Received this email today... Looking forward to meeting you girls in Sept!
Dear Alumni,
Gina and I appreciate all your stories and overall willingness to help us with our research. Not only did it benefit our project, but your stories are what filled the pages of our beautiful memory book. As Mr. Thomson stated, stay tuned for our Centennial celebration in September!
Thanks again,
Elvira Derhovsepian ('09) and Gina Park ('09)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Update on the Centennial Book
EMAIL TO THE CENTENNIAL COMMITTEE FROM DAVE - KUDOS TO ALL WHO MADE IT POSSIBLE!
Hello All,
I want to give you an update on the Centennial book. The book was finished and shipped out to the publisher on Tuesday (7/8). It is a beautiful book that tells the history of the school and ended up at 152 full color pages. It is hard bound with a dust jacket and will sell for $40. The book will arrive at BHS the week before the Centennial celebration in September. It would not have been possible without incoming seniors Gina Park (‘09) and Elvira Derhovsepian (‘09) and BHS teachers Fred Cook, Bob Smallenburg (‘72), Carolyn Grogan (‘63), and Paul McNiff (‘90) and his wife, Angelique. We have literally lived at BHS for the past fifteen days straight putting in 12-18 hour days. They represent the very best of BHS, and all should be proud of this incredible project and tribute to the school.
I am heading out for vacation and there will be no one to monitor the website for the next few weeks, so I posted a note. I also revised the events timeline to account for the removal of the Gala from the schedule of events. All other events are good to go as scheduled.
The next meeting will be Wednesday night, July 30 at 6:00 pm in the Library. Kelsey has been doing a great job with publicity and getting out the word. The focus now turns to recruiting the army of volunteers needed to ready the campus and to put on all the events. Please come with names.
See you on the 30th,
Dave
--
David Thomson
BHS Social Science
Centennial Chair
Key Club Advisor
818-558-4700 x51162
davethomson@burbankusd.org
Sunday, July 6, 2008
BHS Hall of Fame Announced
First Burbank Hall of Fame class set
Ten former Bulldogs athletes will be among a group honored by the school in September.
source
By Jeff Tully
BURBANK HIGH — After months of hard work, countless hours of research and probably some spirited debate, the list has finally been completed.
The list of the first-ever class for the Burbank High Athletic Hall of Fame was announced Thursday.
And what a list it is.
The first group of 10 inductees includes athletes who have played in the major leagues, set national records, won NCAA championships and captured Olympic gold.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be part of the Burbank High centennial taking place in September. Under the theme of “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Impacting the Future,” the centennial committee will oversee more than 30 events and projects to bring together current and former students.
The Hall of Fame group will be honored at a special evening ceremony on Sept. 12 in the Burbank gymnasium. In addition to the ceremony, inductees will be commemorated in a display case located in the foyer of the main gym.
The display case will also pay tribute to coaches, administrators and others who have contributed to the success of the athletic programs at Burbank for the past 100 years. Additional honorees will be inducted every two years.
This year’s inductees include:
1. FRANK SULLIVAN
Sullivan, class of 1948, earned All-CIF Southern Section accolades in baseball and basketball.
He went on to play for the Boston Red Sox and was a two-time All-Star. This year he will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
2. PAUL CAMERON
Cameron, class of 1950, was an All-American back in football for the Bulldogs.
He went on to a record-breaking career at UCLA, finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1953. His number (34) was retired by the Bruins.
He also played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1954 and starred on the Canadian Football League.
3. CATHY FERGUSON
Ferguson, class of 1966, won two gold metals and broke two world records in swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
In her swimming career, she broke five world records, 10 American records and had 13 national titles. In 1978, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
4. THE 1967 BOYS’ SWIM TEAM
The team of John Ferguson, Ken Powers, Tim Thomas, and Pat Fligg captured a CIF Southern Section championship in 1967.
All four members were All-Americans and they all had top-20 national times in their events that year. One of the team’s relay teams also set a CIF record.
5. JOHN MUSICH
Musich, class of 1974, won a title in the boys’ 880-yard race at the 1974 CIF-California Track and Field Championships.
In addition to winning a Foothill League title in cross-country, he still holds school records in the 880 and the mile.
6. JEFF NELSON
Nelson, class of 1979, set a record for high school runners in the two-mile race that lasted nearly 30 years.
In addition, he won a 3A championship in cross-country in 1978 and captured back-to-back state two-mile titles in 1978 and 1979.
7. GREG COAUETTE
Coauette, class of 1982, was the CIF Southern Section 3A champion in the pole vault in 1981 and the 3A long jump champion in 1982. Also a standout football player, he went on to play at USC (46) and was drafted in the NFL by the L.A. Rams. He played in the World Football League.
Greg honored at BHS 2008 Centenial Celebration
Frank Kallem, Greg Coauette and Dave Kemp
(Thanks Tim Tolnay BHS '69 for pics LINK)
8. TODD WATKINS
(no photo)
Watkins, class of 1984, was a three-time CIF Southern Section 3A diving champion and was the first diver in the 73-year history of the CIF to win three straight titles — doing so in 1982, ’83, ’84.
He went on to become a two-time Pacific 10 Conference diving champion at UCLA.
9. DEBBY DAY
Day, class of 1987, was a three-time all-CIF Southern Section pick in softball as a pitcher for the Bulldogs. She is still ranked among the top 10 in CIF in most consecutive perfect games and with four perfect games in a season.
She went on to success at the University of Arizona, leading the Wildcats to an NCAA championship in 1991.
10. FREDDY SANCHEZ
Sanchez, class of 1996, was a three-time All-Foothill League selection in baseball. He earned All-CIF Southern Section and league player of the year honors his senior season with the Bulldogs.
Currently a second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sanchez is a two-time All-Star who won the 2006 National League batting championship.
Although this year’s group of inductees is already set, the public can nominate deserving individuals for the next group by logging on www.burbankhigh100.com.
A complete list of events and project details can be found at the school’s 100th anniversary website, https://www.burbankhigh100.com/page_loader.php?p_id=1.
7/14/08 UPDATE
Stumbled upon this interesting column written July 1, 2008 by the Burbank Leader Sports Editor, Jeff Tully:
TULLY TALK: My candidates for induction
By JEFF TULLY
source
In just two months, Burbank High will begin a celebration 100 years in the making.
The 2008-09 campaign will be highlighted by centennial-year festivities and will include a variety of events, honors, retrospectives and a host of celebrations to mark the school’s 100-year anniversary.
Burbank High has grown into an award-winning school since its humble beginnings. Before 1908, residents in the city had to attend high school in Glendale. However, a bond measure was passed that year that enabled the Burbank Union High School District to construct a new school on the north side of San Fernando Boulevard.
While the new facility was under construction, the first class of 34 students took their seats on Sept. 14 in three unoccupied rooms on the second floor of the Burbank Grammar School on San Fernando and Magnolia Boulevard.
Running the school were just Principal Henry Kerr and teacher Jessie L. Hart. The new $34,000 school finally opened it doors in September 1909. Much of the campus was still unfinished and there wasn’t much sports going on at Burbank High. However, there were two outdoor basketball courts on campus. Although it took a little time for the athletic programs to get going at the school, Burbank became a school with its share of outstanding athletes.
In conjunction with the centennial celebration, the school will induct its first group into the Burbank Athletics Hall of Fame. The selection committee had a large group of former Bulldogs athletes to choose from that spanned 100 years.
If I were in charge of picking the individuals for induction, there would be my top picks:
PAUL CAMERON
He was probably the finest football player to come from the school. Behind Cameron, the Bulldogs defeated cross-town rival Burroughs, 12-7, in the first Big Game rivalry contest in 1949.
After starring at Burbank, Cameron went on to stardom at UCLA, earning All-American honors. In 1953, he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting and legendary Bruins Coach Red Sanders called him “the best back I’ve ever coached.”
His No. 34 was retired by UCLA.
Cameron played one season in the NFL in 1954 for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a defensive back, he had seven interceptions, recovered three fumbles and was fourth in the league in interception return yardage with 118.
He went on to a record-breaking career in the Canadian Football League.
