University High School Class of Winter 1961
Welcome
Please call David Kuhn at (949) 500-0770 if you did not register in time and still want to attend.

Welcome to the University High School Class of Winter 1961 official reunion website!

August 18, 2023 Update

hope all of you are having a great summer. I wanted to let you know that thanks to the generosity of one of our classmates, Jere Brill Bargel, this site will be accessible for at least one more year.  I hope you will keep checking it for updates and continue to add your personal information as you see fit.  I want to remind you that you can use this site to communicate with fellow classmates simply by going to their profile and sending an e-mail.  Also, I have just changed the site so anyone can add a note or a picture to the Scrap Book section. So please feel to check that section regularly and add posts or photos as you like (please exercise good taste).

 

Dave

 

 

The following announcement is from Melanie McDowell-Fairchild Dzanis who married our own Nick Fairchild nee Fred Marx (confusing enough?).  She is trying to elicit interest in a tribute to Fred/Nick for those who knew him in school.  Unfortunately, the event has been postponed due to Melanie contracting Covid after the Reunion.  Stay Tuned!!

 

June 8, 2023

 

 I’m addressing this to a few old friends I got to see at the UniHi Reunion last week, who said they had known Fred Marx – the man who became Nick Fairchild, to whom I was married throughout the 1980’s and with whom I remained friends for the rest of his life.

Our daughter, Cecilia Fairchild, has planned this memorial for her father, who passed away quietly last November 2022, just before Thanksgiving. I know you saw Cecilia at what was billed as our FINAL UniHi reunion on May 31, and may also have met her before, since she was his “date” at a few previous reunions. She has invited friends and family from the lifetime in which she knew him and has asked me to extend this invitation to anyone who knew him at Uni and would like to join in a celebration of his life.

The party starts June 21 at 3pm at Ireland’s 32, a funky little Irish pub in the San Fernando Valley that was a sentimental favorite of Nick’s. No RSVP is necessary, but if you are planning to come we’d love to hear from you. You may have heard that Nick was a great writer and that he had a wide experience of life to write about. Cecilia has followed in his footsteps in that regard, and she describes this event as follows:

“We’ll have a good get together, read a few pieces he wrote, share memories, drink, weep, and listen to Danny Boy over and over…”

So please join us if you can at:

Ireland’s 32
13721 Burbank Blvd
Valley Glen, CA 91401

There’s a little parking lot in the back, and also lots of street parking.


One more thing, whether or not you are thinking of joining us: Since I didn’t meet Fred Marx until our 20th UniHi reunion – I don’t know all the people who knew him in high school or before and might want to join in. So, if you know anyone else you think might like to come, please forward this to them.

Thank you, and I hope to see you on June 21!

Melanie (McDowell) Fairchild-Dzanis

 

 

 June 5, 2023

 

By all accounts, our joint 80th Birthday Party/Class Reunion was a tremendous success.  We had over 80 people in attendance and the comments from the attendees were all very positive.  

 

Unfortunately, Joan Kline Redlich wasn't able to attend at the last minute due to coming down with an infection, but those in attendance were able to express their appreciation for all she has done over the last 60+ years to keep our class connected and wish her a speedy recovery by signing a Big Thank You Card.

 

Sam and Rita Hathorn came the furthest having traveled all the way from Houston, Texas.  Others came from Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, the state of Washington and from all over California.  We also had a very good contingent from the Class of Summer 1961, led by Muffy Cohan Barnard, wife of our own Randy Barnard.

 

Everyone agreed the Country Club looked spectacular thanks to Joyce Skoller Rumack who personally made all the posters and centerpieces for the tables.

 

A special section has been added for photographs from the reunion (Reunion Photos I and II, in reverse order, sorry).  Thanks to my wife, Rosemarie Stanton Kuhn, Unihi Summer of 1962, for taking the pictures, greeting everyone as they came in, helping find and pin on nametags and generally making everyone feel welcome.

 

If any of the attendees have photos of the event that they would like to add, e-mail them to me and I will post them on this site, which should remain active until September.  If anyone would like to keep the website active longer, it could be extended at a cost of $120 a year.  Any takers?

