Didn't have to put up with being a "Freshman" in a new school...ticked off that I didn't get into A Capella Choir...got "stuck" in Symphonic Choir...hindsight: possibly that's where all underclassmen and women went first...?...but I didn't know that for certain.
Geometry : Mrs. McKNIGHT had to spend most of her time reprimandding thugs who spent most of their time throwing spitballs on the ceiling and blackboards...didn't learn much..she seemed bored with her teaching job...heard that she made more money selling real estate...always wondered "WHY?" she was teaching at all...??? Boring...what a let down after two years of fun, learning with Miss HUDAK at Hyre...
By then, I was rehearsing at Goodyear Musical Theatre in their production of "OKLAHOMA"...my brother, Dan had the lead "Curly". Joanne and I were in the chorus. I thought Joanne SHOULD HAVE gotten the female lead, "Laurie", but this was only her second musical there and "old timer" : Joanne MARZINKOWSKI got the lead instead. My Joanne's voice was much better and stronger than Miss M's. voice...??? What WAS the director, Jack HORNER thinking???!!!
Didn't do "Girl Crazy" at Ellet because I was having too much FUN at Goodyear. Bob MANZARI, Jim LUTZ, Dennis CONRAD and John BROWN, all upper classmen, were in "OKLAHOMA" with me. Got reprimanded by Jack once when we Elletians went up into the lobby of the theatre and sang "They Call The Wind Mariah" [ the chamber's reverberations made us sound like a whole men's chorus ! ] Jack thought we should have kept our minds on "OKLAHOMA" instead...but we didnt feel too guilty...we sounded GREAT !!! {:-)
School took a back seat...I found my Calling ! THIS is what I wanted to do with my life !!!...NOT get some boring job and go slowly crazy and frustrated.
English with Mrs. DAVIS was good. She taught Dan & Bill before me and I really liked her. She CARED about her teaching, so I learned about English. Gave an oral book report on the Archealogical work uncovering the city of Troy...it was in the middle of 11 cities unearthed at that site. She commented afterward, that "You MUST be interested in that subject....Good report ! {:-)" I BEAMED {:-) !
Chemistry with Mr. SMETTS was interesting. I sat in the first seat on the left side of the room and Sally THOMPSON, daughter of my church's minister, Ralph THOMPSON (North Springfield United Presbyterian Church Ellet), sat in the first seat on the right side of the room by the doorway. One day Mr. SMETTS told us to turn to the next chapter in our Chemistry book...the second Sally & I heard him say that the chapter was about "Acids, Bases and Salts", we began chanting : "ACIDS !, BASES ! AND SALTS ! OH, MY ! a la Dorothy in the "Wizard Of OZ"..."LIONS ! TIGERS ! AND BEARS ! OH, MY !" We got the whole class chanting it in unison. Mr. SMETTS, thank God, had a sense of humor...he smiled, let it go on a few seconds and then said, "All right...all right...let's get back to the book...children..." We all had a laugh and began reading.
Civics with Mr. SIEGMAN....nice teacher, but boring...might have been the subject matter, too, but how could a man who was tall and thin...90 lb. "weakling" like me, married and MANY children, POSSIBLY be so boring?! {:-)
Goodyear Theatre's production of "THE KING AND I"...brother Dan was "The King", wife, Joanne was "Tuptim" and I was a Slave and also "Buddha" in the "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Ballet. Was somewhat confused...all the photos I had seen of Buddha were FAT men !??? HOW could I possibly get "In character"??? That wasn't so difficult when someone showed me a photo of the "Reclining Buddha" who was, while heavier than I was, MUCH thinner than all the fat Buddha's I had seen...
I had begun taking dancing lessons (Jazz) at the Jean SHEPHERD Studios downtown, Akron. Loved it ! Later I began taking Tap lessons, also. Lots of fun !
World History with Mrs. JOHNSON: Jovial person. A LOT of dates to remember...interesting subject.
