Alumni Journal Alumni Journal 1-8Oo-SUALUMS (782-5867)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
et al.: Alumni Journal Alumni Journal www.syracuse.edu/alumni 1-8oo-SUALUMS (782-5867) A Fond Farewell AS ASSOCIATE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ALUMNI Relations for nearly five years, I have enjoyed meet ing thousands of loyal alumni around the world and A Goon Squad Welcome working with an outstanding staff to provide the ser vices and programs that keep our alumni connected. eith Gatling '81, G'87 will friends, and giving back to the Together, we have started new alumni clubs, Knever forget the day he ar University community. "I was ner launched the Orange Grove, and expanded such rived on campus- or the way vous and scared on my first day at offerings as our online alumni directory and perma University Avenue looked with a SU, but the Goons made me feel nent e-mail forwarding. mile-long orange stripe running at home," she says. "I wanted to I have always welcomed new challenges and down its center. In the past, get involved and help others the experiences, especially when they pertain to fur scores of freshmen have been same way." thering the University's mission. While my time in greeted by the sight, painted by In addition to helping students the Office of Alumni Relations has been a very spe members of the Goon Squad the move in, the group was originally cial part of my 20 years in higher education advance day before new students arrived. intended to enforce the wearing ment, the opportunity to work for SU's College of "It was a path to campus and a of freshman beanies, which ena Arts and Sciences was one I could not pass up. As fun way to make sure no one bled upperclassmen to spot the the college's new associate dean of advancement, I would get lost," says Gatling, a newcomers and offer them help. am very pleased to work with Dean Cathryn Newton member of the student organiza Beanies became obsolete in the and her staff. And as an alumna of the College of tion from 1975-81. '70s, but the Goons continued to Arts and Sciences, I look forward to helping make The orange stripe is just one of spread school spirit throughout the college even stronger by coordinating a strategic many ways the Goon Squad has campus during Opening Week plan that includes fund raising and outreach for assisted incoming students over and at football games, where they alumni and students. the years. Created in 1944 by led placard cheers. Members also Syracuse University remains committed to keep the Traditions Commission, the performed in the annual Goon ing its alumni a vibrant part of campus life. Your squad is best known for helping Show, a parody of freshman year status as alumni brings with it many privileges and freshmen move into their resi told through skits and original responsibilities, and I am personally counting on dence halls. "I remember the student music. "The Goon Show each of you to stay involved, stay connected, and Goons charging up to our car in had a song or an act for almost give back to the University community. Thank you their bright orange shirts, yelling everything, from saying goodbye for your partnership in working toward the better 'Welcome, welcome; when we to your parents to doing laundry," ment of SU. pulled up to the dorm on my first says Gatling, who composed day," says Lori Zisk Rosner '76, many of the show's songs and G'77, who later became known directed it for three years as an as "Mama Goon" for her leading undergraduate student. Lit Breul O'Rourke '77 role in the organization. For The Goon Squad of today no Associate Dean for Advancement College ofArts and Sciences Naomi Weinberg '03, being part longer produces a show, leads Associate Vice President, Giving Programs of the Goon Squad was about cheers, or paints the road or Division of Institutional Advancement meeting new people, making ange, but its mission is still the 48 SYRAC U SE UN I VERS I TY MAGAZ I NE Published by SURFACE, 2003 1 Syracuse University Magazine, Vol. 20, Iss. 3 [2003], Art. 14 The Goon Squad has provided assistance to incoming students at Bringing Back a Favorite SU for more than so years. Pictured at left and below, Goons help t's been 50 years since the cast of White new students move in IBucks and Tales went "Walking out Late," to their residence halls on opening day. but classmates and castmates did it all again during Reunion Weekend in June. They returned to campus for White Bucks and Tales: Revisited, a 50th anniversary production of the popular, student-written and -produced musical first staged in April 1953. Longtime friends and former cast members Jerry Leider '53, Bill Angelos '54, Don Hornung '53, Lan O'Kun '54, and Don Rosenblit '53 began organizing the Reunion production a year ago, and were soon joined by 22 other former cast members from around the country. The driving force behind the original White Bucks and Tales (WBT) came from Leider, who proposed the idea of a senior musical to college roommates Rosenblit and Bill Persky '53. Persky and Rosenblit wrote the show-about a group of college students traveling from campus to Hollywood-and O'Kun and Angelos composed the music and lyrics to 16 original songs. (A 50th Reunion CD of the original soundtrack was created for the 2003 show.) Leider directed the show, and the WBT cast and crew members admiringly recall his dedication to the project and his joking words: "There's only one excuse for same: to welcome incoming students to missing a rehearsal and that's a death in the family. Yours." Syracuse University and to help them When it debuted at Syracuse's Astor Theater, White Bucks and Tales won feel at home. And the Goons are busier popular acclaim from crowds and critics. The show's success launched dozens than ever. Membership has jumped of personal and professional triumphs. Hornung, '53 president and now co from approximately 200 in 2000 to chairman of the 50th Reunion Committee, recalls watching his roommates and more than 400 in 2003, the result of classmates develop the show. "Looking at the crew, you just knew it was a increased involvement on the part of group of people who would all do well when they got out of school," he says. student organizations across campus. He was right. Leider went on to New York City and then Hollywood for a In addition to assisting with the move career as a producer and executive in the television and film business. WBT in process, this year Goons helped with choreographer Julian Tomchin '53 became a leading fashion designer and such Opening Week events as the consultant in New York City. O'Kun wrote musical compositions and more Chancellor's Convocation, bus trips to than 1,300 television scripts, including ones for the Shari Lewis Show and The the New York State Fair, Lunch on the Love Boat. Perksy received five Emmy Awards for his screenwriting. Stage Turf in the Carrier Dome, Orangefest manager Gil Cates '55, G'65- winner of the George Arents Pioneer Medal 2003, and Late Night at the Gym. produced 11 Academy Award ceremonies and earned 76 Emmy nominations "Members of the Goon Squad have a and 17 Emmy Awards. "The show's performers were so talented to begin strong sense of Orange pride," says with," says Joan Tesnow Litke, '54, G'65, one of the WBT featured dancers. Mariana Lebron, director of orientation "We were lucky to have everyone together again." - Sara Mortimer and transitions services. "Their excite ment and enthusiasm fosters school spirit and a sense of belonging among new students." According to Carrie Grogan G'03, an assistant director in the Office of Greek Life and Experiential Learning who coordinates the Goon Squad, plans for increased involvement are under way. "We're evolving the role of the Goon Squad from a move-in crew to a year long presence, " Grogan says. "The Goon Squad will be there to welcome Pictured at top, Dodie Summa Boyle '53 performs in White Bucks and Tales. Many original and support you not just for your first cast members returned in June for White Bucks and Tales: Revisited, including, left to right: few days, but for your entire first year." Shirley Fenner Reidenbaugh '54, Dodie Summa Boyle '53, Vicki Ellen Herman Friedman '55, and Joan Tesnow Litke '54, G'6s. -Kate Gaetano FAL L 2 0 0 3 49 https://surface.syr.edu/sumagazine/vol20/iss3/14 2 et al.: Alumni Journal FOR INFORMATION ON ALUMNI TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES, contact Tina Casella in the Office of Alumni Relations at 1-8oo-SUALUMS ore-mail [email protected]. Alumni walked among the cobbled streets of Rye, England, during the Village Life in Canterbury tour. Exploring England's Countryside find it," she says. "The pottery is my ana Clarke '46 had visited England sev (Henry VIII's wife) had once walked was prized piece from the tour." In addition Je ral times before last spring, but had an amazing experience." to exploring the countryside, alumni also never stayed in a hotel with a history dat At Hever Castle, Boleyn's birthplace, sampled such English cuisine as fish and ing back to the 12th century. "It was so alumni viewed the rich 16th-century chips, shepherd's pie, English creme tea, squeaky we had to laugh-you couldn't restored interior and lush surrounding Yorkshire pudding, and bangers and take a step without making noise," says gardens, which included a yew maze, mash (sausages and mashed potatoes Clarke, who participated in the seven topiaries, and a 35-acre lake.