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Here's
Pie in Your Eye
Hey, little boy! See that stuck-up little girl? Want to push her into the snow?
At the age of 27, I had moved to Washington, Pennsylvania, to become the program director of a local channel. Many of our telecasts on TV-3 involved the activities of the three local high schools: Immaculate Conception, Trinity, and Washington. Washington High Schools 1974 yearbook is now available online, thanks to classmates.com. And therein I find the following photographic evidence proving that Im not dreaming. A ceremony did actually take place, and not merely once. Was it slapstick? Was it sadism? Though I observed this public ritual with my own eyes, I didn't understand it, and I only half remember it.
The cheerleaders duties included stirring up school spirit before each big game. Sometimes, a period during the school day was set aside for them to hold a pep rally in the gymnasium. Because the gym also served as the schools auditorium, it had a stage in one end zone, and on that stage sat the band.
I was at Washington High School one day, though without a camera, when one of these pep rallies took place. The cheerleaders enthusiastically introduced their athletic heroes.
And then came the part that I didnt quite understand. One of the guys was called to come forward.
One of the cheerleaders was to be his victim. To protect her hair, she put on a shower cap. To protect her sweater, she donned some sort of a plastic bib.
And then she stood there stoically, closed her eyes, and let the guy smoosh a cream pie into her face.
Anyone know why?
My best guess is that it was a stunt to benefit a good cause. Such fund-raising activites are not unknown. For example, here's a 2009 article from a newspaper at another high school.
Pie a cheerleader to adopt a family! Seems like a good deal. As the 2009 article concluded,
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