Jubilee Loses $1000--Greatest Deficit Ever

The largest deficit in Jubilee history faces this year's Freshman Jubilee Committee in the wake of the weekend's festivities. Poor attendance at Friday night's Weavers concert and at the Jubilee as a whole combined to produce the $1000 loss.

Continuing a trend of recent years, attendance at '65's Jubilee set a new all-time low as less than a fifth of the freshmen bought tickets. These 230 sales fell well short of the 375 the Committee needed to break even.

Weavers' Concert Crucial

The Jubilee could still have emerged in the black if the Friday night Weavers concert had sold out, according to chairman James H. Knox. Competition from a Ray Charles concert and various Harvard dramatic groups, however, forced the usually popular folk singers to face a no more than three-quarters full Rindge Tech auditorium.

Dean von Stade, calling it "the smallest Jubilee I've ever seen," said that in the past there had never been another type of freshman class activity. "But as far as the future goes, I think a substitution for the Jubilee might be well worth considering."

The first time the Jubilee encountered money problems was last year when it dipped into the red by $150, and after much wrangling, the Freshman Council bailed the Jubilee out. This year's Council President John R. Taylor Jr. '65 claimed, "We'll give the Committee as much help as we can, but I don't know yet how much we can spare."

Last year, however, the Jubilee Committee had agreed to sell tickets to Freshman Participation card-holders at a 50-cent discount and the Freshman Council in return had promised to contribute to the Jubilee if the need arose. There was no such agreement this year.

All This and Crew, Too

Figuring on a tentative budget of $5400, the Committee scheduled the Weavers' concert and two dances in the Union (with Gordie Main and the Mainiacs) for Friday night. Saturday night there was a formal dance, again in the Union, featuring Richard Maltby's band, and two 20-minute concerts by the Four Aces (for which the Committee dished out $1000). All this plus crew races Saturday and a Glee Club concert Sunday was available for a mere $14.

Completing the comedy of errors even the photographic concession, from which the Jubilee might have garnered another $100, fizzled. Dean von Stade, the Freshman Council, and the Jubilee Committee are not the only ones displeased by the poor showing.