| Cruisin' the Past |
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| Cruisin’ the Past by Ed Dooley |
The Arts at CHS
One of the tragedies for education in the current economic turndown is the gradual
curtailment or elimination of the arts in public schools. When budgets are trimmed or
cut, programs considered “nonessential” are the first to go, and sadly the arts are
often put in that category. Fortunately for us who attended Catalina High School,
funds – although limited – were provided to support the arts, and our administrators
held to a policy that a full and complete education must include exposure to and
involvement in such activities. In fact, that commitment to the arts now appears
remarkable.
Support for the arts at CHS began even before any students were enrolled or
teachers employed. In its design, in the words of The Guide to Tucson Architecture,
Catalina High School “was one of the first in Tucson to work in the post-World War II
modern architectural vocabulary, which rejected the romanticism of revival styles…
[and used] materials and forms not seen before in Tucson, including exposed steel
and curvilinear roofs and walls.” The complex of buildings, in other words, was itself
a bold work of (“modern”) art.
As befitted its design, Catalina included facilities that made possible a rich program
in the arts. We all remember the magnificent auditorium which, I believe, held the
entire student body. It was much more than a utilitarian assembly hall, however: it
was a theater in the true sense, with a spacious stage, storage for flats and scenery,
a professional quality director’s booth, sound equipment, and a Green Room. In
addition, the main classroom complex included art rooms, a journalism office,
several small auditoriums for music groups, a graphic arts room, and a photographic
dark room. Here and there in the hallways, display cases and bulletin boards
featured artwork and other creations, reminding everyone of that important aspect of
our education.
As impressive as these facilities were, it was the teachers and students who brought
life to the CHS arts organizations and programs. The high degree of talent found in
the student body and the range of activities – from singing, playing instruments,
dancing, and acting to drawing, painting, printing, and photography -- was truly
remarkable in a high school setting. The sheer number of organizations continues to
surprise anyone looking back on those days.
There was no leading arts organization, but the first to come to my mind was the
CHS Orchestra, composed of approximately fifty boys and girls. The group, directed
by Mr. Tom Burges, who was succeeded in 1959 by Mr. Pat Curry, rivaled many
college and university orchestras. It not only presented an annual concert and
occasional classical and “pops” concerts at the school, but also performed at the
University of Arizona, at Arizona State University, at Scottsdale and Arcadia High
Schools in Phoenix, and won a number of local and state honors. The repertoire of
the orchestra was impressive for a high school group, as the program for the March
1958 concert suggests: it included “Procession of the Sadar” from “Caucasian
Sketches” by the Russian composer Ippolitov-Ivanov, and “El Salon Mexico” by
Aaron Copeland. Members of the orchestra also played as a quartet at events at the
U of A.
Closely related to the orchestra was CHS’s own “Marching 100,” the Catalina High
School Marching Band, directed by Mr. Burges and later by Mr. Curry. This group of
between ninety and one hundred uniformed musicians, played school and fight
songs at home football and basketball games, presented “pops” concerts,
performed at graduation at CHS, competed in local and state fine arts festivals,
participated in the annual Tucson rodeo parade, played for various civic clubs, and
placed several members in the All-State Band. Despite performing mainly as a
marching band, this talented group also presented classical concerts where, for
example, the band played Bach’s “Five Voice Fugue” and the “Finale” from
Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky.
CHS also had a number of choirs, including a Boys Glee Club, a Girls Chorus, and
an approximately eighty-member A Cappella Choir composed of members from the
other musical groups. The A Cappella Choir, directed by Mr. Harold Porter,
presented an annual operetta, a Christmas program, a music festival, a spring patio
concert, music for school assemblies, and in our senior year the Schubert Mass in G
Major. “Vocally precocious students” in the A Cappella Choir were inducted each
year into a Concert Ensemble, a smaller group that specialized in informal
performances for civic and school groups. Also in our senior year, eight students
were chosen to represent Catalina at the All-State Choral Clinic held at the U of A.
Where there is music, there also is dance. And dance was an important arts activity
at Catalina. Two groups come to mind: the seventeen-member Dardanaires,
Catalina’s performing dance group, and the Pirouettes, a club for freshman and
sophomore girls interested in learning the fundamentals of dance. The former,
directed by Miss Virginia Robinson, participated in a Christmas presentation of the
Nutcracker Suite and in the operettas Bells Are Ringing and High Button Shoes, and
danced to the “The Moldau” by Smetana at the Tucson Children’s Concert.
Occasionally the Dardanairs even performed at mixers and at basketball games and
after football games.
