as a publicity woman in the Surgeon General's office.
Etta Moten Barnett was the person George Gershwin had in mind to sing "Bess" in "Porgy and Bess" when it was written. Although she didn't sing this lead until later, she sung it for many years in later productions. Etta Barnett is the wife of the head of the Negro Associated Press.
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