Twenty-Two and Counting…

Saint Mary’s College commemorates the crazy stunt—and photo that made it famous—50 years later.

On March 25th, Saint Mary’s College will celebrate the “Golden Anniversary” commemorating a good ol’ time from the “golden days,” when college campuses were full of pranksters and people looking to get into some honest trouble, all in the name of fun.

Technically, the event being celebrated is the staging and capturing of the world-famous photograph taken by LIFE magazine freelancer and Orinda local, Joe Munroe (now 92-years-old and still living in the same Orinda house that he did at the time of the photo). It depicts 22 smiling, bonny youths all crammed into a single phone booth—appendages and trunks haphazardly sticking every which way in order to best reach capacity—while trying to blast the world record and snatch a coveted space in the Guinness Book of World Records.

And what the heck kind of world record is that, anyway? Stuffing yourself into a phone book doesn’t exactly demand athletic prowess, intensive training, or a superior intellect. In fact, the only skill it seems it required is the creativity to think up such a stunt—and maybe small statures for efficiency sake.

Really, the photo is only a public, organized representation that depicted a mood of spontaneity and goofiness pervading college campuses nationwide. According to Ted Tsukahara, a participant in the original 1959 event and current professor at Saint Mary’s College, the late 1950’s was a time of innocence—the institution was all male in those days, and even smaller than it is today. Tsukahara also recalls other pranks which involved the fairer sex as well. Once, a few boys managed to “kidnap” at Stanford cheerleader--fully decked out in her pom-pom regalia—to appear at a pep-rally and increase the hype of the already rowdy atmosphere.

On Wednesday, during the college's midday community time, SMC will stage a third attempt at cramming the booth (a second attempt was made in 1989 for the 25th anniversary). This year may lack the spontaneity which induced the original prank, but the fun attitude will still be there. Senior Amber Oosman is helping organize the event, which will feature two phone booths being crammed with teams consisting of students from different campus groups or organizations. The whole event will not be scripted though, and participants will walk away with some free loot—like T-shirts that say “istuffed,” or “icrammed,” and a little bit of BBQ action.

Today, the LIFE magazine phone booth photo continues to be one of SMC’s 15-seconds-of-fame, a reminder of the limelight shone on a little campus tucked away in the hills of Moraga. The people who it means the most to are no doubt those who participated in that era of SMC’s history, but all Gales and Lamorinda locals can take ownership of the resultant heritage—in 1989, after the college had gone co-ed, a reenactment was even staged with an all-female phone booth in addition to the all-male. According to Tsukahara, “It is a piece of history—or better yet, it is tradition.” So whether you were there from the tradition’s onset (such as local dealership-owner brothers Don and Ron Dorito), or you have nothing to do with the college; you can still admire those by-gone days of doing crazy stuff, just for fun. And by the way, the boys in ’59 didn’t come close to posting a new record, but does it even matter?

Wednesday, March 25, 1–2 p.m., Chapel Lawn at Saint Mary’s College, 1928 St. Mary’s Road, Moraga, stmarys-ca.edu.

 

 

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