The Important Subject of Bed-Pushing

 Frivolity from 55 Years Ago

      One has to go back quite a ways to find evidence of any type of fun on a university campus which is not at the same time extremely controversial. Things appear to have been different back in the early 1960s and it is only by the late 1960s that such things become grimmer and darker and frivolity no longer countenanced. I am pleased the Canadian universities were in the forefront of such frivolousness back then, even if now they are in the vanguard of those places which seek to have their students be, shall we say, rather seminarian. As an example (of the current severity not the earlier frivolity) the university up-the-road recently curtailed and shifted homecoming activities which typically involve a few-hundred people at the football game and perhaps a few more at a block party (a short block, I might add) who threaten to drink beer and fall off roofs. I guess these days that does seem pretty serious. Some perspective is added, however, if one notes that somehow over 100,000 fans arrive at the  stadium in near-by Ann Arbor on most fall weekends and apparently many of them survive.

Canadian College Craze

    Although one can find earlier accounts of bed-pushing, the fad took off in the early part of 1961 and most of the reports relate to Canadian universities where it was thought to have originated. In a full account in The New York Times the reporter indicates that contests involving such things as stuffing phone booths and swallowing gold fish typically originate in the United States and are denounced when imported to Canada “as dilutions of Canadian culture”.

“This latest one, however, is indigenous. It seems to have originated on the Pacific Coast at the University of British Columbia , where students claimed to have established a world record. Since no one had thought of establishing one before, they had the record for a little while. Their claim set off a chain reaction that swept across Western Canada and the East like prairie fire.”

    The beds were either pushed or carried in a relay event with many students taking turns. In most cases the races took place on public roads. In the photo provided below the Western students started in Windsor and raced back to campus. Some sources and accounts are provided below.

(These Ontario Western (sic) university students claim a world record in bed-pushing, latest college craze. Students pushed bed 111 miles to their home university city, London, Ontario. The feat erased previous “record” of 102 miles established by New Brunswick students.” Source: (UPI Telephoto).)

Panty Raids

    There is a phrase you will not have seen for a while and I am rather nervous typing it although the nearest campus is about 6 kilometres away. It is mentioned in a column by a female syndicated correspondent who notes that while the Canadians pushed beds the more traditional male students at the University of Arizona used a telephone pole to break down a sorority door during one such raid and got into a little trouble. She concludes, “If the boys had tried to batter the door down when I was a coed, I would have been too busy putting on my make-up and the coffee pot…” Another American reporter noted that “Canadian coeds are thrilled by the generation of furniture movers available for them to marry”. Such sentiments indicate that things were much different back then. (The use of the word 'indigenous' in the account above would surely be questioned).

Provided here is a good video that shows the Western undergrads in a bed-pushing race. In the preamble it is dark and the students are carrying torches. By the late 1960s such an introduction would presage less innocent events particularly on American campuses. CFPL TELEVISION.
[ Update: This link originally worked and led one to a TV episode from CFPL in London. That program and others are found at the Archives of Ontario. This content is migrating to YouTube. If you go to this website and search for CFPL you may be able to access it and other programs from the period: Good luck.]
Here is a description: "When television station CFPL in London first went on the air on November 28, 1953, it was just the second private broadcaster in Canada. It has now been in operation for over 50 years and has become an integral part of the cultural fabric of the London area, and a vital communications link throughout southwestern Ontario. In June of 2002, CFPL generously donated, to the Archives of Ontario, the entire news output for their first 15 years of operation. This material represents a time capsule that vividly illustrates life in the province half a century ago. Contained in the more than 2700 rolls of film is a rich tapestry of stories ranging from charming public interest events to devastating tragedies: from stories about Mother Nature flexing her muscles to the fortunes of the political figures of the times. It is a significant historical record documenting social and economic changes that profoundly shaped Ontario in the post-World War II era. And, it is a unique portrait of who we were."]

Postscript

     The craze ceases to exist after the early 1960s. One does find the odd mention of bed-pushing which is usually done for a charitable purpose.  There was recently such an account from the University of New Brunswick.   Off-campus one does find two annual events which often feature bed races.

The Kentucky Derby Festival ‘Great Bed Races’ event brings out five-member teams to push hand-built “racing beds” in a contest the week before the ‘real’ one.

In Galveston about this time of year there is a  Victorian holiday festival known as “Dickens on the Strand” and it usually features “Victorian Bed Races." (This looks like a pretty good event and those who market such things for cities should take note. Apparently a visit by the author is not required. Think of just the alliterative possibilities: "Proust and Portland", Kafka in Kansas City"....)

Some sources:

“Bed-Pushing Is Latest Fad Among University Students,”The Globe and Mail, 02 Feb 1961: 3. This article reports that UWO students are about to set out at 3 a.m. to push a bed from Windsor to London - a distance given as 113 miles and they hope to be done by 4 p.m. It also reports that students at UNB had just pushed one from Coldbrook near Saint John to Fredericton a distance of 102 miles. Apparently this is in reaction to undergrads from the University of Waterloo who had just pushed a bed from London to Waterloo (70 miles) in 8 ½ hrs claiming the world record.

“And If They Get Sleepy…” Chicago Daily Tribune, 05 Feb 1961: a3.
This is one of the first U.S. references - just the photo provided above.

“Oh...Bed Pushing,” The Christian Science Monitor, 10 Feb 1961: 14.
This story is recounting the one from the G&M with this additional description “The bed, fitted with red lanterns, front and rear, was propelled by about 50 students in relays.”
On the 19th of February The New York Times picked up the story with this headline: .”If You're a Canadian Student, Bed Pushing Is Newest Craze; Object of Outdoor Winter Sport Now Sweeping Campuses Is to See How Far Team Can Push Hospital Bed”. This was filed out of Ottawa on the 18th and is one of the fullest accounts. Pride and chauvinism show up and there is some chest beating since unlike events involving phone booths or gold fish, this one is healthy and more productive than rioting.

Although most accounts claim that the craze originates in Canada, this report traces the origin to South Africa: “The Hemisphere: The Bed-Pushing Craze,” Time, Feb. 24, 1961. It is clear that such events were universal; one can find  Pathe news film  from Adelaide.
“The latest caper in Canadian colleges is bed pushing. Born at the University of Rhodesia, and perfected—as was last year's college craze, phone-booth stacking —at South Africa's University of Natal, it spread over some sort of Commonwealth bush telegraph. Last week Canadian college students from Nova Scotia to British Columbia were indefatigably mounting beds on wheels and pushing them over highways, prairies and frozen lakes. The current world's record of 1,000 continuous miles is claimed by a team from Ontario's Queen’s University, which kept its Simmons rolling day and night for a week.”

“British Youths Are One Up As Bed-Pushers,” The Globe and Mail , 24 June 1961: 20. "British youth push and carry one up Thorpe Cloud in Derbyshire and the young woman between the sheets only fell out once."