Jean Snapp (Miller)

Yes, Barbie - I'm on the far left in the checked dress.  The pictures are great.  I'm so glad someone actually remembered what we were singing. 

Jonathan Marks

Who wrote and put it together?  I plead guilty, but there were co-conspirators.  It was called the Continuity Committee.

Laura Reid (Pease)

These words come to mind:

I think I go back to San Juan!

I know a boat you can get on!  (Bye, bye, bye, bye)

Everyone there will give big cheer....

Everyone there will have moved here!

Philip Spiess

Okay, now it can be told.  Oh, wait!  It was actually told in 1962, on October 5, to be specific!  The picture with "Spiess" in it was Act I of The Peanuts of 1962, depicting an elegant soiree in which elderly multi-billionaire K. Farley Dingwipe (a.k.a. Philip Spiess, exuding money from his pockets, if you notice), a proto-Donald Trump, was the husband designated by wealthy grande dame Frannie Grace (to the left of me) to marry her daughter, played by Carol Schaeffer (the dubious ingenue to my right).  I don't recall at this point the exact details of the Continuity (is it possible I actually have the full script in my archives somewhere?  Probably -- but who knows where?), but the gist was that daughter rejected me for someone else, and Mama (Frannie), unwilling to give up the Dingwipe billions, took me for herself.  Literally.  Carried me off-stage in her arms (yes, Frannie was capable of that, and I was still a professional "90-pound weakling" in those days, so's to speak -- although, I regret to say, not now).  [Exeunt omnes instanter, stage left and stage right, and so curtain.] 

[P.S.:  Jon Marks was certainly one of the writers, as was I, and I recall a summer meeting at Teedee Spellman's house to work on the writing of it (it was the summer of TelStar), so she must have had a hand in it  (you will find a Peanuts picture of me and Jon and Teedee on my Profile), too, but there were one or two others.  And, yes, Ann, there was a skit (I think it was Act II) parodying the two most popular new shows on TV that year, Dr. Kildare (starring the young Richard Chamberlain, and with its theme song, "Three Stars Will Shine Tonight") -- is it possible that Chip Elliot played the Dr. Kildare role? No, I think it was Jerry Blake -- and Ben Casey (starring Vince Edwards), both of which were, I believe, originally radio dramas.  (And that's surely Elaine Petricoff dancing in the foreground in the first picture of Barbara Kahn Tepper's series of Peanuts pictures.)] 

Jonathan Marks

Telstar!  Haven't heard that one for a while.

I remember watching a live shot of an opera at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome on Teedee's TV.  Was that through Telstar?

Philip Spiess

Jon, it's possible; I remember that we watched something that was among the first Telstar transmissions on Teedee's TV.  I saw Aida up close and personal, complete with a horse-drawn chariot at full gallop driven by the lead tenor over a raked stage during the triumphal march scene (I thought he was going to end up in the orchestra pit, and I'm sure the conductor had to clean out his pants afterwards), in the Baths of Caracalla in Rome in 1964.  They no longer do opera in the Baths, due to rethinking how best to preserve the ruins.

Ed Seykota

Laura,

Since my rather fleeting connection with WHHS
spans only a few months during my sophmore year,
I generally do not share the depth of relationship
that the rest of you with four years of communal history enjoy.

Still, I read along on the blog, trying my best to formulate connections
and to conjure up sympathetic, synthetic nostalgia.

Now and again, however, an item
does manage stir a connection for me,
as does your reference to Bernardo and Anita
in West Side Story, circa 1958,
since I recently and currently reside in Puerto Rico.

I find Anita's line, "Everyone there will have moved here,"
curiously prophetic, as the culture here continues,
some 55 years later, to motivate the most mobile
to leave for Florida, New York and Texas.

I regularly encounter large families here, that now, sadly,
have half their members, or more, MIA, (Missing in America).

My sadness refers to the effect this emmigration has
on a country with a deep family-centric culture.

In case you wonder about my motivation
for flying against convention and relocating here,
perhaps a couple cell-phone photos of and from my new place
in Isla Verde - a few miles from the airport at San Juan, Puerto Rico,
might provide some explanation.

Dexter Roger Dixon

Thanks, Barb, for the Peanuts memories -- one of my happiest and "funnest" at WHHS.

