Harvard, Yale Glee Clubs To Sing Tonight

Though Harvard's pigskin panzers will swing into gridiron battle against Eli's shock troops tomorrow afternoon, the Red and Blue Glee Clubs are scheduled to join in perfect harmony tonight in Paine Hall at eight-thirty.

Harvard will do light opera, and the Yales will chant songs from the torrid zone, which they picked up on their two month's tour through South America last summer. But, reminiscent of early choral years, both groups will sing the lusty notes of traditional football songs.

Back in the days when Dr. Archibald T. "Doc" Davison, master-builder of the present Crimson chorus, first took over, the club never sang anything but college songs. It scorned "highbrow" compositions, and stuck strictly to such lamp-post and bath-tub harmonies as "Bulldog on the Bank," or "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair."

It wasn't until 1919 that the undergraduate officers got together and decided that the club should "devote itself entirely to good music." But it was not a simple step to take by any means. The alumni objected strongly.

It was only after their return from a highly successful tour through France, Switzerland, and Italy that the Glee Club really came into its own. Now bitter opposition was turned into swamping demands for concert performances, often bringing in over a thousand dollars for a single performance.

Things Have Changed

Today, the Glee Club isn't anywhere near as well off as it was in the boom days, but it is still financially self-sufficient. All concerts and trips are planned by a salaried undergraduate, and all profits are placed in a steadily growing Glee Club Trust Fund.

The Arlington concert, which is shown in the photographs, is typical. The Club sang in the town hall, and were guests at a dance after the performance. The membership has grown until it is now up around two hundred and fifty, and the songsters can rightfully claim that "every year more men at Harvard try out for the Glee Club than for the football team."

As for its reputation outside of the College, it is enough to quote Serge Koussevitsky, conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who stated after a concert last year: "At times this society has done work which surpasses any other performance in the world."