"We understand that your studio is seeking new talent," starts a 1937 letter from the Ram's Head dramatic manager sent to MGM, Columbia, RKO, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and other Hollywood colossi. "In this connection we would like to announce our Big Game Gaieties on November 10. . . . We wonder if you would be interested in sending a talent scout."
Most alumni who participated in Gaieties would not have merited scouting by the studios—just as not every player who donned a football helmet made it to the pros. But the University can boast of many alumni who went from Gaieties playbills to show-biz careers. Actress Polly Adams, '68, has worked steadily in soap operas (All My Children), television dramas (Law and Order) and movies (United 93). Her first casting break, though, was Gaieties: "I got in and it changed my life."
Here are a few names—a not-at-all comprehensive list—for your consideration.
Winstead "Doodles" Weaver,'35, philosophy (1911-83)
Ram's Head: Performer in several Gaieties.
Career: Actor, musician and word-playful comedian whose work spanned decades of radio, comedy recordings and television.
What's more: He was an early contributor to Mad magazine. In his persona as Professor Feetlebaum, he gave Abe Lincoln a thorough copyediting (and a grade of C-) on the Gettysburg Address. Among his annotations: "Be explicit—say 'eighty seven' " and "Too many 'dedicates' (6)/ Study your Roget."
Warner LeRoy, '56, speech and drama (1935-2001)
Ram's Head: Director of 1953 Gaieties; Anything Goes
Career: Manhattan impresario who ran hotspot restaurants including Maxwell's Plum, Tavern on the Green and the Russian Tea Room.
What's more: Show-biz royalty, he was the son of producer-director Mervyn LeRoy and the grandson of Warner Bros. co-founder Harry Warner.
Dick Zimmerman, '59, MS '63, engineering
Ram Head's: Magician in '59 Gaieties; ragtime pianist for a '60 melodrama; Kismet. His magic act at Gaieties, "The Portable Hole," was inspired by a Looney Toons cartoon he saw at Flicks.
Career: A master magician himself, he has invented illusions for others, including Doug Henning, David Copperfield and Criss Angel. In the '70s, he recorded (on five LPs) the complete works of Scott Joplin.
What's more: He was a game designer for Mattel for 12 years.
Ronee Sue Blakley, '67, music
Ram's Head: Performer in 1965 Gaieties; Once Upon a Mattress.
Career: Singer, songwriter and producer Blakley is even more famous as an actor: for her portrayal of fragile country star Barbara Jean in Nashville. Blakley wrote the songs for the part and was nominated for the best-supporting-actress Academy Award.
What's more: Blakley's career was interrupted by a back injury and years she spent rearing her daughter, but she released an album, River Nile, in 2009.
Lex Passaris, '79, communication
Ram's Head: Writer and performer, 1977; head writer and performer, 1978.
Career: Consultant for Sony Pictures Television International on Russian, Egyptian, Hungarian adaptations of American shows; director and producer for sitcoms, including The Golden Girls and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
What's more: He filmed (on super 8) the train-station sequence for a live adaptation of Casablanca that was produced at Toyon.
Dawn (Atkinson) Prestwich, '82, communication
Ram's Head: Performer, 1978, 1979 and 1980; writer, 1981; Pippin and Godspell. When she was cast in 1981's musical Godspell, "my director Brian Prestwich ['82] and I decided we were in love and we were engaged by graduation! I'm still married to him 27 years later."
Career: Co-executive producer, The Killing; writer/producer for past shows including The Riches and Judging Amy
What's more: "I failed Calculus 19 my freshman year because I was working so hard on Gaieties."
Jon Sherman, '90, English
Ram's Head: writer in 1988; head writer, with Jennifer Collins, '91, in 1989; playwright of Musing for Original Winter One Acts.
Career: co-executive director, Royal Pains; writer/producer for past shows including Frasier and Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
What's more: "Jen Collins and I felt it was important to set just the right tone when meeting with potential staff writers for the show. So, we bought an inflatable dingy and conducted the interviews while floating in Terman Pond."
Danny Jacobs, '01, political science
Ram's Head: Performer for three Gaieties; writer for two; actor in Original Winter One Acts.
Career: Film director of Humboldt County and at work on Growing Up (and other lies); actor with credits in The West Wing, NCIS: Los Angeles and Love Bites.
What's more: "Gaieties '97 was the first time, in my entire life, that I performed on a stage. And though Gaieties is a strange mix of pep rally, kabuki theater and porn shoot, it sparked a love of performance that has shaped the rest of my life."
SOMETIMES A GREAT OVATION
The 1958 Gaieties featured "a transfer from the University of Oregon." Among other parts, the student portrayed Big Paps, center, in "Hamster and a Hot Libido," a skit that parodied Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The Oregonian had a communications degree and had come south to study creative writing with Wallace Stegner. Offstage, Ken Kesey was starting the manuscript that became One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
