SEVENTY-FIRST STREET SUMMER 2006 G VOLUME 13 G NO. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Art of the Animator . 2 SEVENTY-FIRST STREET Oscar-winning alumnus John Canemaker ’74, an internationally recognized animator, historian, professor, and author, has put his MMC degree to good use. Find out how this former actor stumbled upon MMC and embarked on his journey to scholarship and stardom. VOLUME 13 G NUMBER 3 71SUMMER 2006 Staff Updates. 5 MMC celebrates two newly appointed administrators, Maureen Grant, senior vice president, and Michael Cappeto, vice president for enrollment management Editor: Alana Klein Design: Connelly Design and student affairs. 71st Street is published twice a Recent Major Gifts to the College. 7 year by the Office of Institutional Advancement at Marymount Meet the McDougalls. 8 Manhattan College. The title Find out why Robert and Joan McDougall ’86 became so committed to MMC. recognizes the many alumni and faculty who have come to refer Trustees Report . 10 affectionately to the college MMC welcomes two new trustees and elects its first alumna as chair of the Board. by its Upper East Side address. Campus Notes. 13 Marymount Manhattan College 221 East 71st Street Read about MMC’s Commencement 2006, Spring Dance Performance, New York, NY 10021 Rudin Lecture, Strawberry Festival, and more. (212) 517-0450 Alumni Focus: Recent Events and Happenings . 16 Read about Reunion, the Washington D.C. and Florida alumni events, The views and opinions expressed the Alumni Association Induction Dinner, and more. by those in this magazine are independent and do not Class Notes. 19 necessarily represent those of Marymount Manhattan College. Find out what your fellow alumni are up to. Calendar of Events. 28 Cover Photo: Tom Drysdale Cover illustration: Connelly Design 21310 Art of John Canemaker has achieved more than he ever hoped for—a college degree, an Oscar, and a fulfilling teaching career. By Alana Klein just didn’t occur to me to go. I never thought I was smart enough or could ohn Canemaker ’74 was afford it.” introduced to Marymount But that friend of a friend, William Manhattan College by a friend Bordeau, professor emeritus of theatre of a friend at a cocktail arts at Marymount Manhattan, knew party in 1970. But, it wasn’t better. “I was familiar with his acting love at first sight. In fact, Canemaker background and I knew his GI bill was didn’t believe he’d be a good match for running out,” says Bordeau. Canemaker any college. “I was already 28 years old was drafted into the Army in 1965, and Jat the time and I had never been to served two years at Fort Dix, N.J. He college,” says the Elmira, N.Y. native. “It returned to New York after the Army to resume his acting career. “I told him I could get him into Marymount using his ‘life experience’ as credit,” Bordeau says. The Value of a College Education At first, Canemaker was skeptical. He was considerably older than most incoming freshmen, and his acting career had really started to take off. Between 1967 and 1970, he appeared in 35 commercials, including ones for Camel cigarettes and the American Dairy Association. But after careful thought, Canemaker 2 MARYMOUNT MANHATTAN COLLEGE therealized he couldn’t turn downAnimator the opportunity to go to college. Bordeau had sold him on the value of higher education. “I realized that I was dissatis- The Oscar is really fied with what I was doing—holding up a culmination of products to the camera and smiling,” he says. “It wasn’t terribly fulfilling.” his celebrity and So he enrolled at Marymount scholarship. Manhattan College, where he worked He’s more than toward a degree in communications. “College really boosted my confidence just an animator— and opened up a whole new world for he’s an expert me,” he says. During this time of self- on animation.” discovery and reflection, Canemaker learned a lot about himself. “I didn’t —Bill Bordeau know I had a talent for writing until I saw how much I loved writing papers.” He also surprised himself with how faithfully he did his homework and attended his classes. He even found time between classes to serve as host of “Patchwork Family,” a children’s show on a local television station, in which he drew cartoons and sang. “I was still doing the show busi- ness thing but more important, I was expanding as a person and opening up doors for myself,” he says. The Animator Within Sister Dymphna Leonard, a former MMC professor and dear friend, also made a discovery about Canemaker. She recognized his uncultivated talent for animation. As a teenager, Canemaker wowed the kids in his high school with his ability to create cartoons and carica- ture drawings. He