Pat Sundine Edwards Is Aglow with Her Great-Grandson Finn, Her Daughter Stephanie, and Her Granddaughter Francesca

Stephanie enjoys her grandson Finn.

Stephanie Sundine-L'Arlesiana

Stephanie and her mom, Pat Sundine Edwards.

Pat admires her great-grandson, Finn.

Francesca MacBeth, their son Finn and her husband Peter.
Sarasota opera - Johann Strauss - Der Fledermaus: "DeRenzi will conduct the piece for the first time, and his wife, Stephanie Sundine, takes on the stage direction. Darko Tresjnak staged the company’s 2003 production, followed by Michael Unger in 2006.

The production is also something of a family affair because DeRenzi and Sundine’s daughter, Francesca, who grew up around Sarasota Opera, is working as the stage manager."

Pat Sundine was a pioneer in television for women.

Stephanie Sundine became an opera star and director.

Source of this verbatim quotation:

"As a third-grader in Moline, Illinois, Stephanie Sundine knew that she wanted to sing. In her interview with OperaMom, Sundine recalled sitting in her classroom enraptured, listening to the beautiful soprano voice of her music teacher. "I remember being so happy whenever it was time for music class, since we did a lot of singing. That same teacher became my homeroom teacher in fifth grade, and everyday I would go into class and say, 'Mrs. Leland, are we going to have music today?' She was patient for a while, and then finally told me nicely to stop asking her!" The daughter of supportive and high public-profile parents (her father, a newspaper owner/editor and her mother, one of the first women in the U.S. to have her own TV talk show), Sundine sang her first solos with her church choir when she was still in eighth grade. "I most admired my voice teachers and music teachers, and appreciated their encouragement and hard work with me." Her first opera recording, La boheme with Victoria de los Angeles, was evidence of her admiration for full-throated soprano voices, which grew to include Tebaldi, Freni, and Nilsson, among others.

After graduating with her B.M. from the University of Illinois, Sundine remained in the Chicago area for four years, performing regularly as a freelance artist with small opera groups as a lyric mezzo. For two summers she was an apprentice with Chautauqua Opera, and attended opera workshops run by Boris Goldovsky, the famed conductor and impresario. "I did three national tours with Goldovsky Opera, singing small roles as well as performing various roles with small companies in New York City." It was at an audition for one of these companies, New York Lyric Opera, that she met her future husband, conductor Victor DeRenzi. "I had seen Victor conduct a couple of performances for them. At my audition, totally unbeknownst to me, he decided he wanted to marry me, and made sure the company hired me for Meg in the Falstaff he was conducting." Very soon after rehearsals for Falstaff began, they got together - the beginning of a relationship which would have a profound and positive impact on her career and her future. "When I met Victor, he felt that I had much more voice than I was using. He encouraged me to change my vocal technique and helped me to develop a much more professional sound." Through the guidance of DeRenzi and her voice teacher, Sundine made the transition from lyric mezzo to soprano. "Over the course of a few years I went from singing Cherubino to singing Isolde, with lots of roles in between!" she exclaimed."

More Stephanie Sundine information.

Stephanie's website.

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GJ - The Sundines went to Garfield. Every so often we saw Pat Sundine in her TV makeup at the school. Mrs. Leland, one of our teachers, had an exceptional voice, so she led our Christmas programs. The teachers traded off certain classes, so we had Mrs. Leland for singing. I remember my mother saying in a hushed voice, "She was first soprano in the Augustana choir."

Augustana was known for its music program. Note the connection with the Moline Boys Choir and Dr. Fred Swanson.

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Captain Ernie has a great post on the TV show hosted by Stephanie's mother, Pat Sundine - Especially For You. I have copied a little from it:

However - on with the show. I simply adored being the on the air hostess of E for You! I had a completely fabulous time - George Sontag was a dear man (I called him "the chocolate bear") - why, I don't recall - I met and cherished many people, home grown and celebrities! - one of my most favorite segments was called "Fables of our Times" - I then had fascinating interviews with people about their lives, people who were then at my age now! The aim of the show was to entertain and inform - I guess we accomplished those goals - among the famous guests were; Pat Boone, Sebastian Cabot, singing quartet The Ames Brothers, Vincent Price, Duke Ellington, Clyde McCoy, orchestra leader Montavoni, actress Celeste Holm, famous orchestra leader Carmen Cavallero, film actor Joel McCrea, bandleader/singer Bob Crosby (Bing's brother), President Ronald Reagan (I filmed him when he was spokesman for General Electric), American society figure Perle Mesta, actress Sylvia Sidney, Lorne Green, Robert Young (several times - his doctor lived here), Mary Ann Mobley who was one of the Miss Americas and many others.

