Samborski Censors Freud's View of Harvard Football

The Harvard Band's original script for last Saturday's half-time program was rejected Friday afternoon by Adolph W. Samborski '25, director of Athletics. Reliable sources within the band say that no specific reasons were given.

The script was rewritten late Friday night as "A Tribute to the Theater of the Absurd." Samborski refused to comment on the censorship, but noted that "it was a wonderful show Saturday and everybody liked it."

Original Script

A band member reconstructed the original version, "A Harvard Game Through the Eyes of Sigmund Freud:" After the announcement of the program's title, the band would march onto the field playing "Love is a Many Splendored Thing." The p.a. announcer would comment. "Freud would accuse some undergrads at the game of perverting his teaching." Then the band would form the word "sex."

As the band changed its formation from "sex" to "libido," the announcer would note, "Freud would have remarked that some at the game sublimate their instincts by kicking and throwing a ball, while others direct their energies to other ends." Then the band would race euphorically around the gridiron to form the word "Lolita" and would play "Thank Heaven for Little Girls."

Frustrations Lead to Drink

With the remark "Using Freud's techniques, the band would suggest that frustrating childhood experiences are the reasons for excessive drinking at football games," the band would spell "mama." Eyeing the crowd the ban would then play "This Could be the Start of Something Big" and spell out "trauma."

Samborski did allow the band to perform one routine from the original program. The band formed an Oedipal mask. The announcer added: "After reading Freud, the band has realized that the annual return of alumni to their alms ma- ter is symptomatic of a complex usually associated with a Greek tragic hero." Concluding the show, the band formed a comic mask and played "I Want a Girl Just Like the Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad."

Since the Department of Athletics controls all activities in the stadium including the p.a. system, the band must submit each program script for review. As in the past, Bamborski consulted Deans Watson and Ford making a final decision.

In recent years several scripts have been disapproved. But last weekend marked the first of this football season