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ART TEA SUNDAY Written by Patricia Davis Newsome Dozier [Probably since the 1926 completion of the auditorium building on the campus of Calvin Scott Brown School, there was the annual Art Tea and Founder's Day. The first Art Tea I remember is the one Pat describes here - she danced to "Lady of Spain". Like Pat, many of us participated. I usually sang in the choirs directed by Delois Chavez-Ruffin and Cleveland Ambrose. Even though Art Tea ceased after 1970, the C.S. Brown Alumni association hosts, in its place, the Founder's Day Dinner, held the last weekend of March. - Marvin T.] For those of us fortunate enough to have attended C. S. Brown High School, we remember the annual C. S. Brown High School Art Tea Sundays. This was an extremely cultural, exciting and magnificent Sunday for all in attendance. The Art Tea was always held on Palm Sunday. I think the staff wanted to be sure all new Easter bonnets were seen at an Art Tea Sunday prior to Easter Sunday. It was an event for the year. |
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The late Mrs. Madge Hunter coordinated these
wonderful Art Tea Sundays. I am sure there were others assisting her;
however, I vividly remember Mrs. Hunter. Each year she did mostly everything,
from painstakingly painting the picturesque mural that would adorn the
stage on that Art Tea Sunday, to paying attention to detail for each piece
of art to be displayed. She made sure even an easel that would be holding
a piece of art was exactly as it should have been on that Art Tea Sunday.
At the beginning of each school year, she began immediately working with students attending her art classes. Her paintings and art pieces were produced by her gifted (and some of us not so gifted) students. One of her most gifted oil painting students was the late Janice Boone Eley. I do hope that some place Janice’s oil paintings are on display. Words could not describe her pieces of art.
Mrs. Hunter also paid attention to each student that would be performing for her stage show on that Art Tea Sunday. Annually her themes would be based upon a cultural society from another country in a far away land. During those years, Mrs. Hunter and other instructors made sure we learned other cultures and lifestyles outside the United States.
Practically everybody could play
a role in the Art Tea. Roslyn Boone is the princess in the center. The
Keene twins, Harry and Larry, serve as bookends. Mathew Jarmond Sr.,
a teacher and later principal of the school, very likely made this photograph
the year Pat Dozier graduated.
Courtesy of Alice Jones Nickens.
[Click on photograph for a larger view. You might see
yourself!]
This particular year was 1959-1960. Mrs. Hunter’s theme for that Art Tea Sunday was Spanish. If anyone spoke Spanish at C. S. Brown High School I cannot remember. The only Spanish most of us knew in 1959-1960 was “Casa Mayama” For the generation of readers that do not remember the “Casa Mayama” you should ask your parents and grandparents to tell you their stories.
The Spanish theme was off to a great start
that year for Mrs. Hunter. These art classes began with the canvasses,
oil paints, charcoal, water coloring, clay, finger painting and sculpturing.
As time neared for the actual Art Tea Sunday event, Mrs. Hunter chose
her entertainment performers. Almost all of us received an opportunity
to perform. Mrs. Hunter made sure of that. That year, Leo Wynn from
Cofield, and I would perform a Spanish dance.
Back then I honestly believed I could dance. In 1959 I dreamed of becoming a great ballet dancer with the New York Ballet. Of course, today we now know what really happened. Putting it mildly, my only dancing career in life was for Art Tea Sundays.
Mrs. Hunter created a dance for Leo and
me. This dance included me playing the castanets as Leo and I moved
gracefully across the stage. The stomping of our heels, and the majestic
turns for Spanish dancers was to be performed on a freshly, oil-slicked
wooden stage in the C.S. Brown High School auditorium. It was an event
Mrs. Hunter knew would fill the auditorium to capacity.
Madge Hunter's mural provides the
setting for Paulette Lassiter, Shawnee Smith
and Patricia Malloy. Their ballet instructor, Maurice Evans, said thatPatricia
had the highest elevation he had seen in a student..
Photograph circa 1962 by Mathew Jarmond. Courtesy of Shawnee Smith
Ball
It was then I learned I could not walk and chew gum at the same time. I sat with Ronnie Vann daily who trained me to play the castanets. I could play the castanets. I could dance with Leo Wynn. I just could not dance with Leo, and play the castanets at the time same time. To say Mrs. Hunter was a little “miffed” is putting it gently.
What was Mrs. Hunter’s dilemma? How did she get me to play those castanets while dancing? For all of us that knew the brilliant mind of Mrs. Hunter, there were no doubts she would solve this, or any other dilemma. Her show on that Art Tea Sunday would be flawless. She did not disappoint anyone.
After 45 years, I now confess to my friends and family, I never played the castanets Mrs. Hunter scotched taped those castanets into each hand so tightly they burned. She made sure not one itsy, bitsy, tiny clicking sound would come from my hands. During the performance Ronnie Vann played the castanets backstage. Mrs. Hunter had presented believable Spanish dancers, castanets and all. Leo’s tuxedo did not tear. My handmade crepe paper dress did not tear.
-Patricia Davis Newsome Dozier lives in Santa Monica, California.