MEMORIES OF MY DRAMA CLUB WITH ERIC ESTRADA

Contributed by: Christine Therese Laporte  In 1966 I was in the Eleventh grade and decided to audition for

Christine Therese Laporte
in 2013

Drama Club. It was run by a very unusual woman, Rita Brodley. Ms. Brodley had waist length full black curly hair, and was all of about 4'11" on her ever present spiked heels. I would say she was all of about 90 pounds of perfect figure...and....when she said "jump", six foot high school macho boys asked "how high?" on the way up. I was in her English class, which was not your standard English class. She was an amazing teacher who managed to make most of us appreciate and understand not only Shakespeare, but the ancient Greek plays as well. She loved to teach and, as tough as she seemed, really cared about whether we learned or not. She loved the ancient Greeks. She had a cat named Clytemnestra and a tiny dog named Cassandra. Looking back, she must have been in her mid thirties to early forties and her boy friend, who came to all our plays, was a handsome young thing in his late twenties. She was a cougar before it became fashionable. He seemed to worship the ground her heels trod on.

She ran Drama Club, and taught us acting, as if we were all going to become professional stage actors. She taught the Stanislovski" method of acting. I doubt any other high school drama teacher did. She taught us nifty useful little things like how to fall without getting hurt. It even helped in my falls off horses, almost all the falls I’ve taken since high school resulted only in a bruised butt. She never had us putting on the standard high school play fare of things like "My Sister Ilene" but had us performing "Blood Wedding" by Frederico Garcia Lorka and "Dark of The Moon". I played the jilted wife in "Blood Wedding" and Barbara Allan, the girl the Witch Boy falls in love with and becomes human in order to marry, in "Dark of the Moon". Eric Estrada, then known as Hank, played the witch boy. Yes, Eric Estrada graduated from Brandeis High School in 1968....and went on to "Chips".

Ms Rita Brodley's Drama Class

In 1967, Hank and I were good friends. Although there was chemistry between us as well, we never became more. Girls fell at his feet and he unfortunately had little respect for any of the ones who did. I refused to become one of his "chicks", something he called all girls except me...he did keep trying anyway, I kept saying no. I did get to know a lot more about him then anyone else did as he trusted me. To this day, I will respect the confidentiality and not share his entire life story. I will leave it as he had a really tough childhood, and adolescence and little self confidence excepting in his looks and ability to charm the girls. We had the same art teacher who was one of the really good ones. One day she asked me to stay after class....of course I was trying to figure what I had done now. It turned out she had noticed Hank and I were friends and wanted to know if I

had any influence on him. She felt his best chances of a good future lay in his presence, his big cat gracefulness and creativity, could I try to get him to audition for Drama Club. I could, I did. I knew he was very nervous about

Christine Therese Laporte
Class of 1968

the actual audition. I met him after his last class, helped him find a play, character and scene, rehearse and walked him to the audition. Well...he made it...and with Ms. Brodleys’ training, an actor was born. In spite of the fact his role in Chips had little to do with acting ability, he is actually a gifted actor.

To this day, whenever Eric Estrada is asked how he became an actor, he gives me the credit, using my full name. I don’t know that there is anyone else whose life I impacted as positively.

I never did become an actress. I do, to this day, present and express myself well in a strong voice I can project when needed, stand straight and confidently, do an excellent job of faking confidence when needed, and.....know how to fall as painlessly as possible. I credit Ms. Brodley for teaching me all these things that have served me well all my adult life.

Ms Brodley would be even more surprised by what I ended up doing for a living than I was, Eric would not as we held entire conversation with barely a word spoken out loud. If you’re curious, check out my web site;The Russian River Psychic. Ms. Brodley would probably think I’m nuts, Eric would not.

SMOKIN' IN THE BOYS ROOM!!

