Lovely Ladies of the Auditorium: Why Some of Us Became So Artsy

From A Century of Class: Public Education in Dallas 1884-1984, by Rose-Mary Rumbley. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1984.

The Dallas Times Herald columnist, William Rogers, pointed out in his book, The Lusty Texans of Dallas, that “There had been a pioneering spirit in the Dallas public Schools which had made a number of contributions to education in Texas. In 1921 they introduced into the Southwest the platoon system for elementary schools - an organization of classes which allowed the homeroom teachers to spend their entire time on fundamental subjects such as reading, writing, language arts and number work, with special teachers provided for music, art,and physical education."

But there was another special kind of teacher introduced that year not mentioned by Mr. Rogers. Not only was Dallas a pioneer in introducing the platoon system, but the Dallas educators introduced a whole new course of study to the elementary schools of Texas. This course was called Auditorium Activities. Today if one were to mention Auditorium Activities, only the Dallas natives would react to the words and know what one was talking about. Dallas was unique in offering this novel course to the children. Actually it was successfully taught in only a few school systems across the nation.



Lela Lee Williams was sent to Gary, Indiana, to study and report on Auditorium Activities, a course which had been initiated in the Indiana school districts but nowhere else in the nation up to that time. Miss Williams discovered that, "the purpose of the auditorium period is to furnish opportunities and situations for the exercise and development of abilities for which the usual classroom does not provide."

The child would learn in the classroom and use the learning in the auditorium. If a child studied an event in history in the homeroom period, in the auditorium he would enact the event. He'd recite a poem about the event. He'd read more aloud about the event. He'd write an essay about the event. History came alive in the auditorium. One teacher put it this way, "The dry bones of the past became the flesh and blood of the present in the auditorium activities class."



The same types of activities could reinforce a math lesson. The numbers became alive. Example: In a dramatic skit (visually) Mr. Number could be torn apart into fractions. The creativity that was used by the teachers, and the creativity that was squeezed from students was limitless. There is a leather bound curriculum guide - several copies of which are still on file at the school administration building - that explains the whole unusual program. It was compiled by auditorium teachers handpicked by E.B. Cauthorn to launch this creative endeavor: Blanche Smith, Minnie Bizzell, Mary Capes, Myrtle Smith, Ethel Walter, Bertha Bizzell, Florence Buryear, Callie Moffett, Annie Lee Alexander, Ethel Thomas, Blanche Brandon, Baulah Keeton, Uleta Wilhouse, Alma Diekson, Louis Paulus, and Jewell York. These teachers were paid more than the other elementary teachers, and a report plainly stated that jealously reigned among the other teachers in the schools over this so-called merit pay.

These "lovely ladies of the auditorium" really did have a little kingdom in the school auditorium. On special holidays, they were responsible for programs that would give the history of the day observed. Jewel York boasted in a piece of writing about the program. "The auditorium classes gave the meat and bread of life to the school." Alma Dickson noted in an essay that the teachers taught poise and brought about concentration. There was intense visualization of any event or episode. There was a socialization of the work done in the classroom, for all the subjects were correlated in the auditorium. There was a strengthening of the work done by the classroom teachers.

Helen Rogers taught auditorium for twenty-five years in the Dallas system. She stated that she always enjoyed her work at Edwin Kiest, because this was a strong middle class school. This pleased her. She said that so often people did things for the poor and the needy, but they neglected the strong middle class. These students needed attention, and too, they needed material rewards. Therefore, she made certain that in a tangible way, her students were rewarded for good programs. Mrs. Rogers never neglected any chance of obtaining any free materials that the children might enjoy getting as handouts in class. She sent off for any free advertisement brochures of different companies and institutions. She tried to get as much material into the hands of the students as possible so that they could keep their own scrapbooks of programs and information.

A favorite play that Mrs. Rogers enjoyed giving was "Who's Who At The Zoo." Each child portrayed his favorite animal at the zoo. The stage setting was quite unusual in that ". . . each child was in his own little cage." This really was a great play to give, because obviously there could be no disorder during the production since the cast was securely behind bars.

Miss Leta Parks, who taught for thirty years in the system, was the auditorium teacher at Alex Sanger School. She decided when she entered the program that she would always approach her undertakings from an artistic angle. Each year she vowed that she would invent a new way of using good literature and would create a new approach to teaching. Doing the same things year after year in the auditorium was not her way of being an effective teacher. Miss Parks wrote many children's plays. In fact, she said that the only way to provide the proper experiences for every child in the class was to create a specific program just for that class of particular children. These auditorium teachers were called upon to present many PTA programs. They were united into one massive effort in 1948 by Dr. White when he asked auditorium teacher Pauline James to write, produce, and direct a program on Texas which would be a city-wide effort presented at the Fair Park Music Hall. Every elementary child in the city of Dallas was in this memorable program.

The children were taught both citizenship and parliamentary procedure in the auditorium. Also, debate was not forgotten. The students selected the topics.

Resolved: that it is as dishonest to give help on the test as it is to receive it.
Resolved: that it is better to tell the truth regarding knowledge of the guilt of a friend than to shield him.
Resolved: that it is proper for girls to wear blue jeans in school.
Resolved: that it is better to discuss our problems with our parents than to take orders from them.
Resolved: that it is better for parents to give their children an allowance than to give them money when they need it.
Resolved: that science has done more harm than good.
Resolved: that TV viewing time should be limited.

The schools in Dallas were so often named for outstanding people who had served the Dallas community. The children in the school need to know about the person for whom their school was named.

Bonnie Harford, auditorium teacher, wrote a biographical sketch on each of the women for whom a school was named, and she put this material into book form. She used much of this information from her study to make these ladies come alive for the children in her auditorium classes. This produced more school spirit.

These teachers were artists in adapting their activities to the school situation. Those that taught auditorium in poor areas of town made certain that all the scenery was made by the children themselves. This would provide a feeling of self-worth. The children accomplished something, and they had pride in that accomplishment. Developing this pride was a major concern of teachers who were teaching in the poorer neighborhoods.

May Day was a challenge. Many maypole dances were held on the lawns of the schools with each class dressed in a particular costume. The first grade mushrooms gathered. The wind would blow. The wind so often was the second grade class. The daisies would sway in the breeze. Daisies were third graders. Everyone took part and everyone had to remain in perfect order for such a gigantic theatrical production to be carried off. Nothing was too big for the auditorium teacher.

Most principals approved of and thought highly of the ac¬tivities in the auditorium. One cited, “The auditorium was to the school what a well apportioned living room is to the home. It is here that the visitor gets a general impression of the school. The stage is set in a special manner. The bulletin boards speak of the seasons or of the school activities.”

The auditorium activities program has been gone for fifteen years. Several former auditorium teachers, however, are still teaching in the Dallas schools. They are now teaching language arts, but many of them would like to see auditorium ac¬tivities brought back into the system. Anita Elliott, former auditorium teacher who now teaches language arts at Adelle Turner, feels that the reading ability of the students would be strengthened were the program reinstated. "I taught more reading in the auditorium than a reading teacher could." The reading skills were taught in the reading classes, but practice in the reading came in the auditorium.

In 1966, the speech arts teachers met for their forty-fifth anniversary. They had been organized into a club which met for idea sharing and social purposes. However, this meeting in the spring of 1966 turned out to be the final meeting of the club itself. Dr. Herman Benthul and Mrs. Wilma Stewart, who served as superintendents over the speech arts program spoke on the projected activities. However, the changes were on their way, and the speech arts teacher, considered a frill, was to be no more. However, for forty-five years, auditorium activities in the elementary schools strengthened the learning experiences of the children.