 

I also wanted all to know that Gayle Kimball has volunteered to keep hosting Zoom Chats with any and all classmates who would like to participate.  The next one is scheduled for Monday, June 19th at 4:00 pm PDT.  Just let Gayle know you would like to participate at Gayle H Kimball <GKimball@csuchico.edu>, and she will send you an invitation.

 

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the great effort to attend the reunion and express my appreciation for the very kind remarks I received for having chaired the reunion committee.  At this time, there are no plans for any more get togethers, but I have learned to "never say never."

 

Stay healthy and best wishes,

 

Dave Kuhn 

dbkuhn42@gmail.com

(949) 500-0770 

 

 

 

 

 

May 27th Update

It is less than a week until our Class Reunion/Joint 80th Birthday Party.  We have over 80 people attending (appropriately). 

 

It should be a beautiful day at Sherwood Country Club, but don’t worry about the weather.  Joyce Skoller Rumack has secured the beautiful main dining room for us and you will be able to stay inside all day if you like or go out on the balcony to enjoy the fresh air if it suits you.  And, she has arranged that we don’t have to leave at any particular time.  Thank you, Joyce.

 

When you enter the gate for the Country Club, the guard will have a list and your name should be on it.  If you have any problem, call me on my cell (949) 500-0770.

 

We will also have nametags for you, but if you still have the ones from the 50th with your high school graduation pictures on them, please remember to bring them.

 

It promises to be a wonderful time.

 

Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday.

 

Dave

April 19th Update

We continue to get people signing up.  Thank you!!  We are hoping for close to 100 people!!

As all of us are either already 80 or very close to it, I thought I would share a pretty humorous treatise on being 80 that Bob Rothenberg's mother gave to him when she turned 80.  It's called "Life Begins at 80."

I have good news for you.  The first 80 years are the hardest.  The second 80 are a succession of birthday parties.

Once you reach 80, everyone wants to carry  your baggage and help you up the steps.  If you forget your name, or someone else's name, or an appointment, or your own telephone number, or a promise to be three places at the same time, or can't remember how many children you have, you need only explain that you are 80. 

Being 80 is a lot better than being 70.  At 70, people are mad at you for everything.  At 80, you have a perfect excuse, no matter what you do.  If you act foolishly, it's your second childhood.  Everybody is looking for symptoms of softening of the brain.

Being 70 is no fun at all.   At that age, they expect you to retire to a house in Florida and complain about your arthritis, and you ask everybody to stop mumbling because you can't understand them.  (Actually, your hearing is about 50% gone).

If you survive until you're 80, everybody is surprized that you are still alive.  They treat you with respect just for having lived so long.  Actually, they seem surprized that you can walk and talk sensibly. 

So please, folks, try to make it to 80.  It's the best time of life.  People forgive you for anything.  If you ask me, life begins at 80.

 

Pretty sage advice from Mama Rothenberg.  I wonder what Dan Haytin's Mom, who is still alive at 103, would have to add?

By the way, suggested dress is California Casual, nothing too fancy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 3, 2023

 

Dear Classmates,

 

Well, there are about 60 days left until our Reunion and we have about 60 people signed up, confirmed and paid for!!  That’s great, but we need the rest of you who have been contemplating coming, especially those who said YES when contacted by a member of our Reunion Committee, to take the next step.  Go to the EVENTS tab on this website and register.  It should be self-explanatory, but if you have any difficulties, call me at (949) 500-0770 and I will help walk you through the process.

As previously communicated, starting about 1:00 pm, Joan Kline Redlich will be attending along with her daughter, Jules Redlich, and her caregiver, and you will have an opportunity to visit her table and personally thank her for over 60 years of selfless devotion to our class and for keeping us connected all these years.

Another guest will be Roger McGrath, PhD., a f news for you.ormer UCLA History professor who has authored four books and lectured throughout the country on various subjects, but who has a particular interest in growing up in West LA during the 1950’s.  Roger wrote the article, reprinted below, entitled “All-American Abduction” which chronicles the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr. by some of our infamous UniHi graduates.  As you will see, it has a lot to say about Uni in the late 50’s.  Roger would like to hear your stories about growing up on the Westside and will sit down and talk to you about your memories.  Who knows, you may end up quoted in one of his articles or perhaps a new book?

