Assault and Flattery turns 70.
By Liz Anderson Hilton
The Rocky Lawyer Picture Show. Grief is the Word. The Wizard of Laws. Top Gunner.
Assault and Flattery has long been punning its way into our hearts as one of the most beloved of Texas Law traditions. With ample roasts, toasts, singing, dancing, and often questionable judgment, the casts and crews of A&F have set aside the tedium of classes and lifted the collective spirits of students and (most) faculty going on 70 years.
In 1953, W. Page Keeton, then in his fourth year as dean, initiated the A&F tradition as a part of Law Week, a law-school-wide event typically in April that also included lectures, a student picnic, and eventually a 3-mile competitive run called Race Judicata. Various groups within the law school participated, each independently writing and producing their own material.
That first year, Dean Keeton and five other faculty were named Best in Show for their act, “A Dozen Wicked Legs,” dancing the cancan in matching dresses, wigs, and gartered socks.
After waning interest and even skipping a year in 1968, the show roared back to life in the 1970s. The 1974 production included an 18-piece orchestra and original score. Soon after, film took center stage with the 1978 production of Bar Wars.
There’s no business like law business. And nobody does it better than A&F.”
In the decades since, the student-led production has continued to morph with the times, usually selecting a popular film or Broadway musical as the backdrop for its often blistering but inevitably funny takes on law school life: grades, jobs, faculty foibles, and the perennial crowd favorite: impersonating the dean. By the mid-2000s, A&F became a stand-alone event with up to four nightly and well-attended shows.
These days Assault and Flattery has honed a stage presence on campus as the musical theater group of Texas Law, along with its in-house band, §ex Parte, and the always lyrically dynamic a cappella group, The Supreme Chorus. When this year’s cast and crew staged the 70th Annual Assault and Flattery, 1HelL!, they joined a long and talented list of Blues Barristers, My Fair Lawyers, Juris Lines, Heirs, Damn Attorneys, and all those who’ve gone before here at Texas Law.
After all, there’s no business like law business. And nobody does it better than A&F.