Update 8-5-14

Hi,

 

First from Rachael Robinson Mitzner:  I would like to let those who remember Ira know that the first annual Ira Mitzner Collegiate Boxing scholarship will be awarded this August by the USIBA  -- the United States Intercollegiate Boxing Association. This was accomplished with the help of family, friends, and the USIBA, in order to remember a man who loved boxing and mentoring and valued education.  This scholarship will be offered annually to a young man or woman involved in an intercollegiate boxing club while pursuing a quality education.  More information can be found on the USIBA web site.

    The 37th reunion was responsible for rekindling the spark that made the last eleven years wonderful for us both.  Too short, but well worth the joy and the sorrow.  May many know this intelligent courageous and thoughtful man for years to come through this scholarship.

 

Next, from Helen David:  To Jeanie DeGennaro Utter: Yes, I'm your old teacher, known in the days before total first name usage as Mrs, David.  How nice to be remembered.
    And Rich, thank you for your concern about the haboob, or dust storm, which hit Phoenix.  We, too, saw the photo of it approaching Phoenix.  However "the Valley" -- a real valley, unlike Valley Stream -- is very large, and although the haboobs don't seem to reach as far west as Sun City West, this area is far from being dust free at any time.  Little known to many, the dust is a bearer of the Valley Fever Fungus, which can cause a moderate-to-serious-to-fatal illness.  So, many thanks, we were not inundated by all that extra grit.

    I've also enjoyed all that banter about the men in our former Industrial Arts Department.  We women got vague rumors about some of the rough housing in that part of the building, but at the lunchroom table, the "shop" men were a bunch of dears.  There was complete camaraderie among the fairly young faculty, and that, plus you kids, made South High a very happy place to be.

 

From Eric Hilton:  A couple of weeks ago, my wife, Gilda, and I flew up to New York to attend my niece's wedding in Poughkeepsie.  While up there, Arlene Ainbinder Lynne contacted me, and we met at a classic car meeting in Lynbrook, behind Vincent’s Pizza.  Normally, Arlene would have gotten a few of our former classmates together, but it was last minute, with no time to plan.

    Also, planning on becoming an architect, I took mechanical drawing with “Pop” Kana, who was a very cool teacher.  I took a first place scholarship award for my model home called “Under Construction”.  Another student entered the competition with the most beautiful model I have ever seen, but Pop, being the professional he was, disqualified the student because Pop said the model was built by a professional architectural firm and not by the student.  I think Pop even failed him for being dishonest and possibly removed him from the class for many other reasons.

    From what I remember, there was no specific plastic shop at South, and the auto shop was never truly an automotive shop -- even though I worked there on my car and other students' cars.  You had to transfer to Central High School -- which a few students did -- if you wanted to learn automotive repair. Instead, South had a metal shop, taught by Joe Caruso, who was also one of the coolest teachers in South and the teacher who kept me from leaving school early to join the Navy.  My Caruso gave up one of his free periods and had me as his only student that period, so I could get the extra credit I needed to graduate.  Not many people would be so caring as to help a student who truly needed direction.

 

From Robert Fiveson:  Maybe I live in one of the mathematically predicted 17 parallel universes, but I only went to one high school.  I distinctly remember making a project out of poured plastic.  I also seem to be the only one to remember Mango's house of horrors -- or maybe others just don't wax as nostalgic for brutality and abuse associated with high school as I do.  Everyone seems to have gone to school in Candyland.  I think at one point I was taking 4 or 5 shop classes a day. I'm sure that was in no small part thanks to Ken Willard, the guidance counselor who told me "not to bother even applying to college because, frankly Bob, you're not college material."  A real inspiration and a true genius advisor.  I got my MFA at USC with a 3.92 GPA to shove my thumb in his eye.  I return you now to our regularly scheduled Kumbayah. 

 

[Rich -- Still related to South though in the present, I finally sent Stu Borman the pictures of the recent Booker Gibson and Vince Tampio scholarship recipients to post on the class photo site.  I also discovered 3 photos of the 2012 scholarship recipients in my files, so I sent those to Stu as well.  And I sent a picture of Emily Kleinman Schreiber and me recently in Los Angeles, and a larger version of Barnet Kellman's 1965 prom mug -- though it seems I need to send a still larger version of that.  Also, with the note just below, Mary Sipp Green enclosed a photo of the cover of her book.  But it was embedded in a PDF, and neither Stu nor I had the software to get it out.  So you'll have to check on Amazon for that, next month.  The cover shows one of her many beautiful paintings.]

