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| Volume 65, Issue 15 | Rota-Scribe: Keith Mills | |||||||||||
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ROTARY MEETING REPORT for Wednesday, October 12, 2005 (The REAL Columbus Day!) The luncheon today was baked boneless chicken breasts in a pink sauce, accompanied by rice and asparagus spears with julienne carrots and, of course, the usual salad of mixed greens and the fruit plate. A wedge of frosted chocolate brownie with a trickle of red jam made up the dessert. Opening Exercises: At 11:35, la Presidenta Joyce rang the Big Rotary Bell, calling the meeting to order. In quick succession we had The Pledge, led by Bill Mathy; The Song, led by Howard Wood, joined by Randy McFarland and Bob Jahncke, featuring Take Me Out to the Ball Game ("We'll root, root, root for the Angels. . . ."), and our old standby, Smile!; and The Invocation, given by Mark Geiss who advocated an "Attitude of Gratitude" for our manifold blessings, and prayed for the victims of earthquakes and floods around the world. Introductions: Scott Dowds asked Rotarians to present their guests. Randy McFarland pointed out Ken Benjamin, who was sitting far away at another table; Cameron McCune introduced Hilda Sugarman of the Fullerton School Board; Bob Hathaway brought Dr. Patricia Frank, head of the ROP Program; and Jim Blake presented Wolf Knabe, Fullerton's new Fire Chief. There were, for some reason, no visiting Rotarians. (They must have got wind of today's upcoming Joke Challenge.) Announcements: Leroy Fulton: The Mayor's Prayer Breakfast (there were also fliers on the tables). Fullerton Rotary 100% Paul Harris Celebration Luncheon at noon on Wednesday, November 16th at the Four Corners Hotel at Raymond and the 91 Freeway. Sign-up sheets on each table. You may as well sign up now because Walt Barnes isn't going to take "No" for an answer. Tom Meyer said to get your nominations in for the Rotary Concert Awards. He needs them soon. Griff Duncan announced that this year's Rotary Concert will feature comedienne Vicki Lawrence ("Mama" of Carol Burnett Show fame) performing at the Plummer on January 28th. Winston Creel will have the tickets. Recognitions: Jimmy Williams showed up without his purple dress this week and gave such a long, involved introduction to this week's Recognizer, Ray Ashcroft, that he had to get Dan Kiernan to hold his script for him. (Dan moved it around a lot to make it more interesting for Jim.) Before entering the AdBiz, Ray was an entertainer (still is!). His singing debut on the radio came at age five and by the time he was ten, he had his own show. Over the years he has performed with countless celebrities such as Bob Hope and Jayne Mansfield. For today's recognitions, Ray selected a number of outstanding club members and asked them about their professional accomplishments. He then sang a once-popular song that somehow related to that profession and asked the "recognizee" to identify the recording artist who made the song famous. If they got the right answer, there would not be fined! The following were recognized: Chet Schultz, Fullerton's outstanding Architect/Engineer. He designed the new City Hall, the Police Building (which was the old City Hall), and the railroad bridges spanning Fullerton's streets. His song: "Rags to Riches." Chet didn't guess that it was recorded and made famous by Tony Bennett, and paid $50.00. Frankie Berry, noted Real Estate Broker who says Fullerton Real Estate is "The Best." Her song: "Some Day I Will Seek You." She failed to identify Tony Martin as the recording artist who made it famous. It cost her $50.00. Bob Engemann, U.S. Navy Pilot in South Pacific during WWII. Married his childhood sweetheart. His song: "In The Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening." Bing Crosby made it famous, but Bob missed it and paid $50.00.
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Recognitions: (continued) David Schoen, Principal of a local Christian School was asked to name the recording artist associated with the song, "I Believe." He tried hard and his friends all gave him hints. Both David and his friends were wrong, however. It wasn't Elvis, and it wasn't Mario Lanza. It was Frankie Laine. David was charged $50.00 for failing this particular music history exam. Dr. Ken Kaisch, Noted local Psychologist and Anglican cleric, recently got himself engaged to a beautiful Gas Company executive (a lady). Ray sang him "You Alone Are The Dream," which was recorded by that great singing barber Perry Como. Since that was before Ken's time, it cost him $60.00. Don Bankhead, retired Police Captain and former Fullerton Mayor, then asked Ray what he found to be Jayne Mansfield's two most outstanding characteristics. (!) Ray then told of Jayne's visit to the front lines in Korea as part of the Bob Hope show. He said they all performed on an outdoor stage on a bitterly cold winter day in a snowstorm. Jayne and all the other performers were covered head to toe in heavy parkas. All he ever saw of Jayne was her face. But the soldiers all knew that Jayne was under that parka. Don was fined $100.00 for being a wise guy. Ray entertained us with his singing of really old songs, raised a bunch of money for the club, and embarrassed several of Fullerton's prominent citizens. All in all, a good day's work! Joke Contest: La Presidenta Joyce, having been challenged to tell funnier jokes, led off with a story about a young woman who won a small teddy bear. It absolutely laid everybody out! (Sounds silly, but -- well, you had'da be there.) Raffle: Tom Meyer held winning ticket 829168. Since he had, earlier in the meeting, publicly confessed to being a Chicagoan and a White Sox fan, he was given a "special" skill-testing question, viz.: "What will be the outcome of the current AL playoff series?" He hemmed and hawed and then opined, "Halos in seven." La Presidenta umpired the answer to be in error (there are only five games in the series) and Tom took the consolation prize. Program: By the time we got around to the official program it was already 1:15. So Griff Duncan said that he would just treat it as an "announcement." But by talking fast and not stopping for breath, he managed to cram in a whole lot of useful information, including the following: The Fullerton Civic Light Opera (FCLO), now in its 33rd year, has received more Los Angeles Ovation Award nominations than any other theatre company in Southern California. (The Ovation Awards are the West Coast equivalent of Broadway's Tony's.) The next production of the FCLO is Aida, the Broadway Musical, by Elton John and Tim Rice. For those of you who thought Verdi wrote Aida, you're partly right. This is a hip updating of that great, tragic love story with new music and lyrics. Griff then proceeded to tell the story of Aida, followed up by a quiz on Ancient Egypt. (Did you know "Pharaoh" meant "mighty palace"? Since the king was considered divine, it was forbidden to speak his name, so he was referred to by the name of the palace. Sort of like calling George Bush "The White House.") They've spent a lot of money on scenery and costumes and the show opens this Friday, October 14th. Tickets are available online at www.fclo.com or call (714) 879-1732. Joyce closed the meeting, as usual, with a profound observation. |