English with Miss KOLEDIN was interesting to say the least ! She thought that American Literature DIDN'T EXIST ! Did a term paper on "Elizabethan Costumes" complete with color drawings of the costumes. [ Remember, I was an Artist BEFORE I was a Musician ! ] Got an A minus...would have gotten an A+, but she had this crazy idea that a student should write out EVERY sentence on a SEPARATE piece of paper...so one could ORGANIZE the paper properly...and hand in ALL those small pieces of paper WITH the Term Paper ! Many of us thought that her way was just a LOT of UNNECESSARY WORK ! I didn't hand in those scraps of paper...so I got an A minus...probably would have received a lower grade but she loved my drawings ! {:-)
Trigonometry with Mr. TRIFERRO was semi-interesting...didn't use the knowledge I'd learned until the 1980s [ 14 years LATER ! ] when I began doing Astrology Birth Charts and need the Trig. Tables to find the position of the planets at the time of a person's birth.
Physics with Mr. ESLER...I would have flunked the course, if it hadn't been for my best friend, Dale BECKETT...a musical and electronic wizard...played guitar like Chet ATKINS or Les PAUL and built several stereo amplifiers...one for himself and one for me. He was my lab partner. In the lab, I could SEE how applications worked...reading about them was mostly gibberish to me. Thank God for Dale !
Prom Season rolled around and I didn't have any steady girlfriend at the time, so several of my friends (girls) told me that all the guys were afraid of asking Patty URBAN to the Prom because she was Senior Class Valdictorian and very smart...guess none of guys felt good enough for her...??? She was very pretty and a friend of mine, so I asked her to go. She accepted and we had a great time : talking, dancing...and Bowling ! Our Prom took place at a local Country Club that had a bowling alley. The sight of all these girls in formal dresses, hair done up beautifully, beautiful corsages and guys in rented tuxes in BOWLING SHOES was simply too much ! Wish I had had a camera on me at the time...a priceless "Kodak Moment" ! {:-)
Ellet Senior Class Musical : "MY FAIR LADY". When audition time came, I merely went to support my friends since I would have been playing in the orchestra: Auditioning were: Garry WYCKOFF for "Henry Higgins", Dale BECKETT for "Alfred P. Doolittle", Charlene BALL for "Eliza Doolittle", John CONNELL for "Freddie Einsford_Hill", Sue DUNLAP for "Mrs. Higgins" and Becky WOODRUFF for "Alfred's" soon-to be wife.
Everyone urged ME to audition...so I did...spur of the moment...I sang "with a Little Bit O' Luck" since I had nothing prepared. [ I had seen a production of the show at Cleveland's MUSICARNIVAL (Dan & Joanne were in the chorus the summer before (1965) and talked to the performer who did "Alfred" ] as well as the movie, so I knew the melody.
Well...I GOT THE PART ! Much to Dale's dismay..HE wanted to play "Alfred"...Fortunately, Mr. THOMAS cast Dale as "Col. Pickering", so I was grudgingly forgiven and eventually totally forgiven, as Dale learned to enjoy being the Col. ! Garry got "Higgins, Charlene: "Eliza", John : "Freddie", Sue: "Mrs. Higgins" and Becky got her part !!! We were estatic ! However...unbeknownst to us, (crafty?) Mr. THOMAS had earlier promised the part of "Eliza" to BOTH Charlene and another friend of ours, Patsy KURA ! So he then covered his tracks by DOUBLE CASTING THE SHOW ! WHAT GALL !
The "Other Cast" was: Ahmed TAHIR : "H.Higgins", John MARKER: "Alfred", Ahmed's cousin ALICE HAGEMASTER : "Mrs. Higgins", Jim NEILSEN "Col. Pickering"...Becky's part was NOT double cast. So we all had to learn TWO PARTS!
We were, then, determined to the THE BEST CAST so we held extra rehearsals in brother Dan's 35' trailer which was parked beside our garage ! AND we got the best peformance dates : Opening night and closing night. The Other Cast got the two performances between our nights. We were GREAT ! Pat ourselves on the backs...please forgive our young and ambitious feelings...but we DID outshine the others ! The other cast did an good job, but they were not as well-rehearsed as we were and had problems.
