WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO THE CLASS OF '65?
So “What Really Happened to the “Class of ‘65”?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Really_Happened_to_the_Class_of_%2765%3F
Well... in my case (Class of ’65) I was recently honored by the TAFT ALUMNI ASSOCIATION, being inducted into the high school “Hall of Fame’. I feel indebted to the Alumni Association to be included with some of the famed alumni including Lynn Martin (Labor Secretary to President Reagan), Jerry Krause (former general manager to the Chicago Bulls), Actress Donna Mills (Knots Landing), Thomas Roeser (Journalist), Larry Marsh (Rear Admiral USN), James Grabowski (Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears) and others.
The induction ceremony took place at the school on Saturday, October 12th, 2019.
The Real Rydell High
As you may not know ......the Chicago high school (TAFT) has some notoriety. Hall of Fame/Taft Alum Jim Jacobs (Class of 1960) is the playwright for “GREASE”. In the original form the play GREASE was about the Greasers/Pink Ladies attending Taft High and growing up in Chicago. All the Chicago references were removed when the play went to NYC with Hollywood eventually turning it into a (sanitized) major motion picture. I tell people listen closely to the lyrics of "Greased Lightning".
Bob Johnson + Jim Jacobs co-writer of "GREASE"
I came upon this story:
Grease is the show nobody wrote, according to the New York Times
You think you know GREASE?
Hard to believe it has been 60+ years since Danny Zuko and Sandy Dombrowski walked the halls of TAFT.
Danny/Sandy and the "Burger Palace Boys/ Pink Ladies” must be about 78 years old!
As part of the research for our #55 reunion I traveled the far NW Chicago neighborhoods to see the changes and the old hangouts.
Oops! Some of the old hangouts are gone, where the “Burger Palace Boys” hung-out!
The movie theatre: THE GATEWAY THEATER is now the Polish Copernicus Center. The Patio, Portage Theaters are closed.
Long long long gone is the Outdoor Drive-in which was located near Harlem-Irving avenues, Chicago.
Interesting? A new annex to TAFT HIGH opened just east of the former Harlem-Irving Drive-in.
PARSE's Drive-In one of the hangouts for the burger place boys (Greasers) is closed
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Parses-Red-Hots/100882663289834
PARSE's is now an auto repair facility
Times change!
As always
Robert (Bob) B. Johnson (TAFT - Class of January ’65)
www.twitter.com/EngineerGuySE
https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/robertbrandtjohnson/
Chief Structural Engineer at TranSmart, Inc
4 年Bob. Hope all is well. I am working from home with Patrick Engineering using a remote computer