Williams Royalty: Sondheim

By Andrea Axelrod

I had a special agenda when our Williams ’75 Oxford reunion group gathered on Monday, June 17th for our welcome dinner at the Ashmolean Museum. An auction of items from the Stephen Sondheim estate was to be held the next day at Doyle in New York, and I wanted to see if classmates would add to my online bid for one particular item: Sondheim’s very first royalty check, made out to him “care of Cap and Bels [sic] of Williams College”. He had never cashed the check. My idea was to donate it to Williams, in memory of Professor Irwin Shainman, who conducted several of us in our 1974 college production of Sondheim’s Company and lectured frequently on Sondheim’s works.

In 1948, when Sondheim was an 18-year-old Williams sophomore – and a founding member of Cap and Bells – he doffed his cap to the then-reigning musical Finian's Rainbow and the then-Williams president James Phinney Baxter III with a musical satire, Phinney's Rainbow. It was Sondheim’s first produced musical, and BMI published three numbers from the 25-song score.

Doyle estimated the royalty check would sell in the range of $100 to $200 (plus premium). I registered a bid for $350, and a handful of classmates brought up our bid to $700.

All day Tuesday, members of our bidding consortium asked me if I had heard anything. As I checked online for auction results throughout the day, I realized the auction was taking an awful lot of time, and the check was one of the later lots.

When I finally saw what the check went for, I reported sadly (and with some incredulity) that we were only off by $15,300.

Plus premium.

That first royalty check was for 74 cents.

Williams '75 in Oxford: Adventures and photos

For each 50th Reunion class, the College organizes a week-long program in Oxford, England, for classmates and their partners or spouses.

Oxford is home to the Williams-Exeter Programme at Oxford (WEPO), which exposes 26 (brilliant) Williams juniors to Oxford life and Oxford's one-on-one tutorial method (not unlike the "Mark Hopkins and the log" model).

Oxford is also the "hometown" to Alice in Wonderland, as Lewis Carroll was really Charles Dodgson, a mathematics don at Christ Church, Oxford, who wrote the tales for Alice Liddell, daughter of Christ Church's dean.

Below, read class co-president Martha Coakley's poem summarizing the remarkable week, enjoyed by some 28 classmates, 12 spouses and three staff from Williamstown. (The large white whale was none other than Moby Dick; we saw a dramatic adaptation of Melville's book at the Oxford Playhouse.)

The photos – with captions -- that follow are neither meant to be comprehensive, nor are they arranged chronologically. They're simply meant to remind 28 lucky travelers of some wonderful moments we enjoyed with each other almost 53 years after we first met at Williams and to share those moments with classmates who didn't make the trip.

-- Andrea Axelrod

One pill makes you smaller,

and one pill makes you Tall

Or: how we spent the week with a large white whale and a smaller white rabbit

We descended on Oxford, the great ‘75

With hopes to make it out alive

With walking and talking and buses galore

A lot of stimulus was in store!

The Randolph, near the Martyrs of Mary,

Our base each day--we could not tarry!

Or we would miss a college storied

Or a castle or a garden glory.

We’d gather all with no remorse

In the lobby bar of Inspector Morse!

We were immersed in WEPO first

And it did give us all a thirst

To oh, be 21 or so

So off to Exeter we could go.

But then seeing students at end of term

We were all glad ‘twas not our turn

To write papers each week of 2000 words

And become again, our former Nerds!

Martin Holmes did set us straight 

On EU policy and Putin’s take

On NATO, oligarchs and Ukraine

And why US elections are such a pain.

A special treat with organ Merton

A private concert, always certain

To stir the heart, it was a fest!

And surely soothed a savage breast. 

Christ Church College, nothing odder

Than expecting to see Harry Potter

Zoom by on his way to Quidditch

Or some medieval wizard or witch-it.

The British version of Moby Dick

Put some to sleep pretty quick

While others thought it was their luck

To stay awake with a she--Starbuck.

And Windsor Castle was trip:

Lotsa tourists, we had to zip

Past kings and dukes, much to view

And the resting place of QE2.

