1920s high school books catch the modern eye
The world is divided into two kinds of people: those who never look at their high school yearbooks … and those who, from time to time, dip into them. I am one of the latter and my six Waterloo Collegiate Sagas have done yeoman’s service over time in refreshing a wobbly memory.
Today’s focus is on a different yearbook, K-W’s longest-running … the one with the perfect name, The Grumbler.
While re-examining some 1920s and 1930s KCI Grumblers that I had acquired decades ago, what again caught my eye were the cover graphics, a startling combination of art nouveau, Art Deco and oriental influences.
First appearing early in the century as a stencil-copied news sheet, Grumblers featured school gossip, sports, poems and humour. A 1907 teacher said it gave students “a chance to grumble in print.”
It remained a throwaway publication until 1924. Suddenly — three times each school year — a six-bynine-inch, 40-to-60 page, professionally printed magazine with impressive covers began appearing. That format lasted until 1930, when it switched again, becoming an actual yearbook.
The Grumbler continues in the 21st century as an annual but today’s Flash from the Past focuses on the 1920s era.
One of the delights of browsing through those Grumblers is finding connections. The Grumbler’s own staff photo in December 1925 shows editor Keith Staebler and writer Edna Cress. A few years later they married and in the second half of the 20th century she became one of K-W’s best-selling authors thanks to her series of “Schmecks” books.
That wasn’t the sole Grumbler literary marriage.
In the 1931 yearbook, a detective parody featuring Herlock Sholmes titled South Sea Soup Company appeared with the misspelled byline, Ken Miller. This was his first printed story and copies of the 1931
Grumbler have sold for more than $500 to collectors of “Ross Macdonald” books. That’s the pseudonym Ken Millar later adopted as he wrote hard-boiled crime fiction featuring private eye Lew Archer. Also writing for The Grumbler in 1931-1933 was Margaret Sturm. The two married in 1938. She, as Margaret Millar, also became a top crime fiction author: each was among North America’s bestselling writers in the 1950s and 1960s.
Overseeing The Grumbler’s French pages in 1931 was another well-known Kitchener name, Kieth Hymmen. Just a few decades later he was mayor of Kitchener and a member of Parliament. Beland Honderich in 1933 won KCI debating awards … good training to become editor of the Toronto Star 25 years later and eventually head of Torstar Corporation.
Sadly, there are very few candid Grumbler snapshots showing informal KCI life and, just as sad, these Grumblers did not have individual class pictures. Club and sports groups dominated the photography pages with almost everyone formally dressed and oh-soserious. For example, boys in woodworking shop gathered around saws, planers, drills, etc. are wearing buttoned suits, white shirts and long ties!
Student-written short stories, essays, activity reviews and poems filled up much of The Grumbler but there was also humour — high school humour.
From 1931’s 2-C class:
Mr Hann: “I take great pleasure in giving you 81 in Geometry.”
David Halliwell: “Aw, make it a hundred and enjoy yourself!” From December 1924:
Mr. Guenther: “Who was Homer?”
Ward S: “The guy Babe Ruth made famous.”
And there are thousands more! Also filling The Grumbler were advertisements, some aimed directly at students, others simply supportive. Every student whose parent ran a business would have been a cold-call sales rep for The Grumbler. Sheehy Brothers Company likely didn’t sell many oil burners to high-schoolers nor would Jacques Furniture have delivered many bedroom furniture sets.
However, ads for school supplies, restaurants, clothes, colleges and typewriters had the perfect marketplace.
My one regret is that the cover designers of a century ago were not given credit.
Their work first caught my attention and hopefully they’ve added some bright colours to your Saturday morning Waterloo Region Record.
Email me for a PDF of The Grumbler pages featuring Ken Millar’s first-ever story. There are three archived columns on Ken and Margaret Millar. Go to theRecord.com and search “Flash from the Past” Millar.