For the Reunion, please bring your nametag from the 50th Reunion which featured your high school graduation photo.  And those of you who have yet to register and pay, please do so now!!

 

 

David Kuhn

 

Here is a copy of the article...I couldn't post it on the Message Board.

All-American abduction: I knew Sinatra Jr.'s kidnapper--he got my sister first.

 

The knock came on our front door at six in the morning. I was there to open it. The youngest in my family, I got all the stooge tasks. I swung the door wide and there stood Barry Keenan, a senior at University High in West Los Angeles and a prominent member of the Barons, one of the many boys Hi-Y clubs at the school.

 

Keenan was tall and thin with blond hair, good looks, and a gift of gab. He was known for his sense of humor, clever wit, imagination, and harebrained schemes. He could talk his buddies into anything, which included pranks and capers that were the envy of other teenagers. He was at our house to kidnap my big sister, Marilyn, as part of an annual ritual at Unihi called the Kidnap Breakfast. Adorably cute with blond hair and luminescent sky-blue eyes, Marilyn was president of the Cappaes, sister club to the Barons and one of more than 30 girls Y-Teen clubs at Unihi.

 

The school had dozens of Hi-Y and Y-Teen clubs, all sponsored by either the YMCA or the YWCA and organized like fraternities and sororities. They engaged in all sorts of fun and competitive activities but also performed some charitable work; the girls, my sister included, volunteered in hospitals and the boys coached youth football teams or served as camp counselors during the summer. Both boys and girls also mentored younger students.

 

The clubs were a way for the school district, in partnership with the Y, to allow Los Angeles high school kids in the 1950s a healthy alternative to gangs and outlaw car and motorcycle clubs. The clubs at Uni all had good-looking jackets--leather-sleeved letterman style for the boys and more feminine corduroy for the girls--that worked well with the styles of the era. A boys club was informally rated by both quantity and quality. Sheer number of members was important but such factors as athletic prowess, fighting ability, musical talent, fast cars and motorcycles, and the resources to throw a good party also counted. This was the Fabulous Fifties. During the spring of 1958 most students at Uni conceded that the Barons could rightfully claim number-one status among the boys clubs. Besides Barry Keenan, one of the school's great characters, included among the Barons were Jan Berry and Dean Torrence--who had both played football but would soon gain national fame as the dynamic singing duo, Jan & Dean--and several of the toughest guys in the school, especially Dave Earl and Joe Amsler.

 

Other clubs, such as the Regents and the Galatians, both top heavy with athletes, fought for second place. There was an intense rivalry among the girls clubs for premier status between my sister's club and the Nancy Sinatra-led Tierres. On the distaff side, numbers, looks, talent, and popularity were the status factors.

 

The 1957-58 school year for the University High Warriors was epic. The football, cross country, tennis, swim, baseball, and track teams took Western League titles. Only Hollywood High could put a dent in Uni's athletic domination, twice beating the Warriors in basketball and forcing Uni into second place. Uni also dominated the league in classroom performance, although Fairfax High was a competitive rival. The talent at Uni was not-to-be-believed. Singers included not only Jan and Dean, but also Jack Jones. Actors included Ryan O'Neal, James Brolin, Tommy Rettig, and Jim Mitchum. By the late '50s the school was bursting at the seams with students, a condition not relieved until the opening of Palisades High in the fall of 1961, which reduced Uni's attendance by more than a third.

 

By the time my sister arrived at Uni, the Kidnap Breakfast was a long established tradition. My older brother had participated in it during the early '50s. A boy from a Hi-Y club would arrive at the house of a girl in an associated Y-Teen club at the crack of dawn, putatively by surprise. The girl would be dragged off wearing her pajamas, a bathrobe, and slippers to breakfast at a coffee shop in Westwood. There the two would rendezvous with two dozen or so other couples, who were arriving from similar kidnap scenarios.

 

The girls went in flannel pajamas and bathrobes that looked like the quilted liners of old-fashioned sleeping bags. Although the girls were ostensibly woken from a sound sleep, all had been up for an hour primping for their kidnapping. It was all very innocent. Today, a movie about the era and the Kidnap Breakfast would sexualize the event and require an R rating.

