For the first time, Class Day wit this year will be supplied by two Ivy Orators, Paul Merrick Hollister, Jr. '41, of New York City and Winthrop House, and Nelson Roosevelt Gidding '41, of New York and Lowell House.
Because both men were considered equally fit for the honor, the Class Day Committee which nominated them yesterday was unanimously undecided on any single choice, and was consequently forced to break tradition.
Ivy Speech Once Unofficial
Ivy Oration precedent was first broken some years ago when it was brought out from behind Harvard where a soap-box speaker used to entertain a secret gathering of Seniors with earthy stories. The transfer to the more refined atmosphere of the Stadium was made because the female friends of the Seniors became accustomed to listening from the upper floors of the halls in back of Harvard.
This year's funny oration, on Wednesday, June 18, will be the result of collaboration between Gidding and Hollister, who will present it as a dialogue.
Script Writer and Imitator
Gidding has been a script writer for the Crimson Network, one of his works being "About Town With the Gid." Imitations of railroad trains and various dialects have been Hollister's forte. Besides these abilities, the former was a member of last year's Advocate Board, and the latter entered the recent Undergraduate Art. Exhibit in the Germanic Museum.
The judges of the Committee which broke the precedent are Thomas F. Donahue, George H. Hanford, Robert A. James, and Elliot L. Richardson, all Seniors, and Frederick c. Packard '20, associate professor of Public Speaking, as consultant.
On Class Day, the Oration will highlight the traditional confetti-throwing and the parade of classes which annually feature the afternoon ceremonies.
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