We were then blessed with sunny skies

And Civil War truths and lies,

Protestants, Catholics, hanged or burned

And teas High and Low as we all learned

At Broughton Castle, well defined

This history that brought us all Ralph Fiennes!

And now our trip through the looking glass

Comes to an end, tonight, alas

With final diner at Balliol

It gives a chance to Hail you All

Especially spouses--those brave souls

Who tolerate all our Williams roles

With special thanks to Margaret, Ryan, Kate,

Who helped us all to meet our fate

At one year short of Reunion Fifty

To mix Williams and Oxford in a cocktail nifty

Of Wonderland--a week to unravel

And experience both time and space travel.

So long, farewell: We wish you well!

Whatever Monday brings, do tell!

Of next chapters far and wide

And see you on the other side

Of the big pond--in a year or less

In the far corner of Berkshire, more or less,

We’ll gather in Billsville, and toast a cheer 

To the great trip that brought us together here

And to a lucky hand fifty years ago

When down a purple rabbit hole we did go.

The group, including spouses, before the farewell dinner at Balliol College, Oxford...

(Photo: Kate Hyde)

...and without the spouses (and without Peter Hillman, who was under the weather)...

.

..versus the first night, on the rooftop of the Ashmolean Museum.

Ben and Laurie Duke, Barbara Austell, Olina Jonas; in background facing camera: Tom O'Connor and Martha Coakley. (Photo: Mike Snyder)

Deborah Grose, Gene Falk, Jill Bonn. (Photo: Mike Snyder)

Peter Hillman, Hank Haff, Lisa Hillman. (Photo: Mike Snyder)

In the lobby of the Randolph, our home base in Oxford, Jill and Joe Bonn.

Other photos of the Randolph -- interior by Guy Creese, exterior by Ben Duke.

The Alice--the restaurant at the Randolph--has splendid paintings inspired by Alice in Wonderland, but Barbie-pink banquettes. A kindly waitress took this photo of (clockwise from front left) Wendy Gradison, Deborah Grose, Andrea Axelrod, Elizabeth Titus, Jodi Greenspan and Olina Jonas. All but Jodi lived in Sage A as freshmen!

The Barbie Banquette (with Deborah Grose) and Alice paintings. (Photo: Andrea Axelrod)

The Morse Bar at the Randolph is named for Inspector Morse, who imbibed regularly there in the series bearing his name. (Photo: Andrea Axelrod)

Much of Inspector Morse was filmed at Exeter College. The lawns there are sacrosanct--only to be trodden on by Fellows of the College, we were told. So apparently it was a big deal when Morse suffered his fatal heart attack and collapsed onto the grass shown in the upper left corner of the next photo. We were not allowed to recreate his fall for photos.

BLENHEIM

Jill Bonn (twice, left and right) shows off Blenheim Palace, family home to the Duke of Marlborough and childhood home of Winston Churchill. (Photo: Joe Bonn)

Some of our classmates got to pose with Winston: Olina Jonas and Martha Coakley; Liz and Hank Haff; and Mike Snyder and Rich Pickard. (Photos: Andrea Axelrod)

Fred Walker and Jerry Brown preferred a different version of Churchill. (Photo: Sheila Brown)

Below, the chapel at Blenheim. (Photo: Guy Creese)

HIDCOTE

Another day's outing took us to Hidcote Manor Garden, a National Trust property located at the village of Hidcote Bartrim, near Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, in the Cotswolds. (How can one not recite those names?) There was poetry in the gardens, but the back story was one of chance, money, adventure and eccentricity.

Below: The bees were busy. (Photo: Mike Doochin)

Elizabeth Titus and Ann Batchelder (wife of Henri Kieffer, the photographer) watch Wendy Gradison play croquet.

Photos below by Guy Creese:

STOW-ON-THE-WOLD

We enjoyed the privilege of a day in the company of Diane Purkiss, a Fellow of Keble College, Oxford. Though she teaches English literature--particularly the works of Shakespeare and Milton--she is also a historian who has published books about the supernatural and witchcraft, the cultural history of English food and various aspects of the English Civil War. Beginning with a lecture on the latter during our bus ride to Stow-on-the Wold, we got to hear her speak on all three topics.

