• Jon Voight, CUA Student Comedian
Congratulations on Richard Wilkinson’s stellar article on Jon Voight’s stellar career [in the Fall 2004 issue].

Since the movie “The Rainmaker” became available on video, I have begun my CUA Trial Practice class each semester by playing excerpts of it. The first clip has the young Matt Damon character at his first trial, unable to ask any questions in the face of the seasoned Jon Voight character’s withering objections. The second clip is their respective closing arguments in a climactic medical insurance case, in which both men make arguments that — in the real world of the courts — would be verboten. In my view, these clips serve as most dramatic teaching vehicles on these topics; at the same time, my own nostalgia plays a part.

Jon Voight and I were members of CUA’s 1958–59 basketball team. At that time, Mason-Dixon Conference games were often in southern Virginia. After a long drive, team members were gathered together and forced to rest several hours until the game that night. This void was pleasantly filled with Jon Voight stand-up comedy routines. They were multi-hour, awesome displays of extemporaneous talent that generated so much excessive laughter, Coach Tom Young eventually banned Jon’s performances for tiring out the team members.

John G. Gill Jr.
Distinguished Lecturer
Columbus School of Law
B.A. 1962
Darnestown, Md.

• A Preference for CUA
I wanted to take the long overdue opportunity to write and congratulate your staff on the exceptional production of CUA Magazine. The quality of the writing and the topics selected reflect the motivating forces, ideals and values that the university instills in its graduates and staff. As a medical graduate of another Catholic institution in Washington, D.C., I can honestly say that of the two university magazines that I receive, CUA Magazine is the one I savor the most. Thank you for reminding me why I selected The Catholic University of America for my studies!

Geoffrey M. Gabriel, M.D.
B.A. 1990
Seoul, Republic of Korea

• Building Community
We have really enjoyed receiving CUA Magazine since our daughter, Laura, started attending Catholic. It has made us feel a part of her community! Laura is a musical theater major, so we really like the schedule of performances you print. We live in Georgia so an advance schedule is sure helpful.

Katherine Keena
Savannah, Ga.

• Showbiz Appreciation
Congratulations to all connected with the Fall 2004 issue. It brought the university to life in exciting contemporary content, graphics and focus on alumni. As a drama graduate (1954) I am particularly grateful that Mr. Voight, Mr. Bateman, et al., were featured. Graduates in theater who choose to enter the professional arena struggle so much and work so hard in a highly competitive field; to see their achievement honored is gratifying and encouraging. Thank you for that.

Jeanne Davis Glynn
B.A. 1954
Los Angeles

• Another Hollywood Standout
I’m writing to let you know how much I enjoy getting CUA Magazine.

My comment is relative to the excellent Fall 2004 article that Warren Duffie wrote, “The Business of Tinseltown: Alums Make Magic Offstage.” Warren did not go back far enough in his research about alums who went on to Tinseltown because he left out one of my heroes of the Class of 1954 — Gino Conforti — who left after graduation to go to Broadway (“Fiddler on the Roof”) and then went West.

Gino still lives in the L.A. area and is still active in the business. His fellow members of the Class of ’54 recently had a reunion and remembered him as a super person who definitely should be included in the list of outstanding students of Father Hartke.

Much water has passed over the dam since those wonderful/terrible days of Catholic University but I will never forget the wonderful impression that Hartke made on me (and I wasn’t even in his department).

Jack Derham
LL.B. 1955
Marietta, Ga.

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Revised: March 2005

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