In this week’s installment of our recurring series bringing you the history of Princeton University and its faculty, students, and alumni, New Jersey’s governor pardons the marching band’s drum major, Jimmy Stewart’s singing gets positive reviews, and more.

December 16, 1981—Drum Major Stephen Teager ’82 will not appear in Princeton Municipal Court today as planned, thanks to an 11^th-hour pardon by Gov. Brendan T. Byrne ’49. Teager would have faced charges of parading without a permit for causing congestion on Witherspoon Street when he led the marching band in a victory parade on November 23. “There’s no question I was guilty,” Teager says. The penalties could have earned Teager a fine of $1,100 and a jail sentence of up to 210 days.

December 17, 1931—James Stewart ’32’s “pleasing voice” in his performance as “Alfonso,” the henpecked husband in Triangle Club’s “Spanish Blades,” receives glowing reviews, especially for his solo, “Day after Day,” during which he accompanies himself on an accordion (recording available here). The Princeton Herald will pronounce the production “a good evening of entertainment for these depressing times.”

December 20, 1882—The freshman horn spree—similar to an event later known as “Poler’s Recess“—takes place.

December 22, 1919—Edward C. Olds, Class of 1909, attends the funeral for Hobey Baker, Class of 1914. Baker’s death “has cast a cloud over the Second Army Air Service where he was so very well known and liked by officers and men.”

For the previous installment in this series, click here.

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