Wanting to walk the halls and classrooms where you spent four years as a teen is a familiar impulse, a nostalgic pull that can draw alumni back during hometown trips.
Robin Williams "had faculty and students alike roaring with a nonstop barrage of one-liners," a student journalist wrote. (Photo by Tom Weber)
The 30-year-old who made an impromptu visit to Detroit Country Day School in May 1982 wasn't just another ex-student fuzzily recalled by teachers and administrators.
A day after two standup comedy shows at the Royal Oak Music Theater, Robin Williams stopped by the Beverly Hills prep school he attended from 1964-68 while living in Bloomfield Hills.
Todd Karr, a 1983 graduate, covered the visit as editor of The Day Times bimonthly newspaper. His article, illustrated with five photos by Tom Weber, is posted by the school in tribute to the actor who died Monday. (Click the "Read More" link below to see it in full.)
Surprised students were "staring in awe at the superstar," the junior wrote. They trailed him "like children following the Pied Piper."
Other excerpts:
WIth no advance notice, the unsuspecting student body was predictably quite shocked to see the immediately recognizable comedian coming down the hallway as they removed their books from their lockers. . . .
Williams, patting students on the back and declining autographs, . . . worked his way to the office of Headmaster Richard A. Schlegel, where he agreed to present an impromptu assembly for the students. For ten minutes, Williams had faculty and students alike roaring with a nonstop barrage of one-liners about Country Day.
Students especially liked his impressions of lunch: "Do they still serve that stuff that looks like roofing materials? That's the meat . . . don't look at it too long." A small middle school student with a camera was dismissed as a staff member of the "Junior National Enquirer."
He told of his experiences on the school's wrestling team: "Lose more weight? I'm only 14 and I weigh a hundred pounds!" And, reflecting on running track, he did an unmistakable impersonation of Country Day's longtime track coach George Browne.
The student journalist wraps up by saying the star left "students to wonder if they, too, could someday return to Country Day in such glory."
-- Alan Stamm