The Gloucester town of Stow-on the Wold was the scene of the last battle of the English Civil War, with the defeat of the Royalists. Once there, we visited St. Edward's Church, a parish church said to have been consecrated before 1086. On the day of the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold, it housed 1,000 prisoners.

The side entrance to the church, shown below, features a door framed by two yew trees and is said to have inspired Tolkein's hobbit houses. Ms. Purkiss is shown by the door. (Photo: Andrea Axelrod)

Inside the church, there is a World War I memorial, as there is in every church and school chapel we visited. Here Henri Keiffer pores over the names of the dead. Notice the four men listed from the Clifford family. (Photo: Jon Appelbaum)

Below: The town memorial to all who died in the English Civil War (photo: Joe Bonn), a close-up of the top (photo: Ben Duke) and a history lesson captured by Olina Jonas.

BROUGHTON

From Stow-on-the-Wold, we proceeded to Broughton Castle, with gardens and vistas featured in the recent Amazon Prime series My Lady Jane (as well as The Slipper and the Rose (1976), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1982), Oxford Blues (1984), Three Men and a Little Lady (1990), The Madness of King George (1994), Shakespeare in Love (1998), and Jane Eyre (2011). As we saw ourselves, it is also rented out for wedding ceremonies, though they do not have facilities for receptions. They did serve our group afternoon tea. (Photo below: Guy Creese)

The upstairs of the castle had some lovely guest rooms where one might want to linger some weekend, but be warned: There's only one bathroom for seven bedrooms.

One marvelous feature of milady's chamber was what's called a "snitch" window, offering a way for milady to attend chapel (or feel she's fulfilled her holy obligations) without having to actually complete her toilette to be seen in person. (Photo: Andrea Axelrod)

ETON

Traveling the wee distance between Windsor Castle and Eton, we understood why Prince William, as an Etonian, would so often pop over to see Granny at the castle. (Eton photo: Joe Bonn)

We were treated to a wonderful tour, in part thanks to the presence of a Williams alumna who is Eton's deputy director of special collections and a former WEPO exchange student. Among the items we saw in an exhibit paying homage to Lord Byron, were locks of his, Shelley's and Mary Shelley's hair and Keats's death mask, thrilling those of us who had taken Romantic Poetry 301:

The Museum of Eton Life offered this reassurance about the school's sense of sportsmanship:

MORE AT OXFORD ITSELF

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY: Joe Bonn took photos of a number of organs (mostly unidentified), but the first one below is at Merton College and was designed by the same organ builder who built the organ at Joe's home church in Pennsylvania. Some in our group attended an organ recital at Merton (versus the rest of us who gave an organ recital updating classmates on our medical conditions):

MERRY MAGDALEN: A small group got a tour of Magdalen College, founded in 1458 by William Waynflete, Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Chancellor. (We would note that our late classmate Debba Curtis taught at the Waynflete School in Maine, named for this very bishop.)

Oxford has 39 colleges, and when we asked our guide whether new colleges were formed due to disputes over how theology or philosophy was taught or whether it was a matter of ego on the part of the founder, the guide said without flinching, "Totally, absolutely ego." Magdalen, which only accepts 144 new students yearly, is famous for many things, but the big three are: (1) CS Lewis taught there for decades. He would meet often in his offices with Tolkein and other literary enthusiasts-- collectively, The Inklings--to discuss books, encourage the writing of fantasy tales and read manuscripts aloud. Lewis's offices were located in this "new" campus building (from the 19th century), above the center arches. (2) Ten scholars associated with Magdalen have won Nobel Prizes, mostly in the sciences. (3) It has a deer park. (Photos: Andrea Axelrod and Ben Duke)

Our guide, a Fellow at Magdalen College, casually let drop that one of the perks of being a Fellow (aka faculty or senior staff), is that "you get a good venison dinner from time to time." It turns out that the college tradition is that there are as many deer in the deer park as there are Fellows. Should a Fellow retire, leave or die, an adjustment must be made...to the number of deer. "We look forward to the email saying we must avoid a certain corner of the campus on a certain Friday due to periodic maintenance," said our guide. Hello, dinner! (Yes, there'll always be an England.)

