Events

The Spizzwinks(?) Sing at the Harvard Club

August 20, 2014 at 8:00 pm
Boston, MA

Join YaleBoston for a performance by the Spizzwinks(?) at the Harvard Club of Boston!

Late in 1913, four Yale freshmen met at Mory’s, Yale’s historic tavern, to choose a name for their new singing group. Their group was intended as a satirical response to the Yale Whiffenpoofs, the only other a cappella group existing at that time. After thinking and drinking (and perhaps more drinking than thinking), one of them glimpsed at the ghost of Frank Johnson, the postmaster of his small Iowa hometown, who had attributed the Corn Blight of 1906 to an invisible insect called the Spizzwink. The singer jumped up at once. “That’s it!” he shouted. “We’ll call the group the Spizzwinks!” That year, a yearbook editor who was unsure of the word’s spelling added a question mark in parentheses, and it remains to this day.

More information on YaleBoston's website

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