The Silly [but mostly true] Story of the Basic Elmos
Over the summer, I talked with members of this amorphous group of pranksters, 他们都是1972年到1977年间摄入大量咖啡因的伯洛伊特学生. The Elmos took pride in their underground, nonconformist identity, 因此，要求他们把自己的冒险经历公诸于众，一开始得到的是沉默. They eventually warmed up. Still, 一个警告说，我应该只相信我所听到的65%，还有一些人用多种语言讲企鹅的笑话来逗我开心. 因此，读者们，在阅读这篇文章时，请注意:我报道的是一群狡猾的小丑.
Credit: Courtesy of Lynn Bierly Edmonds’76
The Elmos, with their appreciation for weird stuff, the Marx Brothers, penguin jokes (penguins are naturally funny!)，以及从二手商店淘来的衣服，确保校园里没有沉闷的时刻. They orchestrated happenings, 比如半危险的学院地下蒸汽隧道之旅, or what they called “basic unit displays,“从他们自己疯狂的想象和窗外扔出来的垃圾中凭空创造出来的奇观.
“They were shadowy, undefined, loosely structured, spontaneous, anarchic, unpredictable, and mostly hilarious good fun,” recalls Tom Dickinson’73, a friend and sometime Elmo conspirator. Beyond just having a blast for a brief period in the 1970s, 事实证明，大部分埃尔莫斯一直都是埃尔莫斯, retaining their nicknames, their frames of mind, and their friendships.
Elmo Origins
Credit: Courtesy of Len Pagliano’76
Len Pagliaro’76, one of the original members, and one of the few Elmos without a nickname, 他说他推迟了伯洛伊特大学的入学，在英国待了一年. Because he was away, 他从未见过那些关于选择房间和饮食计划的重要大学邮件.
“This was before the Internet, so there were stacks of mail that came when I was gone, and obviously I didn’t do any of that stuff,” he says. “所以，所有没有完成文书工作的人最后都住在同一个宿舍，那就是查平楼. It was a very interesting selection process. 人们是自我选择的，他们不太在意官僚主义的细节. It was a really fun group.”
Their abode was on the third floor, 其下方的前天井作为校园现有的社交纽带和Elmos的现成舞台.
Phil Erickson’77, one of the core Elmos from the start, Chapin三楼诱人的走廊和空间激发了团队的形成. To the Elmos, Chapin提供了学习骑独轮车的绝佳场所, procure cast-offs from Commons kitchen, or test a rocket sled made out of a mop bucket.
“有一条很长的走廊直通大楼的正前方，那里有一个大会议室和一扇窗户,” Erickson says of Chapin. “所以这真的有利于每个人在大厅里跑来跑去，聚集在这个大区域里.这个空间激发了埃里克森和其他人的想法，比如在大厅里踢足球，试试上面提到的火箭雪橇, 是在一部关于加速度和速度的物理课影片中首次引起埃尔莫斯兄妹的注意的.
“很多原始的elmo都有一种扭曲的科学思维,” says Erickson, 他的昵称是詹姆斯，因为他有时会扮演一个有英语口音的仆人.
Over the next four years or so, 这个组织松散的团体不断重组自己，不断演变的角色在贝洛伊特和其他目的地之间移动, as they completed the requirements of the Beloit Plan.
What’s in a name?
这似乎是一个简单的问题:“Basic Elmos”这个名字是从哪里来的? Yet no one I talked to could agree on an answer.
The Elmos were adamant about what the name didn’t mean. 这个小组并不是以伯洛伊特大学一位名叫埃尔莫的同学的名字命名的, despite rumors to that effect, though they all agree that he was a really nice guy. There appears to have been a tangential association with U.S. 海军上将埃尔莫·朱姆沃尔特，他当时因为战争而上了新闻. 一些人说，“基础”这个词是对伯洛伊特课程(基础生物学或基础经济学)一个陈腐的名字的笑话，尽管有些人不同意这种说法. Original Elmo Phil Erickson had the best explanation. Sort of.
“It’s a turn of phrase,” he says. “It could mean anything. 如果你做了一些奇怪的事情，有人可能会说，‘好吧，不要做一个elmo. You’re just being a basic elmo.’ I don’t think there is any explanation for it. It’s just one of those things. Someone heard it and liked it and it rolled off the tongue. It could be good or bad. There’s really no significance to it,” he adds. “That explanation doesn’t help at all.”
