Auroral Band Concert Jolts House Parties

A lot of smart money went down the drain at Ithaca Saturday, but at least the chalk players who backed the Band were rewarded. "Does your band always play like that?" one awed Cornellian said after the "best in the business" had finished its between-halves Big Red medely.

Malcolm Holme's boys were really "up for this one. They struck the first blow by serenading the Cornell Fraternities and Sorarities in a sunrise tour from 6:30 to 8 a.m. Saturday morning immediately after an all-night busride from Cambridge.

Off to the Feld

That was only the beginning. The afternoon's festivities were situated at "The Crescent" as Cornellians call Schoellkopf Field. Schoellkoph, a lover of sunsets, built one side of it in the shape of a fan (with a maximum of seats near the 50-yard line) so that spectators could admire the sun melting into Lake Cayuga late in the afternoon.

Before the sun had set Saturday, Crimson band members had rolled up more yardage than both teams combined. The Cornell band was good too, although its swift, Charley Chaplin-like footwork overshadowed its playing ability.

* * *

The 80th Anniversary crowd of 25,000 included several hundred red-capped Cornell freshmen. "Frosh caps," as the beanies are called on the Hill, must be worn by all first-year men every day except Sunday on and off campus. They are burned in a traditional ceremony before the Penn game, final contest on Big Red football schedules.

* * *

When Cornell starting pushing the Crimson around in the first quarter, a few of the less sober spectators though it was their own Big Red team that was losing. As courtesy to its guest, Cornell had switched from its traditional colors to white jerseys, with the Crimson wearing red. Harvard will do the same for the Ithacans next fall in the Stadium.