Vintage

 How many of you remember the day we arrived at school and saw this?

Disclaimer:  Maybe this isnt the original photo... do you think?

Click Read more to see the "Good Friday Chimney Caper">>>

I was watching the morning news on MSNBC the other day and they reported a story about a group of high school students who pulled a prank.  Sometime during the night several southern California high school seniors broke into their school and carried out a couple hundred student desks into the parking lot and placed them side by side to form the numbers zero and nine, (their graduation year).  That of course reminded me of an incident that took place 44 years ago at Garfield.

Who could forget that Good Friday morning in April of 1965?  We all arrived at school and were greeted by the same question… “Did you see the annex chimney yet?”  Some of us didn’t have time to get a look before classes started, so we had to wait until the first period bell rang.  Everyone was laughing at the site of two large red painted numbers, (‘67’) strategically located in the center of the chimney atop the Annex building behind Garfield.  It was a mystery how it got there and what possessed anyone to do it..  It would be 35 years after our graduation that Tom Gillis would finally come clean and tell the whole story.   After receiving Tom's confession I put the saga into music and borrowed a popular television theme song to tell the tale.  I  first performed the "Good Friday Chimney Caper"  at the 35^th class reunion.  For those of you who missed it or would like to hear it again…

To follow along with the lyrics

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE SONG:

http://purpleeagles67.com/music/Capers.wav

The mug shots

The Good Friday Chimney Caper
(sung to the TV theme song of "Gilligan's Island")

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale

A tale with no complaint

That started from the Gillis’ house

With a can of paint

Now Tom was a mighty Fireman’s Son

His accomplices no fools

They stole a ladder from Dad’s garage

On a mission to the school

(A mission to the school)

Five passengers set fourth that night

Their little Car was tossed

If not for their courage in a

Small Renault

The Mission would be lost

(The mission would be lost)

The car drove round and settled down

In the Annex parking lot

With Rudy Vuchinich

Tom Gillis too

Tom Torrens, and his brush

With Lowell Touchton

And Morey Swander

They were all in on the plot

The ladder was a bit too short

When they scaled the Annex wall

But they climbed up to the very top

And hoped they wouldn’t fall

(And hoped they wouldn’t fall)

With the deed all done, we all arrived

To see it on that morn

Sixty-seven on the chimney

But to the faculty’s scorn

The boys got whipped on their derrieres

By Mr. Kehrt that day

And climbed  back up to scrape it off

Of  the chimney

on Good Friday

the Caper on Good Friday