Vol. 65, No. 37 University of Chicago, Tuesday, May 7, 1957 31 Last Maroon FridayThis Friday's issue is the last before college compre¬hensive examinations. Deadlines for new stories, calendarnotices, classified ads, and display ads is tomorrow at3 p.m.The next issue, the annual review of the year-alumnireunion issue, will be published during the last week ofschool. May 31 to June 8.Mammoth drum returns to UCphoto by GrossmanThe eyes of Texas are upon us as a result of the trip made by four UC'ers who literallybraved "hell and high water" (see story page 2) to retrieve UC's one-time proud posses¬sion, Big Bertha, from her present owner, the University of Texas.Shown above with their prize (clockwise) are Mike Kindred, Howard Smith, Butch Kline,Norman Phelps, Nick Manoloff and Dwight Hoxie. Manoloff and Smith did not go to Texas,staying behind to complete arrangements for the rally (see story, right).Many facts, legendsabout famous drum• — see page 3 Bertha herefrom TexasAfter 18 years of obscurity, Big Bertha, the“world’s largest drum” has returned to her originalhome—the University of Chicago.The big drum was retrieved from her presentowners—the University of Texas “Longhorn Band”through the efforts of the Maroon and 4 intrepidUC’ers who made a trip to Texas to bring the drumback to UC.The idea to return Big Bertha had been kicking around inthe minds of five UCers for a month, when the Maroon,smelling a scoop, stepped in last week to aid their effortsfinancially. The drum’s temporary return was negotiated withthe Texas band and Arno Nowotny, Texas dean of students.Big Bertha has a long and colorful history from the dayswhen football reigned supreme on the UC campus to thedying days of both football and the Concert band — BigBertha’s keeper's for many years (see page 3 for historyand legends concerning the big drum).The five UC’ers whose idea it was to retrieve the famousinstrument are: Butch Kline, Mike Kindred, Howard Smith,Dwight Hoxie, and Nick Manoloff. Smith and Manoloffelected to stay behind to complete negotiations for the rallytonight, while the others made the trip in a car furnishedby UC’er Norm Phelps, who accompanied them.Parade, bonfiretonight at StaggBig Bertha’s return to UC will be honored tonight at arally and bonfire on Stagg field.Bertha will make her debutand will lead the procession toThe parade will organizeat the truck entrance of theFieldhouse at 56th and Green¬wood avenue, and will proceedalong 5th street to Woodlawn. Itwill then move down Woodlawnpast the Phi Sigma Delta, DeltaUpsilon, Phi Delta Theta and ZetaBeta Tau fraternity houses. Theprocession will turn west on 58thStreet and then travel to Univer¬sity past the C-Group.After C-Group, the crowd willmarch down 59th Street to Ellis,and down Ellis to Burton Judsoncourts. With Bertha still in the at 7:30 p.m. at the Fieldhousethe bonfire.lead, the procession will return tothe Chancellor’s house on the otherside of the Midway via GOth Street,Woodlawn Avenue, 59th Street andUniversity Avenue. After a briefpause in front of the Chancellor’shouse, the procession will marchdirectly to Stagg field and the bon¬fire.Speakers at the rally will includeWalter Haas, director of men’sphysical education.Guests at the rally will includeJay Berwanger, UC All-Americanfrom 1934, and Dean of StudentsRobert M. Strozier.Z • CHICAGO MAROON • May 7, 1957&*!***•■Butch Kline relates jauntto bring back Big BerthaThe following is an account of the 2400 mile trip the UC students made toget Big Bertha, as toldKline.We left Chicago on the 1200mile trip to Austin on Wednes¬day night. The trip to Austin•was uneventful except that thetrailer broke down in Kentucky,and it was pouring; rain practicallyfrom the minute we left the WindyCity.While traveling through Arkan¬sas, the radio reported that therehad been 20 tornadoes in the areain the past 24 hours b-but th-thatdidn’t bother us a bit.When we reached Shreveport,Louisiana we wrere informed thatevery river between us and BigBertha was in flood stage. Itwasn’t too difficult to believe sincemany of the fields that we passedalong the way were flooded andin some instances, the water camewithin a few feet of the road.B-but th-that didn’t bother us abit.We were determined to reach thedrum eome tornadoes or highwater. A woman in Shreveport toldas to go to Marshall, Texas (thevoads were still passable to thatpoint, she thought) where we couldfind out an alternate route thatwould by-pass the floods.S«« cattle crossingWe managed to make it toAustin without