CATHY FERGUSON
Although she didn’t compete in swimming at Burbank, she enjoyed Olympic greatness while still a junior at the school in 1964.
At the Summer Games in Tokyo, Ferguson, a 1966 graduate, won two gold medals, one in the women’s 100-meter backstroke (1 minute, 7.7) seconds and one as a member of the 4x100 medley relay team (4:33.9). She helped set world records in both races.
Her exceptional swimming career included five world records, 10 American records and 13 national titles.
Among her numerous awards, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978.
FREDDY SANCHEZ
Sanchez began his success as a baseball player at Burbank High. Although he played on a last-place team, he earned Foothill League Player of the Year Honors in 1996.
His senior season he batted .419 with 18 runs batted in.
Despite being drafted by the Atlanta Braves, he chose to attend Glendale Community College and played for two other colleges before being drafted by the Red Sox in the 11th round in 2000.
He helped lead the Vaqueros to a share of the Western State Conference title and was named WSC Southern Division Player of the Year in 1998, batting .407 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI.
He has enjoyed a fine Major League Baseball career and is currently a second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He is a two-time All-Star who accomplished his biggest feat in 2006. He ended the season with a .345 average, winning the National League batting championship. Sanchez had 200 hits on the year and led the National League with 53 doubles. He hit more two-baggers in a season than any player in Pittsburgh’s history.
FRANK SULLIVAN
A 1948 graduate, he was the first athlete from the city to play in the major leagues.
He enjoyed a career as a pitcher, playing from 1953-1963 — eight years with the Boston Red Sox and parts of two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins.
He was named to the All-Star team in 1955 and 1956 and led the American League in 1955 with 18 wins and 260 innings pitched.
He was such an accomplished player, the 6-foot-6 Sullivan also served as a practice player for the Boston Celtics in 1956.
CLYDE RICHARDS
He helped build a boys’ tennis dynasty for the Bulldogs during the 1980s and ’90s. The program was one of the top in Southern California during his 15-year tenure.
During his career with the program, Burbank won 13 straight Foothill League championships and advanced to the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals 12 of 13 years.
In 1993, Richards guided the Bulldogs to a Division III championship. The school hasn’t won a title since — in any sport.
DEBBY DAY
She is one of the finest all-around athletes in the history of the school.
As a sophomore, she began her string of four career perfect games — including two consecutively as a senior in 1987.
Day, who earned All-CIF honors all three years, didn’t limit her skills to the softball field, as she was a standout girls’ basketball and volleyball.
However, the diamond was where she shined, and she did so at the University of Arizona.
Her best season came in 1992 when Day was a senior for the Wildcats. She made a remarkable comeback from back surgery in December 1991 to have one of the best seasons in the nation.
Along with being a first-team All-American, she was also an All-College World Series at-large pick, a first-team All-Pacific Region and first-team All-Pac 10 selection. Along with a 32-5 record and a 0.38 earned-run average, Day had 22 shutouts, 36 starts and 36 complete games. She also hit two home runs and drove in 21 runs.
She led the Wildcats to the NCAA title in 1991.
There it is, my starter list, and not a bad one if I say so myself. If not this year, all the above athletes should make it into the Burbank Athletics Fall of Fame sooner or later.
• JEFF TULLY is the sports editor of the Burbank Leader. He can be reached at (818) 637-3245, or by e-mail at jeff.tully@latimes.com.
Ten former Bulldogs athletes will be among a group honored by the school in September.
source
By Jeff Tully
BURBANK HIGH — After months of hard work, countless hours of research and probably some spirited debate, the list has finally been completed.
The list of the first-ever class for the Burbank High Athletic Hall of Fame was announced Thursday.
And what a list it is.
The first group of 10 inductees includes athletes who have played in the major leagues, set national records, won NCAA championships and captured Olympic gold.
The Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be part of the Burbank High centennial taking place in September. Under the theme of “Honoring the Past, Celebrating the Present, Impacting the Future,” the centennial committee will oversee more than 30 events and projects to bring together current and former students.
The Hall of Fame group will be honored at a special evening ceremony on Sept. 12 in the Burbank gymnasium. In addition to the ceremony, inductees will be commemorated in a display case located in the foyer of the main gym.
The display case will also pay tribute to coaches, administrators and others who have contributed to the success of the athletic programs at Burbank for the past 100 years. Additional honorees will be inducted every two years.
This year’s inductees include:
1. FRANK SULLIVAN
Sullivan, class of 1948, earned All-CIF Southern Section accolades in baseball and basketball.
He went on to play for the Boston Red Sox and was a two-time All-Star. This year he will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame.
2. PAUL CAMERON
Cameron, class of 1950, was an All-American back in football for the Bulldogs.
He went on to a record-breaking career at UCLA, finishing third in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1953. His number (34) was retired by the Bruins.
He also played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1954 and starred on the Canadian Football League.
3. CATHY FERGUSON
Ferguson, class of 1966, won two gold metals and broke two world records in swimming at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
In her swimming career, she broke five world records, 10 American records and had 13 national titles. In 1978, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
4. THE 1967 BOYS’ SWIM TEAM
The team of John Ferguson, Ken Powers, Tim Thomas, and Pat Fligg captured a CIF Southern Section championship in 1967.
All four members were All-Americans and they all had top-20 national times in their events that year. One of the team’s relay teams also set a CIF record.
5. JOHN MUSICH
Musich, class of 1974, won a title in the boys’ 880-yard race at the 1974 CIF-California Track and Field Championships.
In addition to winning a Foothill League title in cross-country, he still holds school records in the 880 and the mile.
6. JEFF NELSON
Nelson, class of 1979, set a record for high school runners in the two-mile race that lasted nearly 30 years.
In addition, he won a 3A championship in cross-country in 1978 and captured back-to-back state two-mile titles in 1978 and 1979.
7. GREG COAUETTE
Coauette, class of 1982, was the CIF Southern Section 3A champion in the pole vault in 1981 and the 3A long jump champion in 1982. Also a standout football player, he went on to play at USC (46) and was drafted in the NFL by the L.A. Rams. He played in the World Football League.
Greg honored at BHS 2008 Centenial Celebration
Frank Kallem, Greg Coauette and Dave Kemp
(Thanks Tim Tolnay BHS '69 for pics LINK)
8. TODD WATKINS
(no photo)
Watkins, class of 1984, was a three-time CIF Southern Section 3A diving champion and was the first diver in the 73-year history of the CIF to win three straight titles — doing so in 1982, ’83, ’84.
He went on to become a two-time Pacific 10 Conference diving champion at UCLA.
9. DEBBY DAY
Day, class of 1987, was a three-time all-CIF Southern Section pick in softball as a pitcher for the Bulldogs. She is still ranked among the top 10 in CIF in most consecutive perfect games and with four perfect games in a season.
She went on to success at the University of Arizona, leading the Wildcats to an NCAA championship in 1991.
10. FREDDY SANCHEZ
Sanchez, class of 1996, was a three-time All-Foothill League selection in baseball. He earned All-CIF Southern Section and league player of the year honors his senior season with the Bulldogs.
Currently a second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates, Sanchez is a two-time All-Star who won the 2006 National League batting championship.
Although this year’s group of inductees is already set, the public can nominate deserving individuals for the next group by logging on www.burbankhigh100.com.
A complete list of events and project details can be found at the school’s 100th anniversary website, https://www.burbankhigh100.com/page_loader.php?p_id=1.
7/14/08 UPDATE
Stumbled upon this interesting column written July 1, 2008 by the Burbank Leader Sports Editor, Jeff Tully:
TULLY TALK: My candidates for induction
By JEFF TULLY
source
In just two months, Burbank High will begin a celebration 100 years in the making.
The 2008-09 campaign will be highlighted by centennial-year festivities and will include a variety of events, honors, retrospectives and a host of celebrations to mark the school’s 100-year anniversary.
Burbank High has grown into an award-winning school since its humble beginnings. Before 1908, residents in the city had to attend high school in Glendale. However, a bond measure was passed that year that enabled the Burbank Union High School District to construct a new school on the north side of San Fernando Boulevard.
While the new facility was under construction, the first class of 34 students took their seats on Sept. 14 in three unoccupied rooms on the second floor of the Burbank Grammar School on San Fernando and Magnolia Boulevard.