And Dale, I remember Mr. Brandon vividly.  I had him in my junior year.  Marc Temin '63 and I had a little rivalry going in that class as to which of us would get the top score on quizzes.  We both averaged over 100.  Mr. Brandon gave us more of a college experience in that class.  He was tough, but fair.  As for Mr. Carpenter, the less said the better as far as I am concerned.  And since I'm speaking of memorable teachers, let me say belatedly that Mr. Lounds (or Tom as he wishes to be called) was a major influence on me in how to conduct a class and how to teach.  I would think back on his classes as I pursued my theatre and teaching careers.  Thank you, Tom Lounds.

Steven Levinson

Laura:  Elaine Petricoff's words, if memory serves.

Dale Gieringer

I'm still wondering about that peace sign on stage.  Who was the set designer?  The sign wasn't that familiar back before the Vietnam war, except among folks with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, who originated it.  And speaking of anachronisms, surely K. Farley Dingwipe was no  "multi-billionaire";  a multi-millionaire was more than sufficient in those days.

And speaking of Mr Carpenter, I wasn't in his class, but remember well a story about how he once erupted with an enormous sneeze that blasted a wad of snot on his necktie, which he never noticed but grossed out the class for the rest of the period.

Jonathan Marks

Thanks for chiming in, Ed.  Your pictures give a pretty good hint.

One thing I know about Mr. Carpenter is that he was a classmate of my father's at Georgetown College in Kentucky.  They were among the few without aspirations for the Baptist ministry.

Philip Spiess

Okay, Dale, I stand corrected, if correction it is -- "millionaire," undoubtedly [per F. Schiller:  "Seid umschlungen, Millionen!"].

I wasn't going to chime in on Mr. Denzil Carpenter, since I didn't have him, but I will now.  He was a teacher at WHHS in my mother's day (Class of '39), and she said that in those days (he was young then) he was considered a "heart-throb."  (If you don't believe this, look at the pictures of him in the Remembrancers from the late 1930s.)  I have no idea what happened to him between the 1930s and the 1960s, but it was pretty well known that he was an alcoholic in our day at WHHS.  It was generally understood that he took a nip or five during the teaching day, as some of your comments have indicated, and how the administration and his fellow faculty members (Mr. Leeds across the hall, for example) either ignored / supported / helped him with this, I had no idea then, nor do I now.  I only know that in my Middle School teaching career, even at a private school (2005-2013), I would have been out of there so fast it would have made my head spin (and not from the drinking -- though teaching Middle School can lead you to drink!)

I would also add that Denzil Carpenter and Denzil Washington are the only two people I know who have that name.  Does anyone know its origin or what it means?

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

I remember Mr. Carpenter ALWAYS sneezing on the blackboard then taking an eraser to it, streaking the board.  I also remember his calling me to the board to complete a problem, then handing me the smallest piece of chalk.  It was just unsanitary. Ewww!!!

Philip Spiess

Ann:  The totally sanitary stickler -- insanely so -- was Miss Ewald, the Latin teacher  (whose mother worked in the front office).

Dexter Roger Dixon

I remember a story that went around about Miss Ewald and Mr. Carpenter.  I don't know of the truth of it.  Bit Miss Ewald changed her pitcher of water fairly often, and she tossed the old water supposedly out her window.  The classroom below hers was Mr, Carpenter's.  He was supposedly looking out his window and got doused with her old water.

Philip Spiess

So, to start a new thread:  tonight I hooked into a WETA play of the 1981 reunion concert of Simon & Garfunkel in Central Park, designed to raise money for the park's restoration.  (Yes, city parks and National Parks, like the National Mall in Washington, need almost ongoing moneys for their continual maintenance.)  No matter; although Simon & Garfunkel was one of my favorite groups in my undergraduate days (and possibly yours), my question to my WHHS classmates is:  What was your favorite music in your high school years?  (My own was seriously classical, but let that pass -- I'm more interested in whether yours was popular / rock / folk, etc. -- unless it was classical also.)  [P.S.:  I remember Carolyn Ahlert, who was with us in 8th Grade, but apparently did not graduate with us, was trying to sign us up for a "Top Ten Teen Tunes" something-or-other radio contest in our 8th Grade year.]  I also recall that the Clifton bridge card-playing group, of which I briefly was a member (Steve Levinson, Al Weihl [?], perhaps a Ransohoff or two?) listened to Peter, Paul, and Mary records as we played.  (Much later I met Peter, Paul, and Mary backstage at Wolf Trap Performing Arts Park here outside of Washington, and had dinner that night with Peter [who kissed me as I left].)  

