The Showoff

The transition to college was not that difficult. To that point I had lived in seven different towns and gone to five different schools so adjusting to new people and surroundings came quite easily. I did not become a joiner, as I was in high school, but I did play in the band and got a part in one play. Simpson College had an enrollment of about 1,000 students. So it was not much different than a high school setting and the band not a lot larger either.

The band played for football games and took one tour around the state. One event does stick in my mind: We were instructed to play for the dedication of a new music building on campus. Because the war years had prevented construction of any new major buildings, a temporary wood structure was erected to house music classes and events. It looked more like a railroad depot than a college building, even down to the dark colored paint used.

A Saturday morning was selected for the dedication and when the college president arrived for his speech, he found some one had spent the previous night painting a sign on the structure - “Rock Island, Route of the Rocket.” The president realized it was too late to do anything about the sign before the dedication so he made the best of it. He prefaced his remarks with the statement, “There did happen to be a railroad passing through this campus at the turn of the century but I really don’t expect it to come back.”

Money was also available for a new science building but again, because of war, construction was not started. At one location on campus was a sign indicating it was the future site of a new science building. Apparently some money had been donated from a foundation started by a famous scientist. The long delay in breaking ground made it fertile territory for student pranks. One morning an outhouse was discovered immediately behind the sign. Passersby could see only the privy and the sign, “George Washington Carver Memorial Science Building, future site.”

I tried out for a play, The Showoff, and got the part as a genius inventor without much common sense. It was a part played by Red Skelton in the movie version some years later so you can imagine what kind of a character it was.

The only thing I really remember about the play (after all, this was more that 50 years ago) was the female love interest for whom I played opposite. She wore a rather low cut dress and was slightly shorter than me so my eyes seemed continually to be focused on that V-line neck. As a result, the critic in the local newspaper described my performance as “wonderfully underplayed.” The fact was, it was more pre-occupation and stage fright than anything else.