being detained ex¬cept for a herd of cattle thatcrossed the highway while inTexas. B-but th-that didn’t botheras a bit.Shortly before arriving on theUniversity of Texas campus, MikeKindred and I changed from our"Chicago” clothes into suits.Our contact man at Texas wasDean of students Arno NowotnyJimmy’siSINCE 1940 to Ronald J. Grossman and G;(nicknamed "Shorty” by the Texasstudents). We tried to reach himat the logical place, the Adminis¬tration building, but it turned outthat Nowotny had his offices inthe Speech Building.Plunging past secretary aftersecretary in Nowotny’s office in¬quiring if the Dean was in, aman of rather short stature ap¬proached Mike and I. It was“Shorty” Nowotny. (If we couldonly give such clever nicknamesto our administration officials.)After we introduced ourselves,Nowotny said, “Oh, you are theill-reputed Butch Kline!”Nowotny introduced us to theassistant bandmaster of the TexasLonghorn band, the owners of theBig Bertha. He directed us to thestorage place of the drum locatedunder; the stands of the footballstadium.Drum "moitttorious"The drum was ''monstorious."Sitting on its carriage it was overeleven feet high!At first I thought we wouldnever be able to get the monsterinto the trailer. We had m themeantime, met our other two part¬ners in crime, Dwight Hoxie andNorman Phelps.The four of us started to wrestlethe drum and aim it in the generaldirection of the trailer. The as¬sistant bandmaster was watchingthe spectacle with horror. “Areyou sure you insured the drum,”he asked. “Yes, sir,” I gasped inbetween tugs of the drum. Thatwas all he wanted to know. Onthe verge of a nervous breakdownMODEL CAMERAHyde Park's most completephoto ond hobby shop2-day color developingNSA Discount1342 E. 55th IIY 3-9259 try Mokotoff by Butchfrom watching us handle Bertha,he left the storage room.We managed to get the drum onto the trailer with only a minormishap. While putting the water¬proof protective cover over thedrum, the trailer became unbal¬anced, and the drum shifted to¬ward the open tailgate. Mike andI who were standing on the sidesof the trailer, tying the canvas,jumped off the trailer. Phelpscaught the drum from falling offthe tailgate. Mike didn’t quite clearthe trailer and suffered a foot anda half gash on his right leg. B-butth-this didn’t bother us a bit (itbothered Mike for a while).Get’ drum on trailerWe finally got the drum on thetrailer,, sans carriage. And so, wetook off, merrily thinking of the1200 mile trip back to our AlmaMater.Persons had various reactions tothe drum, which has printed on itscanvas protective cover “WORLD’SBIGGEST DRUM.” None of theTexas students seemed botheredabout seeing Bertha leave campus.Shortly after leaving the campusa car passed us. The driver had acigarette dangling from his mouth.As he drove by and he saw thedrum, his mouth fell open and thecigarette fell out.When a car with, say, six peopledrove by and saw the drum, theyall looked so hard at the thing,that we wondered who was watch¬ing the road!!And the worst part of the tripwas the buzzard which kept circl¬ing and following the car.Everytime we came to an over¬pass where it looked like a tightsqueeze, one of us got out of thecar to watch the drum while thecar creeped along at a snail’s pace.While I was driving throughPaxton, Illinois my eyelids started photo by HoxieButch Kline and Norman Phelps are dwarfed by the hugedrum as they load it on the trailer behind the stadium standsof the University of Texas.It took almost three hours to remove the drum from itscarriage, load it on the trailer, and cover it with its weatherproof jacket*The inscription on Hie drum reads 'The University ofTexas Longhorn Band". In the center of the drum is theuniversity seal and its motto. A faint outline of the UC sealmay still be seen beneath that of Texas.to droop so I decided to pull overto the side of the road. Lookingin the rear view mirror, whatshould appear, but a black car witha red bulb flashing on its roof.