 

Despite Keenan's reputation, he was a perfect gentleman in the kidnapping of my sister. He was also on another occasion when he spent the night with her--well, in a manner of speaking. Barry led several Barons in a midnight invasion of our house in Pacific Palisades. Marilyn and a dozen of her Cappaes sisters were camped out in our living room for a slumber party. A door was left conveniently unlocked--not that we were ever mindful of locking anything-and Barry and his buddies sneaked into our house and stayed for several hours. It was all whispered conversations and girl giggles. I was sworn to secrecy with bribes of vanilla malts from Dilly's, a soda fountain in the Palisades that featured its own made-on-the-premises ice cream that was far better and creamier than anything today. Barry later wrote in my big sis's Unihi yearbook, the Chieftain:

   To Marilyn,

 

   The most wonderful wife I've had in the last

   18 years. There isn't anyone else I would rather

   spend a night with than you (talking of course).

   Good luck in your future love & life.

 

   Your Friend and Husband,

   Barry

 

 

The most important event for the Unihi Y-Teen clubs was the annual Song Banquet. Held at the Veterans' Memorial Auditorium, thousands would attend, including record producers, recording artists, actors, sports figures, and other luminaries from all walks of life in Los Angeles. Everyone reckoned that the competition for several awards for songs and performances would pit the Cappaes against the Tierres. The girls were required to write the lyrics for their songs.

 

Marilyn was not only the lyricist for the Cappaes but also composed the music for a song. She had inherited some real talent from our father, who was the composer, arranger, and pianist for the Dorsey Brothers, when the band was a sensation during the early and mid-1930s. Her counterpart with the Tierres was Nancy Sinatra. Rumor had it that Frank's people were helping Nancy. The brother clubs would be at the Song Banquet to cheer wildly for their sister clubs. The parents of the girls and a good portion of the student body would also be there.

 

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

 

For several weeks the Cappaes rehearsed, frequently at our house. It was intense. There were fights and tears and lots of girl drama. Week by week, though, the girls got better and the music and lyrics were refined. By the time of the banquet in late May, the girls were unbelievably good. Their harmonies knocked me out. A big fan of the Del-Vikings' "Come Go With Me" and its four-part harmony, Marilyn had the Cappaes harmonizing like professionals in a recording studio.

 

The Song Banquet was a thundering success. Not only did the Cappaes perform wonderfully but so too did the Tierres and many of the other clubs. I remember thinking that most of the Y-Teen clubs at Uni already had names that sounded like girl groups. There were the Rondalees, Marcelles, Tondels, Coronettes, Calicos, Dara-Mours, Chantees, Deb-N-Aires, Adairs, De Villes, Flairs, and Premiers. Cheering them on were not only the Barons, Regents, and Galatians but also the Counts, Royals, Saxons, Caliphs, Sultans, Titans, Saracens, Cavaliers, Camelots, Sirs, Tartars, and Deacons.

 

I especially enjoyed watching the guys I most admired, those famous for their fists and those who had won glory on the gridiron, who usually tried to look cool and reserved, cheer wildly for their favorite girls. I could see the guys genuinely appreciated the stunning quality of the performances and weren't afraid to show it. Neither was the McGrath family. The Cappaes walked off with the top award of the banquet, the Shalimar Trophy.

 

That night was the last time I recall seeing or thinking about Barry Keenan--until 1963 when, just before Christmas, he was arrested for kidnapping. This time it was for real and the victim was Frank Sinatra Jr. The younger Sinatra was just beginning his career. He was a competent singer and dedicated to his craft but didn't have his father's blue eyes, charisma, stage presence, or vocal phrasing. Nonetheless, with his father's backing and with his surname as a calling card he got a gig touring with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. Tommy Dorsey had died back in 1956 but his orchestra persisted, playing the great standards of the '30s, '40s, and '50s. Frank Jr. was about to get national--and international--publicity that he had never dreamed of.

