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Lettersl (continued from inside front cover)
stood probably seven feet or more from the
floor. Water bubbled into the aquarium fror 1
concealed inlets in the bottom. The glass of
the aquarium was very thick; it was almost
like looking through an old-fashioned glass illsulator,
the type used on utility poles of thal
era. Inside the great urn giant goldfish swan I
among varieties of waving green seaweed.
Soft interior illumination gave the display a I
fluorescent quality. I remember the goldfish
better than any show I ever saw there on thl:
stage or screen.
Richard E. Hawes '49
Oxford, Pennsylvania
The table is still jirmly planted in its place, but
the goldfish have long since swum off to their
piscatorial reward-Ed.
Faculty news
I do enjoy much of Rochester Review, whid
comes to me because I received a master's
degree in 1941, .having been a part-time stu
dent from 1939 to 1941.
However, I feel that my real connection
with UR was my twenty years (1938 to 1951:)
as a faculty member in engineering: instru( tor
through full professor. I wonder that you de
not have a section of news about former faclllty
members; I would certainly read it with i 1terest.
Charles H. Dawson '41G
Menlo Park, California
We're game. If anybody wants to send us news oj
jormer jaculty, we'll be happy to print it-Ed.
False alarm
It has been erroneously reported that I he ve
shucked off this mortal coil. Fortunately or mfortunately,
it was another, older, Norman ,::;.
Wall in the same area who decided to depal t.
Please, then, do not report my demise in the
next issue of Rochester Review. However, if ir
the meantime you get inquiries as to where :0
send condolences or money, please refer the 11
to the Norman C. Wall Retirement Fund al
14059 Starboard Drive, Seminole, Florida.
Norman C. Wall '40
Seminole, Florida
Passion Play
I read with regret and dismay a letter in 1he
Fall issue of the Rochester Review criticizing tJ le
University for sponsoring a trip to Europe ij I
June which included the opportunity to atte Id
the Passion Play at Oberammergau.
Surely, a university of all institutions cam lot
be expected to submit its activities to prior
approval by any individual or special group '.
It seems more appropriate for a university t.)
provide a chance for students and alumni t
evaluate controversial questions firsthand, il
possible, and arrive at a reasoned judgment
I am under the impression that the Univ( rsity
of Rochester continues to produce
graduates well educated and competent to
analyze a given situation and draw their ow 1
conclusions independent of propaganda or
pressure.
That I did not become anti-Semitic becau se
I went to Oberammergau or communist
because I went to Prague is scarcely notewo :thy.
It is important that the University made
available a chance to attend and draw one's
own conclusions about a unique event whicJ l
happens to have become controversial.
Eugenie Smith '33,'34G
Bethesda, Maryland
40
Perpetrated by fine feathered fiends?
How about a story on the Eastman
Theatre's feathers-as mentioned in a footnote
in the Summer 1980 Review? Such a
story would include which orchestra was on
stage, who was conducting, what else was
on the program, who loosed the feathers,
what happened in the rest of the concert,
what, if anything, happened to the students
involved, "where are they now," etc. At
least one version states that the feathers
fell, not during the first cannonade but at
the start of a chromatic, descending string
passage, which was written to remind the
listener of the snow in Russia.
(Unsigned postcard recently
received in the Review office)
The Review does not as a rule print unsigned
letters. But our self-effacing correspondent has
presented an interesting idea. Anybody want to
'Jess up?
The Review's version oj the jamous jeather
story (they came gliding down from above at a
mischievously appropriate moment during a performance
oj the 1812 Overture) originated from
Jon Engberg '54E, '56 & 'lOGE, now an
Eastman School administrator, who was in the
theater at the time. He admits his memories mayhave
become a little fuzzy in the nearly thirty
years since he was a student, but he recalls the
quantity ojjeathers as approximating "a bale, "
quite enough to cover several rows oj the audience
in a heavy dusting oj duck down. The conductor,
Erich Leinsdorj, was Not Amused; neither was
the local music critic, whom Engberg remembers
emerging jrom the theater mantled in ruffled
feathers, rumbling like a frosted thundercloud.
Leinsdorj, on the other hand, according to
Eastman School Librarian Ruth Watanabe '52G,
gamely stuck to his conducting "to the bitter end. JJ
A "morning-after" newspaper account
(Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, February
15, 1952), affirms that the feathers jell, "timed
to the second, JJ simultaneously with the jirst cannon
shots in the concluding selection on the program,
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture. (In
answer to our correspondent's question: The program
also included songs by Mahler and Brahms,
and a Mozart symphony.)
Who were the culprits? Both Engberg and
Watanabe say it was never officially determined,
but, although Watanabe says it was jelt it was
not "current Eastman students, " Engberg says he
knows ojpeople who to this day, whenever the
subject comes up, smile enigmatically-and say
nothing-Ed.
A kind word
As a colleague (editor, the Harvard Law
School alumni magazine), I empathize and
happily send you a mere pittance as a Voluntary
Subscription.
The Review gets better and better and the
design is terrific. .
Meliora!
Ellen Joachim Miller '55
Belmont, Massachusetts
Challenge
There seems to be much discussion in the
Rochester Review relative to class members of
the late '30s: past deeds and achievements,
retirements, nostalgia for the old days, news
about the grandchildren. We are still alive!
Why don't we-class of '36 through '40-in
the spring, have a field day on the campus?
Possible events: 100-yard dash, one-quarter
and one-mile run, 100-yard swim, broad
jump, perhaps fencing and a chess game.
Since I began with the class of '37
(graduating in '39), just to spark this up a bit,
I hereby challenge any members of the classes
of '37 through '39 to participate in the above
events. I will donate $50 to the Alumni Fund
for everyone with a higher score in those
events, with of course the stipulation that if
that contestant is lower, he will contribute
likewise.
J. Robert Wells '39
Fair Haven, New Jersey
Stratton, squirrels, and Valentine
Thank you for a genuinely excellent publication;
right or wrong, we enjoy getting it. As
pittance-proof-positive, my additional Voluntary
Subscription check for $8.54 is enclosed.
Please oblige me further by not spending it all
in one place.
Never differ with Congressman Sam
Stratton ("Letters," Fall 1980). When he
matriculated on the River, you needed much
more than tuition money and/or green stamps
to get a degree from our University. Dogs,
women, squirrels (and the nuts upon which
they fed) were, for the most part, confmed to
Prince Street, and "the first ofJune" was truly
"the end of May" for all River Rats.
Prexy Al Valentine was also quite a man, in
many more ways than your comprehensive
obituary was able to mention. I remember his
sitting down for a game of penny ante poker
with a few of us freshmen back in the fall of
1937, when Sam Stratton was my history instructor.
The occasion was an Eastman House
reception for Rochester Prize and Genesee
Scholarship frosh. Prexy played only a few
hands before being reminded by Mrs. Valentine
of his duty to his "other guests." We did
get some of his money. While regarded as
austere and unapproachable by most of my
generation, he has remained anything but that
in my memory of a real man.
James F. Bradley '41,'46G
Cheektowaga, New York
The Review welcomes letters from readers and
will print as many of them as space permits.
Letters may be edited for brevity and clarity.
President's Report
Copies of the Report of the President
for 1979-80 are available on
request from the Office of
University Communications,
107 Administration Building,
University of Rochester, Rochester,
New York 14627.