Christmas at the Avalon School in the 1930s
Editor’s Note: The following account was related to Dave Coskey by Honor Bright Allen in February of 1975 from her home in Dennis Township. At the time, Ms. Allen was a former teacher and principal in the Avalon School on 26th Street. She taught at the school beginning in 1924 and then again in 1933. Ms. Allen achieved national notoriety in 1938 when she was terminated by the Board of Education just before being awarded tenure. It was a policy that the Avalon Board followed in those days, to avoid having any tenured teachers on staff.
Much to the surprise of the Board of Education, the students from the school all walked out of class, some against their parents’ wishes, in protest of her dismissal. They immediately set up a picket line in front of Keen’s Pharmacy on 21st Street. George Keen was president of the Board of Education. Their actions drew a great deal of media attention locally as well as outside of Cape May County. The Cape May County Gazette called the action “a move without precedent in South Jersey grammar school history.”
Ms. Allen was also responsible for starting a holiday tradition in Avalon: Christmas entertainment, as it was called back in 1925. It’s a tradition that’s continued for generations of Avalon school students, but it was an idea of Honor Bright Allen 99 years ago. This year the Avalon Elementary School will present its holiday program in the multipurpose room at Avalon School at 6pm on Dec. 12, and will feature the eighth grade holiday play “Christmas Catastrophe” by Blake Barnoski, an eighth grader at the school this year. The multipurpose room in the new Avalon School is a far cry from the old Peermont Casino – where the first show took place. That’s part of the reason it’s so much fun to look back and see how it all started and what the Seven Mile Beach was like almost 100 years ago.
We’ll let Honor Bright Allen take it from here:
Honor Bright Allen
“I first started at the Avalon School in September of 1924. The little two-room school had two teachers. The lower grades were first through fourth. The upper grades were fifth through eighth. If I remember correctly there were approximately 50 children in the school. Miss Ida Smith from Sea Isle City taught the upper grades and was principal. I taught the lower grades.
Prior to 1924 only one room was utilized, for the lower grades. The upper grades were bussed to Court House. At that time, the parents and school board seemed dissatisfied with the present teacher, who had tenure. The parents fought for a change. Consequently, the teacher, a man, was dismissed. The upper room was opened up again in September 1925 and the school was in full swing and everyone seemed satisfied for a spell.
Along about Christmas, Miss Smith was taken ill and there was no substitute available. We opened the sliding partition, and I took over the entire school, all eight grades.
It was at this time that we were getting together our Christmas entertainment. And the children were elated with the idea. Miss Smith had some bad discipline problems. Some older boys felt their oats, as if they had carte blanche. At this time, they felt that they could run the school. As we dove deeper and deeper into the Christmas entertainment I placed much of the responsibility on their shoulders – the smart alecks’ attitude seemed to fade, and cooperation ensued.
Needless to say, our entertainment was a huge success. It was held in the old Borough Hall, which was located on 13th Street and Dune Drive. Practically the entire town was there.
The Christmas entertainment that we started in 1925 grew and expanded. In the years 1926-27 the school, along with the help of the parents and the PTA, which was organized in 1925, really put on some great productions. We needed additional space and storage which couldn’t be accommodated in the Borough Hall building, which was located on 13th Street in 1925, so we took over the old Peermont Casino. (Editor’s note: This structure was demolished in 2001 but was located on the Boardwalk at 29th Street, You may remember it, depending on your age, as TK’s, The Shell Shop, its arcade, or the candy shop.)
This building at the time had no heating facilities and stands out near the ocean, defiant to the elements. But as usual, in an emergency, that old American spirit came through and we found a way to carry through.
Days before the show citizens of old Avalon got to work. We needed much help. In those days there was no gas for heat so people in town loaned us their kerosene cooking stoves for heating purposes. Others were on the alert to keep the fires burning 24 hours a day. We’d need to keep them going for at least three days before the show. I remember it being especially cold that winter. And with the winds whipping off of the ocean – it was important that we keep the fires going.
The night of the show the old casino was warm as toast, and everyone had a glorious time because everyone had worked to make the show a success. The cold sea breezes blew down the boardwalk – but it was warm inside for our show. Everyone in town seemed to attend – in those days this was a big event in town. The children and their parents were all so proud. It was so nice to see the children, their parents, and town residents all come together and celebrate the holidays. It was like a picture from a magazine.
As I look back over the years, never before have I experienced such wholehearted cooperation as existed between the school and the parents in Avalon at this time.
Honor Bright Allen
February 1975
Dennisville, N.J.