 

Keenan, meanwhile, had made an auspicious beginning in adult life. After graduating from University High, he went to UCLA. While there, he became a stockbroker and joined the Los Angeles Stock Exchange as its youngest member ever. He was riding high until a car accident in 1961 left him with a badly injured back and an addiction to painkillers. He also began to drink more heavily, an ominous development for someone whose parents were alcoholics. Moreover, his mother, Mary, suffered from depression and had once attempted suicide.

 

Nonetheless, Keenan persevered and continued to make good money. That ended too when the market crashed during the spring of 1962. By the summer of 1963 his bank accounts were depleted and his wife of less than a year had left him. He was down but not out. Always imaginative, innovative, and resilient--and a bit unhinged--Keenan decided that a celebrity kidnapping would be the answer to his problems.

 

He asked Dean Torrence, an old buddy from the Barons and one of Keenan's early investment clients, for a grubstake. By 1963 Jan and Dean were at their peak and flush with cash. They had already charted a dozen recordings, including their number-one hit, "Surf City." Keenan asked Torrence for $5,000. Torrence gave him $500.

 

Keenan now approached Joe Asmler, another old buddy from the Barons. By now the handsome, blue-eyed, auburn-haired Asmler was a Navy veteran and married to one of the prettiest blonds in the Palisades, Bette McConnell. They had a child on the way. But Amsler was out of work. He was desperate for cash. This will be the perfect crime, Keenan told him. He needed Amsler for muscle. Amsler stood nearly 6'2" and was all muscle, bone, and sinew. He was still his same tough self and trained regularly at a boxing gym. He had won a boxing title in the Navy. Keenan told him that he had no intention of hurting Frank Jr. and that Frank Sr. would immediately cough up the $240,000 that Keenan planned on demanding.

 

Keenan added that with that kind of money he could make investments that would bring spectacular returns and they would return the original amount to Sinatra. This would be, in effect, getting a "loan" from Sinatra. Keenan's plan should have sounded insane, but Keenan could charm birds out of trees. In desperate financial straits and always a fearless risk-taker, Amsler allowed himself to be persuaded.

 

I knew Amsler casually--as a young guy knows an older guy or the big brother of a friend in the neighborhood. His younger brother, Pat, was about my age. I spent enough time around Joe to see that although he was every bit as tough as his reputation suggested, he was a good guy with a big heart. When I learned that he was one of the Sinatra kidnappers, I would have been stunned were it not for the involvement of Barry Keenan.

 

Keenan brought in another accomplice, John Irwin. A painting contractor by trade, Irwin was nearly twice Keenan's age and dated Keenan's mother. For anyone not convinced about Keenan's powers of persuasion, Irwin's joining the caper should dispel any doubts. In his 40s, regularly employed, and stable, Irwin was anything but an early-20s, cash-strapped, adrenaline junkie. He was a big guy with a gruff voice and Keenan convinced him that he would be perfect for the telephone work with Sinatra. Even though Keenan could do accents he was afraid his voice might be recognized. He had shared classrooms with Nancy since grammar school at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church in Westwood and had been to the Sinatra home in Bel Air on several occasions.

 

Under an alias and affecting an English accent, Keenan rented a house in Canoga Park in September to serve as a hideout. He decided they would snatch Frank Jr. during his appearance with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra at the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix early in October. Amsler would be unavailable, however, and Keenan postponed the snatch until November 22 when Frank Jr. would be appearing with the orchestra at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The assassination of President Kennedy interrupted that attempt. With overhead mounting, Keenan again went to Dean Torrence and scored another $500. Frank Jr. would next be appearing at Harrah's in South Lake Tahoe in December. After that it was Europe. It was now or never for the kidnapping. On Sunday, December 8, in a rented Chevy Impala, Keenan and Amsler made a mad dash for Tahoe. They arrived in a snowstorm during the early evening. Roads were beginning to close. Keenan was undeterred. He later revealed they needed to snatch Frank Jr. if for nothing else than taking the cash they might find on him or they wouldn't have enough money to fill the tank of the Impala to get back to L.A.

 

At 9:30 that evening, they burst into the young singer's room at Harrah's where they found him and a trumpet player, John Foss, relaxing before the orchestra's scheduled set at ten. Brandishing a gun, Keenan said they wanted only money and Amsler quickly bound and gagged Foss. They then blindfolded Frank Jr. and escorted him out of the hotel and through snowdrifts to the Impala.