Because Lenore DIFIORE, Garry WYCKOFF, John CONNELL and I were performing in "Most Happy Fella" at Goodyear Theatre in the spring of 1966, we decided to NOT be in the May Festival...performance dates clashed with rehearsal dates at Goodyear...Mr. THOMAS, when he learned of our decision, kicked us out of A Capella Choir ! I was the choir's Vice-President ! We had earned double A ratings in the school choir competitions. But that wasn't enough for "Arnie"...we would have been four small fish in an ARMY of choir members in the May Festival...However, there was LIFE AFTER HIGH SCHOOL ! We chose LIFE AFTER before we graduated !
GRADUATION : June 1966. FREE AT LOOONG LAST !!!!! HOORAY !!!!
Ellet held a Career Day. A series of conferences given by professionals who counselled the seniors. However, there were NO professionals from the Music or Art industries...??? What is WRONG with THIS picture??? ! Similarly, when we took our college entrance exams (SATs) there were also NO questions about Music OR Art ! In those days, both Art and Music were considered hobbies....to be taken up in a person's spare time...Being an artist and a musicain, you can see where I might NOT fit in to the general mold...
We, the new crop of Freshmen, were supposed to wear our Kent State Beanies (maroon and yellow) so that reigning upper classmen could embarrass and harrass us. Guess who DIDN'T WEAR his beanie??? I thought the whole process ridiculous ! So I was NOT harrassed, nor embarrassed...
Finding my classes was somewhat daunting, as the Kent State Campus was a rather LARGE one. I decided early on that I was going to enroll as an Art Major...being denied the opportunity to further my artistic talents in high school. AFTER the fact, I DID discover that my high school councelor neglected to tell me that I COULD HAVE enrolled at Akron's Hower Vocational School in a four year Art course !??? How cruel can life be!? So I wasted four years taking College Prep Courses because my SAT scores "said" that I should be a mathametician or scientist...neither of which held any luster to my eyes and mind.
I had to park my car in the lot behind the sport stadium and load up with all my books for the morning session....which meant that I had to also cart around a cumbersome box of Art materials, sketch pads as well. My arms HURT from carrying so much,dd so far. ALL my classes were at the furthest distance from the parking lot ! My Classes :
English: I actually liked the class. Once we were graced by the presence of James Dicky, American Poet. Based on his poem "DELIVERANCE" came that Burt Reynolds movie of the same name, where he and some friends go for a canoe ride down a southern river, capsized and were ravaged by some rednecks. Theme song was "Dueling Banjos"...Oh well...
Geology : Again..I liked that course...very interesting !
Art History : Was an easy course to ACE ! We spent 98% of the time viewing slides and the Final test was Multiple Choice !
Drawing 101: My drawing/painting class was to be held in the notorious "Barracks"...the flimsy buildings that housed the ROTC guys. The room I entered was small and dingy and had a small wood burning stove in a corner. So the Art department didn't rate it's own building...whereas I passed the newly built Architect's Building on my way to "The Barracks" !!!???
I began classes in the Winter Quarter. Being September, it was a bit nippy, but wasn't too cold...YET...When I opened the door I saw that there were about 40 freshmen students jammed into this ridiculously small space !??? WHAT was going on here? We sat and talked for about 20 minutes PAST the scheduled starting time...no professor...the door eventually opened and 40 some sets of eyes turned in that direction. The older gentleman took one look around the room and said "Oops ! Someone made a mistake ! Please excuse me..." and he left us sitting there confused as all get out...??? We were ALL talking about how COLD it was going to get later and that these flimsy walls would NOT keep the cold OUT and the heat IN ! WHAT were we getting ourselves into???!
The gentleman returned about 20 MORE minutes LATER with a Graduate Student...he told the G.S., "You take THAT half of the room and I'll take the other half"...Well...I was in THAT half of the room, so I got the Graduate Student for my "Professor"...He took us to the Education Building. That was to be our "home" for the duration... another newly built, airconditioned building wherein the windows didn't open !
This Graduate Student showed us some of his work...Granted, covering a page with charcoal; completely blacking it out and then ERASING a picture out of that WAS a novel application...However, EVERY drawing he showed to us depicted either a baby, still attached to an umbilical cord OR a skull incoporated into the picture ! ??? And THIS GUY was supposed to teach ME how to draw???? I already knew how !...Everyone thought he was a nut case !
