Oct 9
League of
Women Voters
Oct 7
District Breakfast
Oct 30
Avoiding Pitfalls
of California Employment Law
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Next Week...
October 2
Cliff Newman
Red Cross Blood Services
Upcoming Programs...
October 9
Iris Kaplan
League of Women Voters on November Propositions
October 16
Vivian Siegal
CEO, Jewish Vocational Services
October 30
Margaret Rosenthal
"Avoiding the Pitfalls of California Employment Law"
November 6
Craft Talks
Marcia and Rick Brous
Activities...
October 7
District Breakfast at LAX Westin Hotel
October 12
Paul Harris Celebration at Medieval Times
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This Week...
MALLORY LEWIS at WVRC on Sept. 25th.
DAVID FRIEDMAN led the Pledge. ED WRIGHT provided an old Inuit Song, “I think over again my small adventures. My fears. Those small ones that seemed so big. For all the vital things I had to get and to reach. And yet there is only one great thing, The only thing. To live to see the great day that dawns. And the light that fills the world.” Another good one, ED – thanks.
We only had two guests – SUNNY was with LENNY, of course, and SHARON was with PP CHRIS. PP STEVE SCHERER introduced Elise Soley, our visitor from Cypress. She expects to affiliate with Rotaract, and NIKKOLE VALDEZ, their president, is helping. The Head Table was announced, and each one was given an opportunity to speak, without worrying about a fine. PP DON NELSON, who once upon a time was a CPA, claimed that he had invented collateralized mortgages. Next up was NEVIN SENKAN, who is from Turkey. Her father was a Rotarian, and her husband is a Professor at UCLA. She is involved with Medical Communications at UCLA, and is delighted to be able to once again attend our meetings. FLORENCE SAMPSON was at first bashful, but under questioning did admit that she is a Business Manager, taking care of client’s affairs, writing checks, etc. ELLIOTT TURNER, today’s Program Chair, assured us that he was handling all of PP DAVE WHIEHEAD’S mortgages. About this time KEVIN BADKOUBEHI and GORDEN FELL tried to slip in, but were caught by Eagle-Eye SEAN, with Kevin being fined five bucks and Gordon, ten.
The mention of money brought up PP ERIC LOBERG, he of the famous Spiritual Anecdotes. PP ERIC graciously offered to explain the difference between the way that men and women patronize a drive-by ATM. Men drive up to the ATM, roll down the window, insert the card and pin number, collect the cash and receipt, roll the window up, and drive away. But alas, women have a different approach. They drive up, and then have to back up two feet since they are not properly positioned. Set the parking brake, and roll down the window. Empty the contents of handbag onto the seat, thus locating the ATM card. Tell person on cell phone you will call them back right away. Open the car door due to excessive distance from ATM machine. Insert the card, then reinsert it the right way. Empty handbag to locate pin number, which is written on the back of a shoe repair receipt. Enter the pin. Re-enter the pin, correctly this time. Enter amount of cash required. Check makeup in rear –view mirror. Retrieve cash and receipt. Check makeup again. Locate log, place cash and receipt inside. Recheck makeup. Drive forward two feet. Reverse, back up two feet, retrieve ATM card. Locate card-holder, place card inside. Give dirty look to irate male driver. Redial person on cell phone. Drive two or three miles. Release parking brake… But alas, there was a promise made that a suitable rebuttal will be provided next week – stay tuned.
We had a lovely picnic last Sunday, hosted as it usually is by ELOISE SISKEL.
Over forty attended, and our thanks are due to our wonderful Auxiliary, MARIE ROLF in particular. Also helping were PP JIM DOWNIE with his outstanding music machine, SEAN MCMILLAN and PP STEVE DAY as Chefs, I did games, and PP MIKE NEWMAN and others helped with cleanup.
There were some announcements.
Oct 1st, Wed, a tour of the Ronald Reagan Medical Center at UCLA will take place from 4 to 6pm. Parking will be provided.
To reserve, call (310) 267-2206 or gtamburri@support .UCLA.EDU - and speaking for those of us who took the first tour, it is well worthwhile. Don’t miss it.
October 7th Tuesday, will be the next District Breakfast. Toys for Tots will be collected, along with books for kids, etc. We’ll have a table for ten – contact is MARK BLOCK.
And of course, the Medieval Times Paul Harris Celebration takes place on Sunday the 12th in Orange County. PP STEVE DAY reminded us that we can still sign up for the raffle, plus he has event tickets as well. So far, we have sent in $4320 for the raffle.
We briefly introduced Lt. Taylor Brownlie, of the Naval ROTC program at UCLA.
Earlier, Lt. Brownlie was accompanied by Midshipman Zachrey Zasrow, who was the recipient of the Westwood Village Rotary Club Award as an outstanding member of the unit. I presented this award to Midshipman Zasrow in June at their Annual Awards Ceremony, and we wanted you to meet him – but his class started at 12:30 so he had to leave before our meeting started. Lt Brownlie, who is a Naval Aviator, accepted the Clock in Midshipman Zasrow’s name. On that subject, DICK ROBINSON presented the Air Force Award at their earlier ceremony, and KEVIN BADKOUBEHI did the honors for the Army awardee. WVRC is a long-time supporter of these three important training units for military cadets, and it is always rewarding to see the fine young men and women who are volunteering to serve.
