Students dance for the senior Stunt Night sketch
1 2025-11-12T16:30:33+00:00 Julia Teran 9aca9c408841ff28b321d7128a1e5c918a151e1d 9 1 Students dance for the senior Stunt Night sketch, 1951 2025-11-12T16:30:33+00:00 CWRU Archives Public Domain Mather ; R77000 Students ; E76230 Competitions 01600 1951 Unknown [Events and Activities] ; [People] Stunt Night Julia Teran 9aca9c408841ff28b321d7128a1e5c918a151e1dThis page is referenced by:
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Stunt Night at Mather College
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This page provides information about Stunt Night at Mather College.
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At Mather College, the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break were not solely devoted to term papers and final exams. Preparations for Stunt Night - writing skits, learning dances, making costumes and scenery - competed for student time and energy.
One night, just before Christmas vacation, each class performed an original skit and song, competing for both class honor and the silver Stunt Night cup. Judging was done by a panel of faculty, alumnae, and students. Parody and satire were the prevailing modes of expression. Current events, University mores, and, not surprisingly, the men of Adelbert College, provided rich topics.
From its origins in the College’s gymnasium in 1914, Stunt Night’s popularity required a larger venue by the 1920s. For decades, the annual performance was held in the Masonic Auditorium. Over the years, additional traditions accumulated. By the late 1930s, a dance following the performance was held at local hotels such as the Statler Hilton, the Hotel Cleveland, and the Tudor Arms. The Champagne Circle featured the winning class passing the Stunt Night cup around the circle, with each woman taking a celebratory sip of champagne. By the early 1940s, a post-dance breakfast in Haydn Hall ended the festivities in the early morning.
In 1945, Stunt Night attracted the attention of Life Magazine, which published an article, “Life Goes to a College Stunt Night,” in the January 21, 1946 issue.
Stunt Night’s status as the most important student event in the Mather College calendar is clear from its extensive coverage in the yearbooks, which can be viewed in the University Archives Student Yearbook collection in Digital Case.
Stunt Night is also fondly remembered by Mather alumnae. Some of their recollections have been recorded as audio interviews done by students in the Mather Center Oral History Project.
Sources
For more information about Stunt Night, see the list of records and published histories from the Case Western Reserve University Archives collection on our CWRU Archives Sources page.
