Symposium Success: Michael W. Haga

The 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium took place from March 12 through 16. This year’s Symposium drew 129 people from fourteen states and the District of Columbia to Charleston for sessions on Kiawah, downtown, and at Drayton Hall.

Jean Y. Helms, a member of the School of the Arts Council, serves as Chair of the Charleston Antiques Symposium Committee and was the originator of the idea for the Symposium. Jean has developed a dedicated group of volunteers from the community as well as throughout South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia that works with the Dean’s staff to plan and implement the Charleston Antiques Symposium.

With “About Charleston” as its theme, the Symposium focused on three sessions with Bradford L. Rauschenberg, co-author with the late John Bivins of The Furniture of Charleston, 1680 – 1820. It took the authors nearly twenty-five years to conduct research and write the book! Other speakers included Maurie McInnis of the University of Virginia, Robert Leath of Colonial Williamsburg, Ted Landsmark of the Boston Architectural Center, Gary Albert of the Museum of Early Decorative Arts and several Charleston experts in the decorative arts.

This year’s Symposium featured two students from the Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program, Frances Ford and Carolyn Hammond, who presented lectures entitled “Cemetery Iconography” and “Early Charleston Ironwork.” This was the second year in which the Symposium featured student speakers. The final session began with a lecture by Robert Russell, Co-Director of the Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program, who’s lecture was entitled “Design at One Remove: Drayton Hall and 18th Century Palladianism.” After his lecture, the session continued with lunch and a tour of Drayton Hall.

Funds from the 2002 Charleston Antiques Symposium established what will be an endowned fund that provides a stipend for Arts Management students who serve as interns for the Symposium. This year’s intern, Andrea Caniz, is majoring in both Arts Management and Business. Among other duties, Ms. Caniz was responsible for scheduling and documenting committee meetings, preparing press releases, contacting businesses regarding services and billing, analyzing historical data to create reports for potential donors, and preparing for and assisting with participant registration.

Proceeds from the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium will go toward completing the endowment for Arts Management interns. Other proceeds will be applied to other School of the Arts programs.

For more information on the 2003 Charleston Antiques Symposium, visit the website at www.cofc.edu/sota/symposium.

Surfin’ the SOTA Web

In October of 2002, Dean Morris asked David Gleason to work with a representative from each of the School’s departments to update the appearance, usability, and content of the School of the Arts’ website. The departmental web liaisons are Susan Kattwinkel (Theatre), Lori Kornegay (Arts Management), Liz McCafferty (Studio Art), Buff Ross (Halsey Gallery), Sherry Wallace (Art Historyand HPCP), and Robin Zemp (Music). On Friday, November 29 the new design and updated content was uploaded.

Some of the new features incorporated in the website are: a consistent design theme which is integrated with the overall campus website design, a SOTA controlled and updated calendar of events, separate domain names for each department, a “request information form” for prospective students and other web visitors, more in-depth programmatic information, expanded faculty and staff lists and contact information, SOTA Highlights (current news and events), and a featured faculty of the semester page (see ARGUS back cover).

Since the new design was uploaded, there have been over seventy requests for information, the majority of which have been from prospective students. In addition, the main SOTA website (http://www.cofc.edu/sota) has logged visitors from around the country and around the globe. The top ten states from which our web visitors connect include, in ranked order: Virginia, Connecticut, South Carolina, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Illinois, Tennessee, New York, and Pennsylvania. Our international visitors, in ranked order, are from Canada, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Austria, Indonesia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, and Mexico.

If you have not done so already, be sure to visit the website at http://www.cofc.edu/sota and be sure to thank David and the departmental liaisons for all of the hard work they did in bringing this project to completion.

Effie’s Journal

Hi, I’m Effie LaMont, and I am really thrilled to be asked by David Gleason to contribute to the ARGUS newsletter. I wondered why, but looking back on my history… I guess it is rather different, and arts oriented… movies, dance, food, travel, and much more.

Born in Pocatello, Idaho (not in a trunk), I was named after mom’s childhood friend - Effie Trouble. I have no idea what year I jumped into this world, but it is great not knowing how old you are. When our family moved to Hollywood, my father became a horse wrangler for Charlie Chaplin. My older sister and I loved horses. You might have heard of her… she is Lena LaMont, the spectacular star ‘in the firm-a-ment’ known for her dynamite role in the film Singin’ in the Rain along with lesser known stars, Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor.

As a teenager, I wrangled for Rudolph Valentino during his filming of The Sheik. (Many stories about him but not now.) Dancing became an outlet for me as a teen and, one night, Russell Markert, creator of the St. Louis Rockets, discovered me doing a solo dance from the film King of Jazz featuring Paul Whiteman’s orchestra and Laura LaPlant (another “La” girl.) For a few years, I danced with his ensemble, winding up at the Roxy theatre in New York City, where we were re-named the Roxyettes. When Roxy was asked to oversee the creation of a new entertainment venue in Rockefeller Center, he said, “yes.” Consequently, we were transferred to the Radio City Music Hall, becoming the world-renowned Rockettes.

I have so much in my mind but I don’t want to bore you. Well, maybe a little. Raoul Jones was my dance partner when we won the top award in the International Ballroom competitions two years straight - 1941 and 1942. He now lives in Rio (Raoul in Rio!) Ha. Another friend, Lars Nielson, a tanning lotion mogul, from Oslo, Norway, has allowed me the use of his Lear jet for my ‘jaunts’ anytime I want. He is such a dear. We ski together in May then don’t see each other for a while. Alex, his pilot, and I have become quite close…not that close! I recently went to Bali, at the request of the King, to teach some of the locals how to properly fry coconuts. What fun, but shaving the meat from the shell is so time consuming.

I am including two recipes from my cookbook “One Fixation Effie Does Best” for your pleasure. Enjoy.

THE MALTESE CHICKEN
(sorry about that Humphrey..)

Ingredients:
4 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup mayonnaise
1/2 can chedder cheese soup
Topping:
1 cup finely crushed potato chips
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
Blend chicken, celery, pecans, mayonnaise, and soup
Pour into casserole
Sprinkle on topping
Bake in 350 degree oven about 20 minutes

GRETA GARBO’S SWEDISH MEATBALLS

Ingredients:
2 lbs. Lean ground beef
1 cup soft small bread crumbs
2 eggs beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
dash salt and pepper
Sauce:
1 cup chutney
1 cup apple jelly

Combine beef, bread crumbs, eggs and milk.
Shape into balls
Brown on all sides in shortening
Add sauce
Simmer for about 20 minutes

Greta did not “vant to be alone” when she dished this out!

Oh yes, before I end this epic… My favorite quote:
“The world’s a banquet and most people are starving to death.” (Auntie Mame is said to have spoken that line in Patrick Dennis’ play/movie “Auntie Mame”…but really he heard me say the above while boarding Lars’ jet on my way to Singapore to drink tea with the “Mama Li” in a rice mill.)

Oh yes, in case you all are wondering...I am thrilled to be the Executive Director of Box Office Operations for the Lowcountry’s most luxurious movie theatre.

”Ciao” for now great people.

Effie’s Journal is composed by Media Resources Coordinator Mark Tiedje and may be an occasional recurring feature in future issues of ARGUS.