Most of the studio art, graphic arts, and commercial art instruction took place in art
classes, and the results were often displayed in those classrooms or in display
cases and on bulletin boards around the school. Responsibility for maintaining the
bulletin boards, designing posters, and producing illustrations for school publications
fell to advanced art students who were members of a group known as the “Art
Workshop.” Keeping the entrance-way bulletin board attractive and up-to-date was
one of the most important activities of the group. Catalina also had a chapter of the
Art Honor Society which sponsored shows for oil, watercolor, charcoal, ceramics,
leather work, jewelry, sculpture, and other crafts.
The Trumpeteer sponsored a poetry writing contest each year. The response from
students to this call was positive, resulting in many submissions. Some of the
poems, as well as an occasional essay, were printed in special issues of the
newspaper titled “The Plume and Palette.” At one point, the Trumpeteer even
selected a “Poet Laureate of Catalina,” awarding sophomore Bernie Goldstein that
honor. In 1958, students created The Creative Writing Club and held meetings every
two weeks to read and discuss their work.
Concluding where I began this article, on the stage of the auditorium, Catalina had a
dramatic arts program sponsored by the drama department. A number of students
in this program were inducted into the National Thespian Society at CHS, “an honor
society for drama students who have worked enough
hours to join,” according to an article in the Trumpeteer. Under
the leadership of Mr. James Livieratos, club adviser and drama
instructor, the Thespians participated in a readers’ theater and
normally performed four major plays each year, including during
our time at CHS “A Bad Penny,” “Stage Door,” “Rich Man, Poor
Man,” “On the Lot,” “June Mad,” “Antigone,” and “Sorry, Wrong
Number,” a presentation that received a superior rating at the
Arizona Speech and Drama Festival in April, 1960. Acting
was not the only opportunity offered, however, as the program
also involved stagecraft students and those who were interested in lighting, and
costumes. As with so many other programs at Catalina, there was something for
nearly everyone.
It would be interesting to know how many of our classmates went on to have success
or careers in the arts. Several, like Rick Parrish and Michaele Gregg are
accomplished writers. Dave Berg is well-known for his bronze sculptures. Maryruth
Prose is weaving professionally. Many of our friends certainly continued with their
music and acting, perhaps professionally. We will know after the biographical
information requested by the 2010 reunion committee has been submitted. But, as
our teachers always stressed, the arts would not necessarily lead to careers but
would enhance and enrich our lives. For this, and for so much more, we can thank
Catalina High School.
One of the tragedies for education in the current economic turndown is the gradual
curtailment or elimination of the arts in public schools. When budgets are trimmed or
cut, programs considered “nonessential” are the first to go, and sadly the arts are
often put in that category. Fortunately for us who attended Catalina High School,
funds – although limited – were provided to support the arts, and our administrators
held to a policy that a full and complete education must include exposure to and
involvement in such activities. In fact, that commitment to the arts now appears
remarkable.
Support for the arts at CHS began even before any students were enrolled or
teachers employed. In its design, in the words of The Guide to Tucson Architecture,
Catalina High School “was one of the first in Tucson to work in the post-World War II
modern architectural vocabulary, which rejected the romanticism of revival styles…
[and used] materials and forms not seen before in Tucson, including exposed steel
and curvilinear roofs and walls.” The complex of buildings, in other words, was itself
a bold work of (“modern”) art.
As befitted its design, Catalina included facilities that made possible a rich program
in the arts. We all remember the magnificent auditorium which, I believe, held the
entire student body. It was much more than a utilitarian assembly hall, however: it
was a theater in the true sense, with a spacious stage, storage for flats and scenery,
a professional quality director’s booth, sound equipment, and a Green Room. In
addition, the main classroom complex included art rooms, a journalism office,
several small auditoriums for music groups, a graphic arts room, and a photographic
dark room. Here and there in the hallways, display cases and bulletin boards
featured artwork and other creations, reminding everyone of that important aspect of
our education.
As impressive as these facilities were, it was the teachers and students who brought
life to the CHS arts organizations and programs. The high degree of talent found in
the student body and the range of activities – from singing, playing instruments,
dancing, and acting to drawing, painting, printing, and photography -- was truly
remarkable in a high school setting. The sheer number of organizations continues to
surprise anyone looking back on those days.
There was no leading arts organization, but the first to come to my mind was the
CHS Orchestra, composed of approximately fifty boys and girls. The group, directed
by Mr. Tom Burges, who was succeeded in 1959 by Mr. Pat Curry, rivaled many
college and university orchestras. It not only presented an annual concert and
occasional classical and “pops” concerts at the school, but also performed at the
University of Arizona, at Arizona State University, at Scottsdale and Arcadia High
Schools in Phoenix, and won a number of local and state honors. The repertoire of
the orchestra was impressive for a high school group, as the program for the March
1958 concert suggests: it included “Procession of the Sadar” from “Caucasian
Sketches” by the Russian composer Ippolitov-Ivanov, and “El Salon Mexico” by
Aaron Copeland. Members of the orchestra also played as a quartet at events at the
U of A.
