A Look Back: the University of Notre Dame, 1955-56

I suspect you can call us enthusiasts with this: we’ve tracked down a copy of the 1955-56 Dome, the University of Notre Dame yearbook. We’ve thumbed through the thing and found a few items of interest, which we’ve highlighted below - plus with added commentary.

The following people and groups visited the campus [1].

• Entertainers Eddie Fisher (pictured) and wife, Debbie Reynolds (Sept. 1955)
• His Beatitude Maximos IV, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East (Oct.)
• O'Laughlin Auditorium on the campus of Saint Mary's College held its grand opening on October 11 and featured the NBC Opera Company's production of The Marriage of Figaro [2].
• "In one day they presented two operas sung in English, La Traviata in the afternoon and The Marriage of Figaro in the evening. After a lifetime of addiction to classical music I can now appreciate what splendid theatrical experiences these were, but Bellairs and I were both classical neophytes at the time. We attended both operas. I remember that John liked La Traviata well enough but was not expecting much from Figaro. Of course he wound up being entranced by it, as audiences have been for more than 200 years [3]."
• Singer, lecturer, and educator Zelma Watson George (Dec.)
• Slavic folk songs and dances by Duquesne University Tamburitzans (Pittsburgh, PA) (Nov.)
• Senator Hubert H. Humphrey (D-MN) (Dec.)
• Noted Catholic lay theologian and author Frank Sheed (Nov.-Dec.)
• Singer Andrew Foldi (April)
• Merce Cunningham Dancers (May)
• General Curtis E. LeMay (Patriot of the Year, 1956) [4]

References

• [1] "The Dome", University of Notre Dame (1956).
• [2] "History of Moreau Center for the Arts", Saint Mary's College.
• [3] Correspondence with Alfred Myers.
• [4] "Patriot of the Year Recipients", University of Notre Dame.