1,200 Undergraduates Pack Mem Hall to Watch Yardling Smoker

Waylaid by a group of M.I.T. fraternity brothers, Rochester, Jack Benny's radio valet, arrived here too late last night to perform before the 1200 Yardlings and upperclassmen who jammed Memorial Hall for the annual Freshman Smoker.

Rochester was taken from a plane enroute to Boston at Providence by a group of Tech D.K.E. men posing as members of the Smoker Committee. Smuggled to the D.K.E. fraternity house, he put on his act for an enthusiastic audience of nitiates.

When informed of Rochester's abduction, Tasker Crosson, band leader for the Smoker, jammed, jived, and managed to hold the remnants of the audience, about 600 students, until Rochester might arrive. He finally put in his appearance, escorted by a D.K.E. entourage, just as the show was breaking up.

The Smoker Committee's highly advertised "Mystery Woman," introduced as "Oomph Girl" Ann Sheridan turned out to be a monkey of the same name appearing in the musical "Keep Off the Grass." With a frightened look, she skated around the stage once and retired.

Dancing, singing, wisecracking, and bringing on the stars, Ray Perkins left his Boston studio to be the center of the show as a master of ceremonies, winning a mighty ovation when he stepped down from the platform.

With Tasker Crosson and his twelve Harlemites as a background, the famed radio comedian kept the show rapidly moving throughout the evening.

Armed with a telephone, the one and only Stoopnagle stepped to the microphone with a curtsey and a smile. The Colonel brought down the house with jokes thrown at Harvard, the baseball world, and his supposed wife, and only the promise of his speedy return for an encore satisfied the enthusiastic audience.

As he strutted up and down the stage, the king of Hi-de-ho. Cab Calloway soon got over two thousand hands "booging it" in time and later yielded to demands for his "Minnie the Moocher" and a few minutes of "Hep talk."

Sporting a large "Y" on his blue shirt front Charlie Strack met defeat at the hands of Ollie Olson, dressed in crimson, on a referee's decision after a quarter of an hour time limit had expired. With airplane slams and hammer locks, accompanied by the grunts and groans of agony, the Boston Garden grapplers raised the crowd to a pitch of excitement as first Harvard then Yale gained the upper hand.

A running commentary on sports of the day by George Carens of the Transcript, Fred Allen, Parkyarkarkas, Al Jolson and others brought to the microphone through the impersonations of Ray Guild '43, and five minutes of song by the female attraction, Helen Carrol, helped keep the show moving throughout the better part of three hours' entertainment