ENDACOTT SOCIETY — July & August 2006
Retired Faculty and Staff of The University of Kansas — www.ku.edu/~emeritus
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SCHEDULED EVENTS
All activities meet at the Adams Alumni Center unless otherwise noted.
Afternoon Lecture Series
Roberta Spires (rspires@ku.edu, 842-6820), Mary Schweppe (schweppe@ku.edu, 842-1147), and Howard O'Connor (843-1884). Bill Hambleton (wwhamble@ku.edu, 843-2508), Tom Eblen (teblen@sunflower.com, 865-3634), and Jerry Niebaum (jniebaum@wizardofkansas.com, 842-3127) are in charge of programs.
July 13—Program begins at 2:30; sherry at 2:00. Following the birthday celebration for July birthdays, our speaker will be Jack Weinrock, Professor of Piano and Artistic Director of the International Institute for Young Musicians. He will be accompanied by one or more young piano students.
August 10—Program begins at 2:30; sherry at 2:00. Following the birthday celebration for July birthdays, our speaker will be Scott Campbell, Associate Director of the KU Field Station and Ecological Reserves. His topic will be "The KU Field Station and Ecological Reserves: 60 Years of Research and Education."
Cinema Studies
Grant Goodman (plim@ku.edu, 841-1066) and Fred Madaus (famous@ku.edu, 841-4939)
We will have a Celia Johnson Festival in July and August. All films are at 2:00, coffee at 1:45, in the Paul Adam Lounge.
July 18—Brief Encounter, with Trevor Howard.
August 15—The Captain's Paradise, with Alec Guiness and Yvonne De Carlo.
Computer Study
Jerry Niebaum (jniebaum@wizardofkansas.com, 842-3127)
August 30—9:00. In our first fall program for the new year, plans for the year will be outlined and participant questions will be answered. Hope to see you all back for a new season. Our Computer Study Group Web address is still: www.wizardofkansas.com/OLDKU/
Card and Game Theory
Ruth Ann Culvahouse (jwcul@ku.edu, 842-0626)
July 20—1:30 in the Paul Adam Lounge. The usual games of bridge and scrabble will be played.
August 17—1:30 in the Paul Adam Lounge. The usual games of bridge and scrabble will be played.
Drama Study Group
Arnold Weiss (ahweiss@ku.edu, 842-5502)
The Group will occupy itself with two parts of Lanford Wilson's Ozark trilogy, Talley's Folly and Talley & Son. (Please note that the July and August dates are the first Fridays of their respective months rather than the Group's customary second Fridays. Second Friday sessions will resume in September.)
July 7—1:30 in the Music Room.
August 4—1:30 in the Music Room.
Evening Lecture Series
Tom Eblen (teblen@sunflower.com, 865-3634) and Sue Nishikawa (nish@ku.edu, 842-6165)
August 17—5:30 wine and cheese, 6:00 dinner. The speaker will be Bill Tammeus, a longtime reporter for the Kansas City Star. He has specialized in coverage of religion for the last few years. From his weblog, here is a paragraph about visiting his grandparents' graves.
"It seems impossible that they've been gone nearly 40 years now, but it's good to be here at their graves, thinking about how they lived and thinking, too, about eternity."
Gardening
Arno Knapper (knapper@ku.edu, 312-9422) and Dick Shiefelbusch (843-5869)
July 5, 12, 19, 26—9:00.
August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30—9:00.
Great Books Study Group
Dave Hiebert (gundave@sunflower.com, 842-8706) and Art Lamb (artlamb@sunflower.com, 856-8450)
July 12—1:45. The book for July is The Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, another Nobel literature prize winner. The discussion leader is Ellen Reid Gold. (There is no meeting in August.)
Music
Arno Knapper (knapper@ku.edu, 312-9422)
July 5, 12, 19, 26—Immediately following coffee.
August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30—Immediately following coffee.
Opera Study
Jim Seaver (jseaver@ku.edu, 843-4081) and Al Sellen (jnalsellen@aol.com, 841-7432)
The program for Opera Study in 2006/07 will focus on French operatic masterpieces of the late nineteenth century, starting with Bizet's Carmen on August 25, 2006. Saint-Saens' biblical opera Samson et Dalila will be viewed on October 20, 2006, followed by Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann, which will be presented on January 19, 2007. Our final opera will be Massenet's Manon, which will be sometime in March.
August 25—1:30, on the second floor. Bizet's Carmen is one of the best and most popular operas ever written. Brockway and Weinstock, in their important book The Opera, 1600-1941, called Carmen "The perfect opera." Not all critics agree with this evaluation, but it can be defended. Bizet was something of a musical prodigy, being admitted to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine and winning the Prix de Rome before he was twenty. When he returned from three years in Rome he began to write operas, but it was not until Le Pecheurs de Perles of 1863 that one of his operas had some success. On March 3, 1875, when Bizet's health was failing, the composer saw his opera Carmen produced at the Opera Comique in Paris. Bizet had high hopes for a great success. The opera was well received by a large audience, but Bizet left the house mildly disappointed. Shortly afterward, on June 3, 1875, the composer died. This gave rise to the legend that Bizet died of a broken heart. Actually, Carmen was a success, enjoying thirty-nine performances during 1875, and Bizet was planning new projects at the time of his death. By 1904 Carmen had been given one thousand times at the Opera Comique; and by 1911 a French newspaper poll showed Carmen to be the most popular of all operas among the French.
Our DVD of Carmen, will be sung by Grace Bumbry, Jon Vickers, and Mirella Freni and conducted by Herbert Von Karajan,. The opera will last approximately three hours. Coffee and cookies will be served during the intermission between the second and third acts.
Singing for Fun
Roberta Spires (rspires@ku.edu, 842-6820)
July 6—1:30 in the Music Room. Come join us in singing songs of years gone by.
August 3—1:30 in the Music Room. Come join us.
Ten O'clock Scholars, AKA “Wednesday Coffee”
Genevieve McMahon (841-2116).
July 5, 12, 19, 26—10:00.
August 2, 9, 16, 23, 30—10:00.
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OTHER NEWS
Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the society took place on June 14. The 2006-2007 officers elected were:
President: Tom Eblen
President Elect: Arnold Weiss
Secretary: Audrey Kamb-Stoddard (continuing)
Treasurer: Wiley Mitchell (continuing)
Treasurer Elect: Edna Galle (to assume office during 2007)
Other items of business will be contained in the minutes.
Oral Histories
Sandra Wiechert (wiechert@ku.edu, 842-5467)
The Oral History committee had a full meeting June 15. We updated each other on both completed and problem projects, and discussed a few possible alternatives. Letters are now being sent to the new 2006 retirees who will be interviewed by Jewell Willhite, Brower Burchill, Hob Crockett, and James Taylor during this next year. Pat Kelly will take over the manuscript copying work done previously so well done by Ev Swartz who is leaving the committee.
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FYI:
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Newsletter Copy
Copy for the September Newsletter should be in the hands of the editor no later than Sunday, August 18. Email Vic Wallace (wallace@ku.edu).