1961

The scene: darkest Africa, Nairobi to be exact, haunt of the hunt and lair of the rare. The sounds of the jungle surround us like an angry crowd of chanting, invisible creatures from a sweltering dimension - no vestige of humankind is seen in any direction, no paths, no buildings, no airplanes, nothing ... only the jungle, the heavy wet heat and the cacaphony of the beasts ... then a small, strange noise ... not human really ... the sound of air escaping from something, something inanimate. Wait... there's a slight "click" before the wheezing sound this time ... and again. It sounds like ... but no, it couldn't be, not here in the pit of the jungle ... wait, yes it is ... here's Jon Sperling sitting on a deserted ant hill opening pop-top beer cans. 'Tiz true dear reader, Jonathan Sperling is in Nairobi with the United States Agency for International Development. I doubt that he is pushing beer too hard, but then if we know Sperling it won't be long before there's a Tanzi's in Kenya.

Commerce, Inc., the bustling Lebanon firm started by Steve Crisafulli has just purchased all the stock in Carter & Churchill (huge skiwear manufacturers) owned by former New Hampshire Governor Lane Dwinell '28. Crisafulli must really be persuasive. What's the Governor gonna do for income now, Steve?

Stuart Kauffman (whom we all remember as that sneaky fellow who lured us into the McNutt basement under the auspices of free ice cream only to subject us to another of his diabolical psychological experiments) has evidently not lost his powers of conviction since he just convinced Elizabeth Bianchi to marry him (she looks too good for him - but as I said he's persuasive).

Here's another tale that will chill your insides. Slick tongued Roger Hartley is moving up rapidly in the world of banking. Specifically, Rog is now an assistant cashier (No, Welch it's not like being assistant cashier at Hal's) in the Northern City National Bank of Duluth. Harts is reported to have three children (which puts him right up there in the class fertility race).

Frank Greenberg is another one who is marrying a gal far too good looking to even consider the likes of him. Nonetheless his big stockbroker's job (at Bache and Co. in N. Y.) and his uncanny ability to say the right words have turned the head of Barbara Bessin and they're gonna get all tied up. As a matter of fact they got married last month so Barbara has had a chance to learn what a scallawag Greenberg really is. After all, anybody who was Treasurer of Pi Lam can't be completely open and above board.

Here are a few quickies for you birds: Bob Marriott is a lawyer-to-be here in Cincinnati; Steve Merrill is a student in California (Riverside); George Breed is living in Swampscott, Mass.; Ax Burgin is a district sales manager in Charlotte, N. C.; Norm Page is at the U. of Cal. living in Palo Alto; Ed "The Head" Hall is teaching in Gmunden, Austria; Sarge Potter is a painless dentist in Bristol, N. H.; ClaranceDarrow Rosier is defending against injustice in NYC (P.S. He's using his given name of Bob to try and keep down the adverse publicity); another lawyer is Harry Kreamer (Harry arid Melvin Belli live in San Francisco). Ellis Adler is still another barrister - he's in Menlo Park, Cal. Tom Sawyer is collecting royalties from Hal Holbrook for the use of his name in Holbrook's performances of "Mark Twain Tonight"; California, Bakersfield to be exact, is where John Batjiaka does his merchandising, don't know what company he's with but Bakersfield sounds like fun; Mike Kirst is in secondary education and in the government - that means one of two things, either he's teaching the children of government employees or he's a CIA man who's investigating Dick, Jane, Puff, and Father.

So as the sun sinks into a bowl of Campbell's Cream of Horse Soup we bid adieu to yet another chapter in the fleeting idiocy that is our lives.

Secretary, Box 599, Cincinnati, Ohio 45201

Class Agent, 57th Floor, 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza New York, N. Y. 10005