All That Glitters

A life-size marionette of John Harvard which can actually shake hands;

A glamorous Prince who will speak and eat as well as shake hands;

A gigantic polyurethane rainbow spanning the Charles River to greet the citizens of Cambridge;

A gigantic fireworks display high over Soldiers Field that will say goodbye.

And a venerable television newscaster who will tell us the way it was;

And as long as it doesn't rain, these will probably be among the most lasting memories of Harvard's 350th Birthday celebration next fall.

Despite the fact that the birthday party planners have lined up an impressive array of scholarly symposia, the events that have caught the eye of Boston media and alumni have been the large scale celebrations that will cap off each of the four days of the anniversary.

Many think the birthday part is just going to be a lot of glitz. But President Derek C. Bok disagrees. He says people merely learned of the entertainment events before they knew there would be any symposia at the festivities.

But to accompany the scholarly symposia, planners thought it should also be a real birthday party. And party is the key word.

"We thought we should also have some fun," says Thomas W. Stephenson '37, the executive secretary of the 350th committee.

But fun costs money. And money causes controversy. So when planners started selling tickets to a special Crimson Circle at $175 a head, more than a few eyebrows were raised. Still, more than 3000 alumni and friends mailed in their checks to nab the best seats in the house for the 90 minute extravaganza on Saturday night which will end the four-day birthday party.

For this event, the house will be Soldiers Field Stadium. And the best seats will be between the end zone and the 20-yard line facing the stage at the open end of the stadium, says ticketing chief for the 350th Carol Craig.

The next cheapest seats will be $25 and those at the very far end of the field will cost $12.50, Craig says.

"It will help us pay for the event," says Francis H. Burr '35 of the pricey tickets.

"The Saturday night show should actually generate dollars which will go to other parts of the University," says producer Tommy Walker, who also orchestrated the festivities at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and is organizing the weekend celebration for the Statue of Liberty this July.

Yet probably the most sought after invitation in town will be to the dinner Bok plans to throw for Prince Charles, heir to the throne of Britain. Now that President Reagan has declined to attend the celebration, Charles will clearly be the most spectacular participant.

The Prince of Wales will address the first of three convocations about Harvard. His speech will be on the roots of Harvard, which Stephenson says the Prince is qualified to speak on because he went to Cambridge, where many of Harvard's founders were educated.

The Saturday night finale promises to be equally spectacular. "It's the appropriate capper to a week of serious and heavy work," Walker says of his finale to the birthday celebration.

"I want the show to express the spirit of Harvard without getting corny," he explains.

"While 84 pianos may have been appropriate at the Olympics, they are not right for Harvard," he explains. Thus Walker has hired the Boston Pops to provide most of the music for the event because that is an orchestra "which even the people of Boston can enjoy."

Narrating the Saturday night affair will be former CBS news anchorman Walter Cronkite. Surrounded by pictures of the eight Harvard graduates who signed the Declaration of Independence and laser images of sites in the Boston area, Cronkite will tell the fantastic story of Harvard's rise from a provincial university to one of the most prominent institutions of higher education in the world.

Woven into Cronkite's scrip will be bursts of fireworks, and descriptions of Harvard student life by author George Plimpton '54, who is also a fireworks expert.

Adding to the dignified air which Walker says is needed for a Harvard event, will be readings of the works of Harvard graduates--including Ralph Waldo Emerson (Class of 1821) and Henry David Thoureau (Class of 1837).

Harvard undergraduates won't be left out of the festivities. Walker has slated various student musical groups to perform. "I wanted to bring in as many Harvard people as possible," Walker explains. "I am not so presumptuous as to think I could absorb everything that makes up a Harvard person."

Veritas

The spirit of Harvard will be in the air from the very first day when the birthday celebration begins with a River Festival on the Charles. This event is supposed to be Harvard's party for the whole community, explains organizer Clara Wainwright.

In order to generate enthusiasm for the event, a life-size marionette of John Harvard will travel to various community events and shake hands with children of all ages, Wainwright says.

In addition, a poster designed for the event by a fourth grader from Cambridge's Tobin elementary school will soon start going up in Allston and Cambridge, Wainwright says.

Originally, a big birthday cake was to float down the Charles, but Wainwright says the cake would have been scalped by the low bridges over the river. After discovering they couldn't have their cake and eat it too, Harvard changed the program to feature musicians and jugglers from the Boston area performing on stationary barges tied to both ends of the Charles.

Also linking the two banks from Weeks Bridge to Eliot House will be a gigantic rainbow-like sculpture, designed by an MIT professor of advanced environmental design. In addition a water screen will shoot up toward Weeks Bridge on which aquatic laser images will be projected.

A short burst of fireworks will finish the program, though Wainwright says the police asked her to "play that down."

"The kinds of people that come for [fireworks] bring alcohol and cause traffic jams," she explains.

"It's a family affair," Burr says of the party. Many of the other large events will try to stress that theme.

Performing in Tercentenary Theater on Friday night will be famous folk singer Tom Rush '63, who will be joined by Joan Baez and Bonnie Rait, who attended Radcliffe from 1967 to 1970.

"It's a Colt 47 revival type of concert," says 350th publicist David Sanders. Colt 47 was club in Harvard Square during the 50s and 60s where many folk singers played and got their start.

The entire celebration itself is centered around the convocations of Harvard faculty, students and alumni. "They will be like Commencement except with more banners," Sanders says.

In addition to the Prince of Wales, representatives from Cambridge University, Yale University and the University of California will attend the first convocation on Thursday morning. There will be excerpts from past student orations and a colorful faculty procession.

A speaker has yet to be picked to replace President Reagan for the second convocation Friday morning, but Stephenson says his office is working hard on that now. Joining the yet-unnamed speaker will be tapes of speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt '04 and other famous graduates.

The final convocation on Saturday afternoon will feature President Bok.

"The convocations will be large, but they're just a lot of speeches," Sanders says.

And if it rains? Rain will likely destroy the entire celebration. Whereas Harvard usually sets up alternative sites for other gala events, like Commencement, the University has set up no contingency plans for the events in case of bad weather.

"I'm going to park my car right outside of Cambridge and take off with the first shower," says Burr.