even made an animated film. “I always knew there was a talent there but I didn’t know what to Peggy Stern (left) and do with it. I had no guidance or direc- John Canemaker (right) tion,” he says. Before college, he says, “I proudly display their Oscars at the 78th Annual had totally ignored animation.” But PHOTO BY JOSEPH KENNEDY Academy Awards. Sister Dymphna knew about it feels cathartic for him. My Canemaker’s talent. In 1972, other relatives were very tearful she reminded him about it. when they saw it but they liked “She said to me, ‘you used to it very much,” he says. do such good animation when Canemaker has made it his you were in high school. What mission to display the happened?’” emotional potential of hand- It was then that she offered drawn animation. In his accep- him course credit if he’d take a tance speech at the Academy summer internship at the Walt Awards, Canemaker thanked Disney Studios in California the Academy for the great (an internship which she honor and, “for its faith in single-handedly arranged) in hand-drawn animation, which exchange for writing a paper still can pack an emotional about his experience there. “I PHOTO BY JOE HENSON wallop.” Canemaker has never jumped at the chance. It had In ’72, John Canemaker (right) starred in “The Hostage,” an MMC shied away from touching always been my dream to join production that was directed by William Bordeau. on serious, hard-to-talk-about Disney—quite a lofty dream subjects. “I’d like to push for a kid from a small town in upstate shows including “Sesame Street,” in films animation in a different direction—a New York.” such as “The World According to Garp,” more personal direction,” he says. “I’d Canemaker says Sister Dymphna and on numerous commercials. Cane- like to mine that part of animation that fought to get him credit for the internship. maker has also made several personal has not fully been explored.” “The dean at the time thought it was a films, including “Confessions of a Stand- His critics seem to approve of the way frivolous experience. He couldn’t under- Up,” which received an Emmy Award he’s steering animation. Bob Kurtz, a stand why the College was sending and director’s prize from the Interna- former governor of the Academy of people to Disney,” Canemaker says. tional Animation Association. Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has That experience, of course, changed said that Canemaker represents “one of his life. It renewed his passion for the few artists trying to do something animation and reaffirmed his talent for “College really boosted that we haven’t seen before.” MMC it. He started studying the history of my confidence and Professor Emeritus Bordeau says of animation and writing articles on the Canemaker, “the Oscar is really a culmi- subject, which involved interviewing opened up a whole nation of his celebrity and scholarship. animation icons such as Otto Messmer, new world for me.” He’s more than just an animator—he’s the animator of “Felix the Cat” and an expert on animation.” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” It Canemaker also has a scholarly side. also prompted him to take evening But most impressive is his 28-minute In addition to his role as a professor and animation courses at the School of animated short “The Moon and the Sun: director of the animation program at the Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he An Imagined Conversation,” which Kanbar Institute of Film and Television made his first animated film as an adult. garnered him and his co-producer, at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, he is After graduating MMC, Sister Dymphna Peggy Stern, an Oscar last March at the an internationally recognized animator urged Canemaker to pursue a master’s 78th Annual Academy Awards. “I think historian, lecturer, and author, having degree. It wasn’t his idea, though—it it’s one of my more accomplished written 10 books on animation history. was Sister Dymphna’s. She arranged works. I’m very proud of it,” he says. So, what’s next for John Canemaker? an interview for him at New York Far from being light and whimsical, He says he’d eventually like to do more University’s graduate school. “I had the film tackles serious issues close to emotional short animation films. But for never thought about grad school until Canemaker’s heart. “It’s about my rela- now, he wants to focus on his day job. “I she pointed me in this direction,” he tionship with my father, which was a love teaching,” he says. “I really enjoy says. “She saw another life for me.” difficult one,” he says. “It’s based on real being able to guide young talent and people and real events.