Something
SPECIAL for you today gang!!
Though I check in on eBay for our "We Watch So You Don't Have To" postings, I must admit I rarely buy anything there. BUT .... a few weeks ago, I saw an item I could not pass up. It was a Yearbook from BERKELEY HIGH SCHOOL - 1947 to be exact - yep, the year our own Robert Culp graduated from there!
The Yearbook is called
OLLA PODRIDA (nicknamed THE POD). I looked up "Olla Podrida" and it is like a Spanish version of a mulligan stew, filled with a variety of good things. And it appears that even Sancho Panza referred to its merits in "Don Quixote."
So far so good ....
Well it arrived safe and sound. I really didn't know what to expect from a 61 year old book, but except for some wear on the spine and the edges, it is in great condition. The only problem was that there were very few listings of names by the photos - and no index was included at all. Bob is mentioned three times, but that didn't stop Tatia from checking carefully through the entire book ....
!!
First, here is 17 year old Robert Culp's Senior photo .... definitely cute!
And his first autograph ... they did a fun lining in the front and back covers
of the yearbook and decorated them with the signatures of the graduating class.
Then things got more difficult .... I checked the DRAMA section and there were no photos of Bob there,
but he was listed as the one who "introduced the Plays" for their annual VARIETIES school show production.
I then found his name listed as being on the staff of THE POD ..... no less than the
Art Editor himself!! I remembered reading that he had done some commercial art work in high school. There are lots of different little cartoon drawings throughout the yearbook and on the cover, and I imagine he had something to do with those, too.
There was a photo of the POD staff included. But without any names specifically listed for the people in the photo, I couldn't find him.
So I thought for a moment and also remembered reading several articles about his earning a letter for pole-vaulting, and how that contributed to his problems with arthritis later on. ( See, all of Tatia's deductive spy-skills have come in handy!
)
I just found a quote about it ....
In high school, after landing on his head and injuring his neck when his pole broke during a vault, Culp competed in a meet less than two weeks after the accident to letter in track. "I hope you enjoy your letter when you’re 40," he remembers his doctor telling him after the meet.
So I went over to the SPORTS section .... there was only one photo of the Track team, but not a future Kelly Robinson anywhere to be seen. The rest of the Sports section were all photos of the Football team. BUT .... on the last page of this section, there were photos of 2 Lettermen clubs included.
O.K. folks, we are definitely entering into "Where's Waldo-time" here .... and I do mean "Where's Waldo" - as in look for the tall kid wearing glasses! So if that's
not Waldo or Napoleon - then Bingo!!
Armed with this new knowledge - "tall and wearing glasses," I went back to the POD staff photo .... and yes, he IS there! Go back and check it out yourself. So I continued my search and found one more photo ...
Cool at 17 - and into leather jackets even then -
(can't quite figure out the girls in the ashcans, though??)
And finally the Senior Class of Berkeley High School - 1947
((If you need help .... check under the white divider, on the right, in front of the bushes ... ))
I've asked the seller if he can try to hunt down Chuang-Tzu's Peking High Yearbook next ... so far, no luck !!
Love it!! Hope you enjoyed this as much as I ...!!
As always,
Tatia
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