Joining an elite group of Pacific Palisades couples, Stephen and Kathleen Fast will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on September 14. They’re traveling at the moment’a cruise from Copenhagen to Monte Carlo’but when they return at the end of the month, they will celebrate. The pair met in Washington D. C. in 1955, when Stephen, who lived with five friends, was invited to a bridge game by one of Kathleen’s five roommates. Both worked for the National Security Agency, where Stephen was a lieutenant in the Air Force and Kathleen was a technical writer. The main mission of the agency was to break codes, and Kathleen’s job consisted of taking all the technical information used in that process and putting it in a ‘readable’ form for officers. As they played cards that night, the pair soon realized there was a mutual attraction, which led to additional dates. They continued dating for two years and at that point Stephen’s enlistment was over and he planned to move back to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to finish his MBA at the University of Michigan. Before joining the Air Force, he had graduated from Dartmouth College). Deciding he didn’t want to move without Kathleen, he took her to an Italian restaurant in Georgetown and popped the question. She accepted, and they were engaged about four months before they were married in the Chapel of the Carpenter, at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Georgetown. After the wedding, they had a small reception before getting into their car and leaving for Ann Arbor. The first night they drove as far as Bedford, Pennsylvania, which served as their honeymoon. After Stephen’s graduation from Michigan, the couple moved to Kalamazoo, his hometown, where Stephen took a job at a bank. Kathleen is from Strasburg, Pennsylvania in the Delaware Water Gap area.) The couple’s first child Patrick was born in 1960. After living there for three years, Stephen took a job in Chicago in an investment counseling firm and the family lived near the North side. Their second child, Stephen II was born in 1962. During the time in Chicago, Kathleen worked for Playboy magazine in editorial research. Her job involved verifying what the authors wrote in their articles. They spent 11 years in the windy city, and in 1972 moved to Palos Verdes, California. ‘We decided to change our lifestyle,’ Stephen said. They had lived there for two years, when a good friend, Mo Gurlick who lived in Pacific Palisades, told them, ‘Look up here.’ They did and bought a house in 1975. Their two boys attended Palisades Elementary, Paul Revere and Palisades High School. The boys adapted well to the California lifestyle, taking up surfing and spending time at the beach, as well as playing AYSO soccer. Both parents became active in that organization as well as the Dartmouth Club of Southern California. During that time, Stephen worked as a charted financial analyst/CFA serving as the regional senior vice president for Wells Fargo in the investment management division. He retired in 2003. Both sons have stayed in California, Patrick and wife Michele live in Seal Beach, with their three children Patrick, Jr. Laura and Lisa. Stephen II and his wife Molly Corridan live in Santa Monica. Stephen offers his thoughts about why their marriage has lasted, ‘being flexible and trying to understand differing points of view. ‘We have a healthy respect for each other as individuals,’ he added. Stephen also pointed to their common interests’hiking, reading, cruises and world travel’as a uniting factor.
