These Shows Changed Television Forever

It was the smash hit, Number One TV show our junior and senior years at Father Ryan (1968-69).

With its rapid fire format of gags and skits aimed at a growing younger audience, LAUGH-IN changed how comedy was done on television. Over its 140 episode run on NBC from January 22,1968 to May 14, 1973 it also changed our language.

Here's just a brief list of the catch phrases that began on this show and many still continue in today's language:

"Sock It To Me"
"Ring My Chimes"
"You Bet Your Sweet Bippy"
"It's Time To Say Good Night, Dick." Goodnight, Dick"
"Easy For You To Say"
Oh, I'll Drink To That."
"I Didn't Know That."
"Blow In My Ear And I Will Follow You Anywhere"
""Very Enn..ter..es..ting"
"Here Come De Judge"
"Look That Up In Your Funk & Wagnalls"
""Uncle Al Had A Lot Of Medicine Last Night"

The show was so popular, even candidate Richard Nixon (in the process of re-inventing himself) appeared briefly to say: "Sock It To Me?" His opponent Vice-President Hubert Humphrey declined ti appear and later said it might have cost him the 1968 Presidential election.

The show made stars of many of its performers including hosts Dan Rowan and Dick Martin along with Goldie Hawn, Judy Carne, Ruth Buzzie, Henry Gibson, Lilly Tomlin, Gary Owen, JoAnn Worley and Artie Johnson.

Here's some highlights of one LAUGH-IN episode, that in a not to subtle cross-promotion, featured the MONKEES rock group, which also a hit TV show back in the '60s

part 1 of Rowan & Martins' Laugh In
Uploaded by jwj. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

The other show that re-shaped TV while we at Father Ryan, and tried to push the boundaries of what could and could not be featured and made fun of on the small screen, was THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR.

The musical/comedy team of Tom and Dick Smothers came to CBS with a long record of success on stage and with comedy albums. Their show which debuted in February, 1967 through April 4, 1969 was known for its great music and its biting comedy.

Such comedians and future stars as Steve Martin, Rob Reiner and Dan Novello (Father Guido Sarducci) got their starts on the show. And it made a star (and a 1968 presidential candidate) out of comedian Pat Paulsen, who did a series of editorials on the show that retain their humor over 40 years later. Even the topics he covers still resonate in the headlines of today: Social Security, Gun Control and Health Care. Here, courtesy of YouTube, is Pat Paulsen.....

And it wasn't just in comedy that the Smothers Brothers made history. Such musical stars, some of them quite controversial at time, as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, Janis Ian, Harry Balfonte, the Doors, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane, Peter, Paul & Mary, Donovan and Cream performed.

But perhaps the most memorable musical moment on THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR was The Who performing MY GENERATION (complete with a song-ending explosion and on stage-destruction of their instruments). Here is that performance....

Other musical highlights from the show included the head writer of the program, Mason Williams, performing (during a 1988 Reunion show)what became a smash instrumental hit, CLASSICAL GAS" and THE BEATLES performing an exclusive music video of their smash 1968 hit "Hey Jude." Here are videos of both performances....


But despite all this acclaim, the Smother Brothers show increasingly ran afoul of the censors at CBS, particularly over its political satire and its treatment of the Vietnam War. Here's how a promotional video for a CD version of show's third and final season in 1969 put it....

And so, in the end, it came down not to who "Mom liked best" (a running gag in the Smothers Brothers Act, but what CBS didn't like it. Ironically (or maybe not) THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR won an Emmy for best writing just a few months after it was abruptly cancelled by the network.

The Changing Of The Guard

After 17 years at the helm, Jay Leno did his last show as the host of THE TONIGHT SHOW last night (Friday, May 29).

He left the program in the same ratings position (Number One) which he received it from long-time TONIGHT SHOW host Johnny Carson.

But no one can really compare Leno to Carson. He was truly the "King of Late-Night TV" for three decades (1962-1992)after taking over the post from Jack Parr.

Johnny Carson was in his salad days, at the peak of his career and THE TONIGHT SHOW's popularity during our teenage years when we were attending Father Ryan. I can't speak for anyone else, but one of the true rites of passage for me with my parents, was when they thought I was old enough to stay up to watch THE TONIGHT SHOW on Friday nights.

Here's about an hour of highlights from "The Best of Carson" I found on the Internet. Many of the scenes are in black and white and they span the period of the show being in New York then moving to the West Coast. It contains many memorable moments from back in our time in 1960s (including the hilarious Ed Ames hatchet throwing incident)and you'll also find some later highlights from the rest of Johnny Carson's lengendary TONIGHT SHOW career.

And, of course it begins with that special theme music that opened every TONIGHT SHOW in those days....

THE TONIGHT SHOW remains the longest-running late-night talk and variety program in TV history. In fact, only two shows have a longer tenure on the air (GUIDING LIGHT and HALLMARK HALL OF FAME).

While THE TONIGHT SHOW has had just 5 hosts in its history (Steve Allen, Jack Parr, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno and. beginning Monday, Conan O'Brien), we've had 11 U.S. Presidents. Who says there's no stablity in late-night programming?

Turnout Continues To Grow For Class of 1969 40th Reunion Weekend

As Friday's (May 29) registration deadline approaches, the response of those attending the Father Ryan Class of 1969 40th Reunion festivities (June 5-7) continues to grow.

With likely still more confirmations yet to arrive in the Monday mail (or even some in our class who will just show up the night of the class party at Jimmy Wilson's home), there will be at least 42 people coming to the big bash. That includes 25 class members and 17spouses.

The latest RSVPs to arrive are from:

David Adams
Michael Hansom
Baron and Carolyn Harmon

They join the rest of those who had responded earlier they are attending:

Scott and Anne Brunette
Bill and Chris Carver
Richard and Judy Conditt
John and Margaret Connors
Patrick Cook
Mike Curley
Will and Debbie Forte
John Goetz
Joe and Pam Holzmer
Philip and Trish Jones
Michael Jumonville
Bob and Patty Nelson
Pat Nolan
Nick and Wanda Rosa
Chuck and Sharon Scruggs
Terry Shelton
Bubba and Patsy Tucker
Pat and Patricia Watson
Jimmy and Sarah Wilson
Pat and Pam Bauer
William and Dannette Thurman
Michael J. and Ann Sugart Carter

Thanks to all for you for coming back! I hope you can also make it by the free All-Class reception at the FRHS Norwood campus on Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. It's a great way to get the Reunion Weekend juices flowing.

By the way, if you don't see somebody's name on the list above, and you think they are or should be coming, let us know. Better yet, call them or e-mail them and any other Father Ryan Class of 1969 members you know and tell them to call or bring by their RSVPs to the FRHS Alumni Office as early next week as they can.

It's going to be way too much of a good time for anyone to miss!

The Official History Of The Father Ryan Graduating Class of 1969--Part IV

Our Senior Class Officers

And so it's the fall of 1968, the beginning of our fourth and final year together at Father Ryan. Here's how our official class history chronicled the events.

IV. The Senior Year

We were now in our final year at Father Ryan, which also proved to be our best. The class elected its officers for the year: President, Bill O'Donoho; Vice-President, Les Mondelli; Secretary, Rick Sinnott and Treasurer, Will Forte.