 

Within 10 minutes Foss freed himself from his bonds and called the police. Minutes later, sheriff's deputies were on the scene, soon joined by FBI agents from Reno. Frank Sr., at his house in Palm Springs, was also quickly notified. Since the snowstorm had closed the airport at South Lake Tahoe, he flew into Reno. Washoe County's district attorney, William Raggio, was there waiting for him. Together they tried to drive up to Harrah's but by then the passes into Tahoe had closed. They returned to Reno and Sinatra made a command post out of a suite at the Mapes Hotel. Several hours went by with no word from the kidnappers. His press agent, Jim Mahoney, said, "He has just been sitting and staring at the phone. When it rings, he jumps. I had to practically force him to eat.... He just looks at the phone."

 

Meanwhile, in the snowstorm that was now a blizzard, Keenan and Amsler, with chains on the tires of the Impala and Frank Jr. in the trunk, ran into a police roadblock. Keenan talked their way through. They came upon a second roadblock. Keenan did it again. At the break of day on Monday morning they reached the safe house in Canoga Park. They made certain Frank Jr. was comfortable and well fed. He later remarked that his kidnappers were far more concerned for his safety and well-being than he was.

 

That night, Keenan--for some reason not Irwin--called the Mapes Hotel. The switchboard operator rang Sinatra's room. Frank Sr. jumped at the phone and before Keenan could say much offered $1 million in cash for the safe return of his son. Keenan said no, that's too much, $240,000 will do. Keenan had carefully developed his investment plan and that was the gross return he needed from the kidnapping. Anything more would be greedy, he thought. In his drug-addled desperation he didn't even think of himself as a criminal--he was only securing a loan from Sinatra.

 

Sinatra had City National Bank in Beverly Hills put the ransom package together, more than 12,000 bills in denominations ranging from $5 to $100. The FBI photographed the money. It was then put into an attache case and, as ordered by Keenan in a series of phone calls--the last ones taking a courier to one new location after another--dropped between two parked school buses in a gas station not far from Unihi. It was shortly past midnight on the morning of Wednesday, December 11. Keenan and Amsler soon arrived, picked up the attache case, and were off. Filming everything from a discreet distance were FBI agents, but other agents lost contact with the kidnappers out on the road.

 

Keenan and Amsler got back to the Canoga Park house with their ill-gotten gains only to find Irwin and Frank Jr. already gone. Nerves frazzled by the relentless radio and television news blitz on the kidnapping, Irwin had decided he could wait no longer to set the younger Sinatra free. He put Frank Jr. in a car and headed east on the Ventura Freeway, then south on the San Diego. He exited at the Mulholland offramp and turned west to Mulholland's intersection with Sepulveda, a location only a few miles from the Bel Air home of Frank Jr.'s mother. Irwin untied Frank Jr. and wished him the best. The young singer shook hands with Irwin and said, "It's too bad we couldn't have met under different circumstances" Frank Jr. then began walking south on Sepulveda, heading towards Sunset, when a private security guard happened by and picked him up.

 

Irwin returned to the safe house and found Keenan and Amsler waiting for him. "We laid all the money out," Keenan later recalled, "danced on it, lit cigarettes with it, did all the things we'd seen in movies. We had a money war, throwing wads of bills at each other." It might not have been a king's ransom, but $240,000 in 1963 is nearly $2 million in today's money.

 

Keenan gave Irwin a $40,000 cut and the painting contractor headed for New Orleans and some fun. He couldn't resist stopping by his brother's in San Diego, though, before he left the state. Throwing caution to the wind, Irwin showed his brother and his brother's wife the money and bragged about his role in the caper, which had created a media frenzy second only to the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. When Irwin fell asleep, his brother, at his wife's urging, called the police.

 

In custody, Irwin revealed the names of his accomplices. Keenan and Amsler were arrested on December 14. Two months later, the trio's trial began in the federal court in Los Angeles. The principal attorney for the kidnappers was the flamboyant Gladys Towles Root, known equally for her defense of celebrities in sex crime cases and her colorful outfits and dazzling jewelry.

