Pranks & Antics
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Being a “chauffer” for Paul and Ann
Then there was the time that I drove Paul Grussings' VW Bug around so he and Ann Bangsund could smooch in the back seat.
Janet Taylor Dybdal
Kirk Hall’s ice sculpture entry
It was the winter of 1957 or 1958. Macalester was having its annual Snow Week. Part of the week's events was a snow sculpture contest with a $25.00 first prize. I don't remember how this all started, but here’s what I remember… I believe this all originated in Kirk Hall. Somebody was reading either the Minneapolis or St. Paul paper and noticed that the U. of Minnesota was also having a snow week with an ice-carving contest. They even had a picture of a sorority house with a young lady and two carved ice bears.
The wheels started to turn and it was decided to enter the ice-carving contest at Mac. Two station wagons were secured and about six men were enlisted to visit the sorority house at about 2 a.m. Things went like clockwork. While the bears were being liberated, a pedestal was being built by Mac’s student union. The bears were put on the pedestal and the entry was completed. If the Kirk Hall group had won the prize, it was decided we’d all visit the Green Mill for hamburgers.
The next morning the students were admiring the fine work that adorned the campus. The judges, after much discussion, awarded the prize to a different group, but a picture of the Snow Queen standing by “our” ice bears was taken and it appeared in the St. Paul paper. Two days later the ice bears were missing! A picture of the U. of Minnesota’s Snow Queen appeared in the paper, with you guessed it, the ice bears!
Ted Spanner
Class hopping
I skipped Roger Blakely's class to sit in on a sexology one taught by Paul Gustafson only to be accosted in the hall by Roger who told me to weigh the importance of a session in my major or the sociology session on sex. I chose Paul's.
Marian Phocas Johnston
Just causing trouble
I don’t have many memories from Mac, as I was either on social probation or academic probation, or grounded.
Rene Adell Erickson Buettner
'Flying' the bicycle and other stories
There were enormous bonfires and parades with decorated floats during homecoming. I remember Miss Doty and her speeches; water fights at Kirk Hall; and drinking coffee late at night with Mrs. Kleinschmitt on the 1st floor in Bigelow Hall. Lastly, I remember pranksters raising a bicycle to the top of the flagpole in the center commons and singing under Antal Dorati's stern presence.
Mary Jane Budolfson James
Learning a new word
Once as a freshman I was looking something up in that huge dictionary in the
library and a classmate (now deceased) edged up to me and whispered, "Do you
believe in interdigitation before marriage?" I am sure I turned 42 shades
of red! Enjoying my obvious embarrassment, our friend said, "Look it up!"
Aaaaargh!
Audrey DeLong Benjamin
Sleeping in Wallace Hall
There was an escapade while we were at Mac in which some campus guy opened up one of the sewer covers, clambered through the tunnel by which the steam pipes connected up with Wallace Hall and proceeded on into the girls’ dormitory. Well, he got booted out of Macalester, as I recall, but I had the privilege of sleeping in the girls’ dormitory several nights without any fuss at all. As usual, I was pressed for money and so, when approached by one of those enormously tall basketball players, I readily agreed to substitute for him when he had to play some away games. I probably simplify his job but one of my main tasks was to slowly turn on the steam heat valves for the girls’ dormitory at night. It was important to turn it slowly due to the high pressure. This valve was oversized, reminiscent of something out of a Charlie Chaplin movie. Loud cracking noises ensued as the very hot steam shot through. In exchange, the player got a free room in their dorm, and a very lengthy bed, down in the basement. So there I was, the fox locked up for the night among the chickens, but wholly legitimately. Was I bold enough to take advantage of the situation? Wait for our 2013 reunion when I will tell all.
Thomas E. Johnson
The Spring Riot
One spring, probably at the end of our junior year, there was a near riot at Kirk Hall. I don't think there was any special cause of it — just a need, after a long winter, to blow off some steam. The culprits who started it lived up on the third floor in the middle of the long stretch of the building that fronts on Snelling. There was shouting and yelling and general revelry, and at some point everyone turned their lights off. People from across Snelling started to phone President Turck to complain about the noise and soon he arrived at the scene. He managed to get everyone to quiet down a bit so he could lecture us on our behavior. During that little presentation, someone up there on the third floor shouted out something. President Turck shot back: “If you are a man, you will come down here.” To which the instantaneous reply was the proud sound of a chicken that has just laid an egg. We couldn’t help but burst out laughing. I guess the inmates at Kirk Hall settled down after this but it was one of those occasions, which, however enjoyable, did not show off the best of us.
Thomas E. Johnson
Livening up the spring
There were those stunts that livened up the spring — stuffing rooms from floor to ceiling with wadded up newspapers while the occupant was out or moving all of someone’s furniture to the bell tower — Tom Libby comes to mind. It is lost in the mist of time for me but I think it was about this time that someone started painting that rock over near the Student Center. I was never the instigator in any of these pranks but I did participate in some of them.
Thomas E. Johnson
The many Toms
There were many guys in our class named Tom and, oddly perhaps, several of us seemed to congregate quite a bit. I remember one time in the cafeteria when someone came up to the table and innocently started a statement with “Tom” and all five of us turned our heads — Tom Nagel, Tom Libby, Tom Fisher, another Tom whose family name now escapes me, and me.
Thomas E. Johnson
Ushering at chapel
Attendance at chapel was mandatory, but a few of us were paid to attend and even not to attend. I earned money working as an usher at chapel and had the privilege of sitting outside the chapel guarding the doors during the service — unless it was my turn to join another usher to light the candles. There were two requirements to be an usher — you had to be tall and you had to know the head usher, then John Lilja ’56 (deceased). I didn’t really know John but he was a roommate of my brother Charles. Not all attendees may have been aware of it, but there often was a race to see which one could get all of their candles going first. The race was a bit subtle because we were supposed to work in harmony. There was also a race at the end of chapel to see which one could snuff out the candles fastest. One of our great fears was that our wick would go out during the long march to the front of the chapel; the other was that a candle would refuse to light.
Thomas E. Johnson
The night the “door” fell off
One springtime evening, a group of students who shall remain nameless entered the Old Main attic and spotted a hatch that looked like it would offer a majestic view from the rooftop. Turned out the cover wasn’t attached so it clattered down the steep roof and dropped out of sight onto the southside lawn. The group was sure they had killed a watchman or wandering coed. When they scrambled down stairs, they found that the only thing they had killed was the evening quiet — even the cover was okay. It was quickly replaced and latched with more care than when it had been opened. Nobody bothered to check the view.
Larry Earle Teien
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