Early in the year, the joint student councils of the four Catholic high schools began one of the most important projects in the schools' histories. Money was being raised in order to build a school for the children in Haiti. This project, along with many others during the year, proved the effectiveness of the student council. A tragic event occurred during this year when Father Sherman died. It was decided to call the school in Haiti Father Sherman School after this great man.

Our football team enjoyed a successful season and a trip to the Mid-State Bowl (in Cookeville). (Editor's Note: It was Ryan's first post-season bowl since the 1963 Clinic Bowl). Two seniors, Gino Marchetti and Bubba Donnelly were named to the All-City Teams.

One of the biggest thrills in Ryan's long history came when the wrestling team brought home our first state championship with a perfect 16-0 mark. Two Seniors, Bubba Donnelly and Scott Brunette won state championships and Bubba Donnelly was named Champion of Champions.

Win, Bubba, Win!

In March the Senior Class presented the play "Inherit The Wind" which was directed by Father Johnston and it was a big success. All four years proved to be successful. Father Hitchcock said he thought this has been one of his best senior classes since he has been here. (Editor's Note: We were also his final senior class at FRHS.)

We would like to thank the entire faculty for their leadership and guidance and all our fellow classmates for the four successful years we have spent at Father Ryan.

(40 years later, I think we can all add AMEN)!

The Official History Of The Father Ryan Graduating Class of 1969---Part III

Our Junior Year Class Officers With Moderator Father Jim Sullins

With this posting, we continue our look back at our Official Class History. I am still asking if anyone knows who wrote this account of our four years on Elliston Place? Also, as you will see below, this latest chapter on our Junior year raises an additional question about who really was our class moderator?

III. Junior Year

The Junior Year came and with it came new responsibilties for every one of us. To lead us in our third important year, the following people were elected as officers: President, Gino Marchetti; Vice-President, Jerry Burns; Secretary, Terry Shelton and Treasurer Hardy Lavender. Father Fleming became our moderator. (Editor's Note: the photo above from the 1968 PANTHER YEARBOOK shows Father Sullins as our moderator.)

In order to prepare for college, many tests were directed to us. The National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test caused many mental injuries to the juniors. School kept getting harder and harder but we didn't want to let up.

In sports, our basketball team mounted an enviable record and was victorious at the March of Dimes Games. The football team was composed almost entirely of juniors who would be back next year. In wrestling, Ryan captured the regional crown and placed fourth in the state with Frank Baltz winning the state championship.

The biggest social event of the year was the Junior Prom, which returned to Ryan's Gym. The theme was "Venetian Holiday" and was made successful through the laborious tasks of many faithful juniors.

In closing out another successful year the offivers for next year's student council were elected. Parties were formed and (rising) Seniors Jimmy Wilson and Johnny Hosey were elected to serve as President and Treasurer respectively.

President Jimmy Wilson conducts a meeting of the Father Ryan Student Council our senior year

One more year and our high school education would be completed.

COMING NEXT: Part IV. Our Senior Year Class History

LATER: THE PROPHECY OF THE FRHS SENIOR CLASS OF 1969

In just about one more week (June 5-7), members of our Class will be reunited again to celebrate our 40th Class Reunion. Friday, May 29 (tommorrow) is the deadline to register to attend our Class Party at Jimmy Wilson's home on Saturday evening. If you want to come but won't have time now to mail it in your RSVP, please call Angela Mills at the Father Ryan Alumni Office (615) 383-4200, ext. 278 and let her know you will attend, so we can plan for you and/or your guests.

RSVPs For Class of 1969 Reunion Continue To Come In As Friday Deadline Approaches

More RSVPs are coming in from members of the Father Ryan High School Class of 1969 (along their spouses or significant others) to attend our 40th Reunion the weekend of June 5-7.

The latest confirmations are from:

Pat and Pam Bauer
William (Bubba) Thurman and Danette Thurman
Michael J. and Anna Shugart Carter

They join the following who say they are coming to the big Class Party at classmate Jimmy Wilson's home on the evening of Saturday, June 6.

Scott and Anne Brunette
Bill and Chris Carver
Richard and Judy Conditt
John and Margaret Conners
Patrick Cook
Mike Curley
Will and Deb Forte
John Goetz
Joe and Pam Holzmer
Philip and Trish Jones
Michael Jumonville
Bob and Patty Nelson
Pat Nolan
Nick and Wanda Rosa
Chuck and Sharon Scruggs
Terry Shelton
Bubba and Patsy Tucker
Pat and Patricia Watson
Jimmy and Sarah Wilson

Don't forget the extended deadline for RSVPs is this Friday, May 29 and all late fees have been waived.

I know there are several folks (including some of our faculty invitees) who've told me they plan to attend, but aren't on the list of responses. So, if you don't see their names here, pick up the phone or drop them an e-mail and tell them they have to join us next Saturday night for a very special evening.

If you haven't responded please send in your response today, so we can plan to have enough food and dinner for the evening.

The Official History Of The Father Ryan Class of 1969--Sophomore Year

The wooden front doors of the old Father Ryan High School on Elliston Place welcomed back many students over the years, as they did for our class in the Fall of 1966 when we became sophomores.

Here again is the official history of the Graduating Class of 1969, Part 2.

II. The Sophomore Year

After returning from summer vacation we found that we were confident of our abilities as upper classmen. A new Assistant Principal had been appointed who would be in charge of discipline. The work crew was made stronger. Students were made to do an hour's labor after school for any number of violations.

The class nominated and elected its officers for the year: Gino Marchetti, President, Jerry Burns, Vice-President, Terry Shelton, Secretary and Hardy Lavender, Treasurer. Again, we chose Father Maxwell as our class moderator.

For the first time in many years, a Student Council was inaugurated at Ryan. This would put more responsibility into the hands of the students. Members of the sophomore class who served as representatives were: Gino Marchetti, Terry Shelton, Hardy Lavender, Jerry Burns, Rick Sinnott and John Hosey.

The wrestling team enjoyed a most successful season this year by capturing the N.I.L. crown and placing third in the state tournament. Ryan had five wrestlers place in the top four in the state, with one state champ. Although the football team had a losing season, the spirit was always high.

Before we left for the summer the officers for next year's student council were elected. Gino Marchetti was elected Vice-President and Jerry Burns was elected Secretary.

The end of our second year was quickly approaching with the next year appearing to be more difficult than the previous two.


COMING NEXT: III. The Junior Year

By the way, those entrance doors from the Elliston Place campus,pitured above, are still in service at the new Father Ryan on Norwood Drive in Oak Hill. They have been lovingly preserved and are now used as the entrance and exit from the new Neuhoff Library building. They have also been dedicated in memory of Fathers Hitchcock and Arnold.

You can see all this for yourself (as well as the ongoing construction of the school's first on-campus football stadium and Athletic Complex) if you come by the All-Class Reception to be held at Ryan on the evening of Friday, June 5 from 6-8 PM. It will be a great way to kick off our Reunion Weekend together. See you there!

The Official History Of The Father Ryan Graduating Class of 1969

The passage of time has a way of dimming the memory.

