My Grandpa Played Baseball For The San Francisco Seals. Name Is Hecktor Hanson. Does Anyone Have More Info?
he lived in san francisco. probably played in the 30′s or 40′s.
Play review: Spiritual drama played in North Berkeley by Actors Ensemble–rewarding production, by Peter Menkin
The problems of living in community were dramatized for this rewarding play, “As it is in Heaven” from Actors Ensemble of Berkeley. On a cool night Linda and I visited the comfortable theatre that is part of a recreational center, getting there via directions by MapQuest that led us directly to the foot of the location we wanted to be: Live Oak Theatre, Berkeley, CA USA.
Known better as Actors Ensemble of Berkeley, and well said since the all woman cast of this “Spiritual Drama” was polished and practiced, that their rehearsal and study paid off shown well in the performance we attended on a Saturday night.
The able and even dramatically imaginary directing by Jeremy Cole in his last production of the 2009 season played so well that without nary a hitch the dance and singing, the dialogue and drama moved ahead and movingly in a coreographed series of conversation, angel sightings, character dialogue of a revealing kind on the backgrounds of these dedicated Shaker women. The women were afterall both entertainingly and skillfully played as their 19th Century simplicity of lifestyle and faith in God in Christ at their Kentucky village in Pleasant Hill.
Written with obvious compassion and feeling by playwright Arlene Hutton, this sometime comic and amusing portrayal is a two-act pleasure. As we expected, the evening was a good one as both Linda and I became involved in the lives of these devout and dedicated women of special character and conviction. The musical singing was soothing, melodic enough without being harmonic (appropriately so for Shakers, we learned), and all in all the event was worth the 50 minute drive from where I live in Mill Valley, CA (north of San Francisco).
The North Berkeley location is well lit, and the man behind the ticket counter amusing as he took our money or did the will-call ticket check-in with a little story or a few words to each patron in line. An hospitable experience by the young man who wore a fashionable hat while keeping the line going.
The theatre house blurb notes of the play: “Based on actual events from the Era of Manifestations in the late 1830′s, “AIIIH” interprets a time when reports came to light of young Shaker girls experiencing unusual trancelike activities, communication with angels, and descriptive journeys to heavenly places.”
Let me note that the Deacon was well played and with a fierceness that was convincing and effective. The elder of the Shaker village women showed her steadfast willingness to keep the community stable and long lasting, though required to make tough decisions about the lives of her flock. An admirable and mature performance by the actress was obvious. In fact, the entire range of performance was mature in outlook and rendering, no small feat given the various emotions and situations of a living kind the women practiced in their work of getting along, living together in religious community.
In conclusion, let the playgoer know that this ensemble play acting will entice and even bring joy with some edification to the fortunate theatre goer who takes the extra measure of checking out Actors Ensemble of Berkeley’s very good production of “As It is in Heaven.” Certainly, this is a theatre that gives value for the price of admission judging by this show, the first Linda and I have attended.
Peter Menkin, an aspiring poet, lives in Mill Valley, CA USA (north of San Francisco).
My blog:
http://www.petermenkin.blogspot.com
Was golf originally played by men….or was golf originally a ladies game? (Heaven forbid!)
Sometime last year I visited the Ming exhibition at the Asian Arts museum in San Francisco. My interest was piqued by a hand scroll in colored ink on silk, exquisitely beautiful, which featured in part the “beauty and pleasantry” of the Court ladies’ lives in the Inner Palace. This wonderful scroll, attributed to Du Jin (1465-1500), depicted the ladies going about their favorite pastimes, including the serving of snacks (no surprise there!), kicking a ball (Did ladies of that period really play soccer or, better still, American football? – my mind is really going overtime trying to picture that one!)…and, even more curious…playing a GOLF game…Wow!
I, needless to say, did a double take; And, yes, it showed ladies (not men wearing kimonos!) holding a club which was clearly a golf club as we know it today; perhaps not your new Nike square headed driver, but depicting a regular iron, complete with grooves on its face, together with a small golf ball sized ball and a hole. So here we clearly see ladies in China in the late 1400′s playing a golf-like game inside the walls of the Imperial Palace.
You, like me, may have heard that the letters GOLF actually stand for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden”. Although there is clearly no truth in this being the origin of the name “golf”, as this type of word play was not in vogue at that time, over the years there has certainly been a particular school of male golfers who think women should be kept well away from the course…
Where did golf really start? And was it played by men or women? A few searches on Google and a quick look at other resources did not provide a conclusive answer.
It would seem that there are many different countries who would like to claim that golf started with them. And there is a certain amount of evidence to support each and every claim. Certainly a golf-like game was played in many counties, not just in Scotland or China, but also in Rome, Holland, Belgium, France and England, to name just a few of these claimant countries.
In China, records show that their particular golf like game, called “chiuwan”, was played five hundred years before golf was ever mentioned in Scotland (far earlier also than the date of the scroll I spotted at the Ming exhibition). This particular version was played with 10 clubs, not 14, and there is no reference to it being played over 18 holes and totaling an average par of 72. It is suggested by Chinese researchers that golf could have found its way to Europe compliments of Mongolian travelers sometime in the late middle ages.
The Dutch not only claim to have instigated the game of golf, but also lay claim to naming the game. The Dutch word “colf” actually means club, and colf morphed into golf.
So, how do the Scottish respond to such claims? They agree that stick and ball games have been played all over the world for centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, did indeed originate in Scotland. And the name golf may very well have come from the Dutch.
And as to whether it was originally played by men or women, the rich or the poor, it is clear that both sexes and people from all levels of society have played golf-like games for many centuries.
Roseanna Leaton, specialist in golf hypnosis downloads to train your mind to play great golf.
With a degree in psychology and qualifications in hypnotherapy, NLP and sports psychology, and a great passion for golf, Roseanna Leaton is one of the leading golf psychologists. You can get a free hypnosis download from http://www.RoseannaLeaton.com and view the GolferWithin golf hypnosis cds and downloads.
