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Milton Grahm assumed Presidency of Cambridge School in 1951 and despite the name, the school was never located in Cambridge. It was in Copley Square for several years at the corner of Boylston and Exeter Streets across from the Boston Public Library. At the time there were two large statues of lions flanking the building entrance. These stone lions were adopted as the school's mascots. They also gave the name to the class yearbook. The building was since been demolished, but the lions themselves were relocated down the street to the entrance of the Copely Plaza Hotel, where they were painted gold and can still be seen today.
In 1964, Cambridge School was accredited as a Junior College of Business and its student enrollment had increased to 750. The curriculum was expanded to include hotel/restaurant management, secretarial science and broadcast communications, thus the name of the school was modified to the "Cambridge School of Business and Broadcasting." That same year the school purchased a Kenmore Square office building at 632 Beacon Street and converted the premises for radio & television production studios. In 1965 the school began leasing dormitory space from the prestigious Hotel Kenmore located on the opposite side of Kenmore Square. The hotel owners were experiencing declining business and eventually decided to sell the building to the school outright.
In 1966, Cambridge School purchased the Hotel Kenmore and Wadsworth annex. The Hotel's original "Beef 'N Bird" Restaurant retained its name and decor and became the school cafeteria. The main Kenmore building became a women's dormitory and Wadsworth Hall the men's dormitory. In 1967, the school was renamed Grahm Junior College in honor of President Milton Grahm who had worked for years on the school's expansion.
By 1968--at the height of the Vietnam War--student enrollment was at an all time high with the Baby-Boomers hitting college age (and an increase in male students attending college for the purpose of obtaining a draft deferment). This required the purchase of more dormitory space, and Grahm purchased the former Hotel Saint George located one block up on the other end of Kenmore Square. This new men's dormitory was renamed Leavitt Hall, after Grahm's mother and father-in-law. The college continued on through the sixties and into the seventies and retained a good reputation in the broadcasting industry. At its peak enrollment there were over 1,300 students.
Many national and local TV announcers, reporters, and radio personalities (examples below) had Grahm Junior College on their resume. There were also hundreds of directors, engineers and writers who joined the production and technical end of broadcasting. By the late 70's however, a faltering economy, a declining enrollment and faltering leadership with the retirment of Pres. Grahm, the school fell on hard times. Increasing debt and expenses forced the once prosperous school into bankruptcy. In 1979, Grahm Junior College graduated its last class and closed its doors forever.
Perhaps the school's most famous alumnus was the late comedian Andy Kaufman, Class of 1971. He did his first comedy act in front of an audience at Grahm, and some videotaped productions he made as a TV production major and for the school's closed circuit TV station foreshadowed his own TV special for ABC nearly ten years later.
The above is an edited version of a history written by Matthew Hasson, class of 1978, at the Grahm Cyber Reunion Page.
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