* Message from Membership Directors Kibi & Angela
* Message from Mia
* Pencil Me In
- Harvardwood Happy Hour w/ Cornell, Stanford, and Dartmouth, July 13th - NYC
- Harvardwood Screening of "HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29" with Director Kevin Rafferty, July 15th - NYC
- Harvardwood SF/Bay Area Social Hour at 15 Romolo, Fri. July 17 - SF
* Harvard ROCKS NYC Seeks Band/Artist Submissions
* 2009 Harvardwood Screenplay Competition Winners!
* Industry Successes
* Featured Member Posting: Fox Filmed Entertainment Seeks Director, Corporate Strategy & Business Development (MBA Required) - LA
* Member Profile: Kevin Rafferty '70
Message from the Membership Directors
Happy Fourth! Thanks to everyone who helped out with events last month. In planning the events, we appreciate all the volunteers, the support, and most of all, your time. Please don't hesitate to contact your local chapter heads or the program directors with ideas for the summer months - most likely, if you can think of an event, we'll gladly help you make it happen!
Cheers!
Angela and Kibi
Message from Mia
Many congratulations to our 2009 Harvardwood Screenplay Competition winners, Alex Schemmer (1st place), Leonard Chang (2nd place) and Rob Cain (3rd place)...read on for details! For those musical types among us, please get involved in our upcoming performance event, Harvard ROCKS NYC: www.harvardrocksnyc.com It was groovy to see so many folks at the Harvardwood Reunion Mixer in Cambridge as well as at the various Harvardwood / HAA Global Night of Networking events around the country...July brings many more happenings coast to coast, including happy hours in NYC and San Francisco, as well as a screening and Q&A with this month's member profilee Kevin Rafferty '70 -- get involved wherever you are!
- Mia
Pencil Me In...
Harvardwood Happy Hour w/ Cornell, Stanford, and Dartmouth, July 13th - NYC
Join fellow Harvardwood members and alums from Cornell, Stanford, and Dartmouth for a Happy Hour this Monday, July 13th from 6:30 - 9:30 pm at 230 Fifth. RSVP required: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=67822
Hope to see you there!
Harvardwood Screening of "HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29" with Director Kevin Rafferty, July 15th - NYC
Join us for a special screening of HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29 at the Harvard Club of New York on Wed., July 15th! The New York Times hailed the film as "Preposterously entertaining . . . Pulses with the artful, exciting beats of a thriller!" Time Out New York called it "Close to perfect!" Harvard grad Kevin Rafferty's new documentary, HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29, tells the story of what is probably Harvard's most famous football game ever, the 1969 showdown between undefeated teams from Harvard and Yale. With 42 seconds left to play, Harvard trailed Yale by 16 points. To find out what happened next--and how it happened--see the movie! The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg writes, "It wasn't just the best game I ever saw--it was the best game that ever was!" Director Kevin Rafferty, whose previous credits include ATOMIC CAFE, will be present to talk about the film and take questions from the audience (which may include some of the players). Space is very limited, advance registration is required - no one will be admitted at the door without prior registration. Please RSVP by Tues., July 14th: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=67821
Harvardwood SF/Bay Area Social Hour at 15 Romolo, Fri. July 17 - SF
Join us for our SF/Bay Area Harvardwood Social Hour on Fri. July 17th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at 15 Romolo! Mingle, socialize, drink a ‘Pimm’s Cup’ (or two), and relax while getting to know your fellow Harvardwoodians. For more details and to RSVP: http://www.harvardwood.org/events/event_details.asp?id=67491
Harvard ROCKS NYC Seeks Band/Artist Submissions
Harvardwood is pleased to present the first ever...HARVARD ROCKS NYC, coming to you in August 2009! Whether you've been to Coachella, South x Southwest, or All Points West - see what happens when Harvard reveals it's very own best...From the school that gave you Chester French, Weezer, & Rage Against The Machine (yes, all bands carry 1 or more Crimson diplomas) -- be there when we reveal tomorrow's IT bands today! Bringing the freshest indie music to alums, by alums at one the hottest joints in town... Come shake off work & drink in a night of young Crimson blood, contacts, and cocktails when Harvard ROCKS NYC! Deadline July 20th for band/artist submissions. For more info and to RSVP, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/news/27988/Harvard-Rocks-NYC-Seeks-BandArtist-Submissions.htm
2009 Harvardwood Screenplay Competition Winners!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2009 Harvardwood Screenplay Competition, sponsored by Circle of Confusion! It was a very competitive pool of scripts, and we thank all of the writers who participated. To read the winning screenplays, please email a request to: [email protected]
WINNER, 1st place: RESPONSIBLE ADULTS by Alex Schemmer
Synopsis: An immature college grad reconnects with his childhood babysitter, sparking an instant attraction. To prove that he’s become a RESPONSIBLE ADULT worthy of her attention, the college grad “adopts” a spunky elderly lady as a community service project and – despite his initial intentions – does some actual growing up.
2nd place: MY EYES ARE RELAXED by Leonard Chang
Synopsis: When Lizbeth’s father is killed in a robbery, she tries to find the culprit and quickly learns of her father's connections to the Korean underworld in L.A. The identity of the killer turns out to be a shocking surprise that pits her against the Korean underworld.
3rd place: RUSSIAN RIVER by Rob Cain
Synopsis: A young Texas rancher defies the Nazi armies and leads a winter cattle drive across the Russian front to bring beef to the starving citizens of Leningrad.
Industry Successes...