So 40 years later, I thought it would be a good idea to re-publish, here on the blog, our official class history as we received it in the weeks right before we graduated in May, 1969.

Does anybody remember who wrote this or how it came to be? Is there a back story to share? If so, leave your insights and/or corrections and additions below.

I. The Freshman Year

As we entered Father Ryan High School in the Fall of 1965, we were proud to be students at the best High School in Nashville. We were the largest class to ever enter Father Ryan. Our lives were to be greatly influenced in the next four years by what was seen and heard at 2300 Elliston Place.

It was a big changeover from from being 8th graders to being high school students; however, we now had to realize how important an education is, and what it can give us in life.

After surviving the first couple of weeks of utter chaos we elected our class officers. President, Dick Lammers; Vice-President, Jerry Burns; Secretary, Gino Marchetti and Treasurer, Hardy Lavender were chosen to lead the freshman class. Father Maxwell became our moderator. These outstanding young men served their classmates faithfully, just as the officers who followed in the next three years.

During our freshman year our athletic teams enjoyed moderate success. Though our football team only managed a 5-4-1 season, they were able to defeat MBA 10-0. Lacking the size of most of its opponents, the basketball team still won a berth in the Region V tournament.

With the spring came the thoughts of ending our first year at Father Ryan. The idea of no longer being the "babies of the school" was in itself enough to make us more mature. We were determined to make our Sophomore year more rewarding than the 1st year, but first came the summer.

COMING NEXT: II. The Sophomore Year

And later, The Class Prophecy

It Was 40 Years Ago Today!

I suspect all of us have, or at least had, a photo like the one above. That's me with my mother and father getting ready to leave home on graduation day.

My picture was buried in a box until I dug it out recently. And it is likely that's where yours is (if you still have it and remember where to look).

This photo has great relevance today. Because it was 40 years ago this very date, May 25, 1969, that the 165 members of the Father Ryan High School Class of 1969 went through our baccalaureate and graduation exercises.

It began by reporting to Father Arnold and Father Hitchcock (I guess they wanted to be sure we knew they meant business and to be on time)by 10:15 AM at the Cathedral Of The Incarnation on West End Avenue, which was not far our campus on Elliston Place.

We were there for a special mass at 10:30 AM for the graduating seniors of all four Catholic High Schools (Father Ryan, Saint Bernard Academy, Saint Cecilia and Cathedral).

We were told to report in cap and gown and to line up as for graduation. That was in alphabetical order with the Class Officers (Bill O'Donohoe, Les Mondelli, Rick Sinnott & Will Forte), Valedictorian (Ted Lenox) and Salutatorian (Terry Shelton) in the front of the line.

It was a fairly quick turnaround after mass, as we were to report(again to Fathers Arnold & Hitchcock) by 3:30 PM that afternoon in the open courtyard of the War Memorial Auditorium next to the State Capitol downtown. That's Phil Bennett, serious as usual in the photo above, as we all began to line up for the graduation exercises held inside the War Memorial Auditorium beginning at 4:00 PM.

Before we received our degrees (that's my cousin, the late Johnny
Shelton, receiving his diploma above), we heard Terry's Salutatory Address as well as Ted's Valedictory Speech. Then Nashville businessman and Father Ryan graduate John Connors, Jr. gave us some parting words of wisdom, to a class which included his son, John Connors, III.

Alleluia! The strife is over!
Looking back over the class report we got from the Guidance Office (Father Bill Fleming) of the 165 graduating seniors, 86.6% went on to college (143), 6.0% went into the work force (10), 4.3% enlisted in the military (7), and 3.1% were undecided (5).

For those who went on to college, here were the most popular choices: University of Tennessee (21), Memphis State University
(21), Middle Tennessee State University (17), Austin Peay State University (9), Vanderbilt University (8),St. Ambrose College
(6).

I remember, during the ceremony, Father Hitchcock announced, quite proudly, that members our class had earned 275 admission acceptances to 56 different colleges and universities (an 87.3% acceptance rate) and that we had received $145,800 in scholarships and another $40,400 in National Defense Loans.

Now those dollar amounts seem paltry today (especially with all the lottery scholarships available) but our numbers were an impressive in our day.

After the graduation ceremony, it was time to celebrate with family and friends, before heading off with our dates for a graduation party held at the old Richland County Club behind old West End High School that evening (and into the next morning as I remember).

Got any graduation memories you want to share? Leave them by clicking on the link below and also be sure to bring them with you Reunion Weekend (June 5-7). Don't forget the RSVP deadline has been extended to Friday, May 29 and all late fees have been waived.So be sure and join us for a weekend perhaps almost as memorable as 40 years ago today.

FATHER RYAN CLASS OF 1969 MAKES BIG RETURN: RSVP DEADLINE EXTENDED, NO LATE FEES

The excitement is growing (at least mine is)as members of the Father Ryan Class of 1969 continue to send in responses that they DO plan to attend their 40th Reunion festivities the weekend of June 5-7.

As of Friday afternoon, May 22, we have confirmed RSVPs from 32 people, including the following classmates:

Scott Brunette
Bill Carver
Richard Conditt
John Conners
Patrick Cook
Mike Curley
Will Forte
John Goetz
Joe Holzmer
Philip Jones
Michael Jumonville
Bob Nelson
Pat Nolan
Nick Rosa
Chuck Scruggs
Terry Shelton
Charles "Bubba" Tucker
Pat Watson
Jimmy Wilson

There is strong reason to believe additional classmates plan to attend including Mike Grant, Phil Mattingly, Mike J. Carter, Bubba Donnelly, David Adams, Tim Quirk and others.

We also have indications from two sources that one of our former teachers (Father) Ed Johnston and his wife, Sarah will also be joining us. We hope even more of our former teachers will be there as well.

In light of this strong response: The RSVP deadline has been extended to Friday, May 29 and all late fees have been waived.

So if you have procastinated or are still on the fence about coming...don't do so any longer. Come on and join us! Send in your RSVP card and check or credit card information ASAP.

If you have mislaid or lost or never got an invitation, just go to the Father Ryan website (www.fatherryan.org). You can download an invitation there. You will find it under the alumni section of the website under Reunions (1969).

Just find some way to let us know you're coming, so we can have enough food and drink for everyone at the big class party on Saturday night at Jimmy Wilson's home.

It is going be to a very memorable weekend. You can see who is coming.

Don't miss it!

ONCE UPON A MATTRESS

INHERIT THE WIND was not the only theatrical performance the FRHS Class of 1969 was involved in when we were seniors.

In the fall of that school year, several of us were "recruited" to Saint Bernard Academy to take roles in the school's production of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, a musical comedy adaptation of the Hans Christian Anderson classic fairy tale, THE PRINCESS AND THE PEA.

Bill Carver remembers it was Father Ed Johnston who recruited us. He came by our every-morning-before-class gathering place down in the cafeteria. He told us Sister Mary Howard really needed some of us for the numerous "boy" roles in the cast, which, of course, were very hard to fill among the students of an all-girls high school like SBA.

