Talk about being ahead of the curve! Check out this awesome vintage photograph from Penn’s 1886 production of The Acharnians by Aristophanes. You will note that these boys are smizing (not coined by Tyra until 2009) and are showing off their enviable legs with trendy gladiator sandals. Chic and historically accurate! Very impressive and progressive. This play was put on by the Greek Society, before TAC-e or even Mask & Wig were founded. Kudos to these cross-dressing campus cuties!
This holiday, coined by one David Kaiser-Jones C’14, was inspired by a picture he dug up “quite some time ago” and “was waiting, of course, until September 19 to share.” Please celebrate responsibly. And never use that third elevator that seems totally fine one day and then is all boarded up with wooden planks the next. (You know the one.)
This snapshot was taken at Van Pelt’s dedication ceremony on one sunny October day in 1962. It’s like a retro Library Social! Imagine if the ceremony was right now and all of these nice people were simply sitting there watching you study and listening to you learn.
John Legend took some time out of busy schedule to chat up with some old friends at his alma mater this morning. Check out this C’99 alum hanging out with Ben– so photogenic! We’re hearing reports that Franklin provided the requisite beatbox for Legend’s a cappella dubstep version of “Ordinary People.” Quaint! We can’t wait to hear it ourselves at the concert tonight.
We asked, and you sent! Yup, spring is well upon us, and luckily for the Penn community, some of you have a good eye for spotting how beautiful campus is at this time of year. We’ve highlighted just a sampling of our favorites (choosing was very hard, mind you) so you can enjoy them as much as we do.
If you’d like us to feature your lovely spring photos, tweet your pics at us throughout the day and we’ll retweet you. In the meantime, put away your phone and stop looking at your feet on your walk to class– you’re missing more than you know!
Meet the Penn men’s basketball team of 1920. Believe it or not, this motley crew managed to win the Eastern Intercollegiate League title, which was the league Penn played in before the Ivy League was created. Good looks, team. Those knee pads are really intimidating.
World, meet Marion Clark Madeira, a benefactor of the University known for her social work. The lady Madeira is presented here in all her glory, as a babyface caricature from 1879. Real smooth.
“What’s up everybody? This is your man DJ [adjective] [noun] here at WXPN shoutin’ out on the airwaves. The year is 1952 and there is pretty much nothing historically noteworthy going on in the world right now. WXPN is taking requests all night, so I can guarantee some Doris Day and Nat King Cole will coming your way in just a few minutes! Stay tuned and stay classy, Pennsylvania. Unst unst unst.”
How rad is this vintage pic from 1953? Not quite the Jazz Age, mind you, but channeling some of that glitzy energy nonetheless. This ball was part of Penn’s Junior Week, which included a series of social and athletic events around Thanksgiving that culminated in a Junior Cane March. At some point over the past century this ceremonial student parade transformed into a drunken free-for-all, but hey, no one’s complaining.
Remember Betty, the 1920s B.F.A.? We do. Betty would like you to know that she’s still cooler than you. Betty, you’ll notice, has a gun. So, Betty Funston, we think you’re pretty rad. But we’re also kind of scared of you.