Running the school were just Principal Henry Kerr and teacher Jessie L. Hart. The new $34,000 school finally opened it doors in September 1909. Much of the campus was still unfinished and there wasn’t much sports going on at Burbank High. However, there were two outdoor basketball courts on campus. Although it took a little time for the athletic programs to get going at the school, Burbank became a school with its share of outstanding athletes.
In conjunction with the centennial celebration, the school will induct its first group into the Burbank Athletics Hall of Fame. The selection committee had a large group of former Bulldogs athletes to choose from that spanned 100 years.
If I were in charge of picking the individuals for induction, there would be my top picks:
PAUL CAMERON
He was probably the finest football player to come from the school. Behind Cameron, the Bulldogs defeated cross-town rival Burroughs, 12-7, in the first Big Game rivalry contest in 1949.
After starring at Burbank, Cameron went on to stardom at UCLA, earning All-American honors. In 1953, he finished third in the Heisman Trophy voting and legendary Bruins Coach Red Sanders called him “the best back I’ve ever coached.”
His No. 34 was retired by UCLA.
Cameron played one season in the NFL in 1954 for the Pittsburgh Steelers. As a defensive back, he had seven interceptions, recovered three fumbles and was fourth in the league in interception return yardage with 118.
He went on to a record-breaking career in the Canadian Football League.
CATHY FERGUSON
Although she didn’t compete in swimming at Burbank, she enjoyed Olympic greatness while still a junior at the school in 1964.
At the Summer Games in Tokyo, Ferguson, a 1966 graduate, won two gold medals, one in the women’s 100-meter backstroke (1 minute, 7.7) seconds and one as a member of the 4x100 medley relay team (4:33.9). She helped set world records in both races.
Her exceptional swimming career included five world records, 10 American records and 13 national titles.
Among her numerous awards, she was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1978.
FREDDY SANCHEZ
Sanchez began his success as a baseball player at Burbank High. Although he played on a last-place team, he earned Foothill League Player of the Year Honors in 1996.
His senior season he batted .419 with 18 runs batted in.
Despite being drafted by the Atlanta Braves, he chose to attend Glendale Community College and played for two other colleges before being drafted by the Red Sox in the 11th round in 2000.
He helped lead the Vaqueros to a share of the Western State Conference title and was named WSC Southern Division Player of the Year in 1998, batting .407 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI.
He has enjoyed a fine Major League Baseball career and is currently a second baseman for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
He is a two-time All-Star who accomplished his biggest feat in 2006. He ended the season with a .345 average, winning the National League batting championship. Sanchez had 200 hits on the year and led the National League with 53 doubles. He hit more two-baggers in a season than any player in Pittsburgh’s history.
FRANK SULLIVAN
A 1948 graduate, he was the first athlete from the city to play in the major leagues.
He enjoyed a career as a pitcher, playing from 1953-1963 — eight years with the Boston Red Sox and parts of two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies and the Minnesota Twins.
He was named to the All-Star team in 1955 and 1956 and led the American League in 1955 with 18 wins and 260 innings pitched.
He was such an accomplished player, the 6-foot-6 Sullivan also served as a practice player for the Boston Celtics in 1956.
CLYDE RICHARDS
He helped build a boys’ tennis dynasty for the Bulldogs during the 1980s and ’90s. The program was one of the top in Southern California during his 15-year tenure.
During his career with the program, Burbank won 13 straight Foothill League championships and advanced to the CIF Southern Section quarterfinals 12 of 13 years.
In 1993, Richards guided the Bulldogs to a Division III championship. The school hasn’t won a title since — in any sport.
DEBBY DAY
She is one of the finest all-around athletes in the history of the school.
As a sophomore, she began her string of four career perfect games — including two consecutively as a senior in 1987.
Day, who earned All-CIF honors all three years, didn’t limit her skills to the softball field, as she was a standout girls’ basketball and volleyball.
However, the diamond was where she shined, and she did so at the University of Arizona.
Her best season came in 1992 when Day was a senior for the Wildcats. She made a remarkable comeback from back surgery in December 1991 to have one of the best seasons in the nation.
Along with being a first-team All-American, she was also an All-College World Series at-large pick, a first-team All-Pacific Region and first-team All-Pac 10 selection. Along with a 32-5 record and a 0.38 earned-run average, Day had 22 shutouts, 36 starts and 36 complete games. She also hit two home runs and drove in 21 runs.
She led the Wildcats to the NCAA title in 1991.
There it is, my starter list, and not a bad one if I say so myself. If not this year, all the above athletes should make it into the Burbank Athletics Fall of Fame sooner or later.
• JEFF TULLY is the sports editor of the Burbank Leader. He can be reached at (818) 637-3245, or by e-mail at jeff.tully@latimes.com.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Debbie Reynolds: A Burbank Legend
As a Brownie, I remember going to McCambridge Park and getting Debbie's autograph with our troop. She had with her her 2 small children, Carrie and Todd - so cute! She's a Burbank girl and we love her, even though she went to Burroughs - lol!
Stage and screen legend returns to valley stage
BY CATHERINE BILLEY
source
Debbie Reynolds isn’t one to hold back in her performances. Variety Magazine has said that she continues to display bundles of showmanship in a time when it’s often the missing ingredient.
She laughed at this in a recent telephone interview. “The exciting thing about being on the stage is just that – being on the stage,” she said. "When I walk out, I feel loved…We’re a bunch of friends together."
Reynolds will be opening her one-woman show of music and comedy on July 9 at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre, not far from where she grew up in Burbank.
"The El Portal is very sentimental for me. I worked there last year for fun," she said. "This time I’m going to do my acts, which I do 42 weeks a year. I travel on the road and go everywhere. I’m sort of like the female George Burns," she added. "But I don’t expect to sell out. That’s not why I’m going into there. I just think it will be fun. Those that can will come and see me and those that want to will bring their children. I have a very clean show…a bit bawdy, a bit long, but a lot of good jokes and film clips and songs. I’m a vaudevillian."
Reynolds’ performance career began even before two Warner Bros. talent scouts discovered her at age 16 in the 1948 Miss Burbank beauty contest and signed her onto an immediate contract.
"I used to do little skits for the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Elks Clubs and Junior Chambers of Commerce all over Burbank," she said. "I just did it because I’m a big ham… and I still am."
When not charging a penny per person to perform at her house on Evergreen Street, she was cycling to the El Portal Movie Palace on Lankershim Boulevard for the cartoons, double-features and musicals featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that played in the 40s. "They didn’t make you leave," she said of the theatre in those days. "If you paid a dime, you could stay all day. So I would."
Originally built in 1926 as a vaudeville and silent movie theatre, the El Portal was renovated in the late 1990s and reopened in 2000.
Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly in Singin’ In the Rain.
Reynolds is among the few working actors today that hail from MGM’s so-called golden age of film. Asked whether she agrees that showmanship has eluded modern performances, she said the training opportunities that existed in her day are gone.
“When I was first at MGM Studios, they sent me out to play the Lowes Theatres in Chicago and New York. I was 17 and I did five shows a day,” she said. "I was awful, I’m sure, but I got a lot of experience. Then I was sent to do summer stock."
Young people today miss that kind of experience, she said, and must take the initiative to work in community theaters for similar training.
"The most creative era was the beginning of it all, wasn’t it?" she mused. "Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and the guys who really started it."
Now, she said, it’s one individual such as Tom Cruise buying a project to do for him or herself – not like the studio era, when films were made for everybody. "That ended in 1948 with the advent of television, because television took over that role of C movies and B movies and sitcoms and family films."
Reynolds was one of the top ten box-office stars of 1959 when her first husband, Eddie Fisher, left her for the newly widowed Elizabeth Taylor. It was the scandal of the day, similar to recent headlines made in the Aniston-Pitt-Jolie triangle.
"Yes," Reynolds said with gracious resignation, as if she has been asked the question many times, "Elizabeth and I are friends."
But she has nothing to do with Fisher, who now lives in San Francisco. "He was a very poor father and I don’t have any respect for that," she said.
Debbie with children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.
