Class Note 1959
Issue
Our president, Ray Becker, announced that our class established a program to fund special projects for Dartmouth students focused on the arts. This caused me to wonder about our classmates’ involvement in the arts, including that of our children. The responses provide notes for a number of columns going forward, so be patient. We start with theater and film and will follow with the visual arts and music.
Bob Gwynne approves of the class program by saying, “There is a place for each of us in the arts. Art venues cannot survive without us.” He and wife Jessie volunteer as ushers at Overture Center for the Arts and the Wisconsin Union Theater. He urges us all to get involved.
Academy Award-winner Sean Penn says, “Art Wolff has a special gift for getting the best out of an actor’s talent.” Art teaches acting through small classes that go from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Scenes from TV, film and plays are reworked in his teaching. We wonder how much sleep Art actually gets (www.artwolff.com).
Most of us know about Mike Melvoin’s exceptional music career. Here are a few film credits of which you may not be aware: the piano solos in Play Misty for Me and in the chases in Bullitt and The French Connection. He has numerous credits as a composer for many film and TV scores. For a deeper look at Mike’s accomplishments you may go to www.mikemelvoin.com.
Iwonka, Mal Swenson’s daughter, is an associate producer for Discovery Studios and is now working on the TLC series, Hoarding: Buried Alive. Mal says he has invited her to film at his house!
Randy Malin has two daughters who were actresses, both of whom retired after becoming moms of three children each. Oldest daughter Kate was an actress for 12 years. Randy says the reviews were terrific, but not the money. Younger daughter Sarah appeared in soaps and then moved to a successful career making TV commercials.
As a retired accountant and lawyer, Michael Stern attributes all the creative talent in producing two children in the film business as coming from wife, Margie. Son Mark ’85 is co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions (SyFy Channel) and has been involved in the production of such popular shows as Battlestar Galactica, Ghost Hunters and Tin Man. He recently was the keynote speaker at the second annual Tuck Media and Entertainment Symposium. Stay tuned for a report on the documentary film successes of daughter Ricki ’87.
Carlos Plummer was “snow sculpture supervisor” at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley in California. When snow would not work in the Sierra Nevada climate he had to turn to plastic and metal. Because Walt Disney underwrote most of the Olympic pageantry Carlos witnessed him “walking around” but that is as close as he got to getting into film. Watch our next newsletter for more details on Carlos’ fascinating story.
—Allan Munro, 675 Main St., New London, NH 03257; (603) 526-2176; amunro1@comcast.net
July - Aug 2010
Our president, Ray Becker, announced that our class established a program to fund special projects for Dartmouth students focused on the arts. This caused me to wonder about our classmates’ involvement in the arts, including that of our children. The responses provide notes for a number of columns going forward, so be patient. We start with theater and film and will follow with the visual arts and music.
Bob Gwynne approves of the class program by saying, “There is a place for each of us in the arts. Art venues cannot survive without us.” He and wife Jessie volunteer as ushers at Overture Center for the Arts and the Wisconsin Union Theater. He urges us all to get involved.
Academy Award-winner Sean Penn says, “Art Wolff has a special gift for getting the best out of an actor’s talent.” Art teaches acting through small classes that go from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Scenes from TV, film and plays are reworked in his teaching. We wonder how much sleep Art actually gets (www.artwolff.com).
Most of us know about Mike Melvoin’s exceptional music career. Here are a few film credits of which you may not be aware: the piano solos in Play Misty for Me and in the chases in Bullitt and The French Connection. He has numerous credits as a composer for many film and TV scores. For a deeper look at Mike’s accomplishments you may go to www.mikemelvoin.com.
Iwonka, Mal Swenson’s daughter, is an associate producer for Discovery Studios and is now working on the TLC series, Hoarding: Buried Alive. Mal says he has invited her to film at his house!
Randy Malin has two daughters who were actresses, both of whom retired after becoming moms of three children each. Oldest daughter Kate was an actress for 12 years. Randy says the reviews were terrific, but not the money. Younger daughter Sarah appeared in soaps and then moved to a successful career making TV commercials.
As a retired accountant and lawyer, Michael Stern attributes all the creative talent in producing two children in the film business as coming from wife, Margie. Son Mark ’85 is co-head of original content for Universal Cable Productions (SyFy Channel) and has been involved in the production of such popular shows as Battlestar Galactica, Ghost Hunters and Tin Man. He recently was the keynote speaker at the second annual Tuck Media and Entertainment Symposium. Stay tuned for a report on the documentary film successes of daughter Ricki ’87.
Carlos Plummer was “snow sculpture supervisor” at the 1960 Olympics in Squaw Valley in California. When snow would not work in the Sierra Nevada climate he had to turn to plastic and metal. Because Walt Disney underwrote most of the Olympic pageantry Carlos witnessed him “walking around” but that is as close as he got to getting into film. Watch our next newsletter for more details on Carlos’ fascinating story.
—Allan Munro, 675 Main St., New London, NH 03257; (603) 526-2176; amunro1@comcast.net