 

Root employed a strategy that had won her many a case--blame the victim. The kidnapping was nothing more than a publicity stunt, she alleged, to promote Frank Jr.'s career. She put father and son through hell on the witness stand, leaving them twisted in knots. During one particularly heated exchange, a reporter was overheard wryly whispering to another, "Do you think Sinatra will be acquitted?" In her summation she told the jury that the case was not about "who committed the crime, but whether a crime was committed."

 

Despite her flamboyance and vehemence, the jury didn't buy her theory and convicted the three defendants of kidnapping. Irwin was sentenced to 16 years and Keenan and Amsler to life plus 75 years. Once in federal prison, though, they all appealed their sentences--and all received dramatic reductions. This only fueled suspicions that the kidnapping had been a publicity stunt and that Sinatra had pulled strings for them behind the scenes. Amsler and Irwin were out in less than four years and Keenan in less than five.

 

Ryan O'Neal, who had been friends with Amsler and had boxed with him while growing up in the Palisades, got Amsler work as his stand-in and stunt-double in movies, including "What's Up, Doc?," "The Thief Who Came to Dinner," "Nickelodeon," "A Bridge too Far," and "The Main Event" Amsler appeared in movies without O'Neal, as well, including "MASH." He also, when needed, served as a bodyguard for O'Neal.

 

I saw Joe frequently around the Palisades during these years and found him the same good guy he had always been but definitely with a harder edge after his years in the pen. He was remorseful over what he had done and, while others made light of the caper, he felt a sense of shame. He began drinking heavily between movies until, by the late '70s, I could only describe him as an alcoholic. He'd go on the wagon for a shoot but as soon the film was in the can he'd be back drinking. By then he had been married and divorced twice to Bette McConnell and their son, Chris, was a teenager. Having drunk his way out of more movie work, Joe was now employed by O'Neal to house sit a property O'Neal owned in Big Sur.

 

Joe also worked on a nearby cattle ranch. Still handsome, lean, and muscular with his chiseled features intact, despite years of drinking, Joe could have passed for the Marlborough Man. His liver finally quit on him in 2006 and he died in a VA facility.

 

Keenan was back wheeling and dealing almost as soon as he was released from the federal pen at Lompoc late in 1968. Dean Torrence threw a fund-raiser for him, which generated $18,000. Keenan used the money to organize Golden West Properties and was soon building business suites, apartments, and RV parks. Within a few years big money was again flowing his way. During the late '70s, he developed White Bluff Ranch, a resort community, at Lake Whitney, Texas, and married his second wife. "I didn't know he kidnapped Frank Sinatra, Jr.," she said. "I just thought he was this handsome, charismatic go-getter."

 

In 1998, Keenan finally sat down with a reporter, Peter Gilstrap, and told his side of the kidnapping. Their collaborative effort appeared as "Snatching Sinatra" in the New Times Los Angeles in January 1998. The mostly comical account caught the attention of Hollywood and Columbia Pictures offered Keenan $1.5 million for screen rights. Frank Jr. immediately sued under the California Victims Rights Law--the state's version of a "Son of Sam" law--intended to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes. Keenan offered to donate any money he should make to a charity of Sinatra's choosing. Frank Jr. would have none of it and proceeded with his lawsuit, demanding that all proceeds from the movie deal be held in trust for Frank Sinatra, Jr.

 

The lawsuit stopped the project in its tracks. Characteristically, Keenan made a fight of it, claiming that since he had offered to donate the money to a charity, this was now about the First Amendment. Keenan lost the first round in Superior Court and the second in the California Court of Appeal but prevailed in February 2002 when the seven justices of the California State Supreme Court, in Keenan v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, unanimously struck down the Victims Rights Law as a violation of the First Amendment. "This is a very important day for freedom of expression," said Keenan. "I'm delighted that the conservative court ruled in favor of the Constitution and freedom of speech as opposed to what would be considered political correctness."

 

Keenan's victory in the California State Supreme Court restarted the movie project. Early in 2003, Show-time, which had bought the rights from Columbia, released Stealing Sinatra, starring David Arquette as Barry Keenan and Ryan Browning as Joe Amsler. The actors do an adequate job but they pale in comparison with their real-life counterparts, two absolutely in-America-only originals from the Fabulous Fifties.

