Millikan
Alumni
Permission
to reprint from the Long Beach Press-Telegram by Phillip Zonkel
March 4, 2000
ALVIN RANDALL is about to catch a tennis ball
in an acting excercise during rehearsal for "Knights of
The Round Table". He will perform as King Arthur in a special
matinee of the play at the Edison Theatre today. Photo by Brittany
M. Solo, Press-Telegram
A LEGACY WITH A LOT OF CLASS
Retired drama teacher Al Randall stamped an indelible impression on his students...now he's become King Arthur.
By Phillip Zonkel
Staff Writer
School's been out 36 years for Barbara Kiley, but she doesn't mind going back to class, especially when it's reminiscing about her Millikan High School drama teacher Al Randall.
"Every one of us looked forward to that class every day," says the 52-year-old Mayor of Yorba Linda. "Every one of his students was special to him, that's the way he treated you. When you walked out of that class, you always felt sorry for everybody else because (you felt) he didn't like them as much as he liked you"
Randall, who also taught English and Public Speaking during his 32-year tenure at Millikan, retired from teaching in 1988. But, old teachers don't fade away, they return to the stage. Today, the 77-year-old Randall will portray King Arthur in "Knights of the Round Table" at Edison Theatre, his first professional appearance in more than 30 years.
After graduating in 1945 from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University with an English major Drama-Speech minor, the Ohio native (born Alvin Rashkow) went to New York City and dabbled in acting for three years under the stage name Alvin Randall. In 1963, after seven years at Millikan, he officially changed his last name to Randall.
His Russian heritage also may hold clues to his sharing, caring personality.
"(Al) came from a Russian-Jewish background, and he was probably the American dream (in his family)," says Michael Monaghan, 57, Millikan's Head Counselor, who was the Chair of the English Department from 1971 to 1985. "He wanted to share the idea that anybody can do this, you can be whatever you want to be, with students"
"My three favorite words are I will try," Randall says. "You gotta try and you gotta have an optimistic attitude to have the confidence to go with it"
Some of his former students say he fostered the confidence with respect.
"He called us not by our first names, but it was Miss George, or Mr Jones. He didn't talk down to us," says Diane Rodecker, 56, a free-lance columnist and 1960 Millikan graduate, who took Randall's Public Speaking and Drama courses in 1959 and 1960.
"A lot of teachers, in an effort to establish rapport, would talk on our level, using the vernacular, and that isn't what students really want, or they would talk down to us in a sarcastic attitude," Rodecker said. "While he could use facetious remarks, the respect was always there." "He was extremely encouraging, one-on-one encouraging," Kiley says. "You never walked out of that class thinking, "I can't do this." He let you grow and develop at your own pace. He never said "That's no good."
But encouragement wasn't the only thing they took from his classes.
"I left his class with self-confidence," Kiley says. "I could get up and perform."
"(I learned) to not be afraid to try anything," Rodecker says. "I tended to be shy, and he made sure that you felt comfortable before you got up to speak in front of the group. He always found something to compliment."
But in 1988, Randall ended his lesson plans. The previous year, around the same time he turned 65, he had a heart attack. He took the coronary encounter as a sign to close the book. "
I miss the students and the camaraderie," Randall says. "(But) I closed the door to room 403 and said, I'm going into another room and I don't need to go into that room." '''
Class dismissed or not, many people are still left with a yearbook full of memories.
"I don't think any of us reach 100 percent of our students," says Monaghan, "but to the students Al reached, he was certainly inspirational."
|
THEATER PREVIEW |
| WHO: Alvin Randall as King Arthur in "Knights of the Round Table" WHEN: 2 p.m. today WHERE: Edison Theatre, 213 E. Broadway, Long Beach HOW MUCH: $20 general, $15 students with ID, $12 seniors |INFORMATION: (562)432-1818 |
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