With the Feb. 14, 1954, Sheaf headline “Paramount Star Sparks Blood Drive” the public phase of the university’s “greatest prank” began.
The plot was hatched the previous December by Students Representative Council public relations officer John Malone and Law Society President Irvine Epstein.
The idea was to have a Hollywood star visit campus to coincide with annual blood drive. They approached Paramount Pictures to get a legitimate star but were unsuccessful. A good idea being a good idea, they decided to manufacture a starlet.
With help from the University of Manitoba they recruited Winnipeg actress Marie-Anne Meyers. She was to play the role of a woman who had risen “from a State High School drama festival to Hollywood contract in the dream-come-true story of Dawn Sommers.” Her movie credits included two “not yet released” films featuring Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis and Bob Hope.
On the morning of Feb. 19, she was met at the Saskatoon Airport by a student delegation. At noon an estimated 700 students jammed into Convocation Hall to attend a mass rally in her honour.
She was roundly cheered and received gifts from various college representatives. “Miss Sommers” continued her role with a day-long series of events including a radio interview with CFQC.
She was so convincing in her role that the radio station aired the interview even after anonymous tipsters indicated that the woman was a fraud.
As the day wore on the hoax unravelled, though no one seemed to care. Myers was charming and witty.
In the end the hoax was harmless and for a good cause. One lasting effect on campus life was the creation of the Dawn Sommers-Irvine Epstein Memorial Band, which became later known as The Intensely Vigorous College Nine.