tl19611215-000 "Glen Players Christmas Open House Tues., Dec. 19 1 :00-4 :00 p.m. SH Room 8 Everyone Welcome TOWER LIGHT Vol. XIV, No. 12 State Teachers College. Towson 4, Maryland December 15, 1961 From The President A Christmas Message By Dr. Earle T. Hawkins No one knows when the first Christmas was observed. The early Christians apparently paid little attention to birth-days, and it was not until the third or fourth century A.D. that any celebrations were held. And, of course, no one knows whether December 25 is the actual date on which Christ was born. Quite likely the date was selected because the Romans had a festival about the same time of year. To devout Christians the day is a holy one; to all people throughout our country and throughout much of the world the day is a significant one, no matter what their faith. No Other day is celebrated so widely and in so many different ways. No other occasion is anticipated so long and so agerly, particularly by children and young folk. , Especially in America, which has indeed been a ""melt- 'Ig pot"" of people from many nations, does Christmas bring ettstoms derived from many lands. From England, Holland, Germany, Scandinavia, Italy, Austria, come our colorful and varied Christian customs and traditions. It is true that Christmas is in danger of complete com- Mercialization. It is unfortunately true that gifts are some-tithes given and cards sent because return gifts and cards ape anticipated. Some Christmas celebrations have little in them of the spirit of the Christ child. But underneath all the tinsel, the decorations, the hustle ad bustle, the buying and spending, there is still and there always will be the Spirit of Christmas, the spirit of giving, the thinking of others, the bringing of happiness to others! if. Christmas is the time of greatest spending, it is also the !line of greatest charity. At no other time of the year is there more organized and concerted effort to insure that no e shall be overlooked. May I hope that each of you will have an enjoyable IC:11ristmas, and that it will be more enjoyable because you �aye brought happiness to someone else. When Christmas 43r is over and the thousands of lights go on in homes and 411 lawns everywhere, may your heart be filled with the joy tkIld peace of Christmas�the Spirit of Christmas. And may tSpirit continue into the New Year for all of us. 'Zorn Bach To Broadway' ?few College Concert Chok. forming for February 1962 Towson Concert Choir, a new ege choral organization spon- M by the music department, will �Nanized at the beginning of 962 February semester. the44e mixed choir will be under olo ctirection of Mr. Martin C. Rice, 41,41 director of the college. interested are invited by Mr. tilt to audition for membership in Auditions will be held �11ncil Notes 'ooks, Bells Qrninittee on Library Losses, 4 thInted at the November meeting All-College Council, pre-hk4;( 1 three suggested measures for 144�141g the problem of missing (411-':1' books, at the recent All- )11t: Council Meeting. On the list of suggested (Continue(l on Page 5) Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 10 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday at, 3:00 p.m. and at special times I arranged with Mr. Rice. Auditions will be completed by registration time in February. ""The choir will musically re-present the high standards of the institution,"" Mr. Rice con-cludes. Forty-five of the most advanced campus singers will compose the membership of the new organization. The choir will meet Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4:00 p.m., and one hour of college credit will be given to members if they desire it. The choir will present full concert programs of a wide variety of challenging choral literature, Mr. Rice said. Works by such great masters as Hayden, Mozart Beeth-oven, and Bach, and works by (Continued on page 4) Tower Light Wishes Everyone A Happy Holiday Campus Set For Big Yule MRC-WRC Plan Holiday Party For Children The annual Christmas party sponsored by the MRC-WRC for underprivileged children from the McKim Center in Baltimore will be held Tuesday, December 19. Three hours of entertainment, including a tour of the residence halls, a play, a visit from Santa Claus, caroling and refreshments are planned for the children. The children will arrive at 6:30 p.m. and will be taken to their sponsors' rooms to receive their gifts. They will then tour the re-sidence halls until 7:30 p.m. to see the Christmas decorations. From 7:30 to 8:00 they will see ""Jack's Magic Beanstalk,"" a play put on by Alpha Psi Omega, in Stephens Hall Auditorium. Following the play Dr. William H. Hartley will enter as old St. Nick, and distribute three gifts to (Continued on Page 5) APO Show Set To Go Alpha Psi Omega will present ""Jack's Magic Beanstalk"", an adap-tation by Robert Petza from the old German folktale, ""Jack and the Beanstalk"", this Monday and Tues-day. Tuesday, December 