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

I had very eclectic tastes in music (still do) from Broadway show tunes to soul.  I'm remember walking home from school with Ruth Ann Redd, harmonizing to the Everly Brothers "Cathy's Clown".  But, looking back, especially during our senior year, if you wanted to have background music for me, Motown, especially Mary Wells' song, My Guy, and anything by the Temptations or Smoky Robinson and the Miracles. 

Those of you who can't remember back that far may need a reminder of the popular tunes during our years at Walnut Hills High.  Here are links for each year:

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1959

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1960

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1961

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1962

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1963

http://www.bobborst.com/popculture/top-100-songs-of-the-year/?year=1964

My late husband, who was twelve years older than me, grew up in Louisville.  He was drafted into the army the same year as (his idol) Elvis, but instead of going to Germany, was stationed at Ft. Devens in Massachusetts.  Having a degree in electrical engineering, he taught during his service.  His passion, however, was designing sound systems and he moonlighted working on concerts in the Boston area.  He told me one of his first projects was for a Peter, Paul & Mary concert.  

Stephen (Steve) Dixon

Phil mentioned Carolyn Ahlert, who came to Walnut in the 7th grade as part of our contingent from Mt. Washington Elementary. She left WHHS, I think after 9th grade, to go to Withrow because the music program was better. She graduated as the Salutatorian of the '64 class at Withrow.

It was always Carolyn's aim to have a career in music and she did. She played for many years with the Cincinnati Symphony (flute, piccolo and others) and sang, for a time, with the Sweet Adelines. She also spent several years as the business manager for the symphony, and was a highly accomplished tournament bridge player.

Carolyn is not doing well, now. Starting a little over two years ago, she began to fall victim to very rare degenerative brain condition. While not affecting her cognitive skills at all, it has been robbing her of the ability to walk without help, use a keyboard and, now to speak intelligibly. She left Cincinnati and moved into a facility near her brother Carl (who graduated from Walnut a year or two behind us).

Here she is, on the right with Barb Hay, at a reunion of the Mt. Washington crowd in 2009.

David Buchholz

Phil, great thread.  Paul Simons, Euge Katona, and I were all smitten by the Ventures' instrtumental hit, "Walk, Don't Run", and when the Torquays began, our set list comprised every song on the Ventures' albums.  When they released a new album we went to Swallen's, paid $2.99 (mono) for an LP and wore out the grooves while we learned the guitar parts.  I loved The Four Seasons (Phil, not Vivaldi's poor attempt to imitate Frankie Valli), Dylan, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Elvis, Buddy Holly, everything Do-Wop, the Supremes, Temptations, Booker T and the MGs, Gene Vincent, the Diamonds, and hundreds of others.  And then that thing happened at Ed Sullivan theater.  My musical life changed dramatically that night, and at first, everything English was wonderful, even American faux English bands like the Beau Brummels and the Buckinghams.  This spring, however, I decided that I needed to commemorate what I considered the most significant cultural phenomenon of my lifetime and bought a 30x40 of this:

Curt Gunther was the only photographer invited to cover the Beatles' first US tour.  He has passed, and his son has resurrected the negatives, and the show has traveled through much of the US.  I still love their music and have purchased a book with every note, every part, every harmony that they ever recorded.  I needed a hand truck to get it into the house.

Philip Spiess

Dave, I will, in due course, mention my own musical preferences of the period (aside from classical -- and, yes, yours was a cute Vivaldi reference) -- though I want others to join in first, but I will comment on the Beatles (whom I think of as being in my undergraduate days, but, of course, they surfaced in the Spring of 1964, while we were still Seniors at WHHS).  The night the Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan show was a Sunday, and a number of us WHHS students were members of the Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Clifton) youth group, a.k.a. Senior Tuxis.  We met that night at a home in Clifton, but our purpose was not really religious -- we were there to see the Beatles on TV.  And we did!  And my cogent memory is that all of us, WHHS seniors that we were, laughed hysterically at their performance -- haircuts, simplistic songs ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), etc. -- not realizling we were seeing the future, which we would shortly come to idealize.  The late great Arthur Fiedler, long-time conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, was one of the first Americans (aside from Ed Sullivan) to popularize the Beatles' music in America.  An aside:  Jeff Rosen and I went to Moonlight Gardens at Coney Island to attend a "Beer & Pretzels Concert" of Pops music conducted by Arthur Fiedler.  They played great music while you drank beer and ate pretzels.  At intermission, given the beer you'd drunk, you went to the Men's Room, as did I.  While I was pissing in the urinal, I suddenly realized that, to my right, Arthur Fiedler was also pissing in a urinal.  So I said to him, "Great concert!", and he said "Thank you very much!" -- and we finished up, and zipped up, and that was that!   

