Whenever I tell friends who grew up in other cities that we had a class called "Auditorium", they get a puzzled look. "How can you have a class called 'Auditorium'?" they demand. "That's not a subject, like 'art' or 'geography'. It's just a room!" "Well," I counter, "we had other classes named after rooms. "We had 'Gym', and 'Library'." But that usually does not satisfy them.
"Auditorium" was a general purpose class that could mean seeing a movie, or a play, or even a short a concert performed by by visiting members of the DSO. It could also mean a filmstrip produced in the 1940s about preventing the spread of tuberculosis, or just sitting quietly and Not Talking or Bothering Your Neighbor.
Auditorium was taught- if we can use that word- by Mrs. Beeman. I don't recall what she looked like, though I have a vague memory of cat's eye glasses on a long chain of the sort usually associated with librarians.
2 comments:
I've gotten that same reaction. It must have been something unique to Detroit schools, since we had "Auditorium" class at Clinton Elementary, as well.
I went back to visit the school about 8 years ago or so and the auditorium looked the same! Remember the projector room in the back? The cushy seats? The heavy curtains?
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