1979 MDA Camp Hastings -- Part 3

Pool Party: in foreground "Uncle Jake" Weier (l) & Florence Ogen (r)



At the Hastings pool

Mike Jarrett (front) with Karen Black, Tess Martin, Lenore Cornille, unidentified, & Patty Davy

Cousins Freddy & Loretta Martin

Rich Spangler, Patti Rogers, & Rick Balsamo

(Unidentified), Leo Baran, Dean Krone, & Brian Wojtysiak 

Kathy Sheehan, Dan Keating, John Lianos, & (?) Marci Duberchin

Sandy Kardaras, Loretta Martin, Claire Martin, Johnny Angelico, Rich Westley (on a break from the Peace Corp), and Jay Serota

Patty Davy, Mary Ann Maraffino, & Rick Balsamo

 

1979 MDA Camp Hastings -- Part 2

Here are more pictures, looking back 35 years, from MDA Camp 1979, at Camp Hastings on Hastings Lake in northern Illinois.   A few of the photos in my 1979 album have "BS" written on the back, which I think indicates they were taken by Bob Solario; Bob and I were both in Cabin 17 this year.

Patty Davy & Kathy Sheehan

Bob Secco & Coleen Rogers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above:  Standing from left: Kathy Sheehan, unidentified, Leo Baran, and Laurie Silverman; Sitting from left:  ?Joe Noviello (Sarge), Terry Rozdolsky, Scott Silver, Denny Harris, Diane Bicek, probably Kathy Kobit, Tom Musillami, & Mary Ann McGinn.

Back: Larry Leonard & Mike Feyerer; Front: Mike Parker & Aaron Adams; Background right: George Jeffries (sitting) & Pat Brice

Back: Bob Solario, Tom Heffron, & Jerry West; Front:  Steve Foltz, Mike Jarrett, & Ceodes (Butch) Bolden



Separated at birth? Kathy Kobit & Jan Mozack

Sandy Kardaras & Loretta Martin

 

Patti Rogers, Rick Balsamo, & Dino (Diane) Kudla

Lisa Morales bonding with her attendant Claire Martin

Front: Barb Kudron, Billy Fair, & Kenny Gilford

Denny Harris dreaming up a skit





The dark red cabins of Camp Hastings got a new paint job

Front: Matt Ferguson, Ingrid Bouwman; Back l to r:  Rick Dsida, unidentified, Kanella Diakoumis, and unidentified 

Standing back row: Terry Rozdolsky, Connie Kapitza, Denny Harris, T Meehan, Neil Fialkow, Tom Musillami, Diane Bicek, & Pat Brice; Standing front row: Laurie Silverman, Jan Mozack, Donna Jarka, Dino (Diane) Kudla, Kathy Sheehan, Eric Sover, Dora Mah, Dean Krone, Pam Doyle, Rick Balsamo, & Mary Ann McGinn; Front: Kathy Kobit, Danny Martin, Lenore Cornille, Mike Oliver, Johnny Angelico, & Patty Davy  

 

Medieval Night at 1979 MDA Camp Hastings

This summer it will be 35 years since the 1979 camp at Hastings, so it's about time I got some pictures up.  A one-of-a-kind event that year was Medieval Night, where we all had dinner out in an open field while being entertained by jesters, jousters, music, dance, and various other goings on.  It was quite an ambitious undertaking, for someone had to shlep all that food and drink out there, and someone had to schlep back what was left.  If it's not too late, one last kudos to the staff on a great event.


Medieval entertainment.  That's Pete the K in the center in the wheelchair.

The comely Patty Davy as a wench with child

Leo Baran as Sir Leo of Loxley

A Knight in Shining Tin Foil, left, with the crowned King Jake at the table 

Ceodes "Butch" Bolden, sitting, with Jerry West

Entertainment Positively Medieval!

Visnu Saengmani (c) & Mike Engels (r)

Scott Silver as the hunchback

Sir Gay-a-Lot



Scatologically Speaking

MDA Camp was not all fun and games—sometimes there was some serious business to accomplish.  I’m talking here about going #2.  For many physically handicapped, the immobility occasionally led to a dry spell, which could cause big problems if it lasted too long.  Therefore, cabins with younger campers were required to have bowel movement (BM) charts that kept careful track of developments, blow by blow as it were.  Cabin leaders would sometimes add as well the names of all the able-bodied in the cabin, to put everyone on equal footing as to knowing everyone else’s business, so to speak.  And with the change to diet and schedule, everyone at camp was at risk for a, ah, slowdown.

