The Varsity Show is one of the oldest traditions at Columbia University and certainly its oldest performing arts presentation. Founded in 1894 as a fundraiser for the university's fledgling athletic teams, the Varsity Show now draws together the entire Columbia undergraduate community for a series of sold-out performances every April. Dedicated to producing a unique full-length spectacle that skewers and satirizes many dubious aspects of life at Columbia, the Varsity Show is written and inspired by an extensive team of cast, producers and production personnel.

The long list of alumni who have written, performed, directed, worked backstage, or otherwise been associated with the show includes such distinguished names as:

• John Erskine '00, pioneer of the Great Books program;
• Arthur Garfield Hays '02, who represented the American Civil Liberties Union at the Monkey Trial of John Scopes;
• Ralph Morgan '04, the first president of the Screen Actors Guild;
• Roy Webb '10, composer for scores of films, including Abe Lincoln in Illinois, Notorious, and Marty;
• Dixon Ryan Fox '11, president of Union College;
• Legendary lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II ’16;
• Howard Dietz '17, lyricist for Dancing in the Dark and head of publicity for MGM, who created its famed Leo the Lion trademark;
• Herman Mankiewicz '17, who with Orson Welles wrote Citizen Kane;
• Lorenz Hart ’18, lyricist of My Funny Valentine, Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered and many other Broadway standards;
• Humorist Corey Ford '23, who named Eustace Tilley, the mascot of The New Yorker magazine
• Legendary songwriter Richard Rodgers ’23;
• Cultural historian Jacques Barzun '27;
• Albert Maltz '30, one of theHollywood Ten and screenwriter for Destination Tokyo;
• William Ludwig '32 screenwriter for The Great Caruso and Oscar co-winner for Interrupted Melody;
• Martin Manulis '35, television producer and creator of Playhouse 90;
• John La Touche '37, lyricist for Cabin in the Sky and The Golden Apple;
• Minimalist poet Robert Lax '38;
• Chicago bears quarterback Sid Luckman '39;
• Oscar-winning screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond '41, Billy Wilder's co-author on The Apartment and The Fortune Cookie;
• Holocaust author Gerald Green '42;
• Actor Sorrell Booke '49, who played Boss Hogg in The Dukes of Hazzard;
• Edward Kleban '59, lyricist for A Chorus Line;
• Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally '60;
• Jon Bauman '69 of Sha Na Na.

Varsity Show is a 1937 feature film from Warner Brothers about a group of students at "Winfield College" who butt heads with their faculty advisor while producing an annual stage show.

The film was directed by William Keighley from a script by Jerry Wald, Richard Macaulay, Warren Duff and Sig Herzig. The movie features songs by Richard A. Whiting and many others. The finale was directed by Busby Berkeley.

This film, however 'kitchy' it maybe, is one of the most important to modern choral music in America. In 1937, Fred Waring was approached to play a starring role in this film. He brought his famous glee club, the Pennsylvanians, to the shoot and planned on using the college glee club from Pamona College ("Winfield College" in the movie) for additional singers. When Mr. Waring arrived at the campus he found the Glee Club conductor was ill but his replacement was a young, entergetic young man named Robert Shaw. Robert Shaw (conductor) followed Fred Waring, after the movie was finished, to New York. There, Mr. Shaw founded the Collegate Chorale and the Robert Shaw Chorale. Robert Shaw went on to be one of the most important personalities in American choral music in the 20th century.

Winfield College students who are trying to put together the annual varsity show come into conflict with their faculty adviser, a stodgy old professor whose ideas are hopelessly out of date, and who won't even let the new "swing" music be played in the show. They decide to get ahold of a former student who is now a big Broadway star and have him direct their show. What they don't know is that this "star's" last three shows were big flops. Written by frankfob2@yahoo.com