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PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDISON FARRAND/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES F ront Runners 1963 Woman of the Year Shirley MacLaine helps a chorus line beauty into his drag costume before the Harvard organization's 115th annual show, "Tickle Me Pink." shirley you jest 50 YEARS AGO SHIRLEY MACLAINE RECEIVED HARVARD UNIVERSITY'S HASTY PUDDING WOMAN OF THE YEAR AWARD. BY MELANIE LIEBERMAN I n 1963 Shirley MacLaine was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress for her role in Irma La Douce, which she starred in alongside Oscar winner and Harvard University alum Jack Lemmon. She received another prestigious accolade that year: Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year. The society has a long history, reaching all the way back to 1795, when 21 Harvard juniors formed a social fraternity named for Joel Barlow's humorous poem about American patriotism. Decades later the Pudding's theatrical roots were founded as the group performed mock trials for such horrors as the beheading of Mary, Queen of Scots, in addition to the study of mathematics. The club has a long lineage of notable figures: Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan both participated during their time at the university. But Harvard's Pudding has come a long way since its poetic origins. Students, rather than established playwrights, are now responsible for writing the productions, which are characterized by puns and parodies. Keeping with tradition, the shows are still performed by an exclusively male cast. Since the Woman of the Year's origin in 1951 with Gertrude Lawrence, and Man of the Year in 1967 with Bob Hope, established actors such as Meryl Streep, Elizabeth Taylor, Claire Danes, and Bill Cosby have been honored for their contributions to the arts with the infamous Pudding Pot. At the 1963 event, after leading a parade through Harvard Square, MacLaine received a pudding pot of her own and celebratory roast at a raucous dinner. The Harvard Crimson wrote that the Pudding applauded MacLaine for her "spar- kling personality" and "genuine, lively sense of humor" along with her acting talent. This year's honorees will be announced in late January, and anticipation for who will be led through the streets of Cambridge runs high. BC 12 BOSTONCOMMON-MAGAZINE.COM