Longtime Pacific Palisades resident Santo (Sandy) Lanzarotta passed away on September 6, supported by the loving presence of his wife of 54 years, Kathleen (Kassie). He was 78. Sandy was born September 30, 1928, in Steubenville, Ohio. His family moved to California in 1943 and settled in the San Gabriel Valley. He attended Cathedral High School and graduated from Loyola University in 1951. Sandy’s role as editor of Loyola’s newspaper led him to meet Kathleen Ann Matthews, the newspaper editor of sister school Immaculate Heart College, and they were married on Valentine’s Day in 1953. Sandy served as a corporal in the U.S. Army forces in Salzburg, Austria from 1951 to 1953, during the Korean War. He was editor of the Sentinel, an Army newspaper, and his writers included future Washington Post journalist David S. Broder. ‘I never found out who was responsible for sending me to Austria,’ Sandy told the Palisadian-Post in 2003, ‘but I bless them every day.’ He had trained in heavy weapons infantry but never was sent to Korea. Sandy was a talented writer and critical thinker whose early path in journalism led him in 1957 to become the first editor of Datamation, which became the leading magazine of the emerging computer industry. This was followed by a distinguished career in public relations that included management positions at IBM and Scientific Data Systems, culminating in his position as Director of Corporate Affairs, Western Operations, for Xerox Corporation. Among his many accomplishments at Xerox, Sandy initiated the company’s involvement with the Olympics and managed its sponsorship of the Summer and Winter Olympic Games of 1984, 1988 and 1992. He also established and managed Xerox’s customer publication, Benchmark Magazine. Sandy moved his family to the Huntington Palisades from Chappaqua, New York, in 1969. An active member of Corpus Christi Parish for over 30 years, Sandy served as usher at Sunday Mass and, with Kassie, edited the parish bulletin and directory for a number of years. Three of their children attended Corpus Christi School. Sandy was an avid reader who in retirement enjoyed traveling, music, movies and spending time with his family. He was a devoted husband and father. In addition to his wife of 54 years, he is survived by three sons, Steven of Culver City and Mark and Matthew of Pacific Palisades; two daughters, Kathleen of Culver City and Molly of Boston; eight grandchildren; and sisters Nancy and Aurelia. Funeral services will be held today, September 13, at 10 a.m. at Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be sent to St. Joseph’s Center, 204 Hampton Drive, Venice, CA 90291.
Nathan Levinsohn, a 40-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died on September 4 at the age of 98. Born on December 1, 1908, in Chelsea, Massachusetts, Levinsohn was raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he graduated from Humboldt High School. He attended the University of Minnesota and graduated with a degree in metallurgical engineering. Following his graduation, Levinsohn was commissioned in the U.S. Army in the Coast Artillery. During World War II, he rose to the rank of captain and became an executive officer in the 352nd AAA Searchlight Battalion. He was credited with the development of a new plotting board that conserved manpower while tracking enemy aircraft using searchlights. After retiring from the army in 1945, Levinsohn rejoined the Minneapolis Moline Tractor Company in its Minneapolis plant, later becoming foundry superintendent of all three Moline foundry operations in Minneapolis and Iowa. He retired in 1966 as a plant manager. Levinsohn’s many interests included writing, financial management and education. Following his move to California, he taught courses in financial planning at Los Angeles Valley College and wrote a book on financial planning to be used by his students. He was the husband of Lillian Bergman, who died in 1960, and father of two daughters, Judy Waite, who died in 1992, and Tammy Redhead, who died in 2007. He is survived by his son, Steven Levinsohn (wife Patricia) of Fredericksburg, Virginia; four granddaughters, Shari Oshry, Veronica Waite, Lillian Waite and Tonya Levinsohn Fey; two grandsons, Jeffrey Levinsohn and Matthew Redhead, and nine great-grandchildren. Memorial services were held on Tuesday at Groman Mortuaries in Los Angeles. Burial will be at the Sons of Jacob Cemetery in St. Paul.
Jeannette Doolittle Ingram, a former longtime Pacific Palisades resident, died at her home in Honolulu, Hawaii, on September 3 at the age of 79. She had suffered from emphysema, which had then been complicated by pneumonia. Born on September 20, 1927 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jeannette was one of three children of George and Rosalie Doolittle. She attended the University of New Mexico and shortly thereafter married Donald C. Ingram, a young Army officer who had been stationed at Sandia Base, New Mexico. The couple had their first child, Donald Jr., in Albuquerque and then moved to Los Angeles, where Donald took a job in his father’s business. In 1952, they built a home amidst lemon orchards in the Palisades Riviera neighborhood. They had three more sons, Jim, Bob and Tom. Jeannette was primarily a homemaker but spent a fair share of her time in volunteer causes, serving at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica and Dr. Robert Sinsky’s Eye Clinic, as well as the Los Angeles Music Center Education Fund. She and her husband were active at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in the Palisades and her sons attended elementary school at St. Matthew’s. In 1966, the Ingrams became members of Calvary Church of Pacific Palisades, where they worshipped and were very active until they retired to Hawaii in 1993. Jeannette loved God and she loved people. She found great satisfaction in serving others, making them feel comfortable and welcome in any setting. She is survived by her husband of 60 years; her brother George; her sons Donald Clarence Jr. (wife Mary Lee); James George (wife Catherine); Robert McChesney (wife Joyce) and Thomas Locke (wife Cari); granddaughters Lauren Louise Mathison, Christina Locke Ingram, Olivia Michelle Ingram; and great-grandson Finn James Mathison. Jeannette will be buried in a family service at Forest Lawn in Glendale. A memorial service will be held to celebrate her life at Calvary Church on Palisades Drive at 4 p.m. this Saturday, September 15.