This led to the usual historical odds and ends. Apparently there were originally twelve amendments to the Constitution, but two didn’t make it – they were finally added in 1929. That same year, Jimmy Doolittle (who led the carrier raid on Tokyo in 1942) was the first to achieve a “Blind Takeoff” thus proving that vision was not required on takeoff. And on this day in 1983, 33 men escaped from an Irish prison that was considered escape-proof. 18 of them were recaptured, and charged with murder, since a prison guard died during the escape. They were acquitted, because it couldn’t be proved that the escape was the cause of his heart failure (And SEAN, while I tender these comments, I would prefer not to be held fully responsible for their veracity…)
ELLIOTT TURNER introduced our Speaker, Mallory Lewis. We had planned on having a program on Mortgages, but two of the three speakers couldn’t come – thus this change.
Mallory is the daughter of Sheri Lewis, a long-time TV performer who was supported by her puppet sidekick, Lamb Chop. Her mother is gone, but during her heyday in the 80’s and 90’s, Mallory worked as the Producer for her show. That sounds easy – until, as she reminded us, we can all recall ‘working’ for our parents. You earn your money.
However, there were many good times. She recounted meeting the biggest man she had ever seen – he seemed to be 9 feet tall and weighing maybe 400 lbs! After being introduced, he asked if he could hug her. She assented (that means she said OK, tentatively) so he simply slung her over his shoulder. She tried several jokes on us – and the problem, as far as I could tell, was that many of us older types in the audience weren’t really familiar with the show. However, without naming names, I think we could agree that WVRC has more Republicans than Democrats.
At the end of one of their huge outdoor shows, Wayne Newton brought her out to meet the crowd. They were chanting, “Lamb Chop, Lamb Chop, Lamb Chop” and soon they switched into the Show’s Theme Song. It was awesome to see. Lamb Chop as a performer reminded people of a ‘sweet spot’ in their childhood, probably when they were about four years old. Mallory comes from a long theatrical tradition, based on wanting to make people happy. Many kids leave home at 18, thus perhaps not getting to know their parents as adults, but she had this opportunity.
She doesn’t believe in anything she can’s see, feel, or touch – nothing spiritual, that is. However, as her mother lay dying, they talked, and Mallory felt a real physical ‘push’, which her husband also recognized. At this point, she brought up – literally – Lamb Chop! She is a cute little furry guy, who speaks in a high, childish pitch. LC asked us all to say Hello, and we of course did. Then, LC wanted to know why she and Mallory were in front of WVRC. “Elliott invited us”, which was followed by an indefinite but not very receptive outburst. Shortly after, it developed that LC was planning to run for President. Mallory reminded her that in order to be elected, she would have to know what people were thinking. “Oh, that’s easy. I’m a mind reader”. “So you’re saying that my mind is an open book to you?” “Yes, all hundred pages of it”.
Switching focus, Mallory said to LC, “I’m looking at a man. “So what else is new?” “What can you tell me about what that man is thinking?” A reflective pause, then, “Oh, that’s naughty!” LC told us all goodnight, and disappeared below the podium. Then Mallory explained that LC had a different relationship with her than she did with her mother. Her mother died of breast cancer, and she has been raising funds to further study this deadly disease. Mallory then announced that her team was planning a major free-diving formation again this year. This takes place in Perris, where they have a well-regulated jump zone. Literally, 99% of the money raised goes to breast cancer research. Their goal this year is to organize 185 women into ONE SKYDIVE –up from 155 last year.
Before that, she offered ELLIOTT as a sky-diving subject (which probably didn’t surprise him). She suggested that we collect twenty dollars from anyone who would pay to see ELLIOTT take the plunge – to be recorded for later viewing. FLORENCE SAMPSON volunteered to collect, and soon had two hundred dollars, including twenty from ELLIOTT!
There was a kind of Q&A – I say ‘kind of’ because it’s hard to hear the questions. One concerned whether kids today are different from kids twenty or thirty years ago. She doesn’t think kids change much over generations – what does change is the multiple opportunities for them to be engaged. They like fart jokes, they like singing. But we need to be careful – all the cartoons today depict adults as idiots, which isn’t a good idea. She thinks kids that are 22 years old today don’t know how to parent, for instance.
As an example of the change in TV sensibilities, her mother did a whole year’s show dressed in a barrel – because she was pregnant and you weren’t to show pregnancy on TV! How did Lamb Chop get that name? When asked, her Mother came up with it, you could say, as an act of desperation! How did you like growing up in Beverly Hills? She didn’t like it – many of the kids seemed to be messed up, BH High was tough. She had a good childhood, but the neighborhood didn’t do anything for her. Did LC ever meet Charlie McCarthy? I don’t know. Mallory Lewis, we thank you for visiting WVRC!.
