Steven Levinson

Paul, I think you hit the nail on the head.  Of course teenagers, or at least most of them, know right from wrong, and maybe even more accutely than their elders on some subjects.  Hopefully, most teenagers can also distinguish between a legitimate critique of "the system," on the one hand, and gratuitous cruelty, on the other.  Nothing justifies the oafish abuse that was inflicted on the subs who were just trying to do their jobs.

By the way, I had Mrs. Vines full-time in 10th grade World History.  She was a good, solid, empathetic, and highly credentialed teacher.  But being spherical in shape, she was the object of scorn and derision on the part of some folks who should have known better, who called her "the grape" and "Grapie Boo" and other variations.  They even composed what would now be called a little Rap about her.  Bullying took many forms in those days, as it does now.

Steven Levinson

Hank, that could well be.  I, myself, was a Paul Birtch man.

Steven Levinson

Ann, I recall that a lot of us had Erma Foley for 12th grade Health.  She was a very nice lady.  She also oversaw a late afternoon study hall that Lynn Gehler (Levinson) and I were in.  Mrs. Foley tolerated my anything-but-silent math tutoring -- any excuse to be talking with Lynn!  Mrs. Foley and I had a lively and ongoing debate as to whether Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf was a good play.  I thought it was; she expressed the contrary view.  Although I didn't realize it at the time, she was also a faithful spokesperson for the (Arch?) Diocese of Cincinnati.  Mrs. Foley would often repeat, with great relish, and in our coed class (I'm simply quoting her here, so don't blame me), her dogma that "the only normal sex consists of behavior that is designed to culminate in penis-vagina penetration!"  You could hear the exclamation point in her voice.  You could also hear the thundering and awkward silence that gripped the class.  I think that her fervent insistence on this point confused a lot of the boys.  Probably a lot of the girls, too.  No one was thinking about marriage equality in those days, but I doubt that Mrs. Foley would have been a fan of it.

Philip Spiess

Hmmm, Steve.  Somehow I thought we had sex ed in 11th Grade.  As to Mrs. Foley's comment, what sex ed boils down to (as I mentioned at Browne Academy, where I was teaching, and got censured for) is "Insert Tab A into Slot B."  As to Birch trees, a woodpecker, twice a year on his migrations north and south, regularly visits a stand of both beech and birch trees.  One year, a sapling sprouts up in the midst of the grove.  When the woodpecker arrives for his semi-annual visit, the older trees ask him to swoop down, sample it, and determine whether the young sapling is a "Son of a Beech" or a "Son of a Birch."  He does so, and reports back:  "Best piece of Ash I ever had!"

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Good one Phil!!  

Steven Levinson

Phil, you need to be bottled when you pass on or some other equally effective means of preserving you.  You need to be genetically cloned in the meantime.  Humankind can't afford to lose your humor and social commentary!  Believe it or not, at this very moment, I'm looking at my 12th grade report card.  First semester = "Health" -- that's Mrs. Foley and Tab/Slot A and B.  Second semester = Phys Ed -- enough said about that sad activity (other than that FINALLY it was over). 

Barbara Kahn (Tepper)

I definitely remember Mrs. Foley but also her son.  Did he attend Walnut Hills?  I'm not sure how I knew him.

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Steve, I second that suggestion about preserving Phil Spiess for all time humor. Now that he's retired, he ought to take his act on the road. I've been trying to wean myself away from spending so much time on this site, but when I think it's safe, I get another notification that Phil is at it again, and I'm compelled to see, "What now?"

Harry Martin

Getting back to teachers and subs, does anyone remember a sub named Mrs or Ms. Fischer. If my memory serves me correctly, she subbed some of my math classes or she may have been full time....I am not for sure. She was a large framed, matronly looking lady with short brown hair. As far as teachers-Mr Cobb  taught Health and I think he also coached  football  at some point; Mr Rettig- English.......he was called 'Rat' Rettig because of his nose. He was always across the hall flirting with Ms. Bruggeman-Science. Mr. Gacometti -Social Studies?; Mr. Jones- Chemistry......had a southern accent; Mrs. Bumenthal- English; Mr Counts - Phys Ed....I think that he was the only Gym teacher that was actually physically fit; Mr Peterson Metal shop, and Ms Meyer-Plane Geometry. Wasn't there another Art teacher? I think he may have predated Mr Sowell and Mrs. Dobbins. I think his name was Mr. Williams?

John Mather

A big wow! First for all the efforts on the website and video. Nice. I’ll admit I was disappointed not to have a chance to come to Cincy. Since my parents passed away I just don’t get there enough. My bro, Brad, Class of 66, & I made a pilgrimage in 2012. We even made a stop at WHHS which was in full construction then. It was great to see all that was happening and hear the achievements of the students. But… we couldn’t go into the older section. Our section. I guess a full tour’s in order in 2016.