Dale Gieringer

  I shared Phillip's predilection for classical music at WHHS.  All of my record collection was classical, with a special passion for 19th century romantics:   Beethoven, Brahms, Dvorak ,Tchaikovsky,  Smetana, Mendelsohn, and Wagner.   In senior year I became enthralled with "Das Rheingold," a recording of which from the library I played over and over again to hear the stirring finale of the gods' entrance into Valhalla with an ominous terminal motif repeated 13 times at the end. That said it all to me in those days.   A group of us talked about holding a marathon "Ring" party, but thought the better of it when we realized it would take 16 hours.  I used to enjoy ushering at the Symphony and Cincinnati Opera while at WHHS and envied classmates who participated in the opera chorus.

 That's not to say I was unaware of pop music;  mainly I listened to it on radio stations like WSAI (but was never one of Ron Britain's chico buddy-buddies).  Looking at the top 100 list for 1963, my favorites included the Beach Boys, the Crystals, Peter Paul and Mary, Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," and "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport" (remember that one?).  Around junior year we started going out to hootenannies, which were fun though I regretted not playing guitar.  Like Phillip, I was underwhelmed when the Beatles first entered the scene our senior year. Only later did they grab my serious attention when they released Sergeant Pepper.  I promptly became infatuated with psychedelic music:  The Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Doors,   Cream, Iron Butterfly and later the Grateful Dead.  And let's not forget the Lemon Pipers ( "Green Tangerine)" who briefly illuminated the psychedlic scene in Cincinnati.

With age, my fascination with classical music palled.  There's only a limited stock of it, and there are only so many times one can listen to the 1812 Overture or Beethoven's 9th  (or Beatles or Sinatra classics for that matter) without one's ears puking from ennui.     More interesting by far to listen to the then-new music of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Simon and Garfunkle, Joanie Mitchell, Judy Collins.  As hootenannies faded, I ended up becoming a fan of folk/country/psychedelic/reggae/roots music, the body of which happily continues to grow.  These days I also find myself tuning into world music, whose multifarious exotic strains offer a welcome relief from the boredom of contemporary pop and pop classics.  

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Hi all. I was interested to see that a 70th Birthday Reunion is being planned for June 2016. That is about the time that I have been hoping to make a long-delayed trip to the States. I would need to look at my passport, but I have a feeling that it's been around 2 decades since I've been back! So tell me, chillen, have things changed? LOL.....

Steve Sanger

Re: Music.  Like many of us I listened to a lot of WSAI, but I was also a big fan of WCIN, the black station that featured all the great black artists in that era of pop music....Jackie Wilson, the Platters, the Drifters, and all the "girl groups" ...Shirelles, Marvelettes, Crystals, Chiffons, Martha and the Vandelas etc.  One day in the fall of 1963, I was listening to WCIN and I heard a new song called "From me to You" with a very diferent sound.  I thought the DJ said it was by a new group called the Beetles.  Had to be a a black group I presumed, or it wouldn't have been playing on WCIN.  So I set out for the Song Shop to buy the record.  Surprisingly, though the Song Shop was then the source of all pop music knowledge, no one there had ever heard of the Beetles or "From me to You".  About four months later, of course, the Ed Sullivan show happened, everyone knew about the Beatles, and their music was all over WSAI.  But I firmly believe it was WCIN that was first to introduce their music to Cincinnati.  Although "From me to You" was not on any of the Beatles' early albums, I did eventually find the single at the Song Shop.  I suspect it may still be buried in a box in my basement along with "He's A Rebel", "Da Do Ron Ron" and "Please Mr. Postman." 

Ann Shepard (Rueve)

Well Steve, who knew?? WCIN, 1480 on the radio dial. 

Dale Gieringer

What's wrong with the Reds?   This is the first time in my memory they've been in the cellar so late in the season.  They've lost 13 of the last 14 and haven't scored in the last 19 innings. They were contenders just a couple of years ago, but they've gone to the dogs since firing Dusty Baker.  They traded away their ace pitcher, Johnny Cueto;  I assume it's because they can't afford him.   I had been looking forward to watching them at our reunion,  but am afraid now that it won't be a good show