“John Law” claimed that I hadpassed a stop sign. “But officer,”I said, “I didn’t see any stop sign.”The funny thing is that when thecop took us back to the sign I hadrun through, it turned out to be thebiggest stop sign I had ever seen!And the red reflector on the signlit up the country side like a sun¬set!Another run-in with the law oc¬curred when the car ran out ofgas about 40 miles from Chicago.Mike wearing nothing but briefswim trunks and a flaming red shirt, set off to hitchhike to thenearest filling station. Policemen,questioned us in the stalled earand refused to believe that one ofus had gone for gas. Mike returnedwith the good Samaritan who hadpicked him up — just in the knickof time.Concerning the gastronomicalside of our adventure, we subsistedon baloney sandwiches, and whenwe couldn’t find grocery stores,mustard and mayonnaise sand¬wiches.We were now just a short waysout of Chicago. Just an hour later,at 8 a.m. Sunday morning, 84 hoursand 15 minutes after we left foiBig Bertha, we were home willour prize.t/lJ\oJm ■kiJtck wjtfc'lAli/Mtiht!WINSTON wins the cheers for flavor I■ What’s all the shouting about? Winstonflavor! It’s rich, full — the way you wantit! What’s more, the exclusive Winston p j. •«▼*©*-•*TOBACCO C©..WINSTON-SAL-TM, *Switch to WINSTON America's best-selling, best-tasting filter cigarette!May 7, 1957 • CHICAGO MAROON • 3Legends surround 'Big Bertha*• bv Howard Smith andGary MokotoffLegends and storiesabound concerning BigBertha, the “biggest drumid the world,” but facts" jpke the best story.The drum was speciallyt&.ilt as part of a gift fromj|Carl D. Greenleaf, ’99. The gift,comprising- 100 musical instru¬ments, valued at $10,000, camefrom Greenleaf’s Conn InstrumentCdmpany in Elkhart, Indiana.Greenleaf gave the instrumentsthe hope that they would be usedform a UC marching band thatwould be the best in the country.Although a fine band was formed,!l ranging up to 80 men at times,Greenleaf’s hopes did not last long— possibly because of the declineof football and the subsequent lackof interest in a marching band.Drum is returned■fc Telling the story of the drum’sB^Bturn to the Conn company priorHFo the acquisition by Texas, Charles■y^Greenleaf, son 0f th« donor,”7 staved that Howard Mort, secretaryof the alumni association suggested(that Conn take the drum back sinceIt was serving no purpose at UC.“We received a written letter —I don’t remember who wrote it —stating that the Conn Companycould have it back,” said Greenleaf.“Although I have not been con¬nected with the Conn Company forsome yfcars, I remember that thedrum 1my around a lumber shed atConn ?for some time before Texasi g»t it.”To m?»ke the “skins” of the drum,; a search was made for the largest| cow hides in the country. Ridingj on horseback through the Unionlk stockyards of Chicago for severalV weeks, man finally chose the] two largest steers he could find.f A i ter ttutchering, the hides of thesteers/were sent to the buildersdrum in Elkhart.i Charles Greenleaf related thestory of the preparation of thehides. “To make drum heads, youhave to soak the hide in water.This loosens the hide, which thenshrinks and tightens on the drumwhen it dries.” We didn’t have tubshigh enough to soak the huge hidesin, so we soaked them in a river.This caused us a lot of troublewhen turtles in the river tried toeat the hides.”Purdue drum smallerGreenleaf told how the ConnCompany had also constructedPurdue’s large drum (measuring6 feet, 6 inches in diameter com¬pared to Bertha’s eight feet).“Purdue recently asked us to re¬place one of the heads, and weran into great difficulties findinga steer hide large enough toserve.” He stated that it wouldtake a hide “about ten feet in di¬ameter to replace a head on BigBertha.”The “big bass drum” (not nick¬named Big Bertha until 1936), wasto be ready for the first game ofthe 1922 football season. But twoproblems arose.First, the eight-foot-plus' drumwas too big to go through thedoors of the manufacturer’s fac¬tory, so a portion of the wall hadto be knocked out.Doors too smoll 'Second, no railroad freight carhad doors large enough to allowthe drum to be shipped from theConn Company to the University.According to Howard Mort, secre¬tary of the UC alumni foundation,the special train carrying the fansto the opening football game wasstopped in Elkhart, while attemptswere made to load the drum ontoa baggage car. The drum wasfinally trucked in from Elkhart intime for the game.Mort guessed that the drummade its first appearance at the1922 Ohio game. The Daily.Maroon, however, reported (in is-~Y\\ c^ca<3°11 larooriIssued every Friday throughout the school year and intermittently during thesummer quarter, by the publisher, the Chicago Maroon, 1212 East 59 Street, Chi¬cago 37, Illinois. Telephones: Editorial office, Midway 3-0800, ext. 3266; Businessand advertising ofrice, Midway 3-0800. ext. 3265. Subscriptions by mail, $3 per[ear. Business office hours: 2 pm to 5 pm, Monday through Friday.iff for this special issue Rochelle Dubnow, Ronald^Grossman, Jean Kwon, Norm Lewak, Gary