Beloved Palisadian Dorothy Louise Bissell passed on August 29 in the comfort of her longtime home, with her three children and loving caretaker, Olivia, by her side. She was 87. Dorothy was the cherished wife of Herb Bissell for over 60 years, and together they were one of the first families along Via De La Paz 59 years ago. Early in life, Bissell was accustomed to being active in her community, following her parents’ example of supporting social and environmental causes. Born on January 20, 1920, she grew up in the West Adams district and graduated from Hamilton High School. She studied business at Metropolitan City Business School, and worked at Hughes Aircraft in the accounting department until her first child, Patty, was born in 1945. She and Herb moved to Pacific Palisades in 1948 to raise their family, which eventually included two more children, Paul and Peggy. As a full-time mom, Dorothy stayed connected to the community, teaching Sunday school and preschool at the Methodist Church and coordinating the high school youth program for a year. She was a Bluebird and Campfire girl leader, and a leader in the Methodist Youth Fellowship. She was a huge proponent of the ‘No Oil’ campaign and served diligently in trying to keep offshore drilling from the local coastline. She manned the voting booths for many years as a volunteer at Palisades Elementary School, and served six years on the board of the Pacific Palisades Residents Association. In 1974, Dorothy was one of four women who founded the ongoing Palisades Beautiful, a nonprofit tree-planting organization made up of extraordinary women who encouraged residents to plant parkway trees throughout the community. In 1999, when she was honored by the Community Council with a Community Service Award, Dorothy proudly stated, ‘It feels as if I have spent most of my 79 years putting in endless volunteer hours.’ She continued, ‘I share this award with the Palisades Beautiful Committee. I’ve always felt the Palisades was an especially wonderful community because of the people, who work so hard to keep our town such a nice place to live.’ Dorothy was predeceased by her husband, Herb, in 2002. She leaves her three children, Patricia Smith (husband Buz), Paul Bissell (wife Cynthy) and Peggie Davis (husband John, deceased); grandchildren Peggi and Larry Stoffel, Claire and Jeff Randall, Andrew Davis, Mathieu and Kristin Bissell, and Michael and Jessica Bissell; and great-grandchildren, Mark, Katie, Rose and Logan. At Dorothy’s request, no services are to be held. Contributions may be made either to The American Parkinson Disease Association, 135 Parkinson’s disease, Staten Island, New York, 10305, or Heal the Bay, 1444 Ninth St., Santa Monica, CA. Dorothy wanted to be remembered as being very blessed by love, family and friends, and most significantly, as being able to live and give back to such a wonderful caring community as Pacific Palisades.
With a landmark exhibition of centuries-old art from Latin America, LACMA shines the spotlight on a rarely viewed chapter of art history.
One of the most unusual and affecting sculptures in “The Arts of Latin America, 1492-1820” exhibition at LACMA is this portrayal of the “Christ Child Crucified” from Guatemala. (18th century, Polychromed wood with a metal halo, Castillo Collection, Antigua, Guatemala.) Photo copyright Rodrigo Castillo.