 

Roger D. McGrath is an historian and the author of Gunfighters, Highwaymen and Vigilantes.

 

 

March 15 Update

I am still working on posting the article by Roger Grant, discussed below, on the Message Board.  Please be patient (or you can google it separately).

I promised information on lodging.  There are several options in the area including:

The Hyatt Regency

Residence Inn by Marriott

Four Seasons

Hampton Inn

Sheraton Inn

but I made reservations at The WestLake Village Inn, (818) 889-0230, and they gave me a discounted rate of $288 since it was a weekeday.  Mention the Reunion.

Dave  

 

Exciting News!!

We are gaining momentum!!!  Thanks to all the classmates who agreed to help, we now have close to 40 confirmed attendees and the number is growing every day.  If you haven't signed up yet, please don't hesitate any longer.

And thanks to Todd Turnham, we are going to have a very special guest, Roger D. McGrath.  Roger is a former UCLA history professor who has written and lectured on many different subjects, but has had a lifelong fascination on growing up in West Los Angeles in the 1950's.  He wrote an article in 2011 ("The All-American Abduction") on the infamous 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr.  I have included a copy of the article under the Message Board.  I think you will find it entertaining and informative, but more importantly, a paean to those magical high school days we all enjoyed.

Roger will be the reunion and will talk briefly about the article but also would like to interview any classmates willing to reminisce about the good old days.  I hope you enjoy reading about UniHi back in the day.

Dave

_______________________________________________________________

 

 

 

We just passed the 100 day mark until our Reunion.  If you haven't signed up yet, now is the time!!  Up 'til now, the Reunion Committee consisted of Gayle Kimball and myself (Dave Kuhn).  Recently, we added the following classmates:

Joyce Skoller Rumack, Dan Haytin, Harvey Stein, Roger Ehrlich, Sam Hathorn, Bill Krauch, Peggy Luske Finnefrock, Peter Hall, Kent Goodman, Noreen Hampson Clark, and Foster Sherwood. 

You will soon be hearing from one of them to help you register for the May 31st Event. Please Sign Up Now!!!  We need to confirm our final numbers with the Sherwood Country Club. 

 

If you go to the Message Board, you will be able to view the latest version of our class roster showing the most recent addresses, phone numbers and e-mails we have.  If you see any outdated information or you don't see any member of our class who was in our grade at any time or in any school, please e-mail that information to me at dbkuhn42@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Dave Kuhn

 

 

 

 

 



 

Fellow Classmates,

We now have a date, a time and a place for our much delayed, and much anticipated 60th High School Class Reunion!!!!

Thanks to Al and Joyce (Skoller) Rumack, we will be holding our reunion at the beautiful Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, starting at 11:30 am and going until approximately 4:30 pm.

As stated previously, the format will be a scrumptious buffet lunch along with a no-host bar, but the emphasis will be on mixing and mingling and catching up.

The all-inclusive price will be $92 per person and you can sign up and pay for your ticket now on this site.  Just click on the Events Tab and you will be able to RSVP and Purchase Tickets.  A nominal fee will be charged by ClassQuest for acting as our bank.  I encourage everyone to sign up as soon as possible so we can properly plan.

If anyone feels the cost of the tickets poses a financial strain, please send me a confidential e-mail at dbkuhn42@gmail.com as we have some classmates who have indicated a willingness to provide assistance with the goal of getting as many classmates to attend as possible.

There are also several options of hotels nearby for those traveling from outside the area.  I will be contacting those hotels and trying to arrange some special pricing, so stay tuned (i.e. check this website frequently). 

This will be an exciting time and possibly the last time we will get together as a class.  Don't Miss It!!

As always, feel free to e-mail me or call me with any questions.

Dave

P.S. I would like to ask again that any and all classmates register on this site providing your classmates with some biographical information on you and sharing any wisdom you choose to, whether you plan to attend the reunion or not.  Thanks.

David B. Kuhn, Jr.

30 Rue Fontainebleau

Newport Beach, CA 92660

(949) 500-0770

dbkuhn42@gmail.com

 

May 21, 2022 Update __________________________________________________________________________________________

Fellow Classmates,

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