Of course this subject could be embarrassing to some, and so frequent fun was made of the whole topic so as to desensitize everyone and remove anyone’s embarrassment.  And it worked!

Bedpans were a common prop in skits and Carnival booths.  Here’re Dean Krone and Mardi Swann in 1977 in front of a Bozo’s Bedpans carnival booth:

 

For campers to strike back at overly watchful attendants – the "Dump on Your Attendant" booth at the Carnival!  From 1983, here’s Tim Coleman, underneath, doing a mechanical safety check on his device, with Liz Schwartz preparing to give it a test run:   

 

For campers with a dry spell, when subterfuge became necessary:  Get “Caca in a Cup” – guaranteed to fool attendants.  It was a funny take off on some sort of advertised ready-made meal in a cup – all you needed to do is microwave it!  It was a funny bit from Tom Musillami.  Unfortunately, I just don’t have a picture of the skit.     

And speaking of caca, the name of the Talent Night show at the 1979 MDA Camp was ................. the "CaCa Cobana".  The top of the sign is cut off, but still identifiable:

Here is the group of older guys in 1979 in Cabins 5 & 6 (which included volunteers Scott Silver, Terry Rozdolsky, and Rich Spangler, and campers Uncle Jake Weier, Bob Schumacher, Rich Berlinski, Jim Gibson, Don Tuttle, Terry Coor, and Mike Kilfoy) who proudly named their cabin "The Hemorrhoid Hilton":

Here's a carnival booth from 1985 – Swab the Deck – which encouraged campers to soak their attendants, who had to put their faces through a toilet seat:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From 1987, here's a skit called "Talking Heads", featuring three guys sitting with their heads coming up through commode toilet seats.  Johnny Angelico is holding the sign, and from the left Jon Franke, Tom, and ?John have their heads in the toilets; Mike Goodman is in the right foreground looking on, Rich Westley is holding the guitar, and Aaron Adams is talking into the microphone. 

 

 

Plugged-up campers needing to produce some “caca” fast could buy a new product called the Crapper, a device that produced, simply in response to a loud clap, a life-like specimen guaranteed to fool an attendant.  Every camper needed one, so said the TV “commercial”.  The bit was a take-off on the widely-advertised device called the Clapper that allows immobile people to turn electronics on and off from their chairs with a loud clap.  Another great bit from Danny & Freddy Martin; note their body posture, from 1988:

Finally, about the most momentous bit in the entire genre.  At the beginning of the week in 1977 at Camp Hastings something remarkable happened.  One of the campers in Cabin 13 delivered a truly enormous specimen, so large it wouldn’t flush and the largest single piece anyone had truly ever seen.  Well, this occurred amidst widespread hoopla in Chicagoland about the appearance at the Field Museum of a traveling exhibit featuring artifacts related to the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh King Tutankhamen, popularly known as King Tut.

Well, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade, thought Danny Martin and Pat Wilsey.  They immediately recognized the commercial potential of what had dropped in their lap, so to speak.  They promptly disconnected the flush mechanism and encased the toilet in saran wrap, and then proceeded to advertise and conduct tours, for a small fee of course, of the mystical and remarkable King Turdankhamen (pronounced “turd-un-common”), known for short as King Turd.  Wilsey would get all decked out in the iconic red carnival coat to conduct tours, with all the pomp, seriousness, and scientific detail (length, width, weight, chemical composition, etc.) one would get at the Field Museum.  Danny has an audio file of one of these tours, which one day we might be able to figure out how to post up here. 

From the 1977 MDA Camp Hastings Newspaper, titled that week “The Treasure of King Turdankhamen”:

During the years 2732 B.C. to 2721 BC, there ruled in ancient Egypt a pharaoh, belonging to the Loadi Dynasty, named Turdankhamen.  King Turd, as he is still referred to, was known for his three famous bowel movements, “The Royal Loads.”  Their size was legendary....  Strangely enough, one of these ancient, royal turds has reared its ugly, yet historically stimulating head in a commode in cabin 13, resulting in a re-interest in ancient Egyptian colons and sphinx-ters....