Mokotoff, HowardSmith. sues before and after the game)that it first was used at the Geor¬gia game. The University Record,an almanac like publication nolonger printed, stated that it firstappeared at the annual “Eastmeets West” game — Chicago op¬posing Princeton that year.The drum proved to be a trouble¬some mascot. It was originallymounted on bicycle-like carriagewheels, but its weight soon col¬lapsed the wheels. A new mount,constructed with balloon tires,managed to cradle Bertha withoutgiving way.Another problem arose when itappeared that the gusts of the“Windy City” might blow the drumover while it was exhibited onStagg field. Six men, three in frontand three in back, were chosen topull and control the “Leviathan ofdrums.”Bertha presents problemsThe drum’s immense size pro¬vided ' even more difficulties. Aspecial car was used to carry itto “away” games. The band wasflooded with applications fromstudents who wanted to ride in thecorners of the car holding thedrum. When one student ap¬proached Morris Wilson, the band¬master, Wilson was said to havereplied: “Beat it!” >Bertha was up to her usualtricks during one “away” game atMichigan, where she refused to fitthrough the doors of the stadium.Without further ado, she washauled up the hill to the top ofthe stadium, and lifted over thestadium walls. The drum then hadto be carried down from the toprow to the playing field.Bertha made a nation-wide hitlate in her career at UC. In 1938,the late Arturo Toscanini, con¬ductor of the NBC Symphony Or¬chestra, requested Bertha’s servicesfor one mighty BOOM! to 'beplayed in Verdi’s Requiem.Bertha had other plans, however.Staging a sit-down strike, she re¬fused to enter the doors on anycars of the New York Central’scrack 20th Century Limited train.The trip was completed on a spe¬cial flat car, hut Bertha’s temperflared again at every door leadinginto Carnegie Hall.Bertha balksAlthough Toscanini pronouncedBertha’s boom as perfect, he re¬fused to conduct his concert in themiddle of 6th Avenue, using in¬stead a pint-sized drum (comparedto Bertha) from an American Le¬gion band.No sooner was the drum builtwhen it became the object of col-CAP&GOWNon saleNOW The University of Chicago's "big bass drum" aspeared in the twenties shortly after its acquisition.lege pranks. Shortly after the foot¬ball season in 1922 (when she wasacquired), someone stole the drum.University officials kept the facta secret, end even the nosy DailyMaroon staff did not find out aboutthe missing Bertha until shortlybefore the 1923 football season, afull ten months later!Maroon finds drumIn October, 1923, the day afterthe Maroon learned of and reportedthe missing monster, it was found“in the President’s barn by afreshman reporter of the Maroon.”The story relates the discoverydramatically: “Cautiously the re¬porter approached the rear of thePresident’s house. Quietly hewalked up to the barn in question.He turned the handle of the door.It swung open, and lo! there be¬fore his very hands and face stoodthe big bass drum that ‘privatedetectives’ have been searchingfor these past ten months.”In 1927, a heated controversyarose — the question of whichdrum would be bigger, Big Bertha,or the one Purdue planned to build.The UC concert band, owners ofBertha, had defied anyone to builda drum larger than theirs. Purdueintended to give competition.The Daily Maroon rumored: ~“Since the Chicago drum has thelargest known cowhide on one sideof the drum, and since Purdueclaims to have grown the largestcow at her agricultural school,some students here took the cowand had her butchered when thePurdue students weren’t looking!”There has always been questionconcerning the actual size of thebig drum. The Daily Maroon re¬ports various sizes at various timesfor Beitha. In 1922, soon after itsacquisition, it was “seven and one-I TERRY’S PIZZA“The World’s Best”SPECIAL OFFERWITH THIS COUPON25c Discount on any Pizzaeaten here ... or delivered .Small 1.00 LargeMedium 1.45 Giant 1.952.95FREE DELIVERY FORU. OF C. STUDENTSISIS E. 63rd Ml 3-4045 PAINT & HARDWARE CO.Wallpaper - Tools - Houseware - Plumbing1 154-58 E. 55th St. HY 3-3840UC Discount half feet in diameter, larger eventhan the famous bass drum of thoOhio State University band.”Only a few weeks later, Beithagrew to “the 8-foot drum, half afoot larger than Purdue’s . . .”' The University Record of Octo¬ber, 1923, lists its size as 8 feel1 inch. A later Maroon, circa 1925refers to the “12-foot drum.”Using the latest scientific meth¬ods (a yardstick and tape measure)the present