1935

Never, in my brief career as class secretary, have I come up with an absolute zero on classmate notes. Until now.

Nobody's fault but my own, of course, since I've just been sitting on my duff waiting for those letters and green cards to come in. It obviously takes a little more initiative than that, and my second-year resolution is to take some of the good suggestions I've had from successful past secretaries especially Dick Montgomery to generate a little return input. So stand by for an occasional call or card from Atlanta.

Lacking any news of what did happen this past summer, I have decided to serve up some interesting tidbits of information as to what didn't (to the best of my knowledge, at least).

For instance, I'm reasonably sure that A1 Sherwood did not hit the Florida jackpot lottery for over two million dollars and promptly turn it all over to the IRS as a gesture of appreciation for all the business they had thrown his way over the past 50 years.

Another non-event was the non-emergence as a new force in the advertising community of A1 Ritchie, following the success of his ad campaign for MCI featuring the line "Everything you've always wanted to know about Ma Bell but were afraid to ask." And just as disappointing was Harry Ackerman's non-decision to cancel his contract for the new "Gidget" series, and seclude himself in Pago Pago while writing a new radio show titled "Breakfast with Harry and E1."

Earl Arthurs, meanwhile, apparently did not go through with a rumored plan to spend the summer as entertainment director on the Staten Island ferry. Some say he was done in by a mal de mer allergy brought on by the choppy waters of New York harbor. (Others say it was the aroma.)

Joe Waters passed up an invitation from the army brass at the War College to honor them with his popular lecture series on "Economics Achievable through Unilateral Nuclear Disarmament and Reactivation of the Horse Calvalry." Joe was allegedly teed off by the cool reception accorded his previous proposal to bring back the old World War I flat-brim hat as an optional uniform item for officers above the rank of captain.

Probably the most fascinating non-decision was Bob Naramore's failure to appear as a stand-up comic at Trixie's Temple of Titillation in beautiful downtown Bridgeport. I have been trying to get through to Bob to find what went wrong with the project, but all I have been able to come up with is an unconfirmed rumor that Corinne felt that most of Bridgeport was already familiar with Bob's repertoire, and any show of indifference by his audiences might permanently damage the legendary Naramore joie de vivre. Personally, I think Corinne may have been selling our Bob a little short.

Another rumor I am happy to put to rest concerns Ralph and Frank Specht. Said rumor had them foreswearing golf in order to give full time to developing a twin water-skiing act in which Ralph would go through a ring of fire on one ski with Frank perched on his shoulders. As Frank (or was it Ralph?) would probably have put it, "I've lost enough hair without the obvious risk of singeing what's left."

Contrary to anything you may have heard, Lou Bookheim is definitely not running for governor of California on a platform calling for legislation which would limit the annual income of the state's lawyers to an amount equivalent to the maximum yearly wage for senior sanitation workers. Lou is reported to feel that this might work an injustice on the sanitation workers.

And Pug Atherton will just as definitely not spearhead a nationwide fund drive to finance research on the development of a frost-resistant variety of pineapple, despite allegations that he has bought 200,000 acres of choice Vermont farmland.

So much for a summer in which nobody apparently did anything of note.

Peace and love to you all.

6680 Williamson Drive NE Atlanta, GA 30328