Name: Sharon Bierman Branigan ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 30, 2010, 9:48 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1976
City & State: San Clemente, CA
srbranigan@cox.net
Message: OMG I forgot to mention a Six Degrees of Cougartown sighting! My friend Elaine Braden (whose brother Ed graduated HHS in 1975) was in Big Bear the week after Christmas and happened to stop at a (candy? cookie?) shop where she struck up a conversation with a Cougar whom I believe to be Sheree Klingenhagen. It was another "Small Cougar World" moment; we seem to be having many of those lately. Elaine and her hubs Jim accompanied Mike and me to Sonoma Wine Country last weekend where we had one of the best vacations I've ever had, many many thanks again to Glenn Crist. Glenn reports that his brother Kenton remembers me as a cheerleader although I think it's really sister Sue he remembers; he also says he's getting lots of inquiries about the Cougartown Wine Country trip in June. I just want to tell anyone who's on the fence, hop on board the bus, Gus, cuz it's gonna be a hell of a good time- I promise you! Sue and I are making plans, and you know that where Angels (like us) go, trouble follows! Grab your favorite guy/gal and join us! Poli, how nice of you to remember me. It was a pleasure meeting you, too; so charming and handsome just like your Papa. Hey- why not meet us in Wine Country? No shellfish and no cots- how's THAT?

Name: Susan King ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 30, 2010, 4:09 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Bierman
Class: 1974
City & State: Thousand Oaks, CA
sueking18@aol.com
Message: I LOVED the post Neil!! Oh how I wish I'd been with you on the 9 hour story telling episode! My own dad was a wonderful storyteller and, growing up, he and mom told us so many stories of their own lives and families - our own little link to our hereditary history. Must be why I can't write a simple sentence - I've been known to be TMI. I hope each year, when you get that call from Danny's daughter to raise a glass, you'll post in CT and we'll ALL raise a glass with you...to all of the "Danny Fixs" we had the great fortune to have known. BTW, I'm in on the Wine Country Weekend - what fun!!! Who's joining?

Name: Neil Larson ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 30, 2010, 2:00 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1971
City & State: Crestview Florida
No E-mail
Message: Last time I had an actual face to face with Danny Fix , it lasted well over 9 hours at his pad in Manhattan Beach in 2001… Some of the “facts” he shared with me then & additional info he wrote in letters to me after he moved to Hawaii I will relate. At some point he provided that he was not in Our Gang, but he did get a great deal of mileage out of that rumor especially when he took his Harley Davidson FXD Low Rider up to Dirty Oliver's Glendale HD shop for service. It seems his bike would always get a preferred chrome polish & cleaning because of his special connection as a Little Rascal. They would say “Hay, we don’t get many bikers in here who used to be in the Little Rascals”, Danny just gave me that sly grin & wink with his eyes twinkling and said he did nothing to dispel the rumor. Danny was a volunteer for the largest motorcycle "Love Ride" rally, he drove to dealerships handing out the annual posters & flyers for that event. He told he once taught Doug McClure drama but not at Hawthorne it may have been as a student teacher as he attended UCLA drama. Danny was the recipient of his uncle Paul's Motion Picture Academy voting memebership. As a boy Danny said he got in his share of trouble. As a youngster at one LA school(Catholic?) he managed to abscond with 3 of a total of 10 rolls of tickets from a stealth entry in the school offices, and made a small treasure dealing in "hot" school carnival tickets. I think he mentioned being “punished” later for that profitable sideline. His Uncle Paul Fix must have taught him a thing or two because when Danny was in the Korean War he told me he used escape & evasion technics as he laid very still like a rigor mortise corpse among other dead US soldiers in the freezing mud under a bridge an “act” which saved his life when Chinese Army Forces marched through. This would be one of the methods of survival he “taught” to Marines in special education training classes he tutored at Pendleton. Although he originally was in the Army, after a devistating battle action he was separated from his unit and re-attached through circumstance with Marines. Where he actually achieved (field grade) promoted to the rank of Marine Captain…this detail he told me was misplaced in his military files, he never got it straightened out. After some Post War therapy he began to steer for a teaching degree at UCLA. Also it was after Korea Danny started to ride motorcycles around Southern California. He told me he rode with Wino Willy, and The Yellow Jackets, I think they were two different “clubs”. His membership in the notorious “81” club (ask a biker what 81 stands for) , the San Fernando Valley Chapter of the Big Red Machine as a plank member pre-dated all the hullaballoo and bad press that eventually tarnished that original club Danny joined in the 50’s. But he did continue to wear their “colors” even while he was with HHS. Funny I do remember on several late night rehearsals at Nyman Hall for our student plays , Danny would come to the front parking lot by the flag pole and park his old Harley. He loved to wear that Black leather Jacket on winter nights in the big auditorium. He worked summer vacation as a “bartender” selling T-shirts, this I knew from 71’ but had no idea it was at the club headquarters. Yes he mentioned he worked in LOST, he said all they used were his “feet” in several episodes when the “Others” roamed through the jungles. He wore all tattered clothing. Danny Fix was an avid Biker he made the trek to Sturgis, the annual event was almost a religious crusade he loved it so much. He crashed in Mexico ,pronounced “dead” at the scene… But he said 3 days later in a hospital he woke up and asked where am I? That was on his old Pan Head Hard Tail with the Springer front end- After that he went through a lot of therapy for his right arm, eventually buying another Harley. He took that one to Hawaii, & rode with several grizzled old military veterans around Honolulu. Every Year on the anniversary of the passing of Danny Fix I get an email from his daughter reminding us all to raise a glass of our favorite “poison” to the beloved memory of B.D. Lil Devil Fix. You Little Devil You . I’ll see you when I get there Danny.

