Band Upholds Crimson Honor in Winning 'Battle of the Big Drum'

Two separate battles were fought Saturday on Soldiers Field. Dartmouth won the football contest, 26-0, but Harvard preserved its self-respect by winning the halftime "Battle of the Big Drum."

After the University band played through the dulcet strains of "Let Me Call You Sweetheart," Dartmouth almost pulled off the greatest deception since the invention of the forward pass. A speedy group raced from the stands and snared the world's biggest drum, which band managers had returned the night before from Chicago, where it had undergone extensive repairs, and started to run with it towards the goal line.

With their honor at stake, the band broke from a heart-shaped formation into a flying wedge. Instruments made effective cudgels, and the Dartmouth men were pushed away, as the drum was retrieved.

Individual stars of the entire show were the Harvard men guarding the drum, who combined quick work with the drumsticks and efficient body blocking with fast broken-field running towards the sidelines with their charge intact.

The Dartmouth invaders finally capitulated, and as the band re-formed to play "Fair Harvard," about fifteen men of the Big Green salaamed towards the Crimson stands as a sign of surrender. Despite dented instruments and a tuba broken in half, the band blared fourth with its vigor undiminished.

Other halftime entertainment on the field included impromptu entertainment by fraternity pledges, who scrimmaged in front of the Dartmouth stands. Both teams, the "Crimson" and the "Big Green," were garbed in long underwear and tape. One hefty yardling won the game for Harvard, however, when he dashed onto the field of action and stole the football, bringing the initiation to an abrupt finish. An effort to continue the game, substituting a gander for the ball, was foiled when the fowl fled.