19, the play will be given for the WRC-MRC's Christmas Party for un-derprivileged children, and everyone is welcome to attend this performance. The scenic and lighting designer for this production is Regis H. Rheb. Rheb feels that the designer must say with scenery, scenic and lighting effects, what the writer attempts to convey in words. ""When these two ideas are in harmony, a strong production is the resulting end,"" he remarked. Designing for children's theatre poses problems not found in dra-matic and musical productions per-formed for adults, Rheb explained. He listed three main elements which every scenic designer must consider when he undertakes to design for such a production. The first is continuity, which the playwright develops around a theme with certain ideas which totally represent a polished and believable work. ""There must be continuity between the playwright's work and that of the designer if the production is to succeed com-pletely,"" Rheb explained. (Continued on page 6) By Fred Cogswell The Christmas season has made its way early onto the Towson cam-pus, as students look forward to, the Christmas vacation. Already Christmas carols can be heard around the campus, coming from the juke box in the Student ! Centre, the. Christmas Concert, and the Residence Halls. Christmas carols could even be heard at pre-registration as ""patient"" sophomores waited their turn to enter the gym-nasitun. Faculty Wives Sponsor Party For Children Children whose parents are among 1 the faculty at Towson are looking I forward to the Children's Christmas party. The party will take place on De-cember 18 in the President's Room. Alpha Psi Omega is presenting the play ""Jack's Magic Bean Stalk."" The play is portrayed in a modern adaptation by Robert J. Petza. After viewing the play the chil-dren will congregate in the Presi-dent's Room for a party. Amidst food, party favors, and a fire in the fire place, the children will meet Santa Claus (alias: Dr. Hartley). All children under twelve years old will receive a gift from the robust Santa. The party is being planned by the Faculty Wives. Mrs. Carl Reiten-bach is chairman for the party. Working with her is Mrs. Edward Rubendall, Mrs. Howard Erickson and Mrs. Robert Laubach. Each year the wives of the STC (Continued on page 6) Christmas trees are going up everywhere. The trees in front of Stephens Hall have been decorated, there is a tree in Stephens Hall, and the Residence Halls have them too. Various organizations have plan-ned Christmas activities for the students. The YW-YMCA has planned a visit to the Maryland Training School for Boys. The group will !bring Christmas to the boys by playing games, providing them with refreshments, singing Christmas icarols. telling them stories, and giving them presents. Cars will leave from in front of Newell Hall at 6:45 tonight. The 11V-YMCA is sponsoring Christmas Vespers in the Rich-mond Hall Parlor on December 18, 1961. The vespers will begin at 7:30 p.m. Rabbi Joseph Max of Liberty Jewish Center will speak on the topic of brotherhood and good will toward men. The SCA Choir, under the direction of Miss Hazel Mac- Donald will add a touch of Christ-mas through music. Old fashioned Christmas carol-ing is the next activity of the agenda. The students will meet together in front of Newell Hall at 9:45 p.m. Porch lights will flicker on, people will come to their windows, or stand on their porches as the carolers sing the traditional Christmas carols while walking through the Towson Community. The evening will come to an end, at a festive gathering in the Student Centre. Hot chocolate and cookies will be served, President Hawkins' will play Christmas tunes on the piano while everyone present will sit and reflect upon the meaning of Christmas to them. Editor's Report Two New Dorms On Way By Lowell E. Sunderland Considering present conditions in the dormitories, the college should not take any more boarding students, Mrs. James P. Duncan, residence director, said recently. Asked this week if he agreed, college president Dr. Earle T. Hawkins said ""yes."" ""For the number of students we have now, the dormi-tories are adequate,"" Dr. Hawkins explained. ""But in the very near future, we are going to need more dormitory space."" Housed in the five dormitories now are 622 students, with as many as four persons sharing some of the rooms. ""What exactly are the plans for the future?"" Tower Light asked Dr. Hawkins this week. Two dorms, one for men and one for women, Dr. Hawkins replied, each having space for 150 students, two to a room, increasing dorm capacity by approximately 50 percent. ""For the women's dormitory, it is merely a matter of flipping over the plans for Prettyman,"" Dr. Hawkins asserted. The women's dorm will be built on the field in front of Pretty-man, forming a quadrangle between the two structures. In the college's budget request for the fiscal year 1962-1963, (Continued on page 4) "
