January 21, 2003
Speaking of Hollywood, check out this from Ed Driscoll.
MORE:
After you do, here's a note about Mr. Stewart from our friend (and jazz correspondent) Glenn Dryfoos:
I met him a couple of times at Princeton events, and he was as good as advertised...Posted by Orrin Judd at January 21, 2003 4:06 PMOne story (which I may have told you long ago): Stewart's main activity at Princeton was the Triangle Club, a musical theater group, which I played in some 50 years later...he was so devoted to Triangle that in the late 50's or 60's he appeared on the Ed Sullivan show singing a song from one of his Triangle appearance...a very funny bit...a serious love song sung to a guy in drag...(until co-education, most Triangle humor was based on the fact that half the cast was in drag)...
On the occasion of his 50th reunion year, we dedicated the show to him and took a road version to Los Angeles over Christmas break. He sat in the front row, and laughed and applauded throughout (those of us in the pit band had a better view of him and his wife than we did of the stage). At the party afterwards, he made a gracious speech, saying how much his Triangle days still meant to him and how much he enjoyed our show. Then, he paused and said that he had been a vocal opponent of coeducation at Princeton, not because he didn't think women shouldn't get educations or become doctors or lawyers or legislators, but because he thought that activities like Triangle would somehow get lost or diminished. He went on to say that he now knew that he had been wrong, that although the shows were different, it was still obviously a great activity that he knew we'd all treasure, and that Princeton was better for the change.
He didn't have to make that confession in that crowd, but he did, and it was a memorable moment...(although, of course, in the Judd scheme of things, it's better if he enjoyed the show and then stood up anyway and said he still thinks they should have never accepted broads....)