Not needing a whole lot more encouragement to spend our evenings practicing with lots of attractive young women...off we went. Those in the cast included me (Sir Harry), Bill Carver (The Minstrel), Phil Bennett (King Sextimus), Rick Sinnott (The Wizard), Mike Jumonville (Prince Dauntless) and Joe Formosa (1st Knight). There were also several members of the Class of 1970 involved as well.

Saint Bernard, at the time, had a wonderful tradition for producing outstanding theatre productions, dating back to its performances in previous years such as BRIDGADOON, MY FAIR LADY and even, DIXIE JUBILEE, a musical, especially written and performed to celebrate the 100th anniversary (1966) of the Sisters of Mercy coming to Nashville and Tennessee.

I have a well-worn program from our ONCE UPON A MATTRESS show. Like a yearbook, it contains lots of special notes from other cast members and from friends who came to see the show. I will bring it to Jimmy Wilson's party if anyone wants to see it.

I am afraid the photos in it will not scan well to be placed here on the blog. The pictures were produced with a green screen (to match the green type face for the program's copy) which I think will make the photos turn all but black when scanned. But I will try it and see if I can post some here.

In the meantime, here's IN A LITTLE WHILE, one of the songs I sang in the show as Sir Harry. You'll remember in the story no one in the kingdom can get married until Prince Dauntless gets hitched and his mother, the Queen, is doing all she can to keep that from happening. The problem that creates for Sir Harry is that his girlfriend, Lady Larkin, is now in a "family way", although Sister Howard changed the script and the lyrics of the song to remove any such reference (hey, this was a Catholic schools in the '60s remember).

Here's how the scene and song was played in the movie, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS. And, yes, that is Tom Smothers playing the role of King Sextimus (but he is not as good or as funny as Phil Bennett playing the muted monarch)... :)

The original production of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS made a star of Carol Burnett, who later went to even greater fame on TV. Here's how she stole the show playing the role of Princess Winfred, the one who finally foiled the Queen, got the Prince, unmuted the King, and let Sir Harry and Lady Larkin live happily ever after. This is the song, SHY, from a 1972 production of the show courtesy of YouTube....

I thank Bill Carver for helping jog my memory about all this. My recollections of doing this play are not that clear or strong. It was during the fall of 1968 when all of us were busy taking ACT and SAT tests, and I also got sick about a week before the show. It was really embarrassing. I got some kind of infection in my mouth that got its name from the soldiers who caught it during the First World War.

It was called "trench mouth."

You can't imagine how thrilled my girl friend at the time was about all that. Or some of the good-natured (I think it was good-natured) that I got from my friends.

INHERIT THE WIND

While we were at Father Ryan, the tradition of producing a Senior Class Play was revived, largely through the efforts and leadership of (then) Father Ed Johnston.

After staging TWELVE ANGRY MEN (1967)and TEN LITTLE INDIANS(1968) in the preceeding two years, our class performed INHERIT THE WIND.
It's a 1955 play written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. It is somewhat loosely based on the infamous Scopes "Monkey" Trial held in Dayton, Tennessee back in 1925.

As you'll recall, John Scopes was a school teacher accused and ultimately convicted of violating Tennessee state law by teaching the theory of evolution in his classes rather than the theory of creation based on the Bible.

The trial was a national sensation, bringing noted and controversial defense attorney Clarence Darrow to Dayton to defend Scopes, while the prosecution was aided by three-time Democratic presidential nominee William Jennings Bryan.

The names are changed in the play, but the many issues raised by the case are pretty much the same: intellectual freedom versus almost mindlessly clinging to tradition . Here are the two major characters of the play in their climactic scene as portrayed in our Father Ryan production by Phil Bennett (Mathew Harrison Brady/Darrow) and Mike Schoen (Henry Drummond/Bryan)....

Over the years, INHERIT THE WIND has been revived numerous times both on and off-Broadway. It is also been made into a motion picture on four occasions, including an all-star cast in 1960 that featured Spencer Tracy and Fredric March in the two leading roles as well as Gene Kelly as the Reporter Hornbeck (based on the real-life journalist H.L. Mencken who covered the trial) along with Harry Morgan as the Judge in the case and Dick York who portrayed the Bertram Cates/John Scopes character.

Unfortunately, no audio or video tape record survives of our senior class play. But here's how Spencer Tracy and Fredric March played the climatic scene as depicted in the photo above....

Not bad acting I'd say.

But I remember Mike Schoen and Phil Bennet were awfully good as well when we performed this play on the floor of the old Father Ryan Gym.

INHERIT THE WIND clearly was based on history, but its message speaks to more than just the hysteria of that day over the battle between evolution and creationism. According to Wikipedia, the intent of the writers back in the 1950s "was to criticize the then current state of McCarthyism or anti-Communist investigations of the House Committe on Un-American Activities and Senator Joseph McCarthy." Said one of the play's authors, Jerome Lawrence," We used the teaching of evolution as a parable, a metaphor for any kind of mind control. It's not about science versus religion. It's about the right to think."

Please Keep One Of Our Classmates In Your Prayers

It's a very difficult time for one of our classmates, Buzz Donlon.

This morning (Wednesday, May 20) at 10:00 AM, a funeral Mass will be offered for his mother Joanne Cordell Donlon at St. Edward's Church. She died on May 18 at the age of 89.

This is something of a double loss for Buzz, his brothers and sisters, and the rest of the extended Donlon family, because Bernard Haley Donlon, Buzz's father, also passed away just a few weeks ago.

The family will receive visitors at the church this morning beginning an hour before the funeral Mass. Memorials in honor of Mrs. Donlon can be sent to St. Edward's School and/or you can send Buzz a note of condolence. Father Ryan has his address as:

Bernard "Buzz" Donlon
1039 Moran Road
Franklin, TN. 37069

Want To Come To The Reunion Party? But You Can't Find The Invitation? Or You Are Not Sure You Got One In The Mail?

It's going to be a great time when the Father Ryan Class of 1969 gets together at Jimmy Wilson's home on Saturday evening, June 6 beginning at 6:00 PM.

You say you want to come but you can't find your invitation? Or maybe you are not sure you got one in the mail?

No problem. Just go to the Father Ryan High School web site at www.fatherryan.org

Click on "Alumni" at the top of the page and you will then see a list of options presented including "Reunion". Click on "Reunion" and you will find lots of information about the upcoming Reunion Weekend, June 5-7. That includes another link specifically for what we have planned for the Class of 1969. You will also see a link there where you can print and download your own invitation and an RSVP card to send in with your check or credit card payment.

So there's another quick, and fairly easy way to make sure you can get the big 40th Reunion party next month. And as you tell from the photo above (from our 1969 PANTHER YEARBOOK), we are a class who knows how to party from way back!

A Really Big Show.....

When I was in New York City last week, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a taping of the LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, which is produced at the old Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway between 53rd and 54th Avenues.

The Letterman show was wonderful with comedian Robin Williams and jazz musician Quinton Marsalis being the major guests. But I also couldn't help but reminisce how many Sunday evenings(when I should have been doing my homework or studying for a test), I was instead watching the ED SULLIVAN SHOW with his wide variety of guests.

Famous for being the first to bring superstars like Elvis Presley and the Beatles to American television, the ED SULLIVAN SHOW featured many of the top American rock acts of the day, along with some quirky regulars like the "Little Italian Mouse", Topo Gigo and ventriloquist Senor Wences.

