HDC Wrestles with $4000 Deficit

The Harvard Dramatic Club yesterday turned over its finances to a Boston businessman in an effort to pull out of an estimated $4,000 debt.

President Robert C. Seaver '50 revealed last night that the club has been in the red ever since its production of "The Survivors" in April, 1948. The University has declined to pay the deficit, but has insisted that HDC let an older man handle its money in the future.

The Man is Brigham

The club has chosen F. Gorham Brigham, Jr. '37, a former Pentagon Building accountant. Brigham will have a strong hand in deciding expenditures--what is essential and what isn't--and, according to Seaver, curb "our artistic exuberance."

HDC has already written letters to its creditors, explaining its situation and promising to pay off all debts as soon as it makes the money. It has also asked its members for contributions of $15 to $20 to help erase the red ink.

Lost on "Survivors"

Trouble for the HDC started last year, when it decided to give its 40th-anniversary play, "The Survivors," at Plymouth Theater in Boston. The costs of an amateur company on a professional stage were too much, and the club went $5000 into debt. HDC still hasn't survived "The Survivors."

Last fall the group presented "Amphitryon 38." It paid off most of the "Survivor" deficit, and went $5000 into debt on "Amphitryon."

Then it presented "The Man Who Came to Dinner." It paid off most of the "Amphitryon' 'deficit, and went $500 into debt on "The Man."

Finally the University stepped in. Associate Dean Robert F. Watson told the HDC that Harvard has no funds for insolvent student organizations, but would do everything in its power--short of money--to help them.