I had such a fine and rewarding time - I still dream about it!

I have been Mrs. Fredrick Jasper Edwards for 18 blissful years and I couldn't be happier - Jack Sundine is living in St. Petersburg, Florida - we see each other and talk often. My two daughters are a blessing to us - Krista Kruse lives in Moline and Stephanie Sundine lives in New York.

John Patrick Sundine, my son and their brother, died this past December due to complications from diabetes which he suffered from at the age of seven years.

I must mention Anita Sundin wrote commercials and when I was away, took my place on Especially for You. She was just awarded by the State of Iowa a prize for being the person in the whole state that for years has read books for the blind. Quite an honor and quite a gal!

Love, Patricia Sundine

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Moline Hall of Honor

Stephanie Sundine (Class of 1965) --Stephanie Sundine’s remarkable international career in opera and stage directing began with her early love for musical experiences in the Moline School District. Sundine graduated with honors from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She began her professional opera career in Rochester, New York, and has since performed in principle roles across the globe. She retired from her vocal career in 1995. She continued her stage work as director in more than 30 productions across the United States. Sundine has also shared her talents through private studio coaching, guest teaching at Boston University and Catholic University, as a competition judge, and co-founder of Words for Music, a program providing translated subtitles for performances in other languages.

Same Church, Same Chem-Physics Class, Same 44th Anniversary Today

John and Diana were married 44 years ago today.

John and I went to Plymouth Congregational Church, pre-school,
ended up as lab partners in chem-physics class.
I am in that photo - my uncredited cameo.
John earned a PhD in math.

Now they have an abundance of red-headed grandchildren.

Chris and I took Team Jackson to see
Yakov Smirnoff in Branson, giving the comic
his own t-shirt and one for his mother.


Our team t-shirts, with Lady Liberty on them,
caught the attention of the Food Channel and increased our modest fame.
After the Smirnoff show, we went for ice cream -
and the rest is cinematic history.

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TV Star Jann Carl Wants Our Help

Jann Carl posted on the fast-growing Calvin Coolidge page of Facebook:

Jann Carl

Calling all Calvin Coolidge Junior Highers!!!! Jann Carl here....Was at Coolidge in
the 70s. I have a TV show that needs to meet a goal of 5,000 "Likes" on our Facebook page by Thanksgiving! It's called Small Town Big Deal. Help out a fellow Cougar! Please check out our FB page, Like it, and watch a show or two...I think you'll like it!!!!! Thanks so much!!! Jann Carl

Small Town Big Deal

Jann Carl

Best known for her 14 years at “Entertainment Tonight”, Jann Carl has built a distinguished career in television.  She began as a news reporter at WLS in Chicago.  Her next move was to Los Angeles, where she reported for KABC, and hosted KABC’s “Eye on L.A.” magazine show.  Her work in the market culminated in her selection to co-anchor “News At Ten” at KTLA; during her eight-year tenure she earned three Emmys for news coverage.

When the red carpet beckoned, Carl joined “Entertainment Tonight”, where she was senior correspondent and weekend anchor.   Nationally respected for her interviews, she went on the record with America’s biggest stars and most influential newsmakers.  The long list includes Brad Pitt, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Halle Berry, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Diane Sawyer, Dan Rather, and Barack & Michelle Obama.  She has also co-hosted ABC's "Oscar Countdown" Academy Awards show, the Emmy pre-show, as well as the Tournament of Roses Parade on CBS and HGTV.

Currently, Jann is a founding partner of Yellville Productions, an independent television production company and most recently Co-Executive Produced the series, SOLD!, for The History Channel.

Carl has been a friend of the Muscular Dystrophy Association for 24 years.  After co-hosting the MDA Labor Day Telethon in Los Angeles for eight years, she was chosen by Jerry Lewis as a national co-host in 1996.  2012 marked her 17th year on the coast-to-coast broadcast.  She has also served on the national board of directors, and as a national vice president.  MDA has recognized her contributions with the Directors’ Award and the Paragon Award.

A graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, she lives in Southern California with her husband, David. They have two children.

Lawrence Eyre's Country Music Memory

Gene Lavern Flambo brought Johnny Cash to the Quad Cities.