For those who think they already know the contents of a Spanish colonial art show, think again, says curatorial assistant Sof’a Sanabrais, one of the key organizers of the current ‘The Arts of Latin America, 1492-1820’ exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. ‘People imagine all they’ll see are tons of images of the Virgin of Guadalupe,’ she says. ‘Visitors to the exhibition are so surprised by the richness and diversity of objects. It looks familiar, yet it really isn’t.’ Naturally, the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most famous religious icon, does appear, but there is so much more. Close to 250 works of art, all produced in the New World during Spain’s long occupation of Mexico and Central and South America, show the strange, often dazzling results of imposed cultural exchange. The interchange goes well beyond the convergence of Native and European cultures, with African and Asian influences also mixed into the unusual melting pot. The epic exhibition spans three centuries–from the arrival of Columbus to the emergence of national independent movements’and showcases art created in the Spanish viceroyalties of New Spain (which today comprises Mexico and Central America) and Peru (now the countries of Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru) and the Portuguese colony of Brazil. Many of the pieces are on view for the first time in the United States. They range from the monumental–an enormous crucifix sculpture borrowed from a monastery in Brazil—to the diminutive–a 9-inch portable altarpiece from Bolivia. In between are a staggering array of paintings and sculpture in addition to rare textiles, shell-inlaid furniture, blue-and-white ceramics and brilliant objects in gold in silver. Sanabrais is frustrated by the fact that some people may stay away from this exhibition, feeling it’s too religious and they can’t relate. ‘You don’t hear that same argument about attending an Italian Renaissance show,’ she says. ‘Nobody ever thinks about it.’ The exhibition, nine years in the making, was the brainchild of Joseph Rishel, curator of European painting and sculpture before 1900 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. ‘It’s interesting to know the genesis of the show came from someone who’s not a specialist in the field but who chose to mount it because he was so drawn to the material and felt it had been so neglected,’ notes Sanabrais. Los Angeles is the final venue for the exhibition, which began in Philadelphia and traveled to Mexico City before coming here. Sanabrais was tapped just one year ago to join the department at LACMA to take on the huge task of facilitating the installation of the exhibition. She and Ilona Katzew, LACMA’s curator of Latin American Art, were graduate students together at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts, one of the few art history programs in the country offering a concentration in Latin American colonial art. In accepting the position, Sanabrais was especially enthusiastic about the future at LACMA, knowing of CEO and director Michael Govan’s stated desire to develop the Latin American department by acquiring works in this area. One of the biggest steps in that direction is the conversion of the modern and contemporary wing, formerly known as the Anderson Building, into the Art of the Americas Building, where art from pre-Columbian to contemporary times will be displayed when the transformation of LACMA’s campus is complete. ‘There are very few institutions in the U.S. that have serious interest in Latin American colonial art and even fewer with a collection,’ notes Sanabrais, ‘That’s why this show is so significant.’ LACMA’s curatorial department jumped at the opportunity to extend the dates of the exhibition when a fourth venue didn’t pan out. Originally planned to end on Labor Day, the show is now on view through October 28, allowing college students and school groups the chance to see it. ‘We realized we were students once who would have loved to see any example of Spanish colonial art,’ Sanabrais says. The exhibition is unusual in that pieces were borrowed not only from museums and private collections, but also from places of worship where they function to this day as devotional objects, including an ornate, rococo-inspired 18th-century confessional from Venezuela. Parishioners at a church in Peru might be eager for the return of ‘Our Lady of the Expectation,’ an enormous oil painting depicting a pregnant Virgin standing among angels who are preparing Jesus’s crib and swaddling. Legend has it that the wish to conceive is granted to those who visit the painted Virgin. ‘My counterpart at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I thought ‘Oh, what a nice story,” Sanabrais says. ‘Meanwhile, eight women on Philadelphia’s staff became pregnant during the run of the exhibition.’ A similar legend is attached to an 18th-century sculpture from Guatemala of ‘Saint Anne and the Virgin Mary.’ The baroque-style work made of wood with elaborate gilding is on loan from the church of LA Merced in Guatemala City, where devout expectant women flock to pray to Saint Anne for a safe delivery. ‘Too bad the show is only here for three months,’ Sanabrais said. ‘Otherwise, one could have this entire miraculous intervention by both a painting and a sculpture.’ Pride and a desire to share revered objects with the world motivated many of the loans from places of worship and private collections. Borrowing works from museums required the complicated task of negotiating with 12 different governments, many of which held elections while the show was being organized. ‘A change in government affects everything, including heads of museums and cultural institutions,’ Sanabrais says. ‘We had to cross our fingers and hope new heads would still want to lend the works of art to us.’ The Brazilian crucifix was by far the most challenging installation for LACMA. It arrived in crates, weighs about 1,000 pounds, and had to be entirely reconstructed on site. As a living part of a church in Brazil, the work is normally surrounded by high humidity, a condition LACMA conservators had to recreate with blowers for the Los Angeles showing to prevent any damage or flaking. When the exhibition ends, the crucifix will return to the church never to travel again. Some works had been ‘touched up’ prior to coming to LACMA, including a sculpture of St. Sebastian from Guatemala, whose locks were converted from brown to blond. ‘We joke that he was made blond for L.A.’ Sanabrais says. One of the most compelling images in the show is of the Christ child on a crucifix, a sculpture from Guatemala. ‘It’s very powerful and moving,’ Sanabrais says. ‘You don’t see anything like it outside of Guatemala. It’s a strong spiritual device that reminds Catholics that from the moment Christ is conceived, he is destined for the ultimate sacrifice. ‘One of the goals of the exhibition is to show that during the time that coincides with the Baroque and Rococo periods in Europe, there were very similar things happening in the New World,’ she says. ‘Much of it looks European, but there’s always something a little different going on. That’s what I love about Spanish colonial art.’ A roundtable discussion among curators and a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday, September 29 in the Bing Theater at LACMA. ‘The Arts in Latin America 1492-1820’ continues through October 28. Contact: (323) 857-6000 or go online to www.lacma.org.
Left to right: Curtis C. (Arcturus) , Jill C. Klein (Charmides), Peter Van Norden (Scupus), Steve Totland (Deltoidus), Albert Meijer (Bigbuxo), Antoine Reynaldo Diel (Lupus del Mar), Gee Rabe (accordion), Brian Walsh (clarinet) Top: Bob Beuth (Vinita) Cortney Wright (Liplocca), provide a riotous evening in in “Tug of War.”
Ancient Romans loved comedy, and as evidenced by the 30 some comedies that still exist written by the second century B.C. playwright Plautus, they loved the pure entertainment he served up. He satisfied their love for puns, word play, distortions of meaning and other forms of verbal humor that he put in the mouths of the lower social ranks. Programmers of the Getty Villa guessed that modern audiences would respond as enthusiastically when they selected Plautus’ ‘Tug of War’ as the annual play of the outdoor theater summer season. And respond they did on opening night last week. In adapting the original script, translated by Amy Richlin, director Meryl Friedman achieves just the right hilarious pitch to move the plot along. Friedman, who adaped Aristophanes’ ‘The Wasps’ for the Getty in 2005, also choreographed and wrote the music and lyrics for the current production. ‘Tug of War’ was originally called ‘The Rudens’ (the rope), referring to the trailing fisherman’s rope the two slaves use in the physical tug of war for possession of a newly discovered treasure trove. The story turns on a father’s (Valorus) search for his lost daughter (Liplocca), who was kidnapped in infancy, and his subsequent misfortunes that have landed