ROMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

For the parents who attended Friday's commencement at California Institute of the Arts expecting a tradition-laden, dignified ceremony, the singing of the school alma mater was the closest facsimile.

Even the school song isn't safe from a tongue-in-cheek punch line. Graduates warbled the lofty lyrics until the final line - which, in a nod to CalArts founder Walt Disney, they spelled out to the tune of the Mousketeer theme.

Irreverence is the rule, not the exception, at CalArts graduations. How else can you explain the bubble machines at either side of the stage, not to mention the conspicuous absence of ``Pomp and Circumstance'' and caps and gowns? These aspiring singers, dancers, actors, animators and artists shun mortarboards in favor of shorts, swimsuits, Generation X-style grungewear, and all manner of wacky costumes.

Tattoos, scraggly beards, body piercings, long and/or dyed hair, bare feet and body glitter were the fashion statements of the Class of '97. Their favorite accessories: beach balls, Super Soaker water guns, confetti-spewing firecrackers, and, yes, Mickey Mouse ears. They smoked cigarettes and swigged from champagne bottles, chatted and celebrated among themselves during most of the proceedings.

Nearly every graduate accepted his or her diploma with a grand flourish, and the estimated 1,800 relatives and friends in the audience, fanning themselves on a muggy morning, soaked up all the nutty behavior seemingly unfazed.

``I think it's fun. I'm never shocked,'' said John Zerbey as he watched his grandson, Steve Knezevich, receive a master's degree in critical studies. The La Jolla man, wearing knit slacks and a print shirt, recalled his 1943 graduation from Penn State as ``very proper, very staid'' - in other words, nothing like the CalArts commencement.

Glenn Ramos, 31, made one of the biggest splashes as he collected his diploma for character animation. Head shaved and bare-chested except for a flowing robe, Ramos did his best Buddha impression by arriving on a litter carried by four orange-robed friends.

It was a long way from Semper Fi for Ramos, a former Marine who said he enrolled in art school because defense industry downsizing, ``the breakup of the Soviet Union and the recession'' forced him out of an aerospace job at McDonnell-Douglas.

Greg ``Jazma'' Ryan strutted across the stage in full drag-queen glory and four-inch-heel platform boots. The 26-year-old accepted his music diploma wearing a pink dress, pink sunglasses, blue fishnet stockings over shaved legs, blue false eyelashes that matched his polished fingernails, and a platinum blond wig.

His relatives from La Palma were a bit surprised by his outfit, ``and a little bit disgusted, my sister most of all,'' noted Ryan, who said he wants to be a ``Europop star.''

With 321 men and women receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in fine arts, this was the largest graduating class ever at California Institute of the Arts, said campus spokeswoman Anita Bonnell.

The private school has come a long way since its first commencement, when 84 members of the Class of '71 received their diplomas, Bonnell said.

Harrison Price, a founding member of the CalArts board of trustees, greeted the gathering of families, graduates ``and creditors'' to open the ceremony. ``Through travail and terremoto, the fates have blessed this institution,'' Price said.

President Steven Lavine elaborated on that theme in his remarks, asking graduates how many of them had been at CalArts when the Northridge Earthquake struck in January 1994. Most of them had. ``I thank you for sticking it out with us, when it wasn't certain there would be a CalArts,'' Lavine said.

``You picked a good time to graduate, because there's never been such a time when your skills were in such high demand,'' Lavine added. ``Not very long ago, it was automobiles and weapons and airplanes that drove the American economy. Now it's imagination,'' he said.

``The entertainment industry needs you. All that world of software needs you.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) (SAC Only) From left, Jory Prum, Greg ``Jazma'' Ryan and Justin Jorgensen of CalArts dressed for the occasion.

(2--3--Color) (Top photo ran in SAC Only - Left photo Color in SAC Only) Top, Jessica Wallenfels blows bubbles while a speaker holds forth during this year's CalArts commencement ceremony, the theme of which was circles. Left, Paul Steven receives his diploma from the school of theater in a boxing outfit.

John Lazar/Special to the Daily News