Update 7-17-12

Hi,

 

No real news, but it's summer, it's hot, and people are probably at the beach.

 

One forward, from Zelda White Nichols.  Actually, two forwards, but the first is about recalled dog food, so we'll spare you that.  But here's one you might be interested in if you haven't already seen it.

    Zelda writes:  A 9/11 video I've never seen before.  Please don't dismiss viewing this.  It's eleven minutes long but worth looking at because it's a fantastic story.  The video is both frightening and inspiring, and it shows a view of 9/11 that I knew nothing about.  It demonstrates some of the best of human nature.

    The link:  youtube . com/embed/MDOrzF7B2Kg  (take out the spaces)

 

Further notes from Stu Borman's party, either things I couldn't remember at the time or didn't have space to work into the earlier newsletter:

 

Marilyn Horowitz Goldhammer has retired from being a school principal and is doing some very interesting work at American University.  She's helping professors learn how to teach most effectively.  Unlike grade and high school teachers, university teachers are often given no training in teaching, so they mainly mimic the lectures they've seen in undergrad and grad school.  And that's often very dull.

 

Marion Wachtel moved to Washington, DC, after college, when Jane Wolff Katz -- who I think had gone to school there -- encouraged her to come to Washington "because there was lots of work."  They've both lived in the area ever since.

 

Jane also said that she acted in only one play at South, A Midsummer Night's Dream.  She played Hippolyta, but she couldn't remember who played opposite her or if Robert Fiveson was in the cast.

 

In her retirement, Robin Seader Cottmeyer happily plays a lot of bridge.  She also said she tries to get to the San Francisco area every other year to see Terry Shields and his wife.

 

Irene Saunders Goldstein, as mentioned in previous newsletters, knows a lot about researching Jewish genealogy.  One of her tips is to use the site Ancestry . com for its free fourteen days.  That way, you can fill in the basic information about your family.  Then you can move onto more specific, paid sites.

    When I mentioned that I pretty well knew where most of my family had come from and only needed to research the last quarter, the Goldbergs, Irene laughed and said, "The Goldbergs are the Jewish Smiths."  And I'll bet the Cohens are the Jewish Joneses.

 

Finally, a story from Marion Wachtel, which she told when Jane Wolff Katz and Irene Saunders Goldstein's friend Jerry were trying to figure out if they'd met during their shared childhood summers.  Both remembered Barbara Streisand singing at a nearby New Jersey hotel.

    Marion said she'd seen Barbara Streisand in her first performance of Funny Girl, the night Streisand took over from the former lead Lanie Kazan.

    I said, "No, you've got that a little backwards -- Streisand was always the lead, and Kazan was her understudy."  But what Marion saw was an even more famous performance. 

    It seems Lanie Kazan only ever played one performance as Fanny Brice on Broadway.  After Streisand had never missed a performance, she planned to miss two in a row, and Kazan was finally going to go on as Fanny.  It was supposed to be kept low-key, but, somehow, many of the critics and gossip columnists were alerted and were at the performance.  They gave Kazan terrific reviews.

    Streisand was a bit angry about all the publicity, so angry that she had Kazan immediately fired and gave the second performance herself.  That was the one Marion saw.  Reportedly, Streisand was particularly terrific that day.

 

Again, the photos from Stu's party are at:  picasaweb . google . com/SouthHS65 

 

 

Rich