him on a remote farm far from Athens. A storm, stirred up by the gods, reunites him with his long-lost daughter, thereby saving her from the clutches of the villainous pimp (Lupus del Mar) who has enslaved her. Paralleling this story is the constant ribaldry provided by a group of stock characters, who audiences would have recognized as familiar types in Plautus’ comedic arsenal. ‘The clever slave,’ in this case the urbane Deltoidus, with his rustic companion Scupus, ‘the lusty old man’ character, sets the stage, creates the mood, imparts the plot and sustains much of the play’s humor. Plautus warns us that this is a morality tale, and in the prologue, Valorus warns us that he’s keeping track of ‘who’s been good and who’s been a brat. You’re in the book, baby, your bad deeds are enlightened.’ Even though this comedy is a moral tale, depicting the triumph of virtue over wickedness in a world ruled by Jupiter, reverence for the gods is in short supply in Plautus’ universe. When Liplocca is stranded on the island in the care of Venus, she anguishes. ‘ Stranded on a rocky shore with a rundown old priestess, I don’t need a god, I need a man.’ She then segues into a bluesy stroll with the chorus demanding ‘a man with some bunk in his trunk. Venus, send me a man!’ In the early days of Rome, there were no permanent theaters, such as there were in Greece, so the stages were small, and sets were minimal and erected for each performance. As a result, actors were much closer to the audience and were expected to acknowledge them. The intimate size of the Villa’s amphitheater, small stage area and transparent entrances and exits suit the play perfectly. The players talked directly to the audience, liberally breaking the illusory fourth wall, as they admonished the crowd on right behavior. ‘No shouting, whistling, or intrusive conduct,’ we were cautioned. ‘We don’t want to disturb the neighbors who are forced to live around here.’ The audience howled. The cast was terrific, all with substantial credits for stage and film work, and, in the case of Steve Totland (Deltoidus) opera. The musicians, including guitarist Armand Arnazzi, accordionist Gee Rabe and clarinetist Brian Walsh, amplified the humor and sophistication of the production. With no hesitation, I shamelessly recommend to all to go and enjoy this superb musical adaptation of the work of this master of character, plot and humor. ‘Tug of War’ continues at the Getty Villa, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, through September 29. Tickets ($35; $30 students/seniors) are available online at www.getty.edu or at (310) 440-7300.
Joshua L. Mills received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the UCLA College of Letters and Science and was a student speaker at his departmental commencement ceremony last June. A women’s studies major, Mills designed a concentration that addressed his interest in film: gender and sexuality in the media. He received the department’s Academic Excellence Award. Mills, a member of the Palisades Charter High School class of 2000, battled clinical depression beginning in his junior year of high school, and his struggle was the subject of a feature article in the Post [“Dealing with Depression,” September 30, 2004]. He was gradually able to overcome his depression during his undergraduate years. In his commencement address, Mills confessed that he originally intended for women’s studies to be a temporary major when he started at UCLA. He explained, “Almost immediately, however, I realized that the classes were fascinating…I found that my perspective on life itself was changing…Women’s studies isn’t about just women; it’s about everyone. It’s about how we’re all alike, and how we’re all different…It’s about not merely understanding and tolerating these differences, but embracing them.” About his experiences at UCLA, he said, “These have been the happiest years of my life…I never could have predicted that I would end up a women’s studies major, but it has turned out to be one of life’s happy accidents. I feel I understand our society better, and I feel I understand myself better.” Mills will apply what he learned at UCLA as he pursues the two career paths that interest him: film criticism and teaching. He is currently an instructional aide at Marquez Charter School, his own alma mater, and he plans to travel in Europe before earning his teaching credential. Mills is the son of Rick and Ruth Mills. His sister, Jeanette, is on schedule to graduate from UCLA in June of 2008.