OTHER COLLEGES, BUILDINGS AND FACES

CHRIST CHURCH COLLEGE: Among the many stained glass windows of Christ Church Chapel, there are these two by Edward Burne-Jones. Hardy Coleman posed as a "bump on a log" (he agreed it was funny) in front of the Visitors' Centre and Gift Shop of the college. Yes, it was huge enough to have one, and the campus was swarming with visitors.

A view of ALL SOULS COLLEGE through its gate (Photo: Ben Duke)

LUNCH AT EXETER: No wonder Oxford grads think they will run the world. They have lunch (as we did) surrounded by portraits of their college's alumni--a gallery of Chancellors of the Exchequer, Bishops of You-Name-It, prime ministers, Lords So-and-So of the Admiralty, barons and earls, etc. The only women represented on the walls are Queen Elizabeth (the First) and the woman who is currently or recently chancellor or rector of the college, if the college has ever had one. Exeter, one of the smaller colleges, does not have the Rogues' Gallery of, say, the Great Hall of Christ Church, which was used in the Harry Potter movies. Still, Baxter Hall it ain't.

WALKING AROUND OXFORD

(Photo: Jon Appelbaum)

The Sheldonian (designed by Christopher Wren), where some of us heard a concert in Oxford.

A college portico and warning (Photos: Ben Duke)

Ceiling of the Bodleian Library (Photo: Guy Creese)

RANDOM FACES

Jon Appelbaum and Bill Morowski; Sheila Brown, Fred Walker, Tony Brown

Sheila and Jerry Brown left us one day to go to Ascot for the races.

Ginny and Guy Creese | Our wonderful tour planners and leaders from Williams: Margaret McComish, the Executive Director of Gift Planning, Ryan Ford '09, Director, Milestone Reunions Program; and Kate Hyde '96, Assistant Director of the 50th Reunion Programs.

And Mike Snyder's table photos from our farewell dinner at Balliol:

CODA

Duns Scotus's Oxford

By Gerard Manley Hopkins

Towery city and branchy between towers;

Cuckoo-echoing, bell-swarmèd, lark charmèd, rook racked, river-rounded;

The dapple-eared lily below thee; that country and town did

Once encounter in, here coped & poisèd powers;

Thou hast a base and brickish skirt there, sours

That neighbour-nature thy grey beauty is grounded

Best in; graceless growth, thou hast confounded

Rural, rural keeping — folk, flocks, and flowers.

Yet ah! this air I gather and I release

He lived on; these weeds and waters, these walls are what

He haunted who of all men most sways my spirits to peace;

Of realty the rarest-veinèd unraveller; a not

Rivalled insight, be rival Italy or Greece;

Who fired France for Mary without spot.

Reunion has already begun!

In the coming weeks and months you will be contacted by classmates describing themselves as “ambassadors.” They are NOT fundraising. They want you!

These gracious volunteers have a singular mission: to persuade you return to the big one—The 50th Reunion. 

Your presence is really important to them, and to our class. They have all the information you need for registration, housing, travel, and, if necessary, financial and other support. It’s every ambassador’s goal to encourage and guide you back to Williamstown for this momentous life event.

Each ambassador was asked to pick half their contact list from old friends, and half from people they wished they knew better. Not a single name was “assigned“. 

If an ambassador is calling you it’s because they wanted to speak to you. And see you at Reunion, June 12-15, 2025!

50th Reunion Ambassadors for the Williams Class of ‘75:

Martha Coakley and Joe Bonn, Co-Presidents

Peter D. Kiernan, Coordinator 

Barbara Austell

Hardin Coleman 

Clive K Connor

Hope Coolidge

Fred Dittman

Fred Geilfuss 

Robyn Geissler

Peter Hillman

Joe Hutcheson

Nancy Reese Jones

Peter Keller

Melissa McGuire 

Bob Morin

Jon Myers

Tom Parker

Rich Pickard

Gwen Rankin

Dave Reimann

Tim Reny

Rick Richards

Mike Rosten

Judy Serkin

Connie Sheehy

Paul Skudder

Michael Snyder