Name: Cheri Longanecker ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 30, 2010, 1:28 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Longanecker
Class: 1964
City & State: Yuma, AZ
No E-mail
Message: Here is my BBB 2 cents - I drug out my '64 El Molino. BBB was performed at Leuzinger, Spring of 1964. One weekend/two??? Full House - yes. Janyce played the mother (and was a dancer in the movie), JB Schroeder the father, George - Kathy Arce's nephew - the little brother. In addition to the names already mentioned: Jim Fox, Cliff Peckham, Margie Taylor, DiAnna Yates, Jamie Wilkerson, Colette Jacobsen, Tom Klingenhagen and many other talented students performed in this production. Even though it was hard work, I think we all had a great time. Working with Mr. Fix was Mrs. Cable(choreography), Mr. Wing(voice), Mr. Morgan(band) & Mr. Sutton who supervised the stage crews from both high schools. I also remember HHS nurses Lucy & Mrs. Fox administering first aid for scrapes/blisters and sore throats. Thanks for the memories Enza, Sharon, Linda, John, Pat & Sherry. And to the person who was looking for Cougar Newspapers '62 - '65, I sent 4 complete years of the paper to the '65 Reunion Committee in '02. I believe I sent them to Cathy Krause. Hope this helps.

Name: Leopoldo Valencia ~~~~~~~~~~ Sat-Jan 30, 2010, 9:54 am - HHS Time
Class: 1964
City & State: Denver, CO
No E-mail
Message: Lee Ann, of course I remember you. How are you? I hope you're enjoying life and all the splendor of the northwest. However, just to set things straight my family lived on Truro, not Ramona. It was our first cousins (Tijerina's) who lived on Ramona. The funny thing is that one of them, Oscar (Cary) Tijerina also lives in Vancouver, WA. You may still be just down the street from a school chum. Cary is 2 years behind us, however. He graduated in 1966, from a high school in Tacoma, WA, where the family migrated to during the early 1960's. The Tijerina offspring are Diana (1944), Yoli (1946), Cary (1948), Barbara (Bobbi-1949), and Alonzo (Lonnie-1951). You may have presumed we lived on Ramona, because we used to walk (or bike) through there many times on the way to school. The Valencia offspring are: V1-Enriqueta (Ricki-1943), V2-Leopoldo (Leo or Pol-1946), V3-Cynthia (1948), V4-Carlos (1950), V5-Patricia (Patty-1956) and V6-Gloria (Glo-1958). If Gloria had been a boy, her name would have been, "Kenneth". Patty's name was either going to be "Patricia" or "Sylvia". It was a real guessing game back then before Ultrasound (Sonogram)technology. Here's a scary thought: my birthday this year will coincide with The Beatles' tune, 'When I'm 64'!

