Thursday, July,
9,2014
Tonight the summer session arranged a study
break for all of us at 8 pm at the Mory’s, which is on the corner just outside the
Morse college. We went inside for a look in the afternoon, and a little earlier
before 8 pm again, only to see people dining and talking, so I left for a walk
on the campus and didn’t come back to the study break.
At night I searched the net for information
about the Mory’s. Wow, such amazing history and stories! I didn’t know that so
I didn’t feel the necessity to be there to experience. What a pity!
I have to know and understand the
background, the history, the stories behind , and then you can appreciate the
place, the stuff.
Mory’s, known also as Mory’s Temple Bar, is a private
club adjacent to the campus of Yale University in New Haven,Connecticut, United States, founded in 1849 and housed in a
clubhouse that was originally a private home built some time before 1817. The
club's membership consists primarily of those who have an affiliation with
Yale, and the culture of both institutions is deeply entangled. Originally an
exclusive club only open to males affiliated with Yale College, the club
gradually expanded membership over the years to the entire Yale community after
much public wrangling about the exclusion of certain segments of the population
when important meetings were held there over lunch, as was usual, by University
decision makers.
After several years of operating losses and the 2008 financial
crisis, the club closed indefinitely on December 19, 2008. Although the club
had an endowment of $2 million, it was depleted by this poor performance and
the market downturn in 2008-2009. After
completion of a comprehensive business plan at the end of 2009 and progress on
a fundraising effort, Mory's committed to a major renovation and a new business
model in 2010. The fundraising effort and construction were completed in 2010
and Mory's reopened on Wednesday, August 25, 2010.
Membership
in Mory's is now offered to all Yale students, employees and alumni as well as
members of the New Haven community with an affiliation to Yale. Yale
undergraduates can join with a $15 membership fee that covers all four years at
Yale. Alumni living within 30 miles of Mory's pay a $99 annual fee while alumni
living over 30 miles away pay a $49 annual fee.
Several important traditions are maintained at Mory's that
have deep resonance with certain Yale alumni and students.
The Whiffenpoofs
The Whiffenpoofs,
the a cappella group
made up of Yale seniors who are recruited from other Yale undergraduate singing
groups, sings weekly most Monday evenings in the dining areas of the club. They
often perform the famous "Whiffenpoof Song" which mentions Mory's as
the "place where Louis dwells." It was through this song, which was
sung and recorded by the likes of Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley,
that the Club became part of the national consciousness in the early part of
the twentieth century.
Cups
One of these is the ritualistic consumption of a
"Cup," in which a party of members gather to share drinks of assorted
colors and ingredients (usually containing alcohol, although a
non-alcoholic "Imperial Cup" is available) from large silver trophy
cups that look like handled urns and are passed amongst the gathered company.
The cups are ordered by color, and some are based on sparkling wines, while
others are based on beer. There is an elaborate ritual, including at the
completion of a cup a drinking song, associated with the tradition. Cups come
in many colors including Red, Gold, Purple, Blue, Green, and Velvet. The color
of the potions made it easier to detect any remaining drops. One thing that
made it extremely difficult to avoid remaining drops was the nearly invariable
presence of a cylinder of ice in the center of the "loving cup". As
the last drinker tried to drain the cup, the cylinder would come crashing down
on the poor devil's nose. This may have been a perversion associated with the
years 1950 to 1980; history is silent on the duration of the offense.
When a member finds himself (or herself, as Mory's has
welcomed women into its membership ranks since 1972, three years after Yale
College) about to finish a Cup, he or she faces the decades-old challenge of
"cleaning the cup"—removing all moisture from the cup by using only
his or her mouth and, to finish the job, hair. Friends to the left and right
are at the ready with napkins to minimize drippage during this process. While
the member is finishing, and to give that member extra time to "clean the
cup," his or her friends are wont to chant the Mory's Song (an adaptation,
for a diametrically opposite purpose, of theSalvation Army camp song "Put a nickel on the drum")[unreliable
source?], with
the finishing member's name as the hero of the song:
It's [Name],
It's [Name],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Na-ame], It's [Na-me],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Na-ame], It's [Na-me],
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'round,
It's [Name] that makes the world go 'ro-ou-ound,
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be saved.
I was h-a-p-p-y to be f-r-double-e
f-r-double-e to be s-a-v-e-d
s-a-v-e-d from the bonds of s-i-n
Glory glory Hallelujah hip hooray amen.
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be saved.
I was lying in the gutter,
I was covered up in beer,
Pretzels in my moustache,
I thought the end was near,
Then along came [Name]!
And saved me from my curse,
Glory glory Hallelujah sing another verse!
Sing Hallelujah! Sing
Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum,
Save another drunken bum
Sing Hallelujah! Sing Hallelujah!
Put a nickel on the drum and you'll be
sa-aa-aved.
At the conclusion of the Mory's Song, the member places the
trophy cup, upside down, on top of a cloth (or, more challenging, paper)
napkin, whereupon three friends place their respective hands atop the base of
the cup and tap firmly. The cup is then whisked away, and the napkin is
inspected for any signs of moisture. In decades past, if the napkin were wet,
then the finishing member would be forced to pay for the cup; if the napkin
were dry, the member to the finishing member's right—who himself chose to
forego finishing the cup—would have to pay. In more modern times, most toasting
parties split the bill evenly amongst members, regardless of who finishes or
doesn't finish a cup.
A carillon is a musical
instrument that is
typically housed in the bell tower of a church or other municipal building. The instrument consists of at least 23 cast bronze,
cup-shaped bells, which are serially played to produce a melody, or sounded
together to play a chord. A traditional manual carillon is played by striking a keyboard — the stick-like keys of which are called batons — with the fists,
and by pressing the keys of a pedal
keyboard with the feet.
The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers
that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer on the bells, or carillonneur/carillonist to vary
the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key.