Then we learned that he was going to teach us design work, NOT the Figure Drawing for which we had all chosen when we enrolled...??? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? I'm PAYING for Figure Drawing ! WHY am I not getting what I paid for!!!???
The first assignment : I want you to go outside, choose a tree and DRAW it...any tree, any medium...the bring your drawing back here"...It was a two hour class, so we got to go outside in the fresh air and draw...not overly difficult. When we had brought the drawings back to the room, he tacked them all up on the bulletin boards. He walked slowly, examining each one, turned to us and said "Do you know what is WRONG with these drawings?"... WRONG??? WHAT was he talking about???!!!...there were some pretty impressive drawings up there ! We ALL were taken aback ! He said, Well, I'll tell you what is WRONG...they ALL LOOK LIKE TREES !"...We were even MORE confused after that statement !??? He didn't really explain what he meant either....????
It wasn't very long before we all knew who his FAVORITEs were. I was NOT among them. I believe that the total number of minutes I ever, actually, TALKED to him about my work added up to about 15 minutes OUT OF 10 WEEKS worth of classes !
He took a skeleton off it's hanger and let it fall in a heap on a table and said "OK...now, you have 3 seconds...DRAW that skeleton." !!!WHAT??? But we tried...then he rearranged it and said," OK, now you have 10 seconds...DRAW that skeleton."...After that, he explained about "Gesture Drawings" wherein you tried to convey the overall "feeling" of the subject in as few strokes and as little time as possible. I don't think any of us cared for that and thought, "Why should I lisen to this crazy lunatic?"
Later we began painting the gesture drawings of the skeleton, but he limited us to only white, black and one shade of gray. Then another try, this time adding one more shade of gray to the palette...
Eventually, he got around to Figure Drawing. AT LAST !...and we got live models. Though the first one (caucasian girl...nude) might as well have been a corpse...she sat there in a lump and didn't say a word, with a bored look on her face. NO-ONE could draw her (charcoal)...ALL our attempts looked..well? LUMPY !??? Second one, a black girl who was also nude, but vivacious and animated, even when she was sitting perfectly still ! She talked to us during the whole session and had us ALL entranced...ALL the drawings of her came out very well !
While my Design work garnered me C's, my Figure Drawings produced B's and B+'s !
I was rushing to Gym Class one COLD December morning and didn't let my VW "Bug" engne warm up...I was late !...and the engine blew up halfway there...I heard a loud SNAP!, saw metal parts being flung away from the underside of the car and the interior filled with dense white smoke ! Fortunately, I was able to coast to the side of the expressway...didn't cause any accidents. Then and there, I decided to discontinue attending Gym Classes.
Finals Week arrived and we were to turn in 20 Design drawings/paintings and 5 Figure Drawings...AGAIN, I paid for Figure Drawing lessons ! I KNEW my design work was weak and wouldn't get me a good grade. So I quit going to Art Class and didn't hand in ANYTHING ! I was P.O.'d ! Hindsight : that design work probably would have been good for me in the long run, but being young and "knowledgable", I did what I felt was right...even though it ultimately wasn't : When I got my grades, I was astonished that the G.S. "professor" gave me a D...NOT an F ! So, had I handed in all 25 pieces I probably would have gotten at least a B ! Live and learn...
I was totally upset by my car problem and disillusioned with my Drawng course...my MAIN reason for going to college !
I got a B in English, a B in Geology, an A in Art History, a C in gym and a D in Drawing 101. I thought that College was a bust, so I decided to drop out.
My main interest was still Art but Music had a magnetic pull for me also. I spent 1967 in Limbo. 1968 was the beginning of my Summer Stock Sojourn and my 32 year career as a Musican...See my Summerstock journal at:
I still continued to draw and paint all during the next 32 years with several entries into local art shows, some of which I helped to produce. I did receive a 2nd Place Ribbon for a Fibre-Art piece I did in 1984 at a state-wide competition held in Columbus, OH. in 1985
To be Continued...My experiences at Goodyear Community Theatre (1964-1995), Coach House Theatre & Weathervane Playhouse and experiences with 11 different bands 1972-1991