Unit Displays and Other Cheap Thrills
Credit: Courtesy of Len Pagliaro’76
Elmos所谓的“单元显示器”起源于日常生活中的东西, Elmos巧妙地将其改造成他们自己的幽默表演风格.
Several of the original Elmos had jobs in Commons, for instance, where reloading milk dispensers was a frequent chore. Students would fill their cups from the front of a cooler, while inside, 装牛奶的纸板箱里装着一个5加仑的塑料衬垫. Once the bags were empty, they went to the trash. Pagliaro hated to see them go to waste.
“我们认为这些塑料袋很酷，”帕格里亚罗说. “We went back to the dorm and said, “我们为什么不把它们装满水，然后扔出窗外呢??’”
查平的三楼有执行这个计划的理想场所, 有一个浴缸和一扇方便的窗户，可以俯瞰庭院. The Elmos plucked bags from the dumpster, filled them with water, and used shower curtains to drag them to the window. 他们派出了一名地勤人员，警告人们“离开该地区”!，同时他们宿舍的扬声器里播放着约翰·菲利普·索萨(John Philip Sousa)进行曲之类的音乐. They started a countdown that ended in a shouted “ZERO!” as the bags went out the window, 为喝啤酒的学生们制造了一个场面. At the time, 据《菠菜白菜吧》报道，其中一个巨型水球展示的数量从几袋到多达60袋不等.
Over time, “zero” became a kind of code word and cheer for the Elmos, 尽管早期的成员说他们也用这个词来取笑一位来访的物理学教授，因为他的“零”发音让他们发笑.
Credit: Courtesy of Jill Serota Braden’76
You may be wondering: Where was campus security? 埃尔莫斯坚持说，他们一直有地面控制，以确保没有人受伤，甚至在表演期间溅起水花. And once Martin Security, the college’s security service at the time, started catching on to their stunts, the Elmos were most likely to get caught after a show, when they were attempting to clean up.
“Security wasn’t as serious as it is today,” explains Andy Persily’76, 一个绰号为“烘烤”的埃尔莫，因为他知道各种埃尔莫居民的厨房里的路. 他说:“他们很容易被避开，也不准备在工作中死去。.
除了巨大的水球，埃尔莫斯还向窗外扔了其他东西. Bowling balls. Toilets. TVs plugged in with long cords, which, in at least one case, 还在播放约翰尼·卡森的《真人国际菠菜》独白吗. 这些东西大多是埃尔莫斯夫妇从垃圾堆里捡来的，或者是在当地的救世军或圣. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store.
Defenestration is not a word you encounter every day, but if you talk to the Basic Elmos, it will work its way into your conversation. 这个词指的是他们标志性的把东西扔出窗外的行为. 这个词最初的意思很符合埃尔莫斯人的奇怪幽默:1618年，两名帝国总督和他们的秘书被扔出布拉格城堡的窗户, sparking the Thirty Years War.
“We were a pretty eclectic group, a true representation of the liberal arts,” says Mike Salter’76 aka Mikey-Mike. “The Elmo scientists could discuss gravity and trajectory, 埃尔莫的历史学家会详细阐述东欧的脱窗史, and the Elmo sociologists would discuss crowd psychology, 解释说坐在人群前面的人会被淋湿.”
迪金森说，他被埃尔莫斯所吸引，“因为我喜欢每一项‘任务’所表现出的虚假严肃。, providing a cover of plausible deniability. You could have fun, 但要用学术术语把它伪装起来，让它看起来合法, 当然，哪件事是…或不是…取决于你的观点.”
Sometimes, the fun was embedded in sport. 大多数学生都深情地回忆起在伯洛伊特计划期间的校园暑假, 当他们可以选择较轻的课程来腾出时间玩耍时, like on Aldrich Field during softball games. 校内垒球——那种用大球打球，不戴手套的垒球——是贝洛伊特社交活动的核心, so of course, the Elmos were in the middle of it. Humor infused everything from apparel to team names, which ranged from “Quivering Thighs,” to “Prunes,” to “Suppose That,这是竞争异常激烈的Elmos团队的名字.