Their children, Carrie and Todd, have Hollywood careers of their own. Today, Reynolds lives on a Beverly Hills property with Carrie Fisher and granddaughter Billie Catherine. She said she won’t be making any more “mistakes” with husbands, after two more marriages ended disastrously.
"The unhappiness that comes from it is…not worth it," she said. "You want to be happy in life, you have this one life that we know of, and so you don’t want to go jumping off the bridge every day."
Though she lives on the Westside now, she has enduring roots in the Valley. "I’m so familiar with both sides of the fence," she said, "I could be a cab driver."
After a difficult time in the 1970s, when her second husband, Harry Karl, lost all of their money and homes, she was "frantic" to find a place to live and "wanted to be in the Valley." She still owns the "darling" old home she purchased at that time on La Maida near Colfax Avenue. Her brother, a longtime bachelor, lives there now.
Reynolds’ mother passed away a few years ago, and she regrets selling her Valley home, which could have been used as a guest house. "I’ve made a lot of wrong decisions,” she said, “but usually about husbands, not about property."
Luckily, she made many memorable decisions when it came to her films, some of her favorites being The Unsinkable Molly Brown and How the West Was Won. Though she enjoyed making Mother with Albert Brooks in 1996, she said she is nothing like the character she played. "I’m not domesticated. I’m very show-business."
Crowned Miss Burbank at age 16 in 1948.
Her civic involvement includes ardent support of the Girl Scouts of America. “Girl Scouts afforded young girls from poor families – which I was – a chance to go camping, see the out-of-doors, go to some area that didn’t require money,” she said.
She used some of the money she made at age 19 on Singin’ in the Rain to build a swimming pool at her own local Camp Lakota. She has also been generously active with the Thalians Club, a children’s mental health charity organization at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, for over 30 years.
But her greatest passion has been to found a Hollywood Motion Picture Museum, which is now being built in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
A self-described preservationist and historian, Reynolds’ collection of 4,000 movie costumes, cars, and pieces of furniture includes the dress that Greta Garbo wore in Camille, a pair of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, and Marilyn Monroe’s famously windswept white dress from The Seven Year Itch.
"It goes all the way back to the original beginning, to the silent screen," she said. When silent screen legend Mary Pickford died, Reynolds “bought practically her whole collection.”
Her vision for the museum, which is being constructed ten minutes from Dolly Parton’s house, has always been very clear. "The idea is to create the famous moment from an Oscar-winning film," she said. "It’s a big huge movie screen and then the stage revolves and you then see the real costumes and the real props." She emphasized that seeing the film is the most important thing: "The preservation of the film."
She had hoped the museum would be located on Cahuenga near Hollywood Boulevard, but numerous obstacles turned her sights elsewhere. "I’m not George Lucas, I’m not Spielberg," she said. "I don’t have millions and I couldn’t do it. It had to be Tennessee."
She said if she can get it done in her lifetime, "I’ll be very happy."
Debbie Reynolds will appear at the El Portal Theatre July 9-20, 2008. For tickets and info: (818) 508-4200 www.elportaltheatre.com
--- end ---
Also check out Debbie's website!
And we all remember 'Tammy'!
source
Singing in the Rain 'Good Morning!'
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Debbie on 'What's My Line' - this was before she married Eddie Fisher
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July 5, 2008 UPDATE
Received this email from Jeanne Barron Aikman today - we both went to Miller and my mom was our Brownie leader - ahhh memory lane - THANKS JEANNE!
Greetings Cathy,
Just want to let you know I love the latest postings on your blog. The film clip from Tammy was incredible. I too remember the visit Debbie Reynolds made to Mc Cambridge Park to see all of us Brownies and Girl Scouts. I even remember sitting on her lap and giving her a kiss on her cheek. She was always an inspiration to me. I'll never forget the day I came home from school and my dad had a huge grin on his face. He had brought home something special for me. I couldn't figure it out. But, later when I went to practice the piano, a brand new copy of the sheet music for Tammy was waiting for me. I was sooo excited and jumped for joy. He loved those kind of surprises. He also new how much I loved singing along to music I played. Thanks for rekindling the memories. We all are so fortunate to have lived through those special years.
I might be making a road trip north to Oregon this August and would love to stop by for a visit. Let's stay in touch.
Love,
jeanne
--- end ---
7/11/2008 UPDATE
THEATER REVIEW
Debbie Reynolds sings, jokes, does impressions -- and shows a little leg
By Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 12, 2008
source
Mary Frances Reynolds is back in the old neighborhood.
You know her as Debbie Reynolds. That's the name given to her when, as a 16-year-old, she was first under studio contract. Talent scouts had spotted her in the Miss Burbank beauty contest, which she'd entered despite being a tomboy whose most distinguishing talent was an ability to lip-sync to Betty Hutton records.
For two weeks, Reynolds is performing at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, just blocks from her old family home in Burbank. As a kid, she rode her bike to the theater to see movies. Now she's on its stage with a show road-tested through years of nightclub dates and tours. What she presents is, essentially, a variety act: a few songs, a handful of impersonations and rather too many salty-tongued wisecracks.
She gives the audience all she's got, and if, at 76, neither her voice nor her body is as supple as they once were, she allows no one a chance to disparage her before doing it herself. Referring to the leg on display through a floor-to-thigh slit in her gold sequined gown, she cracked at Wednesday's opening that she reveals "just the one leg, because everything else is shot." Shortly thereafter, she exhorted musical director/keyboardist Joey Singer and percussionist Gerry Genuario to launch into the second song "before I get tired."
She gibes her ex-husbands and, in what seems a ploy to counter whatever notions you might have gleaned from "Postcards From the Edge," she displays happy home movies of children Carrie and Todd Fisher. Reminiscences from the making of such movies as "Singin' in the Rain," "Tammy and the Bachelor" or "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" are in short supply, however.
The closest she comes is to show a series of film clips, singing along with her younger self up on the screen and dryly observing, "Can't do that today," while watching Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and herself dance up and down stairs and tumble over couches in "Singin' in the Rain's" "Good Morning" number.
Her song selections are mostly in the vein of such standards as "From This Moment On" and "That's Life," but Reynolds pulls a surprise when she turns to the country tune "Grandpa," recorded by the Judds, which sits nicely in lower part of her amber-honey singing voice. Only amid the too-infrequent songs does she let real feeling slip past her life-hardened, showbiz-honed exterior. The years melt away and, wow, there it is: that sweet, unguarded smile we fell in love with on the big screen.
daryl.miller@latimes.com
July 24, 2008 UPDATE
Just found this cool youtube video photo tribute to Debbie - listen to her sing 'You're the Cream in my Coffee'
source
Stage and screen legend returns to valley stage
BY CATHERINE BILLEY
source
Debbie Reynolds isn’t one to hold back in her performances. Variety Magazine has said that she continues to display bundles of showmanship in a time when it’s often the missing ingredient.She laughed at this in a recent telephone interview. “The exciting thing about being on the stage is just that – being on the stage,” she said. "When I walk out, I feel loved…We’re a bunch of friends together."
Reynolds will be opening her one-woman show of music and comedy on July 9 at North Hollywood’s El Portal Theatre, not far from where she grew up in Burbank.
"The El Portal is very sentimental for me. I worked there last year for fun," she said. "This time I’m going to do my acts, which I do 42 weeks a year. I travel on the road and go everywhere. I’m sort of like the female George Burns," she added. "But I don’t expect to sell out. That’s not why I’m going into there. I just think it will be fun. Those that can will come and see me and those that want to will bring their children. I have a very clean show…a bit bawdy, a bit long, but a lot of good jokes and film clips and songs. I’m a vaudevillian."
Reynolds’ performance career began even before two Warner Bros. talent scouts discovered her at age 16 in the 1948 Miss Burbank beauty contest and signed her onto an immediate contract.
"I used to do little skits for the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Elks Clubs and Junior Chambers of Commerce all over Burbank," she said. "I just did it because I’m a big ham… and I still am."
When not charging a penny per person to perform at her house on Evergreen Street, she was cycling to the El Portal Movie Palace on Lankershim Boulevard for the cartoons, double-features and musicals featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers that played in the 40s. "They didn’t make you leave," she said of the theatre in those days. "If you paid a dime, you could stay all day. So I would."