Name: Sherry Ward ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jan 29, 2010, 4:00 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Rout
Class: 1965
City & State: Somewhere in Tennessee
sherry_baby65@msn.com
Message: Patty's right. Our little stage was not big enough to hold the sets that Mr. Fix was able to get from the original Broadway production, so we used Leuzinger's auditorium. Another little known fact is that Kathy Arce, who played the role of Rosie, also wore the original costume worn by Chita Rivera in the Shriner's scene. It hadn't yet been fitted to her in time for Dress Rehearsal, sooooo, it kept creeping up her behind. Being the trooper that she was, she kept right on dancing. Mr. Fix was howling from the back of the auditorium, and the rest of us were on the floor. She has never lived that down. It was a hoot!

Name: Jerry Miles ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jan 29, 2010, 1:36 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Fair Oaks, CA
jfmiles@pacbell.net
Message: I thank everybody about the nice words on the BrianWilson/Southern California video. But I can’t take credit for the Hawthorne tornado. I have just linked to it as I have several others that are Hawthorne related. Basically if it doesn’t have the Cougartown logo it is not mine but linked to someone else’s work. But it is my hope that you enjoy them all.

Name: Larry Biller ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jan 29, 2010, 12:42 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1967
City & State: Portland,Or
lbiller49@yahoo.com
Message: I too remember seeing Bye Bye Birdie in the early 60's at HHS. Our family just recently watched the film version with Ann Magaret on TV. I told my boys about the one I saw at HHS. I think it was the first musical I'd ever attended.
Betty: my sons were both in "Midsummer Nights Dream" at their high school here in Portland. They did the play outside. One of best I have seen.

Name: Patty Saville ~~~~~~~~~~ Fri-Jan 29, 2010, 9:39 am - HHS Time
Maiden: Valencia
Class: 1974
City & State: Laguna Beach, Ca
coachpatty@cox.net
Message: I LOVE that tornado video - thank you Jerry! It really captures the old days, I mean besides the destruction...

Name: Lee Ann Nixon ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 11:28 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Nixon
Class: 1964
City & State: Vancouver, WA
lasurvivor@comcast.net
Message: For Leo Valencia - your family did live on Ramona Ave, correct? Right down the street from the Nixon kids? If you feel so inclined, could you email me? It would be great to hear from you after all these years. Especially from someone who lived so close to us. I am up here in the NW, enjoying the beautiful country. Hope to hear from you soon. It has been fun reading your posts on CT.

Name: Betty Rodriguez ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 7:21 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Kean
Class: 1969
City & State: Kingman, AZ
thombettyr@yahoo.com
Message: All the talk about high school production - I feel the need to brag a little - my 17 yr old son will be in Kingman High School's production of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' in mid February. My daughter's school in Lake Elsinore put on some amazing productions - 'Oliver', 'West Side Story', and "Les Miserables'.I am a huge supporter of drama, and all music programs. They're the best! Betty

Name: Jim Frederick ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 4:52 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1969
City & State: Santo Barracho Az
No E-mail
Message: I agree with Paco .... Nice work Jerry on Brian Wilson's So, Cal, .... Been laid up in bed for a few days and what better way than to watch all of Jerry's work ! And to look back at Hawthorne and the surrounding hoods .... And also all of Johns great work on "Cougartown" ... Thank you ..... Just took another hit of great Cough syrup ..... Nighty Night Time Zzzz Zzzz

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 3:33 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Torrance, CA
tomshelley@att.net
Message: Steve Curtin, so sorry to hear of the loss of your brother. I knew your wonderful family. I know you were good friends with my younger brother, Dennis. He will be equally sad to hear the news. My best to you and your family. Tom