Lynn Bierly Edmonds’76, or “Marge” as she’s known in Elmo-land, was one of two women in the Elmos’ later inner circle. 她在名为“假设那”(Suppose That)和“我们放弃”(We Forfeit)的埃尔莫队(Elmo)担任中锋，并以穿着复古服装、戴着长及肘部的正式手套和不匹配的袜子参加比赛而闻名. 在它的垒球卡系列中——是的，有一个——圆桌杂志称她为“最佳着装选手”.卡片上描述她“穿着高跟鞋和低胸装”, 众所周知，马姬总是能把反对党揽在自己的围裙下面.”
廉价的大猩猩服装是艾尔莫的另一个最爱——实际上，任何服装，尤其是大猩猩服装. 在Chapin Quad闲逛或在Commons吃晚餐时，Elmos会莫名其妙地打扮成大猩猩出现.
Credit: Courtesy of Len Pagliaro’76Another time, a fire-fighting crash suit, “borrowed” from the Rock County Airport, became a muse for Elmo theatrics. 帕格里亚罗穿着这套衣服来到图书馆，向图书馆借了消防方面的书. 他还偷偷地走进下议院的烤炉, 当一个服务员打开门拿出更多的千层面时, he stepped out with a tray in his hands, wearing the suit.
早期最具传奇色彩的故事之一是帕格里亚罗, 还有攀岩爱好者克里斯·弗里里克和埃德·弗里德曼, 穿上大猩猩的衣服，爬上曾经矗立在校园北端的水塔. 这三个人避开了塔楼的梯子，而是爬上了建筑的腿. “我们必须设计一个改进的绳索装置，这样大猩猩的毛发就不会卡住绳索,” Pagliaro says. 当然，警察来了，逮捕了这三人，但他们似乎真的被这个特技逗乐了. 警察拍下了学生们穿着他们的服装在监狱里的照片, warned them never to try this again, and let them go.
Pagliaro was and still is a climber, 虽然这些天他的职业是经营一家致力于癌症新疗法的公司. 他把这归功于伯洛伊特的户外娱乐俱乐部和它的前头目之一, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics Ed Wilde, for turning him on to a lifelong interest in climbing. 王尔德曾带学生到威斯康辛州和魔鬼湖游玩, where they learned how to climb like pros with gear.
这些教训让帕格里亚罗和其他人登上了许多建筑物, including the Eaton Chapel bell tower, and the city’s historic stone water tower north of campus, which was where the climbers looked over and saw the taller, metal tower they ended up scaling as gorillas.
They asked: “Why not scale that, too?”
Credit: Courtesy of Len Pagliaro’76
Credit: Photo courtesy of Len Pagliaro’76
Credit: Courtesy of Len Pagliaro’76
Why not? 这一系列的问题似乎已经把埃尔莫斯推向了荒谬的顶点. Why not dress up as priests for an intramural softball game? Why not collect and tell ridiculous penguin jokes? 为什么不修修补补真空吸尘器，把它们的马达用于邪恶的目的呢, 比如把它们放在C-Haus的马桶水箱里，或者把它们连接到光传感器和派对喇叭上，这样你的室友就可以, returning late, possibly after beers at C-Haus, turns off the light and is blown away by a mighty blast?
Oh, and the coffee. 埃尔莫斯夫妇对咖啡情有独钟，他们的30杯咖啡壶全天候运转. 在一所房子里，咖啡壶悬挂在枝形吊灯上，随时准备着. 他们还举办了臭名昭著的喝咖啡比赛，持续时间长达一周. 1976年的一篇圆桌会议报道了77年的鲍勃·“无底杯”·泰克尔, an original Elmo, won one of these contests after polishing off 118 cups. 这篇文章报道说，Teyker获得了一个银勺子和一瓶Pepto-Bismol作为他的奖励.
Elmos Forever
与我交谈过的大多数elmo在Beloit时似乎都像玩耍一样努力工作, at least in subjects they liked. An outsized number hold advanced degrees.
至于他们的人生观，似乎还保持着“埃尔莫式”.许多人继续在严肃面前犯傻，有些人把他们疯狂的科学家倾向变成了合法的职业, like locomotive engineering or biotechnology. They still refuse to take themselves too seriously, 包括当他们回顾自己在这个多年来被神话化的团体中的角色时.
尽管许多爱狂欢的人对埃尔莫斯只有美好的回忆(只要提起它的名字，人们就会开始大笑)。, their humor did not resonate everywhere.
“有些人认为这很愚蠢，他们可能只对了一半，”Persily回忆道.
