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March 9, 2003Offbeat tales the stuff of legendByRecord-Eagle staff writer NORTHPORT - In the annals of Northport school history, certainly there were more important events than when the ceiling dropped at the 1950 prom or when a spelling bee held more than a century ago ended in a riot. But the real story is in the quirky details. For instance, in 1878 the Northport students challenged the nearby Bright School to a spell-off in 1878. According to the history books, the Bright scholars became so incensed after a judge's error that they tore a board off the building. Northport kids chased the Bright boys nearly back to Bright. Lunch time was a matter of public pride. The Northport Tribune reported a record number, 160 students, sat down to a "type A" - whatever that was - hot lunch one winter's day in 1950. There are also nonchalant reports of heroism. Like the Jan. 9, 1950, newspaper account of bus driver Edward Kehl's morning route that went awry when flames flickered out from the bus. He ordered the children out, "grabbed a fire extinguisher, threw up the hood, and found defective wiring ... caused the blaze." Kehl disconnected the wires, reloaded the bus, and completed the route. Parties were popular, then as now - though the 1950 prom was almost disastrous. The Echo yearbook reports that a false ceiling caved in on the dance floor, but after the dust cleared it was "a very nice party." By 1984, students had prom down to a routine - dinner, the dance and the Flap Jack Shack in Traverse City - in that order, according to The Echo. Students were always good at entertaining themselves, too. The student council bought two Bell Howell movie production machines in 1945, which the newspaper said allowed for the show to continue without interruptions at the end of each reel. And the senior class of 1946 treated themselves to a lake cruise, stopping at ports in Chicago, Mackinac Island and Detroit. In 1964, the sophomores sponsored the first Twirp Week, which ended with a Twirp Dance on Friday. Apparently, though inexplicably, during the week, "All girls were to become the 'perfect gentleman' and all the boys the 'perfect lady,' " the yearbook reports. Also that year, the gun club had at least 27 members. By 1974, the cheerleader's skirts had shortened by several feet. A decade later the last page of The Echo discussed the disadvantages of a small tourist town, namely, "There is no sex life, because before it happens, everyone knows about it."
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