Reed Magazine February 2005
next page

Oral History

virginia campbell image True-false test

Another memorable faculty member for Virginia was (William) Monte Griffith in psychology. "He gave us a 15-question test: true-false. I answered them as all true. None of the others had the nerve, but I was right. I thought that was a very fortuitous thing. I got into the class and met Herald." Virginia also remembers Griffith playing handball with students. "He had a pair of black–you couldn't call them anything but bloomers–that he was wearing. Peculiar undergarment. And he was so big, he'd just stand in the middle of the handball court and you had to run around him. He was a sight." She also played ping-pong, and was the women's champion at the college for a time.

Cardboard cutouts

Virginia was involved with theatre productions at Reed; all were staged in the Arts Building (Eliot Hall) chapel. "There was never any budget for construction of stage scenery, and the fact that we couldn't nail into the paneling in the chapel made it extra hard. So we were dependent on what we could scrounge. And one thing you could always scrounge was cardboard." Everything in the productions was made from cardboard, including shoes and roofing. One production required a wrought iron fence, which they cut from cardboard, and although they wanted to paint it black, there was no budget for paint. Virginia says that (W.) Cullen Moore '36 found a can of "thick, black, oily liquid" in the basement, and siphoned gasoline out of his car to thin it. "It was the most marvelous black paint." Productions then were devoid of professionals; anyone could participate. Virginia even remembers playing the piano for a dance performance. "You drafted whoever you could find, to do whatever had to be done."

The near-fall of the Horsfall Model-T

Another story Herald recounts is that of (R.) Bruce Horsfall Jr. '30 and his fated Model-T, taking place some time in Horsfall's junior or senior year, when students were able to park in front of college buildings. During lunch, when Horsfall "was otherwise occupied," a few students propped open the doors of the Arts Building, took off the wheels from Horsfall's car, and carried it through the entrance and up the small flight of stairs. Then they positioned the car south, toward the doors, and replaced the wheels. Horsfall searched the campus for his car before deciding to report it missing, and entered the Arts Building on that errand. "He was so furious that he propped open the doors, started the car, and just drove it down the steps." His wheels took off both of the building's doors.

The next episode for Horsfall's car took place on the land bridge or dam over the canyon, where a diving board was set up for swimming. The "pranksters" managed to position the axles of the car on the diving board, using planks to achieve the feat. An auto crane was required to remove the car.

next page

   
Reed Magazine February

2005