Erickson remembers the campus mood in the 1970s. “大学校园和全国各地都发生了很多严肃的事情, 但很多人只是想再次加入对生活的简单欣赏,” Erickson says. “We weren’t oblivious to the world’s problems. The Elmos were a rebellion against too much ‘maturity.“对我们中的一些人来说，被告知‘长大’是一种荣誉.”
Salter recalls the Elmos being met with mixed reactions. “I think because of the big shows, 外界的看法是，我们是自恋的，做事情是为了引起注意,” he explains. “但事实是，我们喜欢互相娱乐，喜欢彼此的陪伴, and that’s really all the Elmos were about. 每个人都很聪明，有创造力，有才华，这是一种志趣相投的事情.”
Between the Vietnam War, Nixon in the White House, and civil rights protests, 埃德蒙兹说你得偷偷摸摸才能享受到埃尔莫斯的那种乐趣. “伯洛伊特有很多来自东海岸的严肃人士，他们很有政治头脑,” she says.
埃德蒙兹在缅因州实习期间与76届的利兹·泰勒·勒特维勒合住一室后，就进入了埃尔莫斯的轨道. 1973年，在德国的一次留学研讨会上，勒特维勒和几个埃尔莫斯成为了朋友，后来和埃尔莫斯一起住在校外的德国房子里. In 1975, 她要和几个埃尔莫的朋友一起搬到公园大道的另一所德国房子里过夏天. 她邀请埃德蒙兹和她一起去，尽管埃德蒙兹不会说德语. 这两名女子和七名男子住在霍勒斯怀特公园(Horace White Park)对面一栋破旧的两层楼里，只有一个浴室. 几个Elmos居民声称他们很难把“Liz”和“Lynn”这两个名字弄清楚, so they dubbed Liz “Lillian” and Lynn “Marge.” The nicknames have stuck with them ever since.
Edmonds, who wore Groucho glasses to her own wedding reception, 生动地回忆起40年前她作为这个古怪家庭的一员所感受到的惊奇. “那是我一生中住在那所房子里的夏天，”她说. “It was something else with those guys. We never knew what was going to happen.”
One morning, in fact, 埃德蒙兹和勒特维勒下楼，发现客厅里有一片“森林”, 还有手工制作的人体模型——衣服里塞满了报纸——懒洋洋地躺在枝叶繁茂的树冠下. “然后我发现伯洛伊特市已经修剪了公园里的树木, 这些家伙带着这些树枝回家，在我们的客厅里造了一片森林,” Edmonds says. “It was incredible.”
Erickson giggles when he thinks about that summer. Today, 他是一名社会工作者，也是一名参与社区剧院的视觉艺术家, which he says “offers an outlet for my crazy tendencies, an opportunity to challenge my aging brain, and a chance to take a break from my professional routine.”
最近，埃里克森2014年的婚礼让许多前埃尔莫斯重聚, 尽管大多数人仍然保持联系，有些人还会参加他们在贝洛伊特的聚会, often in costume.
Pagliaro, 在四到五个任期后就从伯洛伊特大学转走了, attended Erickson’s wedding. “这群人的特点是，他们都是很有幽默感的好人，非常愿意拿任何事情开玩笑，当然也拿自己开玩笑,” he says. “There was a lot of mischief. 我宁愿认为那是无害的，我们玩得很开心.”
Edmonds is retired these days, with time to do the things she loves, like reading, tutoring kids in reading, and volunteering at a senior center, 在那里她为老年人提供午餐并带来幽默. 当我提到这一点时，有人警告我不要过分解读基本的Elmos, she is silent for a moment.
“Being a nonconformist is how I’ve lived my life,” she says. “Dealing with conformity is confining, 愚蠢和孩子气是防止自己接受别人对你应该成为什么的想法的一种方法. I’m not going to read anything into the Basic Elmos, but I sure had the best time, and I think I’ve been a happier adult. 我经常笑，我大声唱歌，我从不开玩笑. 所以不要过多解读，但基本的Elmos教会了我这一点.”
Susan Kasten is the editor of Beloit College Magazine.
基本的Elmos对Beloit的贡献是巨大的，但他们在大学档案中的档案却很少. 如果你有关于Elmos的照片或其他纪念品, please consider sharing copies with Beloit for posterity, or send your memories to belmag@521011.net.