Second wow to the powers of recall. Apparently my brother should have been in our class because he’s the one with all the detailed memories like some of our classmates. I guess my memory is still closer to a B average…

Of course I dug out the Rememberancers and paged through our class & the teachers. I remember the teachers mostly as vague personalities. Guess that comment someone wrote in my yearbook referencing the “sleepy corner” in biology must have carried over to other classes.

I took drafting from Mr. Peterson and loved it. He however was a such a nervous, almost shaky, dewy man that some took to calling him “Old Shell Shocked Peterson”. As I remember books or  would mysteriously slam to the floor to see him jump. Ski-jumps” & Fish weren’t the only ones…

Philip Spiess

Harry:  Carl Volz was an art teacher at WHHS when we got there; my sister, who was an artist, adored him.  As to Mr. Counts, I've commented on him on Steve Pahner's "In Memory" page.

Philip Spiess

Steve and Ann:  Remember, my career was in "historic preservation" (alcohol comes in handy, here).  At the moment, however, while I'm still living, I'm thinking of donating myself to a museum as a "hands-on" object.

Janet Wood (Mitchell)

About Mrs. Foley and Sex Ed class...I recall that on the first day of class, she announced that the class was titled "Womb to Tomb."  She also annouced this to parents on back-to-school night, and my mother snickered about it for years afterword.  Barb, you are right that Mrs. Foley had a son at WHHS.  His name was Jim, I do believe, and I had one date with him. I was a bit worried that he had all the inside scoop on the Tab A into Slot B thing, but he was a perfect gentleman.  How awkward it must have been for him to have a mom teaching sex ed at his school!  I think he played football:  he was quite a big kid. 

Rick Steiner

I remember Mrs. Foley very well as I believe I was the first student to meet her and her two sons. We were all on a train together I believe at the end of the summer when we struck up a conversation and found out that she would be teaching at Walnut Hills.  I believe they were moving to Cincinnati from somewhere in Pennsylvania but I am not certain of that .Her older son was I believe one year older than we are and he drove an Edsel. He was indeed very large and played on the football team.

Philip Spiess

Janet - thanks for bringing that "womb to tomb" phrase back; I had forgotten that.  Steve - you are correct; I've now found the little black book in which I recorded classes and teachers, and Sex Ed was in 12th Grade (seems a little late to me); I apparently had it in 5th period.  As I recall, it was a co-ed class; I will now slightly confess:  in the class I sat next to a girl I had something of a "crush" on (who shall be nameless here), and, as a result, I blushed through the entire course. 

Gail Weintraub (Stern)

Phil, I believe that Mr. Volz's first name was Glenn; but, my Remembrancers are packed away (as a result of a recent downsizing), so I cannot confirm. I took several art classes with him and loved him.  He was kind, sensitive and nonjudgmental. He encouraged creativity.

Margery Erhardt (Schrader)

Gail…Mr. Volz was one of my favorite teachers along with Ethel Levy. He wanted me to continue in art and would even call my mother encouraging her to permit me to continue in his classes. It was not to be as she didn’t feel it was appropriate for girls…but he was so kind and as you say really encouraged creativity.

Sex Ed – I thought we took that in 9^th grade. It was a one semester class and the first day (second semester) when we entered she informed us that she had apparently been called on the carpet for teaching Sex Ed exclusively during the first semester. Therefore she had to teach us first aid, etc. during the second semester. We were crestfallen as we had heard all about her first semester class and our anticipation was high. Surely this didn’t happen in the senior year instead, did it? As Phil says – a bit late perhaps.

Philip Spiess

Gail:  Yes, I believe you're correct; now that you mention it, "Glenn" sounds right.  (I think Carl Volz was somebody else we knew.)  My "Remembrancers," while not exactly packed away, are in a part of the Library stacks where it's extremely hard to get at them.

Margery:  We technically had Sex Ed twice, once (in either 10th or 11th Grade; I can't tell from my ledger, but I'm opting for 10th Grade), separated by gender, where the course was more on personal hygiene (I think), and once in 12th grade as a co-ed course (Mrs. Foley) that focused on the physiology of sex.  I don't remember that much was said of morals in that course, except I have vague memories of a graphic film on the horrors of syphilis (or maybe that was in the 10th Grade course).  Of course, there was nothing known (or existing) of AIDS in those days -- just the traditional "social diseases," as "West Side Story" called them.  [With our own son, while answering questions and talking casually about sex as he was growing up, we decided that the "big learning talk" about it -- everything -- should occur when he turned 10.]

