Band to Celebrate 45th Anniversary

This weekend the Harvard Bank celebrates its 45th anniversary. Special programs are planned for both the Friday night Dartmouth concert at Sanders Theatre and the half-time show at Saturday's game.

After what Band Director James Walker termed "a fiasco" at the Massachusetts game, reports circled about Cambridge that the Band would alter the format of its traditionally humorous half-time presentation. But this is no more than ugly rumor. According to Mr. Walker, the emphasis will still be on humor. The only pressure put upon the Band was in the form of demands that it improve the quality not the content of their performances.

Mr. Walker noted that it takes intelligent social commentary and parody to satisfy a discriminating Harvard audience. He pointed out that the increasing use in recent years of the double entendre in Bank humor was no longer satisfying the audience. The use of a line from a song as the tag-line to a joke has often fallen flat because too few in the audience could identify the song.

In future half-time shows the emphasis will be on greater continuity, which Mr. Walker hopes will be more successful than the disjointed presentations of the past.

Mr. Walker also denied reports that the Band's march-back to the Square after the game will be discontinued. Despite charges of obstructing traffic, the recessionals will continue because, in Mr. Walker's words, they are "so much fun."