Name: Tom Shelley ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 3:19 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1962
City & State: Torrance, CA
tomshelley@att.net
Message: Hey, whoa, hold da fone a minute!! It's "thespian" not "les....", well you know, that other word. (And Mike, guys can't be that anyway.) I have enough trouble keeping friends as it is without you guys spreading these kind of rumors...!Wow, John, you have a better memory than I. I did do a few plays in H.S. with Mr. Ray Mossholder but I don't think I could have come up with the titles, let alone my character names. I think most of my background 'credits' ended up in the dumpster behind studio 'something or other' at Paramount or where ever. But I did have fun doing that around the mid 90's. And if you have a 'slo-mo' function on your DVD player and really good vision, you can see me in "The Wedding Singer" and a few other movies as well as a few T.V. series; "The Naked Truth", "The Practice" and some others. I had a ball doing it and if I could have made any money at it I'd still be doing it. Thanks for the memories, John and Mike. And Mike, you know as well as I do that I have 3 daughters and 4 grandchildren not "five or six" and "a bunch"! And they all love their Dad and Grampy. (That's probably because they don't know much about my HHS years!!?? Be well. Tom

Name: Steve Fraser ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 3:17 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1966
City & State: Laguna Woods
No E-mail
Message: Jim, I remember the tornado...the missing roof you mentioned was deposited two houses over, atop mine, 11955 Truro! Luckily no one was home.

Name: Howard "paco" Duran ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 2:52 pm - HHS Time
Class: 1961
City & State: Lake Forest
doo4usc@hotmail.com
Message: Jerry Guru, you've outdone yerself!! Very nice, If I were Brian, I would ask for a personal copy.

Name: Pat Bagby ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 1:58 pm - HHS Time
Maiden: Kavanaugh
Class: 1964
City & State: Astoria, NY
disc0pat@aol.com
Message: Thank you everyone, for responding with our shared memories of Bye Bye Birdie. I thought I'd comment on some of the things that were written and add some comments of my own. First of all, I forgot to mention Sherry Rout and Bill Ennis as in the cast, because I correspond with them a lot and we'd talked about Birdie recently. I also write to Kathy Arce at times and she has done many community theatre productions, but Birdie was her first. Second, I know we didn't do Birdie at Nyman Hall. It was way too small for that big production. I want to say it was at Leuzinger or El Camino, but I really can't remember. I do remember making a banner to hang over Hawthorne Blvd. to advertise it. We painted it on heavy canvas and it was so heavy by the time we got it up, it could barely be lifted and the winds almost took it down, so we had to make holes in it. Third, Sherry L. played Kim in our production, but she wasn't in the movie. That was Janice Nyman, niece of our own Mr. Nyman. Janice was a great dancer and was in the chorus, I think, in our production. Mr. Fix always told us he was one of the original (silent) Little Rascals. I don't know if it was true, but he did remind me of Spankie. I also heard he played an extra Other in LOST (the TV show). We also saw him in a production of Gershwin's Oh, Kay! Next, "Let Me Entertain You" is from Gypsy, which, while a great musical, we never produced---a little too advanced for us, LOL. Next, regarding Tom (Sonny), he was a good friend of mine and he idolized Elvis and really wanted the Birdie part. Only problem was that he couldn't sing! I begged Mr. Fix to let him have the role, and he would only agree if I would play Mae, which I didn't want to do, and would be the student director. I agreed and promised Tom I would teach him to sing the score. I can't tell you how many hours we'd practice in my rumpus room, sometimes one note at a time, to get it right. And I still can't figure out why I hadn't wanted to play Mae---it was such a fun and funny role! I remember the person who had the Ed Sullivan offstage voice. At first I thought we'd really gotten Ed--he was that good. And I remember Mr. Mossholder's Our Town too. I saw it on Broadway last time around and it is now playing again. My former supervisor from my internship offered to take me to see it. He said he saw it in high school, but didn't get it at the time, but loves it now. Great play. Thanks for all the memories, everyone!

Name: Jim Frederick ~~~~~~~~~~ Thu-Jan 28, 2010, 1:36 pm - HHS Time
City & State: Santo Barracho Az
artedefederico@yahoo.com
Message: ..WOW ! Just watched Jerry's home made movie of the tornado ! I was just telling someone about it last week when the O.C. and Ventura were hit ! .. I remember that day in 66 ! ... The apartment building with the roof missing was just a few doors away from our home (120th. and Truo st) As i recall .... we were on campus at HHS when the tornado flew over the area . Many people said they saw it and the school let us go home (no power) .. As i was running home i seemed to be following the path of its destruction ... The school was Eucalyptus Elm, ... and that was also near our home ... How wild to see it some 44 years later !!! I know i still have photos ... My room was upstairs and i had a great view of that apartment unit. Thanks Jerry ! Jim .........