LILIES OF THE VALLEE

Harvard's much maligned publicity department, which the Boston papers have held responsible for all the so-called "petty and silly" occurrences of the past, has within the week passed up two golden opportunities to put the University absolutely in a class by itself for unparalleled asininity.

Opportunity's first knock was delivered by none other than that distinguished alumnus of the University of Maine and Yale, Rudy Vallee. His magnanimous offer was to raise "Fair Harvard" to the basis of the Stein Song. Thus popularized the anthem could be crooned through the anthem could be crooned through the medium of the microphone and loudspeaker straight into the hearts of his adoring public. However the department foolishly overlooked this chance of placing Harvard's name before millions to whom it would otherwise have registered blank except perhaps for a mental picture of a well-known five cent cigar. Anyone must grant that the image of a collegiate matinee idol is far more beneficial to the man in the street than a mental picture of a five cent cigar.

Knock number one opened up vistas no less vast than Rudy's microphone for putting Harvard in the public eye. From purely altruistic motives a young man came out of the west and offered to brandish the baton for the University band. His name is Charles "Buddy" Rogers and his charming presence has endeared him in the hearts of movie fans the country over.

The spectacle of "America's Sweet-heart" cavorting at the head of the Harvard band in every movie theatre and Fair Harvard crooned and moaned to the accompaniment of the saxophone's bleat in every radio is truly overpowering; one cannot help but feel a slight giddiness at such a prospect, and perhaps under the circumstances the less said about the inefficiency of the publicity department the better.