Philip Spiess

Steve:  Sometime in the mid-1990s (January, 1997?) I was fortunate enough to see "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in London, starring Diana Rigg and David Suchet as Martha and George.  If anyone had any doubts that it was a great play, there'd be no doubts after that production.  Of course, great acting can make even a mediocre play look good, but I was convinced of its greatness.  I also like Albee's The American Dream, The Sandbox, and Zoo Story.  (Anybody remember the Albee Theater in downtown Cincinnati?)

To try to open up another thread of discussion:  Who's reading anything good these days?  Or, put a different way, anybody reading anything?  If so, what?  In book form, Kindle, or other electronic medium?  I myself have recently read (almost simultaneously) A Short Bright Flash:  Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse; The Table Talk of Oscar Wilde; and The Devil Drives:  A Life of Sir Richard Burton (the 19th-century explorer and translator of The Arabian Nights -- I spent two different trips to London searching for his mausoleum, which is an Arabian tent in stone, complete with mosque lamps and camel bells).  I still read books in codex form, though my wife reads by Kindle and iBook.

Barbara Kahn (Tepper)

Thanks Janet!  Yes, perhaps there were two sons but one I knew - a very large person I remember.  I was afraid of that slot A tab B thing too.

Henry Cohen

Picture books are my favorite, learned that from W, who proved the hypothesis that certitude (Iraq weapons of mass destruction) is the hobgoblin of small minds. If one can't envision alternative explanations one has to be right! 

Philip Spiess

Hank - depends on the pictures.  (If you've been reading along, you've noted that Larry Klein caught the reference to my "classic erotica" collection.  Some pictures!)  Seriously, I also collect classic children's books, largely because of the colorful (or Art Nouveau black-and-white) pictures.

Steven Levinson

Phil,

The road company did Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1963 or 1964 at the Shubert Theater, and I was there. That's how it came to pass that Erma Foley and I had the running study hall conversation that we did.  I think that Albee is a towering genius.  All the plays you mention are great (The Zoo Story was one of the first shows I saw at Playhouse in the Park in 1959 or 1960, when my parents gave me my first season tickets; it hooked me completely.).  Three Tall Women, which was an initial flop, has been revived in recent years and is wonderful too.  The Albee Theater on Fountain Square, of course, was presumably built before Edward was born, or damn near.

I loved Cloud Atlas, the movie.  In my opinion, it's one of the most ambitious and spectacular movies ever made.  So I bought the novel by David Mitchell and loved it too.  I urge you, and anyone else who's interested, to read it.

Dexter Roger Dixon

Steve:

I, too, loved "Cloud Atlas" in both its cinematic and literary forms.  Very challenging in both forms (but not for a WHHS graduate).

Phil:

I also remember the touring company of "Virginia Woolf".  It made me an Albee devotee.  In college I wrote several papers on Albee's work.  And after grad school I directed a few of his plays.  His stuff is fun to direct and to view.  Of course I remember the Albee Theatre.  It was the last movie theatre in Cincy that had an elegant ambience. (Trivia:  Edward Albee's dad was part of the Radio-Keith-Orpheum syndicate (RKO) which produced plays and films.  He was the Keith of RKO.)

Ann:

I'm surprised with your vivid memories of choir and Peanuts, etc. that you haven't mentioned when the choir sang a song with the Cincinnati Symphony.  We had a special intern write an orignal piece for the choir (a Mr. Kyte-Powell) to words by Steve Allen.  It was called "Rainy Day".  I remember this every so often when I'm "sitting in the kitchen drinking fresh-made tea" (which was a refrain in the song).  And the song had several pages of the choir singing "drip, drip, drip".  A very peculiar song, but  a memorable moment.

Philip Spiess

Dexter:  Slight correction - the "Keith" in "RKO" was B. F. Keith, who ran the western vaudeville circuit out of Chicago (there was also a "Keith" theater in downtown Cincinnati).  Albee's father ran the "Orpheum", or eastern vaudeville circuit, out of New York (the "O" in RKO).  [Or do I have those two circuits reversed?]

In the 1970s, John Strader, Cincinnati millionaire and theater organ enthusiast, brought Gaylord "Flicker-Fingers" Carter from Hollywood to the Albee Theater to perform the original musical scores for classic "silent" movies (rented from the Museum of Modern Art in New York -- this was before VHS) as the movie was shown on stage.  The mighty manifold Wurlitzer would rise hydraulically and dramatically from the orchestra pit of the Albee amidst banks of potted ferns, with Gaylord, in tails, pulling out all the musical stops.  Unfortunately, those days are long gone; the Palladian window that formed the facade of the Albee on Fountain Square was hung from the outside of the Cincinnati Convention Center (where I guess it still is).  But John Strader got the Wurlitzer theater organ from the Paramount Theater in Walnut Hills when it was torn down, adding a room on his house in Clifton to house it, and you can still hear Gaylord Carter perform on some of the remastered DVDs of old silent films.