Picture courtesy of
 "The Good Review"

Contributed by: Rufino Aviles  The boys’ room outside the cafeteria was nicotine haven. It seems that everyone that went in there had a cigarette after taking care of business. For some, having a cigarette was the main business. The room was always filled with smoke and the smell of cigarettes overpowered everything else. Every so often you could detect the smell of the “funny” cigarettes or, as they were so affectionately referred to, joints. Whenever I had to use that boys’ room, I’d first fill my lungs with air, then hold it, rush in and do my business as quickly as possible (and I think we all know that we can’t hurry these things along that much) and then leave right away. Now, I used to be a smoker, but that was way too much smoke to breathe!

I remember once, while I was trying to do my Flash routine and hurry up, the Cop who used to patrol Brandeis came in. Some of you may remember him – red haired, freckles and built like the Incredible Hulk. We used to lovingly call him RED, and nobody messed with him. The room was of course filled with smoke and when he walked in, he yelled for everybody to get out, which everybody immediately complied with. (Moses probably could have used him when he was trying to get the children of Israel out of Egypt.) He looked around to see if everybody left, then he spotted me, dutifully doing my business at the urinal. He gave me a mean stare and, confronted with this challenge to my manhood, I had no choice…but to sheepishly look away. He was one dude I did not want to mess with. Even though I was taller than he, he looked twice as strong as I did, and besides that, he had a gun on his side. Additionally, I was sort of in a vulnerable position, no way ready to confront anyone. He didn’t say anything to me as he turned and left. I couldn’t hold my breath any longer and had to inhale the toxic air. I don’t think I ever went back in to that restroom again. Ahhh, those were the days!

Motley Crue - Smokin' In The Boys Room 

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Memories of my German Language Class!

Lynda Jensen Sobieski, Miss Scott, Chester Tom

We all had a language class that was part of our curriculum.  I remember it being in my junior year, most of us took spanish, french and there was also german. When I received my list of classes my language listed was german. That is great but I already spoke german. I wanted to change my language to french. I thought that would be an awesome language to learn and who knows I may go there someday. I had to go and see Miss Scott..does anyone remember Miss Scott?  She was the german language teacher in our school.  She was Scottish, but had an excellent german vocabulary.

So, here I am in her office and she asked me what I wanted to study instead.  I told her that I was eager to study french and she then asked me what do you plan to use it for?  I don't know..I just want to learn it and I may go to France one day.  She started to speak to me in german and I answered her when she came out very loudly, "you don't know the proper german, you speak low german:".  Wow!!..I got upset at what she said and found that to be pretty harsh words.  My pronunciation of some words were not correct as she later explained and felt that I would be better off in her german class where I will learn to speak "proper" german.  I walked out of her office so disappointed.

The class was almost full and I was surprised on how many were interested in german.  I felt good and thought I had one over on everyone since I already speak german.  Not so..whenever a new word was introduced, Miss Scott would call on me to pronounce the word to the class.  "Did you hear how the word sounds?"..class said "yes", then Miss Scott said  "That is not how the word is pronounced", ofcourse the class laughed.  This happened a couple of times until I told Miss Scott that it was upsetting to me.  When she explained to me why she was so rough was that she wanted me to improve my german and since I was speaking it at home, we were starting to include english words and losing the german I already knew

After some time, I grew to like my german class and Miss Scott and enjoyed the challenge.  Towards the end of school, an opportunity was brought to us to be an exchange student in Germany during the summer months.  We were to attend classes at a university and would stay at a host home for that whole time.  The cost was not that much but enough that we could not afford to send me.  It would have been a really wonderful opportunity.

After that conversation with Miss Scott, we got along very well.  Infact, she wrote in my yearbook in german and it says "The dear little Senaf, I wish you well in everything".I appreciated her concern and help because german has a proper and a lower vocabulary and to speak it correctly in business the proper is much needed.   (proper and low means regional language)

I am inviting everyone to share your story of your language class. You can comment your story below or if you are unsure about writing a blog, send me the information you want posted and I will post it for you. We all are interested in your experience.