July 29, 2001
Former teen comedy artists
reunite
By ANDREW S. HUGHES
Tribune Staff Writer
SOUTH BEND
"Sitting in the
hospitality room
last night watching
the tapes, it was
just great to hear
those guys laugh."
Edward Luebben
Beyond Our Control
alumnus |
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Throughout Friday afternoon, the
same comments could be heard in the
Indiana Room at the Marriott Hotel in
downtown:
"Can you believe we got away with
this?"
"You couldn't do that today"
"That's in my front yard!"
The speakers, watching compilation
tapes of themselves were alumni of
the Junior Achievement-sponsored
television program "Beyond Our
Control," which held its first reunion
this weekend.
The program, which ran on WNDU-
TV from January 1968 to April 1986,
involved 350 area high school students
in every facet of television production
as each year's company of 25 students
produced 13 episodes of sketch
comedy per season.
The "Beyond Our Control" A umni
Association, which formed in
December 1999 and started then to
plan forthe reunion, has either located 230
former BOC'ers or been contacted
by them through the alumni origani
zation's Web site at:
www.beyondourcontrol.org. One
hundred twenty three of them
attended the reunion.
"Sitting in the hospitality room
last night batching the tapes, it
was just great to hear those guys
laugh," Edward Luebben (1975 to
'77) said. |
"Z" Szaday of Texas greets advisor Joe Dundon at the
"Beyond Our Control" reunion at the Marriott Hotel in
South Bend. |
"It's an opportunity to see people
that probably influenced my life
more than most other people I've
met along the way" Kevin
Zimmerman (1973 to '75) said. "Even
meeting people I don't know, people
from the '80s or before, l get the
same feeling, that there was this
creative energy"
Zimmerman made one of the most
popular contributions to the reunion
weekend: He sifted through 50 to 60
hours of videotape from all 18
seasons to compile 10 hours of
featured material that played
continuously throughout the day
and long into the night Friday in the
Marriott's hospitality rooms.
"I'm hanging out with people I
watched on TV growing up, and
that's great," Donald M. Corthier
(1981 to '82) said.
"I don't know everybody's name,
but there's a certain
understanding," Chris Webb (1976
to'78) said. "I swear you can get
two BOC'ers together from different
eras and they would very quickly
find a lot in common."
Some came from the East and
West coasts, and others drove
across town for the reunion.
"When I look back at my high
school years, and again, it was only
one year, it was one of the brighter
moments," Roy Lindahl (1935) said
of why he traveled from
Sacramento, Calif., for the reunion.
|
Sue Staszewski, of Niles, sprinkles glitter around the photo tree table center pieces at the "Beyond Our Control,"
reunion. |
"They wouldn't be here if it
hadn't changed their lives," Janet
Johnson (1971 and'72) said. "It
changed my life."
The Mishawaka resident worked
on the program's graphics during her
two seasons and has taught graphic
design at the Elkhart Career Center
since 1978.
On Saturday afternoon, WNDU
welcomed the BOC crew back with
a picnic at its station headquarters on Indiana 933. BOC alumnus Tim
Hanlon (1973 to 1975) performed
magic and puppetry before a raffle
was held to raise money for the
alumni association.
A signed, life size Blue from "Blue's
Clues," the first draft of the
script for "Heathers" and the
Winona Ryder penned suicide note
from the movie, and signed shooting scripts for "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the Moon"
were among the items donated to
the raffle by alumni members,
many of whom have gone on to careers
in television, film and other
media.
Screenwriters Larry
Karaszewski ("Man on the
Moon"), Daniel Waters
("Heathers") and Webb ("Toy Sto-
ry 2"); "Blue's Clues" creator
Traci Paige Johnson; and television producer David Simkins
("FreakyLinks"), among others,
all participated in BOC as high
school students.
"The biggest influence it had was
the notion that you could do it,"
Webb said of his decision to pursue
screenwriting as a career.
On Saturday night, the alumni
association held a dinner that
included several tape and slide
presentations of BOC material.
After breakfast today the alumni
will meet to vote on new officers for
the alumni association and decide
what its next activities will be.
"I expect that everyone will be
happy to keep paying dues to keep
at least the rudiments of progress in
place," Joe Dundon (1968 to'81)
said.
Dundon was one of the three
WNDU employees who acted as the
primary advisers to the program
during its 19 years. Series creator
Dave Williams died in 1977, and
Denny Laughlin (1989 to '70 and
1972 to '86) died in December 2000.
"I think the emphasis will remain
on the electronic side," Dundon
said of the alumni association's
future.
Staff writer Andrew S. Hughes:
ahughes@sbtinfo.com
Tribune Photos/Shayna Breslin
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