It was the funniest running gag of the whole week at Camp, and all the guys in the cabin had a blast every single day with the bit – they laughed so hard they almost soiled their pants.  Mission accomplished!

1983 MDA Camp Hastings -- Carnival Night

For as far back as I can remember of my MDA Camp years, Thursday evening was always "Carnival Night."  The cabin leaders were responsible for designing, setting up, and operating attractions which had prizes to award.  Often there would be a specific theme to that year's event, which resulted in some consistency of look, for attendees and booths alike.  The attractions varied a lot, for with the wide age range at camp there had to be something for everybody.  Particular favorites with the younger kids were booths that allowed them to somehow whack or throw something on attendants and cabin leaders -- all in fun of course.  Continuing with the look-back to 1983, 30 years ago now and then some, here are some Carnival Night pictures.  I'm picking up on a space/aliens theme.



Jenny



Jan O (now Coleman) wearing a mustache at what looks like a marriage booth, always a hit with some of the younger girls; perhaps Jan served as a stand-in for a groom who unexpectedly could not be located

Roger Gordon & friend

 

Lee Svihla & Tammie Gibson

Chris Fair

Danny Scanlon




















Liz Schwartz on the commode testing out Tim Coleman's "Dump On Your Attendant" attraction; that's Tim below running a safety check.

Running with the space theme, here's Donna Daviduke operating a "Happy Holidays" game.  If one survived from a previous Carnival Night, we all hated to let a good, colorful sign go to waste.

Terry Walsh & young friend

When it came to my own Carnival Night attractions, I was a firm believer in the "keep it simple" school of thought.  For many years I produced, as I cannot say operated, one of the more popular attractions: the Name That Tune booth.  Who needed a sign? -- the zestful, melodic (ahem) tunes wafting over the crowd was the hook.  Ahead of time I lined up a few shifts of some of the best comedic talent at the camp.  Then, about 5 minutes before the opening, I set up a small folding table, on which the prizes sat, and two or three folding chairs.  Add kazoos, fake schnozzes, and funny hats, and wala! -- a hit attraction.  Here putting in what no doubt was a funny stint at the intergalacticly-themed booth are Doug Batesky and Jimmy Martin.  

And then there was the show in the center ring, one long, continuous "sketch" that Danny and Freddy Martin would put on.  Often it was a send-up of a telethon.  One year it was a variation on that theme -- a telethon fundraiser for Radio Free Litonia, which fearlessly broadcasted a message of hope and freedom into that long-suffering, socialist-controlled Eastern European Country whose people have thick accents and funny clothes. 

Danny remembers:  “The Radio Free Litonia celebrity hosts were Yosh and Stan Schmenge.  The entertainment was, of course, horrible!  No one phoned in a pledge!  That was the recurring laugh.  There were campers sitting there staring at makeshift telephones that never rang.  The phones never lit up!  I kept saying to Freddy in that high Schmenge voice "TIMP ME, STAN BA-BY!"  It was a very funny bit, and, as the saying goes, if you missed a little, you missed a lot.

This particular year the Martin show in the center ring was a send up of the TV kid's show Bozo's Circus.  Freddy played a chronically inebriated and disheveled Bozo who was forever forgetting his lines and flubbing routines but who nevertheless was making the big bucks as the headline performer.  Danny played an embittered and underpaid Mr Ned, who at this very moment was losing his composure on-air during the show, berating Bozo for his failures while venting his anger over the many slights he has been forced to suffer.  All done in a very humorous way, of course, live and unscripted.  And the Radio Free Litonia sign in front of the Bozo Bedpans?  Danny and Freddy had done another such sketch earlier in the week and still had the sign, and colorful as it was, why let a good sign go to waste they figured, so they threw it into the mix.  Whatever.  That was funny too.    






















Eventually all good things come to an end, and everyone must go home for the night.  By the next morning only the big sign and memories are left.  Here Freddy Martin adjusts Calvin Spivey's leg braces.