The "Mark Twain Tonight" Mini Reunion
September 4-6, 2014

For those who were unable to attend, it could be a case of "... never the Twain shall meet."

Unbeknownst to anyone in our class, a performance of "Mark Twain Tonight!" by Hal Holbrook (CMA Class of '42) was scheduled for Thursday, September 4th, at the Academy. Holbrook first presented his one-man tour-de-force play at Culver during our First Class year. While he had been on campus a few times since 1962 (e.g., when he was honored as "Culver Man of the Year" in 1967), this was only the second time that he had performed as Mark Twain at the Academy out of the 2,250+ performances he has given over 60+ years. (Of note: He has portrayed Twain longer than Samuel Langhorne Clemens did.)

A week before this scheduled performance, there was a posting on Facebook that alerted Class President and Webmaster John Davis to the event. He blasted out an email to let the class know about it. A flurry of email exchanges followed. When the dust had settled, Buzz Eisenberg and his amazing partner Tricia Fox (a/k/a "Trophy Wife") had offered to open up their lake house near Valparaiso, IN to anyone who was planning to attend Mr. Holbrook's performance at Culver. Howie Bridges, John Davis, Doug Neumann, and Tom Westbrook accepted their gracious invitation ... and bingo, a Mini Reunion was born!

Buzz Eisenberg and Tricia Fox
(Our hosts)

Thursday Afternoon, September 4th

On early Thursday afternoon, the five classmates plus Tricia and a close friend of Buzz and Tricia's (Cynthia, a/k/a "Buzz & Tricia's Life Coach" or "Her Exalted Royal Highness") converged on the Fox-Eisenberg B&B&L&A&D&NLS&B, LLC located on Lake Louise in the Shorewood Forest development near Valparaiso, IN.

What's with all the color coding and alphabet soup??? Well …

• Fox-Eisenberg: Because it is "ladies first" of course.

• B&B&L&D&NLS&B: Because "B&B" is insufficient; attendees were provided with Bed & Breakfast & Lunch & Appetizers & Dinner & Late Night Snacks & Beverages, etc.

• LLC: Because what else would a Fox-Eisenberg enterprise be? Uh ... "LTD"??? I don't know, I'm not a lawyer.

The woodiness of the area hid much of our "barrack", but suffice it to say our accommodations were vastly superior to anything that Main/North/South/East/West/CT/Argonne or The Culver Motel ever had to offer.

The group spent the afternoon catching up with what everyone had been doing and noshing on some outstanding appetizers. Doug and Cynthia began a banter that proved to be an incredible source of entertainment throughout the entire Mini.

The Uniform of the Evening for the performance was "Reunion Dress A (Modified)": Blue blazer, blue chambray shirt, reunion tie, battalion-colored pocket handkerchief, and Class of '62 breast pocket badge. (The modification was khaki pants instead of white ducks.) And this is what the quintet looked like, all dressed up!

Thursday Evening, September 4th

Adjusting for the time zone shift between Valparaiso and Culver, the group headed to the Academy in the late afternoon, arriving in time for the 7:30 PM curtain in Eppley Auditorium. The auditorium appeared filled to capacity.

It was great to see Bob Hartman in the audience, exchange a hardy handshake with him, and briefly chat.

Mr. Holbrook's performance was absolutely incredible ... particularly for someone who is 89 years old. As one would expect, many of his lines drew much laughter. And many of his lines could be considered just as applicable to today's world as to the world of Mark Twain. One line in particular exemplified that situation. It was made in the context of all the strife caused by conflicts between religions:

"We should not teach children to be tolerant of other people's religion.
We should teach them to be indifferent to other people's religion!!!"

The auditorium responded with thunderous applause.

Following the performance, the group all headed to the Green Room with Back Stage Passes for a Meet-and-Greet with Mr. Holbrook (thanks to Doug's gentle prodding of Academy staffers Alan Loehr and Marsha Coven). Regrettably, a formal group picture with him was not allowed. Nevertheless, Lew Kopp from the Academy was able to provide several candid shots, the best of which are below.

After the Meet-and-Greet, we headed back to the lake house where Tricia prepared some delicious pizza and other late night snacks. The conversations and consumption of adult beverages continued until almost 1 AM. Not bad for a bunch of septuagenarians.

Friday, September 5th

Friday morning, the overindulgence in scrumptious food continued with an expansive breakfast expertly prepared by Tricia. Next, Buzz took the group on a boat tour of Lake Louise, giving back stories on many of the magnificent homes on the lake.

MIAs? Tom had already headed back to Chicago, and somebody had to be taking the pictures (i.e., John)

Back on the dock, after a late lunch (yes, Tricia fed us AGAIN), Buzz and Doug demonstrated their prowess with fishing tackle.

Fishing was cut a little short when a late-afternoon, short-lived gully washer came roaring through. Some of the geezers thought that the rain might provide a great opportunity for a nap. However, instead they ended up in a game of pool, accompanied by some appetizers and beverages.

Next item on the agenda was yet another fantastic meal by the ever-gracious Tricia. At that point, the group collectively started to show its age by heading to bed by about 10 PM.

Saturday Morning, September 6th

Our final morning in the wilderness began with more massive quantities of great vittles. After that, Doug, Howie, and John had to bid adieu to their hosts and head back to their respective homes. Thus ended the Mini.

While this may have been one of the smaller Mini Reunions, it had the significant benefit of allowing much more interaction between all attendees. The laughter was virtually non-stop, and the camaraderie was profound. Even with weeks of preparation, the event could not have gone better.

Multitudes of thanks again to Buzz and Tricia for their over-the-top hospitality.

Not taken at the Mini, but this picture is just too priceless to not include.

A special note: As outstanding as Tricia and Cynthia were at being the chief chefs and bottle washers during the Mini, those contributions were decidedly overshadowed by their tolerance of five old farts. Plus these wonderful ladies did add a marked flavor of intelligence and refinement to all the trash talk the guys were spouting.