By Merv Hecht Palisadian-Post Columnist We’ve been traveling a lot. One trip was to Lake Arrowhead to deliver two of our grandchildren to overnight chess camp. After we dropped them off we decided to have lunch and followed a recommendation from one of the camp counselors to go to the Arrowhead Lodge for lunch. We expected the usual rural type lodge that one finds in what we think of as a “retro” setting. Boy were we wrong! The Arrowhead Lodge was so beautiful, the food so delicious, and the wine list so interesting, that we made reservations to spend the night there the following week prior to picking the boys up from camp. The following Thursday night we drove the two hours from Santa Monica to Lake Arrowhead and checked into the lodge. The room was beautiful. The lake was beautiful. The dining room was beautiful. We made dinner reservations for 7:30, and sat at one of the windows from which we could see the lake as the sun went down. We shared an appetizer plate. There was enough food on the plate for three or four people to share. Two of the dips were excellent. The guacamole didn’t have as much natural avocado taste as I would’ve liked, and there were so many almonds and olives on the plate that we took some back to the room as snacks for the next day. Then I was served my main course, beef short ribs. The short ribs, cooked exactly the way I like them off the bone. The meat was tender enough to be cut with the fork, and it had a slight tang of barbecue sauce on the top. It was served over a delicious yam pur’e, with horseradish-flavored coleslaw around the rim of the plate, and I knew the chef must have come from some special ethnic food background. I introduced myself to the manager and got the whole story. Some nice group of investors had recently invested $17 million to upgrade the lodge. They hired a chef from New Orleans, recently displaced by the disaster there, and stole a sommelier from the Flemings steakhouse chain. One of the things they decided to emphasize in the new dining room, along with a slightly New Orleans style cuisine, was’much to my pleasure’the wine list. And the wine list was superb, although a bit difficult for me to understand the first time I looked at it. First, there is a section that contains all of the wines available. Then separate “bins” by geographic area. A couple of the things I liked about the lists were that there were wines from all over the world, and there was a very good selection of wines by the glass. I ordered two glasses of Zinfandel at the same time in order to compare them. One was made by Ridge, one of the oldest and most traditional Zinfandel producers in California, and the other from a producer I never heard of, but quite a bit more expensive than the Ridge. The Ridge was delicious with the short ribs, but the other Zinfandel was over-wooded, and had a strong nose of coffee, which overpowered the fruit. All in all, I loved the dinner and I loved my little private wine tasting. Next time, I’ll review Harris Ranch.
Robert Symonds, leading actor and associate director of the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center, New York, for eight years, died August 23 from complications of prostate cancer at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 80. Born on December 1, 1926, in Bristow, Oklahoma, Robert acted in theater, film and television, for over 50 years. His career began in the resident theatres of San Francisco, Houston, Seattle and San Diego. Closely associated with avant-garde drama of the 1950s and ’60s, he performed in (most notably at the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop) many United States premiere productions of Brecht, Beckett, Pinter, and Genet. Arriving in New York with a rich background in experimental and classical theater, he was a leading actor and associate director at the Repertory Theatre from l965-73 and during that time he starred in “Cyrano de Bergerac,” as Harpagon in “The Miser,” and gave an award-winning performance of Azdak in Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle.” Off-Broadway, Robert premiered Harold Pinter’s “Landscape and Silence” under the author’s supervision. From 1973-80 he served as guest director at the Alley Theatre in Houston. He made numerous appearances at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, the South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa and many theatres in Los Angeles, including the Mark Taper Forum, Matrix, Odyssey, Coronet Theatre and LATC. Los Angeles’ audiences have seen him in “Night of the Iguana,” “Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia,” and at the Matrix Theatre in “The Tavern and The Seagull.” He performed at the Fountain Theatre in “The Road to Mecca,” and before that in “Fighting Over Beverley” and “Park Your Car in Harvard Yard.” Robert’s film credits include “Catch Me If You Can,” “Primary Colors, “The Exorcist,” “Micki and Maude,” “Rumpelstiltskin,” “And Justice for All,” and “The Ice Pirates.” He had a recurring role in two long-running television series, “Dynasty” and “M*A*S*H.” He guest-starred on numerous television shows and won particular acclaim for his appearances as Benjamin Franklin in “The Adams Chronicles,” as Robert E. Lee in “The Blue and The Gray,” and in the PBS presentation of Ibsen’s “Enemy of the People.” Robert’s penchant for life-long learning and his curious mind led him to study Tai Chi at the age of 50 and to learn French still later in life. The Santa Monica resident spent part of each year in Paris with his wife, actress Priscilla Pointer, where the couple performed with the group Dear Conjunction, his last production being “The Faith Healer.” He is survived by his wife; his children Vicki Morrison, Barry Symonds, and Rebecca Wooldridge; three step-children David, Katie and Amy Irving; and eleven grandchildren.
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