Steven Fagan

John Angelos; Dale Gutzman; Harold Hiken;Mrs Ladoyannis (nee Miss Maren) Mr Jolley; Mr Busallacchi

They were few and far between:
But appearing in Mr Gutzman's shows and being in his classes was the best.
The reason I included the other teachers above was--well they were excellent teachers and they deserve their due in this space.
But I digress. So I participated in bit parts in THE COUNT, DRACULA, THE GREAT SEBASTIANS.

But the best by far was my role in the musical FLASH GORDON. I played Dr. Zarkov.
I had one memorable line in the play where a disguised Flash tries to put the make on the
virginal Dale Arden (played by Laurie Leonard who may remember this as well).
She breaks away from the lothario Flash (really the evil Count Mysto in disguise--don't ask....) and says to Zarkov: "You better be careful Dr Zarkov, Mr Gordon can't seem to keep his hands to
himself!" My line in response was: "I don't think I have anything to worry about!"
But on the first night of the show the audience laughed in anticipation of that line and
instead of waiting a beat I said it right into their laughter. Doh!
Needless to say Mr Gutzman was waiting in the wings and was pretty annoyed that I had blown one of the funniest lines in the show.

Next night, I waited for the audience laughter to subside, delivered the line and got the laugh it deserved.

Postscript:
I appreciated that Dale not only cast me in the show but named a character after me as well--Played by Junior Dirk Krause: Fagan of the Fishmen!!!
Or maybe he was just an Irish alien........

Post Post Script
A couple years later, I heard that Dale was considering a re-staging of the show at University School where he was far more appreciated than at WFBHS. His message through the grapevine to me: "And let Fagan know he can't do the part again to get it right this time!"

Of course by then my theater days were well behind me.

Not crazy.....never really did anything crazy.
But a bit out of the way.
Had Senorita Radke for senior Spanish. She had an old dirty and decaying Donald Duck pinata hanging up on the ceiling which looked like it had been there forever.
Now Miss Radke had a reputation of being a very strict and not very nice teacher.
I didn't have a problem. She was a good teacher with maybe a bit of an edge. Whatever.
But that pinata had to go!
So one day at the end of the school year Sherie Katz Mary Emerson ( I hope you guys remember this too!) and I went down to the Spanish section of Milwaukee and bought a brand new pinata for Miss Radke's classroom.
She was grateful. But in no way did she want to take down Senor Donald Duck. So she had both up.
For all I know he's STILL there but it felt good at that moment to brighten up her classroom with something new.