Another famous appearance on the Sullivan Show was made by THE DOORS with Jim Morrison. They performed their Number One hit "Light My Fire" on the show on September 17, 1967. That included the lyrics: "Girl, we couldn't get much higher," which Sullivan had asked them to change to: "Girl, we couldn't get much better." Jim Morrison sang it the way he wanted to, and on a live program, no one could stop him.

THE DOORS were never invited to appear on the Sullivan Show again, but here's their performance from that evening courtesy of vids.myspace.com
The Doors - Light My Fire (The Ed Sullivan Show)

THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW ran on CBS from June 20, 1948 until June 6, 1971. It always appeared in the 7:00 PM (Central Time) Sunday night time slot, making it one of the few TV programs to air at the same time over a period of more than two decades.

But by the late 1960s and early '70s, viewership declined and the age of the Sullivan Show's viewing audience rose significantly, and so the program was cancelled after the end of the 1970-71 season. The last show was episode 1087 and, believe it or not, it had a strong Father Ryan connection.

Among the guests on that last show, which aired on March 28, 1971 were Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass. Mr. Davis later became a very major supporter of Ryan and helped begin the annual Father Ryan Gala which remains a major fund raiser for the school.

The Final Reckoning....

If seeing something like the photo above brings back vivid nightmares or makes you feel like you are about break out in hives...sorry.

Actually, the photo is a little fuzzy, so you will have to click on it to make it large enough to read easily.

So just what the heck is it?

This is my final report card from our freshman year at Father Ryan in the spring of 1966. Of course, all of us got these from time to time while we were in school, even though we might have dreaded them coming and then having to take them home to our parents.

Why do I have still have this report card. Who knows?

But looking back and seeing the familiar names of teachers and the courses I took does bring back a lot of memories (and most of them are good ones).

It also kind of reminds me of a hit song by the Beach Boys back in the day that really hits home as we approach our 40th Class Reunion just a couple of weeks away.

It's "Be True To Your School", and here it is, by the Beach Boys and courtesy of YouTube.....

Aren't some of those pictures and the album covers a real hoot? Kind of takes you back to our time together at Ryan a few years back.

And so if you haven't already done so, send in that RSVP and your check so you can attend our Class Reunion Party at Jimmy Wilson's home on Saturday, June 6, 2009. 40 years is long enough. It's time we all got together again!

So Just Where Is This 40th Reunion Party? And Who's Coming?

Hopefully you are all busy sending in your RSVPs to attend our 40th Class Reunion Party on Saturday night, June 6 at the home of our classmate Jimmy Wilson and his wife, Sarah.

Here are the directions to his home at 1607 Oakhall Drive (coming I-65 South from Nashville):

Take I-65 South towards Huntsville to the Concord Road Exit

Turn left off of the Exit onto Concord Road

Proceed past the Brentwood YMCA which will be on the right

Turn right onto Wilson Pike at the BP Market

Proceed through two red lights (one at Crockett Road and one at Moore's Lane)

Turn left at the next red light (Ravenwood High School at Raintree Parkway

Oakhall Drive is on the left past the Wilson Cemetery (which has a white picket fence) at the entrance to Oakhall Subdivision (which has two stone walls)

Jimmy's actual home, known as Oak Hall, is the 1st house on the left, 1607 Oakhall Drive. It has a gravel driveway.

If you go past the club house, you have gone too far!

Lost? Call Jimmy at 615-866-9844.

Don't worry. I will re-post these directions again several times before the party.

By the way, first in the clubhouse...err...Father Ryan Alumni Office...with their RSVPS are Phillip Jones and Scott Brunette!

Way to go, guys!

I expect many more to be coming in in the next few days, and I will post and update the information on the others who say they will be there just as soon as I get the word.

That Very Special Day....40 Years Ago

Father Ryan High School held its commencement exercises yesterday (May 17).

Believe it or not, this is the 40th class to graduate from the school since we did it back on May 25, 1969.

The photo above is one taken during that special day we all share(it was the last time all of the members of the Father Ryan Class of 1969 were together). In the photo, that's the late Johnny Shelton (my first cousin) receiving his diploma from Bishop Joseph Durick, while Monsignor James Hitchcock, our Principal, looks on.

Some years before we graduated, Father Ryan had outgrown its gym on Elliston Place as an on-campus facility for graduation. So like several previous classes, we made our march across the stage at the War Memorial Auditorium next to the State Capitol downtown.

An off-campus site is also used today for those graduating from Father Ryan's Norwood campus in Oak Hill, as commencement is conducted at the beautiful new Curb Event Center at Belmont University, after being held for many years at the New Opry House at Opryland.

We'll take another look back at our graduation when the actual 40th anniversary occurs in a week (on Monday, May 25).

In the meantime, if you'd like to post any graduation day memories (remember our class party that evening at the Richland Country Club?) please feel free to do so below or e-mail them to me at pat.nolan@dvl.com.

A couple of final notes, sorry I was out a few days for my daughter's graduation from NYU (master's degree in business journalism).

But I am back now and plan to be blogging frequently all the way up and through Reunion Weekend June 5-7. A reminder, please send in your RSVP for Reunion Weekend as soon as possible, so we can plan on how many folks are attending (you know, so we have enough food and especially drink at the party on Saturday night). :)

Hopefully, everyone has now received their invitations from FRHS. If not, let me know and we will try and work things out to get you one very quickly.

Our Superlatives

Like all high school senior classes, the Father Ryan Class of 1969 had our Class Prophecy, Our Last Will & Testament and, of course, our class superlatives.

In the remaining few weeks leading up our 40th Reunion, I plan to take a moment to look back on all those things here on the blog, starting first with the photo below.

It's not one of the usual superlatives voted on by class members. It's Mike Curley, who one day during class our senior year was designated by Sister Mary John as "Most Thoroughly Disgusting." I can't remember why she was mad at him (and I sure she got over it, as Mike was an excellent honor student in the honors class). But it's a nickname that stuck.

And Terry Shelton "immortalized" it when he placed this photo with the tag line "Most Thoroughly Disgusting" in our 1969 PANTHER YEARBOOK.....

I will be traveling the next few days for a family graduation so postings may be a bit sporadic. But please leave me your thoughts here on the blog about our days at Ryan or send them to me by e-mail (pat.nolan@dvl.com).

X Marks the Spot

Just one year after awarding the BEST PICTURE Oscar to a G-rated movie for the first and only time,the Academy Award for best movie of 1969 went completely in the opposite direction, when it was given to an X-rated film for the first and only time.

At a quick glance, MIDNIGHT COWBOY might be appear to be somewhat similar plot-wise to OLIVER!, the 1968 BEST PICTURE winner. Both concerned the somewhat seedy side of life in a major city (London in the 1800s for OLIVER! and modern day New York for MIDNIGHT COWBOY).

But all comparisons end there. OLIVER! is a light-hearted musical, while MIDNIGHT COWBOY, based on a 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy, is a profanity-laced drama with sex scenes that were considered shocking at the time.