Lawrence Eyre

Fall,1957--Larry van de Geest from Garfield School invites me to Wharton Field House in Moline for the concert by a Grand Ole Opry touring company--I hear twangy bass guitar, loop-de-looping pedal steel guitar and glottal stop syrupy singing for the first time in my life. I am dazzled by the music, truthfully, but the night's indelible memory comes from the two autograph lines that converge at a table where one man wearing a black shirt simultaneously writes with both hands, giving two stunned kids whose careers in cursive writing are barely two years along the following message: "Best wishes--Johnny Cash."

Happy 80th Birthday Today - Ken Berry - Moliner

Carol Burnett had the best variety show on TV,
and Ken Berry was a welcome guest.

Responses to “ACTOR KEN BERRY TURNED 78 TODAY”

http://pdxretro.com/2011/11/actor-ken-berry-turned-78-today/

1. Christopher Korman says:

   April 10, 2012 at 12:10 am

   I know Ken from his many years of his guest starring turns on Carol Burnett and Mama’s Family which my father Harvey Korman appeared on. Ken is a perfect example of an Artists getting type cast.Most people don’t know that Ken Started off as a dancer with the Billy Barnes revue along with Michelle Lee and Bert Convy.The fact is Ken Berry is one of the greatest song and dance men around and if he had been given the chance to prove that he would be mentioned with Astaire and Kelly Today.The only thing that supersedes his talents is his humility,grace,and integrity.Its been a privilege and honor to say I got to know the icon Ken Berry.

Video interviews with Ken Berry about the Carol Burnett Show, Mayberry RFD

When I read about Ken Berry on his website, many details about Moline echoed what others have said and I have thought:

"Ken Berry was already five-eighths of the way to Mayberry when he was born in Moline, Ill., on November 3, 1933. Kenneth Ronald Berry was the second child (joining sister Dona Rae) of Bernice and Eugene Darrell Berry, who at the time of Ken’s birth was an accountant for John Deere Company."

Early career:
"When I got the job and it took me away from home, that must have been very hard for my parents," Ken says. "But they were very supportive and it was really a thrilling experience for me. After the Horace Heidt show, I came back and finished high school in Moline. I used to drive up to Chicago once a week and take a voice lesson and a tap lesson in the same studio. But that didn’t last very long. After graduation, I went back out to California to look for work. And I didn’t get much at all."

Mayberry as Brigadoon
About Mayberry, Ken says, "It’s a wonderful place to visit and people would fantasize about living there. It’s a place like Brigadoon that shows up every hundred years. It’s a place you dream about living, but you know it’s fantasy and you don’t care."

Mayberry Like Moline
He adds, "I grew up among people very much like that -- a bigger town, but not much bigger -- and the neighborhood was very much like that and the people were very much like those characters. And it was fun for me to visit, too. It was one of my favorite half hours ever on television and that was long before I met Andy."

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GJ - My wife Chris and I talk about how much we enjoyed the 40th reunion of the MHS 66 class. She has always felt a part of my class, even though she met them after graduation, when we were at Augustana.

We have had a number of discussions with people on Facebook. The common theme is how pleasant people were to each other in Moline. It is no surprise that Ken Berry had the same experience earlier.

My father knew many people from work and from graduating from MHS. We had a lapboard where all his classmates inscribed their names with a woodburner. All his classmates seemed to be named Eric Johnson, John Ericson, Eric Ericson, John Johnson, Sven Svenson, Sven Ericson, Eric Svenson, John Svenson, etc.

Once we were discussing a local politician, and dad said, "I cannot believe he would be like that. His father was one of my teachers. His word was his bond."

With my mother in the Moline school system and my father in business, I was connected to everyone - one way or another. The kindly attitude was expressed in many different ways. When I went to Augustana College, a bike ride away, my mother's classmates were there.

The daughter of Dr. Andreen taught education at Augustana. "Are you going to be a teacher, too?" she asked. I said, "No, never."

Later I learned that Dr. Andreen left his position as a noted professor at Yale to become president of a threadbare college on the banks of the Mississippi. The little portable college, which barely survived, has become one of the best liberal arts colleges in America. Looking back, we can see how much people sacrificed to create a better life for future generations. I wonder if the same will be said about us Boomers.

I can imagine Ken Berry recognizing the fictional characters of Mayberry being so much like Moliners. I will have to write about them too.

Ken Berry had a hit show in Mayberry RFD in the late 1960s. He said Mayberry was just like the town he grew up in - Moline.
In Hollywood he is still known as the nicest guy in show business.

Andy Griffith launched the pilot of Mayberry RFD with Ken Berry.