Closely related to the orchestra was CHS’s own “Marching 100,” the Catalina High
School Marching Band, directed by Mr. Burges and later by Mr. Curry. This group of
between ninety and one hundred uniformed musicians, played school and fight
songs at home football and basketball games, presented “pops” concerts,
performed at graduation at CHS, competed in local and state fine arts festivals,
participated in the annual Tucson rodeo parade, played for various civic clubs, and
placed several members in the All-State Band. Despite performing mainly as a
marching band, this talented group also presented classical concerts where, for
example, the band played Bach’s “Five Voice Fugue” and the “Finale” from
Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky.
CHS also had a number of choirs, including a Boys Glee Club, a Girls Chorus, and
an approximately eighty-member A Cappella Choir composed of members from the
other musical groups. The A Cappella Choir, directed by Mr. Harold Porter,
presented an annual operetta, a Christmas program, a music festival, a spring patio
concert, music for school assemblies, and in our senior year the Schubert Mass in G
Major. “Vocally precocious students” in the A Cappella Choir were inducted each
year into a Concert Ensemble, a smaller group that specialized in informal
performances for civic and school groups. Also in our senior year, eight students
were chosen to represent Catalina at the All-State Choral Clinic held at the U of A.
Where there is music, there also is dance. And dance was an important arts activity
at Catalina. Two groups come to mind: the seventeen-member Dardanaires,
Catalina’s performing dance group, and the Pirouettes, a club for freshman and
sophomore girls interested in learning the fundamentals of dance. The former,
directed by Miss Virginia Robinson, participated in a Christmas presentation of the
Nutcracker Suite and in the operettas Bells Are Ringing and High Button Shoes, and
danced to the “The Moldau” by Smetana at the Tucson Children’s Concert.
Occasionally the Dardanairs even performed at mixers and at basketball games and
after football games.
Most of the studio art, graphic arts, and commercial art instruction took place in art
classes, and the results were often displayed in those classrooms or in display
cases and on bulletin boards around the school. Responsibility for maintaining the
bulletin boards, designing posters, and producing illustrations for school publications
fell to advanced art students who were members of a group known as the “Art
Workshop.” Keeping the entrance-way bulletin board attractive and up-to-date was
one of the most important activities of the group. Catalina also had a chapter of the
Art Honor Society which sponsored shows for oil, watercolor, charcoal, ceramics,
leather work, jewelry, sculpture, and other crafts.
The Trumpeteer sponsored a poetry writing contest each year. The response from
students to this call was positive, resulting in many submissions. Some of the
poems, as well as an occasional essay, were printed in special issues of the
newspaper titled “The Plume and Palette.” At one point, the Trumpeteer even
selected a “Poet Laureate of Catalina,” awarding sophomore Bernie Goldstein that
honor. In 1958, students created The Creative Writing Club and held meetings every
two weeks to read and discuss their work.
Concluding where I began this article, on the stage of the auditorium, Catalina had a
dramatic arts program sponsored by the drama department. A number of students
in this program were inducted into the National Thespian Society at CHS, “an honor
society for drama students who have worked enough
hours to join,” according to an article in the Trumpeteer. Under
the leadership of Mr. James Livieratos, club adviser and drama
instructor, the Thespians participated in a readers’ theater and
normally performed four major plays each year, including during
our time at CHS “A Bad Penny,” “Stage Door,” “Rich Man, Poor
Man,” “On the Lot,” “June Mad,” “Antigone,” and “Sorry, Wrong
Number,” a presentation that received a superior rating at the
Arizona Speech and Drama Festival in April, 1960. Acting
was not the only opportunity offered, however, as the program
also involved stagecraft students and those who were interested in lighting, and
costumes. As with so many other programs at Catalina, there was something for
nearly everyone.
It would be interesting to know how many of our classmates went on to have success
or careers in the arts. Several, like Rick Parrish and Michaele Gregg are
accomplished writers. Dave Berg is well-known for his bronze sculptures. Maryruth
Prose is weaving professionally. Many of our friends certainly continued with their
music and acting, perhaps professionally. We will know after the biographical
information requested by the 2010 reunion committee has been submitted. But, as
our teachers always stressed, the arts would not necessarily lead to careers but
would enhance and enrich our lives. For this, and for so much more, we can thank
Catalina High School.
| Mr. Livieratos |