The movie made a star of newcomer Jon Voight and helped Dustin Hoffman establish himself further as a major actor (avoiding any typecasting from his lead role in the smash movie hit, THE GRADUATE).

Since it was X-rated (no one under 18 allowed), MIDNIGHT COWBOY is likely a motion picture many of us could not go and see while we were in high school. There was a further review of MIDNIGHT COWBOY in 1970 and it was changed to an R rating. That allowed for greater circulation of the picture since many theatres would not run X-rated fare and newspapers would not accept advertising for such films.

One line from this picture lives on in cinema history. It came from Dustin Hoffman while crossing a street. "I'm walking here, I'm walking here" is a classic quote that has been parodied in several motion pictures over the years.

Cortesy of YouTube, here's how the movie was promoted back in 1969. Watch for the famous "I'm walking here" line in this trailer. I guess someone already knew it would be a classic..

MIDNIGHT COWBOY won 3 Oscars, for BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR (John Schlesinger) and BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY. Both Hoffman and Voight were nominated for BEST ACTOR but did not win.

The movie also won GRAMMY awards for Best Instrumental Theme and for "Everybody's Talking" which took top honors for Harry Nilsson for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance." The song was a mega-hit on the pop charts.

This concludes our look back at the movies that won the BEST PICTURE Oscar while we were attending Father Ryan High School (1965-69). I hope you enjoyed it, especially to see how the trends in our best pictures waxed and waned over a 4 to 5 year period.

There are, of course, several other motion pictures of note that were made and released during our time together at FRHS. We will will take a look back at some of them as well, as we approach our 40th Reunion celebration which is now just a few weeks away now on the weekend of June 5-7.

If you've gotten your invitation, please be sure to fill out your RSVP card and send it in (with your check) as soon as possible. if you are a class member who hasn't gotten an invitation, let us know, so we can make sure you are on the list.

It is going to be a great weekend!

You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two

It was back to a musical with an historical theme for the Academy Awards in 1968.

Despite that year being one of the most tumultous in American and world history, with riots, wars, assassinations and political turmoil dominating the headlines, Hollywood instead fell in love with Charles Dickens and a stage musical adaptation of his classic novel, OLIVER TWIST, which portrayed the seamy side of Victorian life on the streets of London in the 1800s.

OLIVER! had many wonderful songs, several of which still live on today, such as FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD, CONSIDER YOURSELF, AS LONG AS HE NEEDS ME, OOM-PAH-PAH and YOU'VE GOT TO PICK A POCKET OR TWO. Wikipedia says the movie starred a mixture of young unknowns and big names. Among the big names were Oliver Reed (Bill Sikes) and Ron Moody, who reprised his role from the London stage as Fagin. Moody got the movie part reportedly after it was turned down by Peter Sellers, Dick Van Dyke and Peter O'Toole. One of the less known stars was Mark Lester who played Oliver.

The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won 6 Oscars, including BEST PICTURE, BEST DIRECTOR (Carol Reed), BEST MUSIC, BEST ART DIRECTION, BEST SOUND and a special Oscar to Onna White for her elaborate choreography.

Here's the way Columbia Pictures promoted the movie.....

Oliver was a G-rated movie and, according to Wikipedia, the only such G-rated film to win a BEST PICTURE Oscar. That would be of particular interest considering the movie which won the Academy Award the next year.

Hollywood soon lost its love for musicals. OLIVER! was the last musical to win Best Picture until CHICAGO was so honored 34 years later.

Back to Movies.....

As we continue our look back at the Best Picture Oscar winners while we were in high school, you can see by 1967 (parts of our sophomore and junior years) how the themes of the winning motion pictures changed from previous years when the winners were either historical epics (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS,1966) or a musical with a historical theme (THE SOUND OF MUSIC, 1965).

The 1967 Best Picture Oscar was given to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT, a movie whose story line could have been ripped right out the headlines of the 1960s, especially with the ongoing civil rights movement still going strong across the country.

IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT is based on a novel by John Ball. It tells the story of an African-American police detective, Virgil Tibbs (Sidney Poitier) from Philadelphia who becomes involved in a murder investigation in a small, racist town in Mississippi.

The town's police chief, Bill Gillespie (Rod Steiger), is the other major star of the movie. In fact, Rod Steiger won the BEST ACTOR Oscar for this role. Ironically however, it was Sidney Poitier (who had already become the first African-American to win a BEST ACTOR Oscar for LILLIES OF THE FIELD a few years earlier) who uttered the most enduring line of the film when he said: "They call me Mister Tibbs!"

Courtesy of YouTube, here's one of many powerful scences from the movie. By today's standards, it would seem almost routine, but the standards of the late 1960s this was groundbreaking subject matter for a motion picture...




IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT won 5 Oscars in 1967. In addition to BEST PICTURE and BEST ACTOR, it also won for FILM EDIITING, SOUND and WRITING FOR AN ADAPTED SCREENPLAY.

The success of the movie led to two sequels: THEY CALL ME, MR.TIBBS (1970) and THE ORGANIZATION (1971). There was also a long-running TV series based on the main characters in the movie. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT ran for 8 seasons on both NBC and CBS from March 6, 1988 to May 16, 1995.

Carroll O'Connor (of the ALL IN THE FAMILY TV show and Archie Bunker fame) played Police Chief Gillespie and Howard Rollins played Mr. Tibbs.

We Need Your Help!

Before we get back to the Best Picture movies from the 1960s while we were at Ryan, we need your help.

As the time draws close for our 40th Reunion, the first weekend of June (June 5-7), there remain a lot of folks we haven't been able to contact.

I posted this list before, but let's do it again.

If you know how to reach any of the following classmates, let me know by replying below or by contacting me(pat.nolan@dvl.com).

Thanks!

LOST CLASSMATES---Father Ryan Class of 1969

Stanley Belcher
Michael Brown
Mike Byrd
James Colvert
Phil "Flash" Cunningham
James Dean
Ernest Felts
John DeLozier
Phillip Felts
Joseph Formosa
Greg Garr
Mike Grant (I do have an e-mail for him, no mailing address)
Tony Greene
Robert Greer
William Hall
William Hemmelgarn
Tommy Howington
Dickey Kibby
Mike Lagan
Steve Luckett
Chuck McDowell
Ralph McGuffey
Joe O'Connor
Tim Quirk (although we do have a lead on him from David Adams)
Darrell Rose
Roger Rontoni
David Schmitt
Charles Smith
William Stone
Charles Walker
Paul Woodside
John Wyman
Bob Young

It's a good size list, but any help you can give to us contact them about the Reunion will be appreciated.

Hopefully, we all will be receiving our invitations soon to the party at Jimmy Wilson's home on Saturday evening, June 6. Please send in your RSVP as soon as possible so we can plan to have enough to eat and drink (as I remember this is a hungry and thirsty group).

I will also be posting (several times in the next few weeks) detailed directions to the Wilson home and I will try and let you know who is coming (based on RSVPs) so you will have that information as well.

It's going to be a great Reunion weekend!

We Were First!