Originally built in 1926 as a vaudeville and silent movie theatre, the El Portal was renovated in the late 1990s and reopened in 2000.
Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly in Singin’ In the Rain.
Reynolds is among the few working actors today that hail from MGM’s so-called golden age of film. Asked whether she agrees that showmanship has eluded modern performances, she said the training opportunities that existed in her day are gone.
“When I was first at MGM Studios, they sent me out to play the Lowes Theatres in Chicago and New York. I was 17 and I did five shows a day,” she said. "I was awful, I’m sure, but I got a lot of experience. Then I was sent to do summer stock."
Young people today miss that kind of experience, she said, and must take the initiative to work in community theaters for similar training.
"The most creative era was the beginning of it all, wasn’t it?" she mused. "Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and the guys who really started it."
Now, she said, it’s one individual such as Tom Cruise buying a project to do for him or herself – not like the studio era, when films were made for everybody. "That ended in 1948 with the advent of television, because television took over that role of C movies and B movies and sitcoms and family films."
Reynolds was one of the top ten box-office stars of 1959 when her first husband, Eddie Fisher, left her for the newly widowed Elizabeth Taylor. It was the scandal of the day, similar to recent headlines made in the Aniston-Pitt-Jolie triangle.
"Yes," Reynolds said with gracious resignation, as if she has been asked the question many times, "Elizabeth and I are friends."
But she has nothing to do with Fisher, who now lives in San Francisco. "He was a very poor father and I don’t have any respect for that," she said.
Debbie with children, Carrie and Todd Fisher.
Their children, Carrie and Todd, have Hollywood careers of their own. Today, Reynolds lives on a Beverly Hills property with Carrie Fisher and granddaughter Billie Catherine. She said she won’t be making any more “mistakes” with husbands, after two more marriages ended disastrously."The unhappiness that comes from it is…not worth it," she said. "You want to be happy in life, you have this one life that we know of, and so you don’t want to go jumping off the bridge every day."
Though she lives on the Westside now, she has enduring roots in the Valley. "I’m so familiar with both sides of the fence," she said, "I could be a cab driver."
After a difficult time in the 1970s, when her second husband, Harry Karl, lost all of their money and homes, she was "frantic" to find a place to live and "wanted to be in the Valley." She still owns the "darling" old home she purchased at that time on La Maida near Colfax Avenue. Her brother, a longtime bachelor, lives there now.
Reynolds’ mother passed away a few years ago, and she regrets selling her Valley home, which could have been used as a guest house. "I’ve made a lot of wrong decisions,” she said, “but usually about husbands, not about property."
Luckily, she made many memorable decisions when it came to her films, some of her favorites being The Unsinkable Molly Brown and How the West Was Won. Though she enjoyed making Mother with Albert Brooks in 1996, she said she is nothing like the character she played. "I’m not domesticated. I’m very show-business."
Crowned Miss Burbank at age 16 in 1948.
Her civic involvement includes ardent support of the Girl Scouts of America. “Girl Scouts afforded young girls from poor families – which I was – a chance to go camping, see the out-of-doors, go to some area that didn’t require money,” she said.
She used some of the money she made at age 19 on Singin’ in the Rain to build a swimming pool at her own local Camp Lakota. She has also been generously active with the Thalians Club, a children’s mental health charity organization at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, for over 30 years.
But her greatest passion has been to found a Hollywood Motion Picture Museum, which is now being built in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
A self-described preservationist and historian, Reynolds’ collection of 4,000 movie costumes, cars, and pieces of furniture includes the dress that Greta Garbo wore in Camille, a pair of Judy Garland’s ruby slippers from Wizard of Oz, and Marilyn Monroe’s famously windswept white dress from The Seven Year Itch.
"It goes all the way back to the original beginning, to the silent screen," she said. When silent screen legend Mary Pickford died, Reynolds “bought practically her whole collection.”
Her vision for the museum, which is being constructed ten minutes from Dolly Parton’s house, has always been very clear. "The idea is to create the famous moment from an Oscar-winning film," she said. "It’s a big huge movie screen and then the stage revolves and you then see the real costumes and the real props." She emphasized that seeing the film is the most important thing: "The preservation of the film."
She had hoped the museum would be located on Cahuenga near Hollywood Boulevard, but numerous obstacles turned her sights elsewhere. "I’m not George Lucas, I’m not Spielberg," she said. "I don’t have millions and I couldn’t do it. It had to be Tennessee."
She said if she can get it done in her lifetime, "I’ll be very happy."
Debbie Reynolds will appear at the El Portal Theatre July 9-20, 2008. For tickets and info: (818) 508-4200 www.elportaltheatre.com
--- end ---
Also check out Debbie's website!
And we all remember 'Tammy'!
source
Singing in the Rain 'Good Morning!'
source
Debbie on 'What's My Line' - this was before she married Eddie Fisher
source
July 5, 2008 UPDATE
Received this email from Jeanne Barron Aikman today - we both went to Miller and my mom was our Brownie leader - ahhh memory lane - THANKS JEANNE!
Greetings Cathy,
Just want to let you know I love the latest postings on your blog. The film clip from Tammy was incredible. I too remember the visit Debbie Reynolds made to Mc Cambridge Park to see all of us Brownies and Girl Scouts. I even remember sitting on her lap and giving her a kiss on her cheek. She was always an inspiration to me. I'll never forget the day I came home from school and my dad had a huge grin on his face. He had brought home something special for me. I couldn't figure it out. But, later when I went to practice the piano, a brand new copy of the sheet music for Tammy was waiting for me. I was sooo excited and jumped for joy. He loved those kind of surprises. He also new how much I loved singing along to music I played. Thanks for rekindling the memories. We all are so fortunate to have lived through those special years.
I might be making a road trip north to Oregon this August and would love to stop by for a visit. Let's stay in touch.
Love,
jeanne
--- end ---
7/11/2008 UPDATE
THEATER REVIEW
Debbie Reynolds sings, jokes, does impressions -- and shows a little leg
By Daryl H. Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 12, 2008
source
Mary Frances Reynolds is back in the old neighborhood.
You know her as Debbie Reynolds. That's the name given to her when, as a 16-year-old, she was first under studio contract. Talent scouts had spotted her in the Miss Burbank beauty contest, which she'd entered despite being a tomboy whose most distinguishing talent was an ability to lip-sync to Betty Hutton records.
For two weeks, Reynolds is performing at El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood, just blocks from her old family home in Burbank. As a kid, she rode her bike to the theater to see movies. Now she's on its stage with a show road-tested through years of nightclub dates and tours. What she presents is, essentially, a variety act: a few songs, a handful of impersonations and rather too many salty-tongued wisecracks.
She gives the audience all she's got, and if, at 76, neither her voice nor her body is as supple as they once were, she allows no one a chance to disparage her before doing it herself. Referring to the leg on display through a floor-to-thigh slit in her gold sequined gown, she cracked at Wednesday's opening that she reveals "just the one leg, because everything else is shot." Shortly thereafter, she exhorted musical director/keyboardist Joey Singer and percussionist Gerry Genuario to launch into the second song "before I get tired."
She gibes her ex-husbands and, in what seems a ploy to counter whatever notions you might have gleaned from "Postcards From the Edge," she displays happy home movies of children Carrie and Todd Fisher. Reminiscences from the making of such movies as "Singin' in the Rain," "Tammy and the Bachelor" or "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" are in short supply, however.
The closest she comes is to show a series of film clips, singing along with her younger self up on the screen and dryly observing, "Can't do that today," while watching Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and herself dance up and down stairs and tumble over couches in "Singin' in the Rain's" "Good Morning" number.
Her song selections are mostly in the vein of such standards as "From This Moment On" and "That's Life," but Reynolds pulls a surprise when she turns to the country tune "Grandpa," recorded by the Judds, which sits nicely in lower part of her amber-honey singing voice. Only amid the too-infrequent songs does she let real feeling slip past her life-hardened, showbiz-honed exterior. The years melt away and, wow, there it is: that sweet, unguarded smile we fell in love with on the big screen.
daryl.miller@latimes.com
July 24, 2008 UPDATE
Just found this cool youtube video photo tribute to Debbie - listen to her sing 'You're the Cream in my Coffee'
source
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Notable BHS Alumni - Blake Lively '05
Blake Lively was born in Tarzana, California, on August 25, 1987. She is the daughter of actors Ernie and Elaine Lively. Blake is the youngest of five; she has two older brothers (Eric and Jason) and two older sisters (Lori and Robyn). All of her siblings, like her parents, are actors in the film industry.
