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.”
#
.jpg)
%20cropped.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
-page-001.jpg)
.JPG)
