Here are two quite unusual images from the file labeled “Homecoming 1951”:
Well now. What to make of this? I’ve never seen anything like it. What alumnus could merit a microphone on the tarmac, not to mention special trip out to the airport by Miss Sarah Lane?
One of the envelopes inside the folder had a name on it: Jack Glenn. He turns out to be precisely the fellow in the center of the top photograph. In addition to his local fame as president of the Rice Institute’s class of 1926, Glenn was famous as the producer of “The March of Time,” a newsreel series that was shown in movie theaters for several decades. I’ve had a look at a few of the episodes on YouTube and they are difficult to categorize. It’s not really news, exactly, but something more like short, opinionated documentaries narrated by a man with a booming voice. In a turn of events that has left me a bit dazed, “The March of Time” has a Facebook page. If you like messing around with things like this it is well worth your while:
All of this is interesting but as usual it’s something else that has caught my attention. It didn’t take long discover that Jack Glenn’s papers (142 boxes worth!) are preserved for some reason in the archives of the University of Wyoming. Most of the collection is his professional papers and film but there are several entries in the finding aid that are clearly Rice related including—hang on—a scrapbook from his student days.
I need to go there.
Bonus: Come see our new display in the trophy case in the RMC and think about coming to the panel on February 18th too. With a topic like this it can’t fail to be interesting.