All this week at Father Ryan, final exams are being given to those enrolled in the school's Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

The wonderful drawing above, from our senior year PANTHER YEARBOOK (and done by our own Dr. Bob Campbell),is of Mrs. Joan Wallenhorst, who taught the first AP course in Father Ryan history (English Literature-AP-Honors Class) when we were seniors back in the 1968-1969 school year.

From that humble beginning, and based on the 2007-08 school year, Father Ryan now offers 19 AP courses,involving 181 students or almost 12% of the entire student body. And more than 81% of our students pass their AP courses (making a 3 or more on the national AP exam for that subject to qualify for possible college credit).

The AP classes cover a wide range of disciplines including AP U.S. Government & Politics, AP European History, AP English Literature, AP Computer Science, AP Studio Art Portfolios, AP Psychlogy,AP Calculus, AP Statistics, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Spanish, AP French, AP Latin, AP Music Theory and AP Environmental Science.

And the legacy for all this at Father Ryan, dates from a lady who once rode a pogo stick down the middle of the hall on the first floor or our Annex Building, with our PANTHER photographer Bob Cook (and editor-in-chief Terry Shelton) there to capture the moment.....

I know I am a bit biased, but our 1969 PANTHER YEARBOOK was clearly the best one produced during the four years we attended Father Ryan.

Editor Terry Shelton and his entire staff deserve all the credit for how great the Yearbook is, even forty years later. The drawings by Bob Campbell, the hilarious photo of Mrs. Wallenhurst (and others photos and items from the yearbook that we will be spotlighting here on the blog between now and our Reunion) are just a couple of examples of why this PANTHER is so great.

By the way, the Alumni Office doesn't have a copy of our 1969 Annual. So if anyone wants to share theirs, please contact Alumni Director Angela Mills at the school.

Meanwhile, I hope Terry Shelton, who I know is reading this blog, will take a moment to explain in the comment section here,just how he managed to talk Mrs. Wallenhorst into getting on that pogo stick and have her picture taken. I am sure it will be a very fascinating and funny story. And anyone else who has the inside story, please feel free to chime in. That includes Pat Cook, who I understand used up an entire roll of film for that shoot.

I was one of those in the Senior Honors Class who took the first AP class, although I am not sure we were aware that we were making history. I remember late in our junior year, Mrs. Wallenhurst asking us if we would be interested in taking an AP class in English Literature, and we were like OK, I guess so.

I remember I did get a 3 on the AP exam and got 6 hours credit at Peabody. But my luck didn't hold, when I transferred to Vanderbilt, I had to take some English courses anyway to meet the school's distribution requirements for graduation. Oh well....

All We Had Was A Big Bass Drum...

Let's take a brief intermission from our Best Picture movie review to give a shout-out to some current Father Ryan students and alumni who have brought a great honor to our school.

As you know when we were attending Father Ryan back in the 1960s, there wasn't anything that even resembled a band program. I believe someone once took a big bass drum out of the student section and marched up and down the field making some noise with it at halftime. Normally, our football games were pretty quiet affairs musically, especially when we played M.B.A., which didn't have a band either (and still doesn't).

However, today (and for several years now) Father Ryan High School has had an award-winning, nationally recognized band program. The latest achievement came last month when the FRHS Winter Drumline took the silver medal at the World Championships in Dayton, Ohio.

Father Ryan has a tradition of doing well in this competition. But what made finishing second in the world this season an even greater accomplishment was the fact that just a few months ago, it appears the FRHS Drumline would have to be disbanded because of a lack of students to participate.

That's when several alumni members stepped up and came back to Nashville for several weekends to re-join the Drumline and prepare for the World competition.

And compete they did. Despite being placed in the Independent category, where they had to go up against drumlines from major universities like Penn State and George Mason, the Irish made it happen. Among those stepping up were a number of freshmen and sophomore members of the Drumline who refused to be intimidated while going up against college-age rivals in the World Championships.

Performing a very difficult program based on a professional wrestling theme, the Ryan Drumline proved once again to be a crowd favorite at the event. After placing 5th in the preliminaries, the team moved up to second place in the finals to earn the Silver Medal...

As they hold the World Championship Silver trophy, you can see the joy on the faces of these Ryan alumni who came back to help year's Drumline. They are the living proof of why alumni support is so vital to our school, and how if our alums support our current students at FRHS, there is no limit to what can be accomplished.

Perhaps that something we should keep in mind the next time an Annual Fund letter hits our mailboxes. (End of sermon)

To close this salute to the success of our Winterline Drumline, here's an excerpt from their 2009 routine, courtesy of YouTube....

Best Pictures 1965-1969, Part II

As we continue our look at the movies that won the "Best Picture" Oscars while we were at Father Ryan, we come to a motion picture that I remember being discussed in several of our religion classes while we were in school.

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, released in 1966, had a very strong Catholic theme. It concerned the ultimate test of faith and conscience for Sir (now Saint)Thomas More, who, as Chancellor of England, stood up to King Henry VIII (and forfeited his life) by refusing to endorse the King's wishes to divorce his wife and marry another, so he could produce a male heir. It all ultimately led to a complete break by the King with the Pope and the Catholic Church.

Paul Schofield, who had previously played the part on stage in London, was brillant in his portrayal of More, and he won a Best Actor Oscar for his work. He was surrounded by a wonderful cast that included Robert Shaw as the King, Orson Welles as Cardinal Wosley, John Hurt as Richard Rich, and Wendy Hiller as More's wife.

The movie swept the Oscars in 1966 winning 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, Cinematography, Costume Design and Best Director.

Here's how Columbia Pictures promoted the film....

For 1965 (THE SOUND OF MUSIC) and 1966 (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS) the Best Picture winners were largely wholesome, inspirational, historical types of movies. But as we shall see in our next couple of postings on this topic, that was going to change a bit in the coming years of 1967, 1968 and 1969.

Do you any memories of going to the movies while we were in high school? Any memories of A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS? THE SOUND OF MUSIC? What about other films did you see and enjoy during this period?

Please feel free to post your thoughts below by clicking on the comments link or send them to me by e-mail (pat.nolan@dvl.com) and I can post them here.

Best Pictures 1965-1969

When we were in high school in the mid to late 1960s, going to the movies was a big deal. For one thing, it was where many of us had our first dates or double-dates.

And you had "to go" to the movies in those days. No on-demand or NetFlix or Blockbuster or VCRs or DVDs or DVRs. It was a big event and the source of a lot of our out-of-school entertainment in these days before cable TV, video games and surfing the Internet on our home computers.

To help capture that period in our lives, I have selected a series of movies to feature here on the blog, beginning with the motion pictures that won the "Best Picture" Oscars between 1965 and 1969.

We will begin at the beginning with THE SOUND OF MUSIC, which played so long (well over a year) at the Belle Meade Theater here in Nashville that I think we sometimes wondered if any other picture would ever be shown there.

While these days musicals still remain somewhat out of fashion, I think this Rogers & Hammerstein story about the Von Trapp family still maintains its vitality well nearly 45 years after its original release.

Wikipedia estimates that, adjusted for 2009 dollars, the SOUND OF MUSIC grossed $1.022 billion, making it third all-time behind GONE WITH THE WIND and STAR WARS. It was nominated for 10 Acedemy Awards and won 5 including BEST PICTURE, SOUND, BEST DIRECTOR (Robert Wise), BEST ADAPTED SCORE (it had been a hit show on Broadway first) and FILM EDITING. Here's how 20th Century Fox promoted the movie when it came out in 1965.....