In 1998, when she was only 10 years old, Blake Lively made her acting debut in the film Sandman. The film was directed by her father and also starred her sister, Lori, and brother, Eric. In the musical family movie, Blake played the Tooth Fairy. She stayed away from all other acting jobs after her debut in Sandman to be a regular elementary and middle school student.
Between 2001 and 2005, Blake Lively was a normal high school student at Burbank High. She acted as class president and participated in extracurricular activities like cheerleading and singing with a nationally recognized show choir. In 2004, however, Blake received a chance to renew her interest in acting. As a high school senior, she decided to take a break to pursue her interests and it paid off.
In 2005, Blake Lively made a name for herself playing Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants alongside Alexis Bledel and America Ferrera. In the film, she attends a soccer camp in Mexico where she falls for a coach. Blake's father, Ernie, played her father in the movie. When filming for The Sisterhood wrapped, Blake went back to high school to complete her senior year; she graduated in the spring of 2005. At the 2005 Teen Choice Awards, Blake was nominated for Choice Movie Breakout Performance for her role in The Sisterhood.
Blake Lively was cast in the horror film Simon Says in 2006, which starred Crispin Glover. This film was a family affair for Blake, as she was joined by her sisters, her father and her brother-in-law, Bart Johnson. To balance out the horror, Blake Lively was also cast in the 2006 comedy Accepted with Jeepers Creepers star Justin Long, which marked her first starring role in a feature film.
Blake Lively took a break from the big screen in 2007 when she took on a role in the CW hit Gossip Girl as a privileged school girl in New York City. Alongside Leighton Meester and Taylor Momsen, Blake's talent shines through on the show.
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Blake on David Letterman 2/08
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Tuesday, July 1, 2008
One Olympic dream that's come full circle
Cathy Ferguson won two golds at the 1964 Olympics, one in the 100-meter backstroke and the other in the 400 medley relay.
Cathy's daughter, Allison Brennan, was a gymnast before she took up swimming and diving.
One Olympic dream that's come full circle
By Amy Rosewater
Special to ESPN.com
June 19, 2008, 5:39 PM ET
source
Forty-four years ago, two California swimmers traveled across the country to Astoria, N.Y., to compete in the Olympic swimming trials, each hoping for a spot on the 1964 U.S. team, which would compete in the Summer Games in Tokyo.
They didn't think much beyond swimming back then. Nor did they think much about each other, other than they wanted to touch the wall before the other one did.
These rivals, Sharon Finneran and Cathy Ferguson, who once trained together in Los Angeles, wound up becoming Olympic teammates. Finneran edged Ferguson for a spot on the Olympic team in 400-meter individual medley. Ferguson qualified for the Games in the 100-meter backstroke and was named to the medley relay. Ferguson captured two Olympic golds; Finneran came home with a silver.
They thought their bond would end in Tokyo. Finneran made a short-lived attempt to make the 1968 Olympic team and then went on to become a dental hygienist and had five children. Ferguson became a swimming coach and retired in 1996. She had three daughters and now is the executive director of a nonprofit organization called Girls Inc. in Wilmington, Del.
Yet now, 44 years later, their paths cross again. And there is no more of a fitting time for their lives to meet than this year, an Olympic year.
This weekend, both Finneran and Ferguson are planning to travel to Indianapolis for the U.S. Olympic trials as both of their daughters will be competing there with hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team, which will compete in Beijing in August.
Ariel Rittenhouse is Finneran's daughter and an Olympic hopeful in synchronized diving with partner Kelci Bryant. One of the youngest elite American divers at 17, she also is vying for a spot in the 3-meter event. Rittenhouse and Bryant won the bronze medal at the World Cup in Beijing, earning the United States an Olympic spot in synchronized diving.
Allison Brennan is Ferguson's 25-year-old daughter, who was a member of the 2007 world team and was the 2006 U.S. champion in the 3-meter event. She was an NCAA champion at the University of South Carolina and a four-time All-American.
So in June, Rittenhouse and Brennan will meet their Olympic fates.
And their mothers will be watching.
"The neat thing about having parents who have competed at this level is that they understand what their children are going through," Ferguson said. "It's hard to be a competitor and to understand that. I think Sharon and I both understand it."
But to understand this story, you really need to go back 44 years to those swimming trials in New York. Two years earlier, Sharon Finneran had been a world beater, setting seven world records and swimming the 400-meter individual medley so fast she could have qualified for nationals that year in the men's division. She wasn't at her peak in 1964, but she remained one of the toughest, scrappiest competitors in the field.
Ferguson was primarily a backstroker with the Los Angeles Athletic Club, but was so talented she was attempting to make the team in the 400 IM and other two freestyle events, as well.
The two women knew each other well. Both trained together for awhile with the Los Angeles Athletic Club before Finneran decided to relocate to Santa Clara in 1963 and both were both extremely hard workers. Finneran was known for three-a-day workouts and rarely missed a single one. Ferguson was a big believer in weight training in addition to swimming two workouts a day.
The 400 IM had been added to the event list for the 1964 Olympics, and Finneran, a world-record holder in that event in 1962 and 1963, desperately wanted to represent the United States in that race. Ferguson, who was gunning for Olympic spots in the 100 and 200 back, entered the 400 IM as well, but didn't expect to place. Ever the competitor, however, she wasn't just entering a race for kicks.
The race between Finneran and Ferguson proved to be one of the toughest battles of the trials.
All you have to do is mention the name Cathy Ferguson, and Finneran can give you a stroke-by-stroke replay of the race.
"I remember starting with the fly and then I knew my backstroke would be a little weak but I could make it up with the breaststroke," Finneran said. "I always knew where everyone was in the pool when I raced and I wasn't even thinking about Cathy during the breaststroke. Then I go into the free. I swim the first lap and do my flip turn and there she is. All I'm thinking is, 'Oh my God. Cathy Ferguson.'
"And I said to myself, 'I'm going to die before I let someone take my Olympic spot.'"
For the final seven yards or so, Finneran said she didn't take a single breath. She wound up third, behind Donna de Varona and Martha Randall and one-tenth of a second ahead of Ferguson. In those days, third place was good enough to make the Olympic team. (Now, only the top two finishers qualify.)
De Varona set a world record in that race, but as soon as she touched the wall, she turned her focus immediately on the race behind her, the one between Finneran and Ferguson. Leading up to the trials, de Varona and Finneran had been trading world records in the 400 IM and de Varona wanted to see how this race would turn out.
"Sharon was my biggest rival," de Varona said. "But I was hoping she would make the team."
At the Olympics, de Varona took the gold medal, followed by Finneran and Martha Randall in an American sweep.
When Finneran was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985, she chose de Varona to introduce her because as Finneran told her, "We made each other better."
All three women were teammates in Tokyo, but as de Varona put it, "You're really not teammates until you get on a relay."
It's amazing how time can change that ... or not.
When Finneran was asked about her daughter and Ferguson's daughter both vying for Olympic spots now, she laughed and said, "We're enemies again."
Finneran and Ferguson didn't even realize that both of their daughters were diving until about a year ago when they both attended a national diving meet. Ferguson was sitting in the stands when she noticed a woman who looked an awful like Finneran. She turned to her daughter, Allison, and said, "That gal looks a lot like a gal I swam against -- Sharon Finneran."
It was Finneran with one change, she used her married name, Sharon Rittenhouse. The two had fun chit-chatting and catching up, and soon the so-called enemies realized how much they had in common.
"We both complain about how difficult it is to have daughters who dive," Ferguson said.
And how difficult it is to have them compete against each other. Just like their mothers, they will compete for spots on the Olympic team. Should they both make it, they will be teammates just as their moms were more than four decades ago. And just like back then, you're teammates, but you're not. There are medals to be won and not everyone can win them.