Maroon staff has de¬termined the actual dimensions ofthe giant drum: 8 feet, 4 inches.From the birth of Bertha to thedeath of football in 1939, the drumwas exhibited at every perform¬ance of UC marching band.Bertha radioactive? TWhen the band folded in theearly 1940’s, Bertha went intostorage under the West Stands.There she remained until about1950, when it was returned to theConn company in Elkhart.Despite all the acrimoniousnames she had been called through¬out the years, Big Bertha vindi¬cated herself when she was takenout of storage prior to being re¬turned to Greenleaf.Making her first appearanceafter her long isolation, she wasdenounced by a press association asbeing radioactive from her longstay under west stands (where thelate Enrico Fermi created theworld’s first controlled nuclearchain reaction, thus making a por¬tion of the stands “hot”).She was hooked on suspicion andbrought before a grand jury con¬sisting of the health division ofArgonne National laboratory. ButBertha passed the Geiger testswith “no count” to prove her in¬nocence.The CollegeLAUNDERETTE1449 East 57th 5t.MU 4-9236g.iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiimiiiiiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig[COMO’S Cafe Enrico IRESTAURANT & PIZZERIA§ 1411 E. 53 FA 4-5525 - HY 3-5300 =Smoll12" Large14"1.551.951.951.802.10s Cheese 1.15i Sausage 1.45§ Anchovy 1.451 Pepper & Onion 1.301 Bacon & Onion . 1.60| t'ree Delivery All Plxxn to 11C Student» |^iitiHiiitiiiimiiiitiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiifiimiiiiiiiiiiiitHtiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiHUiiiiiitiiiHiifiiittHttiiiiiiiDimHiiniuiiiiSmall12"Combination . .1.75Chicken Liver . . 1.60Mushroom .... 1.60Shrimp 1.75Pepperoni .... 1.60 Large =14" |2.25 12.10 12.10 |2.25 |2.10 | YOU ^ARE ELIGIBLE. *> * *Send Todayfor FREE '< ♦>>'*'*Professional and - *Businessman'sWholesale DiamondBrochure. Write Jackson'sDiamond Brokers, Dept. I644 Broadway, Gary, Ind.4 • CHICAGO MAROON • May 7; 1957This humor was lost on the chief, and he was all set to shorten Smith byabout nine inches when in walked Princess Pocahontas... a nifty littlenumber who’d been out scalping tickets to Cleveland baseball games.Pokey sized up the situation, and screamed (in perfect Iroquois) “Man, itlooks like my ship came in... that beardi That outfit! That build! Oh,Daddy-O—spare that catl”.At ■“Pokey,” said Dad, “How many times have I told you not to come m rosin*around here during initiation! We’re playing to a full house, and now Ihave to refund all those beads.” But he was pretty sweet on the kid, andlaid aside the meat cleaver.Well, Captain John was so happy about his reprieve he broke out a barrelof Budweiser ... and popped for the tribe.Wouldn’t youlMORAL: When you want to treat the tribe (or, better yet, do a solo with a squaw), make it Budweiser.. .the chief of beers!Budweiser. ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC..ST. LOUIS • NEWARK . LOS ANGELESKING OF BEERSGraduate-Then F1y...TJ. S. AIR FORCE AVIATION CADET PROGRAMAS NAVIGATOR OR PILOTGET ONTHE TEAMTHAT DEFENDSAMERICA The flying U. S. Air Force is a team of men who command the aircraft and menwho plan the attack. These are the pilots and navigators, both equally important tothe defense of America.You, as a young man of intelligence and sound physical health, may join thisselect group in the world’s most exciting and rewarding adventure. Your trainingwill stand you in good stead, whatever your future plans may be —and you’ll beearning over $6,000 a year 18 months after training.*If you are between 19 and 261A years of age, investigate your opportunities as anAviation Cadet in the U. S. Air Force. Priority consideration is now being given tocollege graduates. For details, write: Aviation Cadet Information, P. O. Box 7608,Washington 4, D. C. ‘Based on pay of married 1st Lieutenant ma ’ Wight status with 2 years' service or mo.uJohn SmithandtbcaKoniasCOW hcwipkepwrHead without yum... Hack near the turn of the century (17th, that is), Captain John Smithand some of his sidekicks were exploring ye Chickahominy when some ofhis troops started to sprout arrows.Well, Smitty and his squad got in a few good licks, but the weeds werefull of redskins and they were soon hauled in to see the Top Dog Indian».. Powhatan.t.4.“Smith,” thundered old full-of-feathers, “I’m tired of you puncturing myin-laws; we’re going to do a disappearing act with your head!**“Wild, man,” said the good captain. “A little Rock *n Roll, eh?”