MHS Alumni Page
Jubilation T. Cornpone

Many of you are probably wondering about the origin of this page. Well, one night I was logged into an alumni site called "Classmates". I went to their discussion page, and there was a message entitled "anyone remember Jubilation T. Cornpone put on the courthouse steps?" It was simply marked "from 2095459". I was electrified. Here was a memory that I hadn't considered in twenty years. I can't express all the thoughts that ran through my mind.

Memories of far away, and simpler times. Of old friends, special times, and a great idea gone just *right*.

Energized, I lauched a series of response to this reminder of a long gone time. Who was this mystery person who shared a precious moment in my past? There weren't many of us involved so many years ago, and I didn't have a clue which of us this was!

In the spring of 1977,  Muscatine High School put on it's annual musical, this year a production of "L'il Abner". . The weeks leading up to it were the usual cacophany of rehearsals, stage building and setting lights. And constructing props. One central prop that involved a great deal of care (and newspaper), was a statue of Jubilation T. Cornpone, executed in papier mache, an item central to the story, and thus of great importance. I was a callow sophomore, wandering through a world of wet paint, wrinkled scripts and fresh sawdust.

The preparation came and went, as did the performance of the play, and thus was upon us the cast party.  And suddenly the idea that a monumental (and now extraneous) statue of a great (if fictional) Civil War heroe deserved a  prominent position in the city. Like, on the steps of City Hall. Next to the city's Statue of Liberty.

I won't implicate the person who availed our triumph by having keys to get backstage to the MHS Auditorium to get the statue, nore the person whose pickup bore a load of laughing teenagers (and one large statue) all the way down Cedar Street. I'm not going to finger the brilliant wit whose idea the whole scheme was- and wasn't it clever to call the Muscatine Journal, so that the new piece of statuary could be properly recognized before being carted away?

Of course, the Journal didn't appreciate our gift. The next day we were referred to as "juvenile delinquents". With a photo of a bedraggled Jubilation. On the front page.

Having made connections, and uncovered the identity of my mystery correspondant, I sat down and pondered my reactions. And thought of what I could do. I recognized that I had regained a moment very special to me, that might have been lost forever.

And so I started this page, so that other people could meet old friends, recapture precious memories.

From Day One of founding this page, my former cohort, Lori (Rada) Kennison has been my Number One Cheerleader. Thanks Lori. Happy Fortieth Birthday.

Lori and I look forward to hearing from the rest of you select few nuts who participated in our midnight adventure.