As former Olympians, Finneran and Ferguson know how special the Games are and how much they have meant to their lives. They both competed in a pre-Title IX, pre-major sponsorship era, when it wasn't common for girls to be jocks, and they both marvel at how much times have changed for their daughters.
Both passed on their athletic passion, although neither of them ever expected their daughters to pursue the Olympics, much less in diving. Still, their daughters understood how important the Olympics were to their family, even at a young age. Allison recalls bringing in her mom for show and tell.
"I even brought her when I was a junior in high school for my Spanish class and I explained about my mom's accomplishments in Spanish," Brennan said.
Ariel said her mom told her how much the swimmers were showered with attention by the Japanese fans. She also remembers looking at black and white photographs of her mom from the 1964 Games. "It's funny to look at those swimsuits," she said.
Both mothers also know too well the trials of being Olympic medalists and having children who also want to share in that dream. Being an Olympic mom can be a double-edged sword: If your kid is lucky, then great, he or she will win a medal, too. If not, then they can't match their parent's success. The running joke with Finneran is she told all five of her children that they had to be involved in a sport so they'd stay out of trouble -- if they didn't take up a sport, then they'd have to swim. None of them followed that Olympic swimming path. Of five children, only Ariel is close to becoming an Olympian.
Although Finneran never pushed the Olympics on her daughter, Finneran has become her biggest supporter. Finneran even moved from her California home (her husband, a commercial insurance broker, still lives there) to live with Ariel in downtown Indianapolis. Ariel trains at the national training center. It's been a family cycle. When Finneran was younger, her mother relocated from Florida to California so Finneran could pursue her Olympic dream.
"If Ariel wasn't my youngest, it would be impossible for me to make this kind of commitment because all of my children are important to me," Finneran said.
On days when Ariel isn't feeling up to training, all she needs to do to get inspired is look at her mom. "She's always by my side," Ariel said.
Ferguson has been supportive as well, traveling worldwide for competitions and paying the bills (along with Allison's father) for Allison's training. Allison is a college graduate and continues to train with her college coach at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Although Ferguson doesn't live with her daughter, they often talk on the phone as Ferguson often finds herself in the role of a telecommunications cheerleader.
"If she's happy, then I'm happy," Ferguson said. "I will give her whatever she needs, but really my job is to work on the mental side of the game."
As wonderful of a ride as it has been for both moms, it has been exceptionally stressful as well. For Finneran, she has had to spend about a year and a half living apart from her husband. For Ferguson, it's been the stress of trying to show long-distance support.
"What I keep trying to let Allison know is that Allison is not Allison the diver to me," Ferguson said. "She's Allison, my daughter, and that's the key."
"I finally decided to get it together," said Finneran, who sought help from a psychologist to calm her nerves. "And I'm still nervous.
"You just love this girl so much," Finneran added. "I talk to other mothers and we're all the same. Watching our kids dive is the hardest thing we have to do in our lives. It's so hard because being in the Olympics is great. It really is. But it's also luck."
Echoed Ferguson: "It's so much easier being the athlete than it is being the mom watching. You want it so much for your child, but there are only so many spots. The Olympic year brings out really strange and really wonderful things. I just hope that regardless of what happens that she enjoys the journey."
For these Olympic moms, they can only hope and wait -- once again, together.
"Just keep your fingers crossed and your toes crossed," Ferguson said. Then she added: "For both girls."
Ditto for the moms.
Diving is in their blood
What has made the journey somewhat smoother for Ariel and Allison is that they have the Olympics in their genes and some diving talent in their blood.
Ariel's uncle (Sharon Finneran's younger brother), Michael, was an Olympic diver in 1972 and was the first to earn perfect 10 scores. Allison's father, Larry Brennan, was a diver who competed in the Olympic trials.
"Ariel and Michael talk quite a bit," Finneran said. "He always seems to know just the right thing to say."
It seems as if nothing would have prevented Ariel from diving. She was just 2 when she was performing her first ones. "You just couldn't get me out of the water," Ariel said.
But there were no diving programs for girls her age, so she picked up gymnastics. By the time she was 7, however, she quit gymnastics and took up diving. Her sister stuck with gymnastics for a while and now is a dancer. All three of her brothers were athletic -- one was involved in water polo, another was a volleyball player and the third was an avid golfer.
Like Ariel, Allison also started out as a gymnast, and she even became a California state champion when she was 10. Later, she suffered an injury and decided to take up swimming, and her mom became her coach.
When her mom retired from coaching, Allison decided to stop swimming and start diving. Her older sister, Kellie, made the transition from gymnastics to diving and Allison liked the combination of doing graceful movements and being in the water. It also helped that there was a 1-meter diving board in the family's backyard. Kellie wound up diving until after the 2004 Olympic trials. Allison's oldest sister was a ballet dancer.
"I never felt that I had to be the best for my parents to love me," Allison said. "But I think it would mean a lot for their daughter to accomplish something that she worked so hard to achieve."
Amy Rosewater, a freelance writer based in Baltimore and frequent contributor to ESPN.com, balances motherhood and reporting, and says she has no chance of qualifying for the Olympics. Her two daughters are Katie (age 6) and Josie (4).
Cathy's daughter, Allison Brennan, was a gymnast before she took up swimming and diving.
One Olympic dream that's come full circle
By Amy Rosewater
Special to ESPN.com
June 19, 2008, 5:39 PM ET
source
Forty-four years ago, two California swimmers traveled across the country to Astoria, N.Y., to compete in the Olympic swimming trials, each hoping for a spot on the 1964 U.S. team, which would compete in the Summer Games in Tokyo.
They didn't think much beyond swimming back then. Nor did they think much about each other, other than they wanted to touch the wall before the other one did.
These rivals, Sharon Finneran and Cathy Ferguson, who once trained together in Los Angeles, wound up becoming Olympic teammates. Finneran edged Ferguson for a spot on the Olympic team in 400-meter individual medley. Ferguson qualified for the Games in the 100-meter backstroke and was named to the medley relay. Ferguson captured two Olympic golds; Finneran came home with a silver.
They thought their bond would end in Tokyo. Finneran made a short-lived attempt to make the 1968 Olympic team and then went on to become a dental hygienist and had five children. Ferguson became a swimming coach and retired in 1996. She had three daughters and now is the executive director of a nonprofit organization called Girls Inc. in Wilmington, Del.
Yet now, 44 years later, their paths cross again. And there is no more of a fitting time for their lives to meet than this year, an Olympic year.
This weekend, both Finneran and Ferguson are planning to travel to Indianapolis for the U.S. Olympic trials as both of their daughters will be competing there with hopes of making the U.S. Olympic team, which will compete in Beijing in August.
Ariel Rittenhouse is Finneran's daughter and an Olympic hopeful in synchronized diving with partner Kelci Bryant. One of the youngest elite American divers at 17, she also is vying for a spot in the 3-meter event. Rittenhouse and Bryant won the bronze medal at the World Cup in Beijing, earning the United States an Olympic spot in synchronized diving.
Allison Brennan is Ferguson's 25-year-old daughter, who was a member of the 2007 world team and was the 2006 U.S. champion in the 3-meter event. She was an NCAA champion at the University of South Carolina and a four-time All-American.
So in June, Rittenhouse and Brennan will meet their Olympic fates.
And their mothers will be watching.
"The neat thing about having parents who have competed at this level is that they understand what their children are going through," Ferguson said. "It's hard to be a competitor and to understand that. I think Sharon and I both understand it."
But to understand this story, you really need to go back 44 years to those swimming trials in New York. Two years earlier, Sharon Finneran had been a world beater, setting seven world records and swimming the 400-meter individual medley so fast she could have qualified for nationals that year in the men's division. She wasn't at her peak in 1964, but she remained one of the toughest, scrappiest competitors in the field.
Ferguson was primarily a backstroker with the Los Angeles Athletic Club, but was so talented she was attempting to make the team in the 400 IM and other two freestyle events, as well.
The two women knew each other well. Both trained together for awhile with the Los Angeles Athletic Club before Finneran decided to relocate to Santa Clara in 1963 and both were both extremely hard workers. Finneran was known for three-a-day workouts and rarely missed a single one. Ferguson was a big believer in weight training in addition to swimming two workouts a day.
