They Came to Purloin Her Panties, But Hope Diamond Was Not There

Twelve Harvard students pulled a panty raid on burlesque queen Hope Diamond last night, but the panties and bras came on hour late, Miss Diamond never came at all, and no one seemed too happy about the whole affair.

John F. Seegal '67 arranged the fracas as a publicity stunt for Miss Diamond's new show. "Those Wonderful Days of Burlesque", which is appearing in Boston for a week before bombing into New York. In exchange for enthusiastic Harvard bodies posing for pictures, Russ Sabbey, the show's publicity director, doled out free tickets to performances next week.

When Sabbey told the crew assembled at the Bradford Hotel in Boston that the heroine would not be in town until late today, there was much grunting and shuffling of feet.

Sabbey entertained the students with a string of terrible reminisces about his vaudeville days as a pantomimist -- "The only reason Marcel Marceau made it and I didn't was Marceau's idea of painting his face white." He explained that the fellow they were waiting for was out purchasing ladies' undergarments.

Finally, the underwear man came through the door, greeted by a weak cheer. The Harvard men were shepherded downstairs to a room where a rehearsal was in progress. W

The actual "raid" consisted of one mad charge at three young ladies clad in leotards. The floor around the bench was strewn with undergarments, and the instructions were "Grab what's on the floor but leave the girls alone."

Someone said "go". They charged across the room and pounced on the underwear. The photographer took his pictures, and the students were allowed to keep their prey.

Some of the students were trying to guess if the picture would be printed in any Boston newspapers. One young man muttered, "Master Finely would never approve of this."