Kiss Derby, Fish Gulping Featured Pre-War Jubilees

Out of the jumbled maze of Freshman life comes, once a year, a floating weekend of joy--the Jubilee. However grim the winter, spring must come at last, and traditional accompaniment for robins, seersucker jackets, and young fancies is the giant Yardling extravaganza.

Prewar Jubilees attracted national notice, and 1939 saw the notorious gold-fish-eating craze start here to sweep the country within a few weeks. Ingenious Irving M. Clark '41 captured undisputed Cambridge laurels by gulping 26 fish and craftily disqualifying an illegitimate M.I.T. entry who slipped 42 undersized creatures down his gullet.

Business with Pleasure

Earlier the same year, the Jubilee boosters combined business with pleasure in sponsoring a kissing derby which caught even the Watch and Ward off balance. Clinch totals ran up as high as 26 straight at Wellesley, while one speed demon bussed 15 debs in three minutes at a Brattle Street tea dance.

Dinah Shore highlighted the 1940 affair with songs, while a poll of class members provided statistics for the "Ideal" girl to form a basis for choosing a queen of the weekend.