The 400 IM had been added to the event list for the 1964 Olympics, and Finneran, a world-record holder in that event in 1962 and 1963, desperately wanted to represent the United States in that race. Ferguson, who was gunning for Olympic spots in the 100 and 200 back, entered the 400 IM as well, but didn't expect to place. Ever the competitor, however, she wasn't just entering a race for kicks.
The race between Finneran and Ferguson proved to be one of the toughest battles of the trials.
All you have to do is mention the name Cathy Ferguson, and Finneran can give you a stroke-by-stroke replay of the race.
"I remember starting with the fly and then I knew my backstroke would be a little weak but I could make it up with the breaststroke," Finneran said. "I always knew where everyone was in the pool when I raced and I wasn't even thinking about Cathy during the breaststroke. Then I go into the free. I swim the first lap and do my flip turn and there she is. All I'm thinking is, 'Oh my God. Cathy Ferguson.'
"And I said to myself, 'I'm going to die before I let someone take my Olympic spot.'"
For the final seven yards or so, Finneran said she didn't take a single breath. She wound up third, behind Donna de Varona and Martha Randall and one-tenth of a second ahead of Ferguson. In those days, third place was good enough to make the Olympic team. (Now, only the top two finishers qualify.)
De Varona set a world record in that race, but as soon as she touched the wall, she turned her focus immediately on the race behind her, the one between Finneran and Ferguson. Leading up to the trials, de Varona and Finneran had been trading world records in the 400 IM and de Varona wanted to see how this race would turn out.
"Sharon was my biggest rival," de Varona said. "But I was hoping she would make the team."
At the Olympics, de Varona took the gold medal, followed by Finneran and Martha Randall in an American sweep.
When Finneran was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1985, she chose de Varona to introduce her because as Finneran told her, "We made each other better."
All three women were teammates in Tokyo, but as de Varona put it, "You're really not teammates until you get on a relay."
It's amazing how time can change that ... or not.
When Finneran was asked about her daughter and Ferguson's daughter both vying for Olympic spots now, she laughed and said, "We're enemies again."
Finneran and Ferguson didn't even realize that both of their daughters were diving until about a year ago when they both attended a national diving meet. Ferguson was sitting in the stands when she noticed a woman who looked an awful like Finneran. She turned to her daughter, Allison, and said, "That gal looks a lot like a gal I swam against -- Sharon Finneran."
It was Finneran with one change, she used her married name, Sharon Rittenhouse. The two had fun chit-chatting and catching up, and soon the so-called enemies realized how much they had in common.
"We both complain about how difficult it is to have daughters who dive," Ferguson said.
And how difficult it is to have them compete against each other. Just like their mothers, they will compete for spots on the Olympic team. Should they both make it, they will be teammates just as their moms were more than four decades ago. And just like back then, you're teammates, but you're not. There are medals to be won and not everyone can win them.
As former Olympians, Finneran and Ferguson know how special the Games are and how much they have meant to their lives. They both competed in a pre-Title IX, pre-major sponsorship era, when it wasn't common for girls to be jocks, and they both marvel at how much times have changed for their daughters.
Both passed on their athletic passion, although neither of them ever expected their daughters to pursue the Olympics, much less in diving. Still, their daughters understood how important the Olympics were to their family, even at a young age. Allison recalls bringing in her mom for show and tell.
"I even brought her when I was a junior in high school for my Spanish class and I explained about my mom's accomplishments in Spanish," Brennan said.
Ariel said her mom told her how much the swimmers were showered with attention by the Japanese fans. She also remembers looking at black and white photographs of her mom from the 1964 Games. "It's funny to look at those swimsuits," she said.
Both mothers also know too well the trials of being Olympic medalists and having children who also want to share in that dream. Being an Olympic mom can be a double-edged sword: If your kid is lucky, then great, he or she will win a medal, too. If not, then they can't match their parent's success. The running joke with Finneran is she told all five of her children that they had to be involved in a sport so they'd stay out of trouble -- if they didn't take up a sport, then they'd have to swim. None of them followed that Olympic swimming path. Of five children, only Ariel is close to becoming an Olympian.
Although Finneran never pushed the Olympics on her daughter, Finneran has become her biggest supporter. Finneran even moved from her California home (her husband, a commercial insurance broker, still lives there) to live with Ariel in downtown Indianapolis. Ariel trains at the national training center. It's been a family cycle. When Finneran was younger, her mother relocated from Florida to California so Finneran could pursue her Olympic dream.
"If Ariel wasn't my youngest, it would be impossible for me to make this kind of commitment because all of my children are important to me," Finneran said.
On days when Ariel isn't feeling up to training, all she needs to do to get inspired is look at her mom. "She's always by my side," Ariel said.
Ferguson has been supportive as well, traveling worldwide for competitions and paying the bills (along with Allison's father) for Allison's training. Allison is a college graduate and continues to train with her college coach at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Although Ferguson doesn't live with her daughter, they often talk on the phone as Ferguson often finds herself in the role of a telecommunications cheerleader.
"If she's happy, then I'm happy," Ferguson said. "I will give her whatever she needs, but really my job is to work on the mental side of the game."
As wonderful of a ride as it has been for both moms, it has been exceptionally stressful as well. For Finneran, she has had to spend about a year and a half living apart from her husband. For Ferguson, it's been the stress of trying to show long-distance support.
"What I keep trying to let Allison know is that Allison is not Allison the diver to me," Ferguson said. "She's Allison, my daughter, and that's the key."
"I finally decided to get it together," said Finneran, who sought help from a psychologist to calm her nerves. "And I'm still nervous.
"You just love this girl so much," Finneran added. "I talk to other mothers and we're all the same. Watching our kids dive is the hardest thing we have to do in our lives. It's so hard because being in the Olympics is great. It really is. But it's also luck."
Echoed Ferguson: "It's so much easier being the athlete than it is being the mom watching. You want it so much for your child, but there are only so many spots. The Olympic year brings out really strange and really wonderful things. I just hope that regardless of what happens that she enjoys the journey."
For these Olympic moms, they can only hope and wait -- once again, together.
"Just keep your fingers crossed and your toes crossed," Ferguson said. Then she added: "For both girls."
Ditto for the moms.
Diving is in their blood
What has made the journey somewhat smoother for Ariel and Allison is that they have the Olympics in their genes and some diving talent in their blood.
Ariel's uncle (Sharon Finneran's younger brother), Michael, was an Olympic diver in 1972 and was the first to earn perfect 10 scores. Allison's father, Larry Brennan, was a diver who competed in the Olympic trials.
"Ariel and Michael talk quite a bit," Finneran said. "He always seems to know just the right thing to say."
It seems as if nothing would have prevented Ariel from diving. She was just 2 when she was performing her first ones. "You just couldn't get me out of the water," Ariel said.
But there were no diving programs for girls her age, so she picked up gymnastics. By the time she was 7, however, she quit gymnastics and took up diving. Her sister stuck with gymnastics for a while and now is a dancer. All three of her brothers were athletic -- one was involved in water polo, another was a volleyball player and the third was an avid golfer.
Like Ariel, Allison also started out as a gymnast, and she even became a California state champion when she was 10. Later, she suffered an injury and decided to take up swimming, and her mom became her coach.
When her mom retired from coaching, Allison decided to stop swimming and start diving. Her older sister, Kellie, made the transition from gymnastics to diving and Allison liked the combination of doing graceful movements and being in the water. It also helped that there was a 1-meter diving board in the family's backyard. Kellie wound up diving until after the 2004 Olympic trials. Allison's oldest sister was a ballet dancer.
"I never felt that I had to be the best for my parents to love me," Allison said. "But I think it would mean a lot for their daughter to accomplish something that she worked so hard to achieve."
Amy Rosewater, a freelance writer based in Baltimore and frequent contributor to ESPN.com, balances motherhood and reporting, and says she has no chance of qualifying for the Olympics. Her two daughters are Katie (age 6) and Josie (4).
Retro Burbank
While surfin' the net, found the following old photos of BHS Science bldg, McCambridge pool and Kikos Mexican restaurant - click here to see more!
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