 

From Mary Sipp Green:  My book is not out yet, though early copies are available at and after the gallery opening August 3rd on Martha's Vineyard.  The worldwide release is in September.  And here's a little more show-and-tell:  an article in the July issue of "Fine Art Connoisseur,"  and a feature article in the July issue of "Cape Cod Life Special Art Edition."  I got popular this month!  Hope you are all enjoying your summer.  It goes fast on the East coast.  By the way, the book is called Every Hour of the Light: The Paintings of Mary Sipp Green.

Similarly, from Ryki Zuckerman:  My full length book of poetry, looking for bora bora, was made available on Kindle by my publisher, and it's still also in print at Amazon.  I'm working on another book.

 

[Rich -- And I just started puttering on a new book, Barnegat Bay,  set on the Jersey shore in the early 1930s.  But I'm headed into my busy work season, so I doubt I'll get back to writing till after Christmas.]

  

From Marc Jonas:  I, for one, was gratified to hear that the restaurant at which Rich Sternhell, Rich Eisbrouch, and I dined is older than we are.  And remind me next time that it's BYOB.

 

[Rich -- Actually, I was a bit off on the date.  Not Revolutionary War, closer to the Civil War.  As explained on the web site:  The Spring Mill Cafe consists of two buildings located next to Spring Mill Creek.  The restaurant was built in 1831 as the general store and post office for the town of Spring Mill, and the farmhouse was built in the 1840s as storage and stables for the store and its presiding family.  Starting in the late 1800s, Barren Hill Road was a vibrant artistic community with painters, musicians, and sculptors.   They even had their own ski slope.]

 

Finally, from Zelda White Nichols:   It was announced last week that, after all these years, the "Archie" comic book series is over and ends with Archie being killed.  Violence even enters the world of childhood comics.  Here’s some background on the series, taken from Wikipedia:
    "Archie" is set in the small town of Riverdale.  While the state or even the general location of the town is unspecified, publisher John L. Goldwater attended Horace Mann School in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York City.  In the early years of "Archie," Riverdale was located in Massachusetts, with Mr. Lodge being a senator for that state, but this is no longer considered canon.  Drawings of Riverdale High School appeared to follow the general design of the original high school in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and The Thinker statue still sits outside the front entrance, just as it did in the comic strip
    Haverhill is one of the main inspirations for the comic.  The comic's cartoonist, Bob Montana, lived in Haverhill and attended Haverhill High School from 1936 to 1939.  He based Riverdale High School on the old high school building -- which is now City Hall -- and the characters Archie, Jughead, Veronica, Betty, and Reggie on his classmates.  The Choc'lit Shoppe was inspired by an actual chocolate shop in operation on Merrimack Street in the 1930s.

 

Zelda adds:  After we got married, Dave and I moved to Haverhill.  It was a great place to live and was the original home of Macy’s Department Store before it moved to New York City.  It was also the birthplace of John Greeenleaf Whittier, and Alexander Graham Bell lived there when he made his first phone call.  Both homes are still in existence, and Bell’s is still a private residence.  In addition, Haverhill is the birthplace of Tom Bergeron, and Louis B. Mayer -- of MGM Studios -- started his career by owning a chain of movie theaters in Haverhill.  Frankie Fontaine, who played Crazy Guggenheim on the Jackie Gleason show, was also a long time resident.  We loved living in Haverhill, and there is so much other history that isn’t mentioned here.  If anyone is visiting the north shore of Massachusetts, Haverhill might make an interesting side trip.  It still has rural parts, especially along the Merrimack River.

 

[Rich -- Actually, Archie and his comic book are not dead.  An article in the July 28 - August 10 issue of New Yorkmagazine explains that there are 3 alternate Archie dimensions:  "Archie" (1941-present), "Life With Archie" (2010-2014), and "Afterlife with Archie" (2013-present).  Archie dies in "Life With Archie," after being married to both Betty and Veronica, because he splits into 2 Archies at a mysterious fork in the Yellow Woods.  His personalities are reunited shortly before his death, and he's killed taking a bullet while protecting a gay senator.  He dies in Jughead's arms.  But he continues to live in "Archie," and he fights zombies in "Afterlife With Archie."]

 

The repeated upcoming reunion information:

 

The class of '64 reunion:  Friday, October 10, 2014, 6 to 11 PM.  $70 per person, cash bar.  Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge, New York.  Committee phone numbers:  Tom McPartland  570-223-2577.  Ken Silver: 631-463-2217.  Bette Silver: 631-463-2216.

 

The class of '65  50th Reunion:  April 24 through April 26, 2015, Hyatt Regency, Hauppauge. 

 

The South '65 e-mail addresses: reunionclass65 . blogspot . com  (remove the spaces)

 

The South '65 photo site: picasaweb . google . com/SouthHS65    (ditto)

 

 

Rich