Dr. Schoenfeld's Visitors to Williams College: Timothy Leary 1969

If realtors now marketing the estate want to enliven their spiels about Williams College with colorful figures drawn from history to pass along interesting tales about those days of yore, they might mention Dr. Timothy Leary in quick passing.

He walked around the grounds once.

You can play prospective buyers Country Joe's 45 on a little turntable and sing along with the intro before you tell them the whole story:

"Have you heard the tale of Dr. Hip?
(He's a pip!)
Though the common cold might rule you
And the whooping cough might fool you
These are nothing for the famous Dr. Hip
(Doctor Hip!)


Dr. Schoenfeld at the time he was in residence at Farley Hall was also the Timothy Leary family's physician. When Dr. Leary came to the East Bay to run for governor of California which developed into a prolonged speaking engagement, the series now known as the Berkeley lectures 1969, Gene invited him up to Williams College. Gene recalled to me (7.14.11) that when he gave Timothy and Rosemary a tour of the grounds, they said the estate "reminded them of Millbrook."

That's what I mean about mentioning Tim Leary in passing. That's all there is about Tim Leary and Williams College because everything else having to do with him happened elsewhere.

Although in 1969, Dr. Schoenfeld served as a consulting editor for The Psychedelic Review and may have read the publication at his residence. I must remind the current reader that although Gene knew Dr. Leary, early on Dr. Schoenfeld found himself at growing odds with Leary's prosylitizing.

And as for the colorful anecdotes, try to work in this one. Paul Krassner recounted one of his typical big fuzzy tales from the era that he pinned to Dr. Schoenfeld, though that particular event occurred after Gene moved from Williams College, it can show that Gene was influenced by his proximity to theater people while on the estate:


"speaking of Gene Schoenfeld's pranks, when Tim Leary was in prison and supposedly revealing secrets, a press conference was held in Berkeley to denounce him; Gene came dressed in a kangaroo suit (it being a kangaroo court, y'see) and a cream pie he hoped to smush in Jerry Rubin's face, only it had Saran Wrap on it and with his kangaroo mittens he couldn't remove it and his plot was foiled (but if he had
used ALUMINUM foil...)"

For a real-life account of why Dr. Schoenfeld disguised himself in a kangaroo suit and boxing gloves, by all means read Harvard Psychedelic Club by Don Lattin (Harper-Collins, 2011), pp. 200-201.

Just try to imagine Dr. Hip in motion with a cream pie. But you don't have to imagine what the podium looked like, because here it is, with Leary's associates discussing their doubts about his credibility.


(from inkwell.vue.168 : Paul Krassner: Investigative satirist
permalink #158 of 301: Paul Krassner (paulkrassner) Thu 12 Dec 02 11:00
http://www.well.com/conf/inkwell.vue/topics/168/Paul-Krassner-Investigative-sati-page07.html#post158
Retrieved 7.15.11



http://books.google.com/books?id=yNylsx9HD28C&printsec=frontcover&dq=harvard+club&hl=en&ei=xDcuTvOMNZCgsQP2tIgT&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=gene%20schoenfeld&f=false
Retrieved 7.15.11

Dr. Schoenfeld's Visitors to Williams College: Rhena Schweitzer, 1966-1971

Gene Schoenfeld was a busy man during his residence at Williams College, but I would encounter him now and again on the estate. One time, he lit one of the pathways for me by flicking on his motorcycle headlamp, twisting the handlebars as if he were aiming a flashlight, and so I was able to make my way down the slope in the dark of night.

One of Dr. Schoenfeld's more notable and surprising guests during that era was Rhena Schweitzer, the daughter of Dr. Albert Schweitzer, who another resident on the estate remembered meeting at Gene's home at Farley Hall; she still regards this encounter as one of the genuine privileges of her lifetime. She recalled Rhena to be a sophisticated older woman whose very European bearing was memorably elegant and her conversation or observations quite intelligent and sophisticated. When Albert Schweitzer died in 1965, Rhena assumed the duties of running the hospital her father had founded.

Dr. Albert Schweitzer's sweeping worldwide celebrity during his lifetime is most difficult to explain now. He rarely appeared on the radio or television, and he became immensely well known only through his books and articles published about him or his works. The name Albert Schweitzer became synonymous with good deeds.


(Photo of Rhena Schweitzer from The Albert Schweitzer Fellowship
Antje Lemke (far right) with Albert Schweitzer’s granddaughter, Christiane Engel, and daughter, Rhena Schweitzer Miller at Chapman University)
http://www.schweitzerfellowship.org/features/giving/endowed_abl.aspx

Retrieved 7.25.11)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhena_Schweitzer_Miller)
Retrieved 7.24.11

(Photo of Rhena Schweitzer and Dr. Albert Schweitzer
by Erica Anderson/Syracuse University’s Schweitzer Collection, via Associated Press, 1963 from NY Times Obituary 2.28.09)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/world/africa/01miller.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1311639014-OPAjGuJbYCHjRUU1J86+xw
Retrieved 7.24.11