"Best in East" Plays Today

For the sweet young things and stadium cowboys, this afternoon's glory will rest little with the gridiron maneuvers of Dick Harlow's super-eleven. Tops in the country and the College's best ever, it's the University's Band--puffed to 120-piece size for the Bulldog--which promises to steal the Big Show.

Precisely what is to happen on the field between the halves must remain a dark secret, according to Jay Skinner '48, new Manager, though the assurances are that for the Ivy League's biggest post-war day, local color will run "as high as you would want it."

Few realize that Harvard's Band functions as a Club, with lifelong membership privileges. Marching across the field today along with the undergraduates will be an official of the Harvard Trust Company who has played glockenspiel for more than 14 years, as well as three practicing physicians who revert to Joe College each weekend in the Fall. This timeless spirit is the invisible quantity which makes the boys get religion and perform what admirers have termed "the Saturday afternoon miracle."

The big two behind the "Miracle" were both with the Band while at College: Malcolm H. Holmes '29, Dean of the New England Conservatory of Music, Conductor; and Guy Slade '32, Drill Master. Bandmen fondly recall Holmes whacking the bass drum 14 years ago. A niche is secure for Leroy Anderson '29, arranger for the Boston Pops, composer of the famed 'Wintergreen," first gridiron composition of its kind introduced in 1933, and the beloved "Harvard Medley."

Why a "Miracle?" With one musical rehearsal on Wednesday evening in Sanders Theatre, a single drill run-through on Friday afternoon behind the Stadium, and one coordinated practice session two hours before game time, those in the know think the term far from strong. Saving grace is that when the unit comes onto the field ten minutes before the game, it is keyed up by two hours of concentrated effort in blending "sound" and "action." It passes quickly into formations which only a day or two before were nothing more than ideas and, half an hour before, a seeming hopeless shambles.

Founded in 1920 by undergraduates who had tired of the outside professional aggregation hired for football games, the Band first "learned to talk" in 1930 with the formations "HARVARD" and "VERITAS," Since the initial advance to "LET'S GO, TEAM" and "HOLD THAT TIGER," through to the recent record of 60 letters in one half-time period, they've come a long way.