The Snake Dance Sidney S. Smith '48 In the 40's, at the end of the war, with the return to civilian life of the marvelous warriors, in autumn, following registration for classes but prior to entrenchment of the learning game, and as an adjunct to student cohesive-ness, the Snake Dance took place. This activity served a need to violate certain laws without going to jail, to be masculine and feminine without romance, to be loud and boisterous without being considered obnoxious, and to make a big scene without the risk of offending anyone. A ritualistic Snake Dance fulfilled all of these essential ingredients. An enthusiastic pep rally set the stage for the formation of the marvelous snake. It began forming at the Central Building on 25th Street and quickly grew in length as its head slithered in and out of the frivolous milling students. By ones and twos the writhing chain grew in length as individuals quickly clasped the hand of the last person in the snake. In a spontaneous fashion the milling students became a singular file following the leader of the snake. Participation galvanized quickly, and off the snake headed westward towards downtown Ogden. At the intersection of 25th Street and Washington Boulevard, it wrapped itself around the busy intersection from curb to curb, vanquishing traffic in all directions. The snake slithered round and round in a wide circular motion, and then it took off northbound to pass in and out of any doorway which could accommodate the snake and which gave less than a hospitable appearance to the fun. Most easily invaded and least easily defended to the snake were the five and dimes -Woolworth's, Nye's, Castleton's Kresses, Newberry's, and Keeley's, Reams', and Penney's. The ultimate success of the snake was usually gauged by the daring, courage, and ingenuity of its leader. A deaf ear to politeness and a blind eye to the law generally led to a successful snake dance. The snake died when its usefulness was completed. The students returned to Keeley's, Walgreen's, Nelson's Dairy Bar, and the Owl Drug for a well-deserved cool drink. They were exhausted and dry. There would be a game still ahead of them as the Wildcats took on some worthy opponent. In those days Weber fought the best of them and usually came away victorious. After the 40's, the Snake Dance passed into oblivion. I categorize the wonderful Snake Dance as a symbol of free expression in the form of an outspoken semi-private celebration turned public. Good for what ails you. Snake dance through downtown Ogden 64 Weber's First Wildcat Club William J. Critchlow, III '50 During Spring Quarter, 1949, the young professor Jennings Olsen and freshman student Bill Critchlow discussed the need at Weber College for a men's service club on the order of Blue Key to raise funds for student activities. The new student body officers for 1949-50 - Don Soelberg, Peggy Wood, Joan Crawford, Neil Hess, and Dee Jacobs - had been left a student funds debt in excess of $10,000 from prior student administrations and a Hawaiian football commitment deficit. Before the school year had even begun, those new officers had concluded or been informed, that there would be no yearbook for the class of 1950. Times were inordinately hard. Only $50 of student body funds were available that year for school dances. That was a greater crisis than the loss of the yearbook. The dance crisis was solved in part by converting the school's marching band into a dance band, comprising one large 20-piece plus band which broke up readily into several excellent five-piece combos. These very soon became the bands of preference for most of the high school, junior high school, and church dances in our four-county area. No little part of their great success was due to undercutting the rates of the professional bands belonging to the local musicians' union. Just after Christmas 1949, the musicians' union called "foul," and its president, Shorty Ross, protested long and loud the "unfair trade practices" of the non-union Weber band. To prevent the college from being picketed by angry professional musicians, President H. Aldous Dixon asked the Weber band to charge union rates when playing off campus out in the community, reserving the right to charge whatever they pleased for Weber campus affiliated dances wherever they were held. No union dues had to be paid by any of the students, and their band and its composite combos remained the community preferences throughout the remaining school year. Funds to compensate the Weber band for playing for school dances remained a problem until a Blue Key type service club was organized during the spring of 1949, when Weber's first Wildcat Club came into being. About 20 male students made up the membership of the new Wildcat Ser- vice Club, dedicated to raising funds for student activities, especially dances, both evening and matinee. The club's first and most successful project was to obtain student discount rates from Ogden's downtown movie theaters. The idea wasn't simply to get lower rates, but to gain the privilege for the Wildcat Club to sell student discount cards which would entitle the student holder to a 50 percent movie ticket discount. Any college, high school, or junior high school student could buy a card for fifty cents and then enjoy movies at half price. The first theater manager approached with the idea was Ross Glasmann, manager of the Orpheum and Paramount. The idea didn't excite him because all first-run movies attracted long lines in the lobby of the Orpheum and extended out onto the sidewalk running in both directions from the theater. However, the energetic Ted Kirkmeyer of the Egyptian and Ogden enthusiastically accepted the Wildcat proposal and convinced Ross Glasmann that he should do the same. The annual, non-transferable, serially numbered, discount cards were gobbled up by students from 12 to 20 years; in fact, they were just as important as a student body card re- quired for ID to use the discount card. The ample card-sale proceeds enabled the Wildcat Club to pay the Weber band for campus dances and to buy them sheet music, mutes, and stands with the college WC logo. Except for one little glitch, the program was an overwhelming success. A couple of student janitors, while cleaning the office of Dr. Jennings Olsen, swiped from his desk a bunch of the discount cards and distributed them to their buddies and fraternity brothers, who briefly may have enjoyed the benefits of the ill-gotten gains of the theft. The following Saturday night, however, several of the nefarious fraternity brothers and their accessory dates used stolen cards for discounts to the Egyptian. Ted Kirkmeyer had all those possessors of stolen goods detained in the lobby until police officers could escort them to the Ogden jail, from which their parents had to appear to release them. None of the other stolen cards ever showed up, but that little glitch prevented the renewal of the sale of annual student discount cards. The non-union Weber band 65