THE SOUND OF MUSIC was so popular during its day that you'll remember several of its hit songs were featured in our SHOWTIME CYO Show held in the Father Ryan gym in the spring of 1966. That includes the title song along with CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN and, SIXTEEN GOING ON SEVENTEEN.

Perhaps the best indication of how great a movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC is comes from its selection in 2001 by the U.S. Library of Congress to be a part of its National Film Registry. That means the motion picture has been deemed "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant."

It also means that maybe the owners of the old Belle Meade Theatre were on to something back in the 1960s when the picture was the feature presentation for so long, because this is a film that will clearly be around to be enjoyed by many generations yet to come.

May He Rest In Peace

We've lost another member of our class.

THE SUNDAY TENNESSEAN(May 3)carries news of the passing on April
28,2009 of our classmate Robert Michael (Mike) Craven. Mike was living in Crofton, MD at the time of his death. He had just observed his 58th birthday on April 21.

While attending Ryan, Mike excelled in athletics, lettering in varsity baseball his sophomore and junior years, and in both baseball and basketball in his senior season.After leaving FRHS, he earned a B.A. degree at DePauw University where he again lettered in baseball.

Mike was a career sales representative, starting out in the shoe industry with Timberland. His career then took him to the Bay Area of California where he lived for over 20 years and where he developed a passion for tennis.

The last decade of his life Mike was a sales representative in the furniture industry for Fairfield Chair Company, working in the states of Maryland and Virginia.

His TENNESSEAN obituary offers these tributes: "Mike touched many lives. His fun loving, colorful approach to life made all those who he knew laugh and smile....Mike says he will see you in the next adventure."

Mike is survived by his mother, Mary Fitzgerald Craven and his eight brothers and sisters, John, Susan, Donna, Joe, Cathy, Beth, Mark and Jim. He also leaves behind nineteen nieces and nephews and two great nephews. A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 A.M.,Tuesday, May 5 at St. Stephen Catholic Community in Hermitage.
For his friends in Maryland, a party in his honor will be held at a date and time to be announced.

Contributions in Mike's memory can be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN. 38105.

Mike was one of our classmates who lost touch with Father Ryan over the years. He is also now among several classmates who have passed away in recent years. Here is a list from the Father Ryan Alumni Office, although it may well be incomplete.

Danny Boyd
William "Billy" Buckner
Andrew Cantrell
Jack Long
William Martin
Mark Mogan
General Bernardo Negrete
Bill O'Donohoe
Kenny Potts
Mike Rohling
Charlie Rosa
Johnny Shelton
Henry Swider
Mike Watson
Mike Craven

As we gather together for our 40th Class Reunion the first weekend in June, let us all pause for a moment, say a prayer and remember our Father Ryan classmates that have gone before us.

UPDATE: Another sign of the high esteem Mike Craven achieved in his industry comes from this article printed April 30 in the trade publication, FURNITURE WORLD MAGAZINE:

Sad Note: Mike Craven,CHR Passes

The Age of the Secret Agent, Part 3

Judging from popular culture, we did truly live in the Age of the Secret Agent while we were attending Father Ryan High School in the mid to late 1960s.

One of the TV shows that was part of the craze was clearly Mission: Impossible. The series ran from September,1966 to March, 1975 on the CBS Network. It featured the missions of a team of secret American government agents lead by Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves.

According to Wikipedia: "The hallmark of these shows (was) Graves receiving receiving instruction on a tape recorder that self destructs" with the warning that should the operation fail or they be captured, "the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions."

The show has endured through the decades including a two-year revivial on ABC-TV from 1988 to 1990 and a trio of recent motion pictures starring Tom Cruise. Then there's the musical theme for Misson:Impossible, composed by Lalo Schifrin. It has been used for the opening of all the shows (and movies). And, in a unique touch, it always featured a montage of action scenes from that week's episode...


Another strong pop cultural theme of our high school years in the 1960s was the "British Invasion." And that was certainly true in the secret agent/spy craze, with the James Bond novels and movies that originally sparked the craze. Then there was the British-produced TV show THE SAINT starring Roger Moore, who later succeeded Sean Connery in the movies playing James Bond.

THE SAINT began in 1962 on British TV. It was picked up by NBC as a summer replacement show in 1966 and continued on the network schedule until 1969.THE SAINT experienced worldwide popularity being picked up and shown in 60 different countries.

The master spy thriller was based on the character Simon Templar created by Leslie Charteris back in the 1920s. 120 episodes were produced,many of which began like this...


The only British-based TV spy show that was more prolific than THE SAINT was THE AVENGERS. A so-called "spy-fi" show, it featured the exploits of British secret agents operating in 1960s England. Several of the shows had sci-fi themes.

The primary character was John Steed, played by Patrick Macnee. He had a number of female sidekicks during the run of the show from 1961 to 1969, including Honor Blackman, who later gained fame in one of the Bond movies (Goldfinger) as Pussy Galore.

But the most famous of THE AVENGER female agents is Diane Rigg, who played Emma Peel from 1965 to 1968, which corresponds with the years that the show came to America on the ABC TV network. ABC paid a then unheard of amount of $2 million for the rights to 26 episodes that first season. Certainly many young boys watching the show thought the money was well spent just to watch Diane Rigg :).

A catch-phrase from those seasons was Steed saying "Mrs. Peel, we are needed." And indeed, according to Wikipedia, THE AVENGERS was the longest running spy series produced for English-speaking television, although MISSION:IMPOSSIBLE had more episodes with
171.

The secret agent/spy craze was, of course, tailor made for satire and comedy.

One hit TV series that took full advantage of that was GET SMART which aired from September 18, 1965 to April 12, 1969 on NBC. It was a series created by two comedic legends, Mel Brooks and Buck Henry.

The show featured Don Adams as Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 and Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 (her full name was never given). Both worked for CONTROL, a secret American counter-spy agency battling their opponents, known as KAOS.

The show has sparked 4 different full-length TV and theatrical movies over the years, and some of the catchphrases from the original show live on today such as: "Sorry, about that, Chief" and "Would you believe...?"

And here's how it began that first season in 1965 just a few days after we began classes for the first time at Father Ryan...

Some might see GET SMART as the American TV version of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) of THE PINK PANTHER movies fame. Clearly that is an apt comparison in some ways. But since the PINK PANTHER movies, by in large, came to full prominence during the 1970s, I am not including them in this posting.

Of course, popular culture certainly also included the pop music scene in the 1960s, and you could find secret agent and spy themes there as well. We've already mentioned all the Bond movie theme songs that became hits on the charts. Then there's this hit record, by a man who had many hit songs in 1960s, Johnny Rivers with SECRET AGENT MAN in 1966...

This ends our look back at the secret agent/spy craze of our high school days. I sure I have overlooked or omitted some movies or TV shows or other things that should almost be remembered in this retrospective.

If so, leave me a comment below or send me an e-mail(pat.nolan@dvl.com) with your other memories or thoughts and suggestions.