November 15, 1921

The first of two perfomances by the Class of 1915 of The Vassar Follies was presented before a large and appreciative audience in Town Hall in New York City. Written by Margaret Lovell ’15, Virginia Archibold ’17 and Lois Long ’22 and with a cast of nearly three-dozen alumnae and “an amateur orchestra, half women,” the production was a benefit for the faculty salary endowment.

Hailed in The Vassar Miscellany for its “sparkling lines, sprightly songs and varigated dancing,” the show offered “Vassar as it is and isn’t” and “Vassar as it does and doesn’t.” The audience, The Miscellany continued, “saw besides various dances including a Vassar prom from 1870 and of 1920 and the Vavotte Pavlova given by Billie Tichenor and Harry Tomaroff. ‘The Chorus Girl Blues,’ was sung by Miss Bobby Bessler and the well-known ‘Vassar Types’ again appeared, the marrying girl being judged the most typical.”

The New York Times reported that the “choruses were typical pretty girls, with abbreviated gowns and pink bare knees. The way Vassar girls get into the papers was illustrated in one chorus in which six of the plumpest and prettiest were literally in as many papers, morning and evening—ballet length skirts. The show wound up like an old-time novel, but not in an old-time way, with a wedding, ‘typical of the girls of old V. C.’”

In brief remarks, President MacCracken discussed the need for the $3 million endowment and announced that the campaign had reached the $2 million mark that day. “The Vassar girls would raise the final million, he said,“ reported The Times, “because they have such ‘winsome’ ways.” The evening raised $4,000 for its cause, and The Vassar Follies took briefly to the road on behalf of the Endowmtent Fund after the turn of the year.

The New York Times