Bonnie St. John '86 recently released her fifth book, “Live Your Joy.” It was featured on the TODAY Show, O Radio, Woman’s Day magazine, Essence magazine picked it for top three spring self-help reads, Balance Magazine top pick for summer, in the top 20 bestselling motivational books on Amazon! Description: Life sometimes throws curve balls, threatening your job, health or retirement account, perhaps unraveling your most valued relationships. It can be tempting to rely solely on hard work or dogged self-determination to turn things around when challenges arise. Yet Bonnie St. John believes one additional life ingredient can dramatically transform life’s tough situations: JOY. As an amputee, Paralympics silver medalist, Rhodes scholar, Harvard and Oxford graduate and single mom, St. John has faced some of life’s toughest challenges—and she doesn’t speak of joy lightly. Her new book, Live Your Joy (April 2009), is a powerfully inspiring collection of real-life, modern-day stories that reveal the power of joy: living it, pursuing it, sharing it, and making it a top priority.
Featured Member Posting: Fox Filmed Entertainment Seeks Director, Corporate Strategy & Business Development (MBA Required) - LA
Reporting to the Executive Vice President of Strategy & Business Development, the Director will play a highly visible role in the development, analysis, and implementation of strategic initiatives for Fox Filmed Entertainment (FFE), including mergers & acquisitions, organic business initiatives, and partnerships / joint ventures. In addition, you will lead initiatives to extend FFE brands and properties into digital and other distribution channels both inside and outside of News Corp. Finally, you will work closely with major group stakeholders and senior Fox executives in providing strategic and analytical guidance to drive significant new business opportunities… To view full posting, please visit: http://www.harvardwood.org/networking/opening.asp?id=67462
Member Profile: Kevin Rafferty ‘70
by Sean O’Rourke MAT ‘68
On a crisp, clear afternoon in November 1968 forty thousand fans packed Harvard Stadium, Kevin Rafferty among them. Expectations ran high. In New Haven all alumni had received two tickets apiece regardless of the number requested. In Cambridge officials filled the orders of the oldest classes first. When they reached 1949 they ran out of tickets and stopped. A scalper reportedly asked and received a thousand dollars for a block of eight seats.
On campuses across the country people were proclaiming that God was dead. In New Haven everyone knew he was alive and well. He wore number ten and played quarterback. His name was Brian Dowling.
No such optimism reigned in Cambridge. A majority of the twenty-two seniors, feeling underutilized and underappreciated for three years, wanted to quit the team, but at a meeting they decided to rally around their captain Vic Gatto.
That year Yale came to Cambridge undefeated as expected, but Harvard was also undefeated, which no one had expected. Both teams had a perfect season on the line.
An epic battle did not ensue. At the end of the first half Yale was leading 22-0 when Harvard coach John Yovicsin sent in junior quarterback Frank Champi who tossed a fifteen yard touchdown pass with thirty-nine seconds left. The conversion failed but 22-6 felt better than 22-0.
In the second half the senior quarterback again failed to move the team. Champi replaced him, and Harvard scored another touchdown. Then Yale scored making it 28-13. Convinced that Harvard could not come back, Yale went for the one point conversion, resulting in a score of 29-13.
But Champi was not through. He threw a touchdown pass with forty-two seconds left. The two point conversion succeeded. Then Harvard recovered the onside kick and scored again as time ran out. Pete Varney caught the two point conversion, and the next issue of The Crimson proclaimed, “Harvard Beats Yale 29-29.”
Kevin Rafferty was an architectural sciences concentrator. As a matter of fact he had no interest in architecture, but this was the department where the filmmakers gathered. Two teachers stood out: documentary filmmaker Bob Gardner and Australian Don Levy. Levy had a PhD in physics and actually understood how lenses and cameras work. When he was hired to teach at a film school in California, Kevin went along as his assistant.
A year later Kevin was back in Cambridge working as a janitor, driving a taxi and writing grant applications. His first success came when New Hampshire Public Television commissioned him to make a documentary about a collective farm run by a Maoist commune.
Other documentaries followed, the best known being THE ATOMIC CAFE made in collaboration with Jayne Loader and his brother Pierce. It consisted of stock footage, news reels and government training films designed to assuage public fears about the bomb. To complete it Kevin moved to Washington, DC where the archives were. The project took five years.
In 2006 Kevin’s daughter was accepted at Yale. He began to think of his own experiences forty years before and the afternoon of The Game. He located a copy of the videotape, secured the rights and obtained the addresses of sixty-four players from both teams.
The Yalies lived all over the country; many of the Harvard players lived within an hour or two of the Yard. Kevin took a room at a bed and breakfast in Cambridge and began filming interviews.
Harvard captain Vic Gatto was one of the first. He had changed very little in forty years. By chance Brian Dowling was scheduled next, and Gatto agreed to stay so that the two of them could be filmed together.
Dowling arrived late. Gatto had to go to a meeting. So Kevin had only ten minutes to record their reminiscences. Later he reviewed the tape. He had each individual interview, but the ten minutes of the two together were missing. In his excitement he had neglected to turn on the camera.
The interview with Frank Champi was critical to the project. He is a very private person who has avoided publicity and was reluctant to be involved. However once Kevin set up the camera in his kitchen and won his confidence, he opened up. Most interviews ran forty minutes. His went on for ninety, and would have lasted longer if Kevin did not have to leave for another appointment.
Tight end Pete Varney, who had caught the final two point conversion, provided another perspective. Asked if this play marked the high point of his athletic career, he hesitated and then explained the thrill he experienced when, playing for the White Sox, he hit his first major league home run against the Yankees.
No one who was involved in any way with that November afternoon has forgotten it. (Your faithful correspondent was a ticketless graduate student and had to listen to the radio.) Everyone who wishes to know more should visit www.kino.com. The DVD of HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29 will be released on July 28. The book will be published by Overlook Press in November.
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