MEMORIES OF 1968 VISIT TO LINFIELD COLLEGE: POETRY READING, SINGING IN RILEY GYM, 'ONE STEP DOWN' VISIT BY ROD McKUEN

MEMORIES OF 1968 VISIT TO LINFIELD COLLEGE: POETRY READING, SINGING IN RILEY GYM, 'ONE STEP DOWN' VISIT BY ROD McKUEN

Rod McKuen Was the Bestselling Poet in American History.

What Happened?

He sold 60 million books and 100 million records.

Why was he forgotten?

--Questions in headline in Oct. 10, 2022, Slate article by Dan Kois.

https://slate.com/culture/2022/10/rod-mckuen-best-selling-poet-songs-what-happened.html

The article does not mention McKuen’s 1968 visit to Linfield College. This posting does.

Rod McKuen read his poetry and sang, too, March 27, 1968, in Linfield’s Riley Gym. (See photo from 1968 Oak Leaves posted here.) After that, McKuen visited the ‘One Step Down’ coffee house (ditto, photo from Oak Leaves) in the basement of Newby Hall.

Below, read the text (slightly edited by Wildcatville in October 2022) of stories by Peter Schenck, Linfield College Class of 1969, from the April 4, 1968, edition of the Linfield Review. Find the same stories as Review “clippings” posted here. Historical note: Linfield Review became Linews on May 2, 1968.

....

McKuen Meets

With Admirers

Young And Old

Linfield Review, April 4, 1968

For many, Rod McKuen ended his performance when he stepped off the stage in Riley gym at Linfield. Not so. McKuen lingered at the college a good hour following his last note in Riley.

First there was the elderly woman, ala "little old lady fame," who compared house pets (cats) with the golden boy poet." After reading your poetry, I know that I'm not the only one with an understanding cat," she said. "Whenever I read your poetry, I think of you and your cat . . . I never thought I'd have a chance to really see you or talk with you," she remarked.

Then there was the young man who traveled across two states to visit his poet idol. "I had to do it now . . . I'm going into the service soon," he remarked on his trek which brought him from Ketchum, Idaho, the one-time home of novelist Ernest Hemmingway.

McKuen busied himself signing posters for young admirers intermittently throughout the time. Most were personalized with quips like "sleep warm."

TIGHT SCHEDULE

Undoubtedly feeling the pressures of a tight schedule which will take him on a swing through several Washington colleges, McKuen craned his neck looking for an end to the line of autograph seekers. Finally he was able to breathe a sigh of relief, wishing his final "take care."

Comments from avid fans on having their books signed by the poet went something like this: "I can't believe that!" and "Talk about these college kids!" blurted by a middle-aged woman from Corvallis upon having her books autographed.

McKuen climaxed the evening of "good" entertainment by signing the wall of Linfield's new coffee house. He then slid back to a normal life on the road, disappearing into the night with his herd of rented 1968 Mustangs.

 ::::

Coffee House

Opens; Student

Support Good

Linfield Review, April 4, 1968

At nine o'clock last Friday night, the ASLC supported coffee house "One Step Down" opened up in Newby cellar.

Weeks of preparation — from painting to installing ultraviolet lighting — went into the final coffee house package. Helping tie together an idea that students did want an on-campus, free action, free thinking, free expression, free admission, free entertainment outlet, were house project leaders Dennis Burkhart and Gary Hunt.

Hunt attributed the house's opening night success "to many people, from students to administration" whom he did not try to name since he would "probably forget someone."

 

THE ASLC SUPPORTED

HOUSE "ONE STEP DOWN"

IS OPEN BOTH

FRIDAY AND SATURDAY

NIGHTS FROM 9 P.M. to 1:15 A.M.

Successful is probably an understatement for the "One Step Down" opening. Conservative estimates range from 200 to 350 people in a four hour period.  

In fact the standing room only crowd was so big that at one point Burkhart found it easier to get in and out of the house through the opened windows.

Entertainment for the evening was provided by Alden "Baldy" Sawyer's voice and guitar, Bruce Maurier's bass, and Jackie Anger's vocal work. The Five Hawaiians — Mike Achong, Larry Hall, John Sadowski, Al Imamura, and Dennis Okimoto — presented a series of audience pleasing island songs.

Since Linfield is a tradition bound NO SMOKING college, an interesting part of the opening night activity was the actual little smoking that occurred when the smoking ban — in accord with "One Step Down's" 'free' policy —was dropped. For perhaps the first time in the college's history, students have a place (besides their rooms or living unit lounge) where they can smoke without college ruled 'regret'.

Students in attendance had various reactions to the house. One couple, Mike Shannon and Jenny Johnson, called it "great" and thought that it "would bring the students together," since currently "the campus is dead socially."

One girl, who worked on the house project from start to finish, was surprised. "I never thought it would go over as good as it did."

:::

Wildcativille contacted Peter Schenck (Peter V. Schenck of Los Altos, Calif.) by email in October 2022. Peter confirmed he wrote the Linfield Review stories  which, for some reason, had no bylines. He said:

“Rodney Marvin Woolever died in Beverly Hills in 2015 at age 81 (of pneumonia) and was survived by his partner Edward and four cats. He had a varied and successful career as an actor, poet, and songwriter, though he suffered bouts of clinical depression at times.

“Indeed, he did appear at Linfield College in April of 1968 just before he departed for a period of years in France during which he lived and collaborated with the French Artist, Jacques Brel.

“In McMinnville, he left behind an angular caricature of himself and his pseudonymous signature as Rod McKuen (on the coffee house wall) along with the impression that his poems spoke of special loves on Stanyan Street (and other quarters) which most of the youthful audiences of the day likely assumed, were female. It would seem they were in error.

“Linfield Journalism Professor Charlotte Filer would have urged a deeper look before conclusions were drawn in print but those were days when journalism was loathe to engage in sanctioned projection so the whole sidebar would likely have been red-lined instead -- and the question left open.

 “He was a nice guy …”

 …

Thank you to Rich Schmidt, Linfield archivist, for locating and scanning the Linfield Review stories posted here.

Thanks also to Rod McKuen and Peter Schenck for making this posting possible. And, Wildcatville also thanks Peter for one of the great story endings:

 

Poet Rod McKuen “slid back to a normal life on the road, disappearing into the night with his herd of rented 1968 Mustangs.”

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