James G Fisher::  Testing, 1, 2, 3.. James Fisher, class of '63.
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Perfect, go ahead.
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Oh, we're going already?
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Yep!
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  James, middle initial 'G', Fisher: F-I-S-H-E-R, class of 1963, North Younker dorm, and my best and greatest... I guess, memories of Grinnell are: it gave me my career...
James G Fisher::  Two of us had gotten together and a third formed a comedy trio that used to perform little skits all over campus. We opened Burling Library with a skit about getting past the Indians in Poweshiek County to get here to the Library.
James G Fisher::  We were the first group to perform down in the Roberts Theater stage doing one of our bits. We would do things at the All-Day Campus Picnic, virtually all around campus. We just did performing and enjoyed it so much after we left, each of us went to grad-school in Public Administration.
James G Fisher::  I was a Political Science major, and I went to Kansas University, the City Management Program. The other went to the University of Indiana and the third, John Charaker went to.. John went to University of Indiana, John Hansen '63 went to Michigan.
James G Fisher::  And about three months in I wrote a letter to the other two saying: "You know, if you ever want to try show-biz we'd better do it now while we're young, and not regret that we didn't do it." So I offered to support us financially if I could because I had become appointed Assistant Village Manager and Civil Events Director of Niles, Illinois.
James G Fisher::  And so we got together. They came back, and we started doing little bits and pieces and went on to perform... Oh, I remember our first performance in a mall.  The owner of the mall came up and kinda said, "Well, you have to decide if you're three funny guys who wanna sing, or three singers who wanna be funny." And so we decided we wanted to be the funny guys who occasionally sing.
James G Fisher::  In a kind of, almost meteoric career rise, we performed at the very famous Mother Blue's Club in Chicago. We opened for Odetto when she came here. We opened for Sergio Mendez Brazil 66.... Oh, many, many great acts.
James G Fisher::  Mother Blue's, at the time, was the hot club, and at some point Frank Freed, the biggest manager in show business, came to see us and signed us to take over for the then-very popular Mitchell Trio. We thought we were-- show-biz was easy. You know, we'd been doing it for six months.
James G Fisher::  And it really kinda went nowhere. We did do a lot of touring comedy. We actually came back; we played Grinnell, again, in Roberts Theater. And... kind of.. I just did a lot of touring and all that, and then I know one of the members it just didn't seem to be going anywhere and kind of split up.
James G Fisher::  I, at that time, auditioned for the Second City Theater in Chicago and joined the cast of Second City with John Belushi and Harold Ramis and Joe Flaherty and Brian Doyle-Murray, and I spent four to.... maybe four and a half years in Second City.
James G Fisher::  And then two others joined me and we had another comedy trio, left Second City, went out to Los Angeles and became... doing television appearances: Tonight Show, Merv Griffon kept us alive. He booked us 13 times.
James G Fisher::  And at some point, again.... Gosh, we met other famous people. I remember Ringo Starr coming to see us, and everybody was somebody.
James G Fisher::  Didn't really... that-- we had several almost-breakthroughs in that career and that seemed to be going nowhere. And so one of the partners who was John Belushi's best friend from growing up kind of said, "I'm through it. I'm gonna get into working with John."
James G Fisher::  And Jim Staahl and I continued as a writing team and that began my writing career in... Hollywood for 28 years.
James G Fisher::  So really, it's still all goes back to Grinnell, because while here discussing with other of the students, we remembered that The Caucasian Chalk Circle was the first theatrical production they put on in Roberts Theater, and somehow I got cast as the king- I don't even know what the role was, but....
James G Fisher::  After the first act, the then-director complained that there was no energy, you know, "C'mon, get some energy out there! It's not going well." So I opened the second act, and I guess this is the birth of my improvising career, but there was a piece of chewing gum under the chair, and proceeded to do about 7 minutes of improvising with not being able to get rid of the piece of gum.
James G Fisher::  I would stick it to my fingers, stick it to the shoe, and... you know, I thought: "Hey, this is great! The audience is howling, everything's going well." I got off stage, a cast memeber said, "You'd better hide. The director wants to kill you."
James G Fisher::  So finally after the show, he found me, and came up and said, "Fisher, you do not belong on a theatrical stage! You belong in a night club!" And actually, he predicted my future.
James G Fisher::  So that was actually the basis, like I said, of.. my career really started here and Second City. Fond memories of Second City, havng been here for the 50th reunion and meeting up with other classmates were some of the master-pranks that we got involved in.
James G Fisher::  We attempted to elect a student council government candidate by imitating the last scene in Manchurian Candidate, whereby I made the nominating speech, which is a speech from the movie where he gets assassinated, and I had ketchup packets in my hand, and...
James G Fisher::  John Kirker again, was up in the balcony of Boardfield, it was in the basketball court, with a hammer and a big roll of caps, and just when I hit the line, you know, "I'm not gonna ask anybody to do what I myself wouldn't do," he hit the caps. I was splatterin' my forehead with blood.
James G Fisher::  They rushed up on stage and we attempted to get a unanimous vote for our candidate to be elected. Scurvy Orvy was our candidate, and Scurvy did not win. I guess better minds prevailed.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Gosh, I'm tryin' to remember some of the other... like I said, when we got together, our class especially, we were all in North Younker, and I understand they no longer stay the four years in the same dorm like we did.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  No.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And I think that's a real tragedy because the friendships we had.. I mean, it was such a bond. I mean, the whole time here that- that core people that we spent all those years with, and I said, did stuff. Chained the ARH doors closed, and stole the falcon off of Gates Hall, and....
James G Fisher::  Oh, one of the freshman I remember, we- they'd snuck a horse into the.... his room, the president of the North Younkers room. It proceeded to go to the bathroom all over the place, so... got in some trouble. Yeah, and it's funny.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So when we sit around and talk about the years, I hardly remember class, class things except, I think it was Professor Jones who used to have the habit of pausing when he would-- We didn't know if he was asking a rhetorical question or a real question, 'cause he would always say, you know, "So, in 1776...." And there'd be a big silence and you have to-- 'sposed to raise your hand and say, "Uh, okay, this happened." Or he would then go and complete what it was.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So he became kind of somebody we always imitated.
James G Fisher::  But I- yeah, I mean, the basis of Grinnell for me was really the friendships through all the years of those who kept in touch, and, of course, now after 50 years you're avowed to keep in touch more, and essentially, like I said, launching a career that I had no intention of at the time. I was a Poli. Sci. major and I was set to go in the University of Kansas to be in the KUCMT, which is Kansas University's Center of Management Trainee, get an internship as an Assistant Village Manager.
James G Fisher::  And actually, that was a funny story, too. We actually went back and played a party for the election of the mayor who was mayor when I had my internship as our comedy group.
James G Fisher::  So, in the showbiz career I've worked with Stephen "Steve" Allen, Steve Martin, Stephen Speilburg... Got to shake the hand of the first man who walked on the moon 'cause we happened to be standing backstage before we went on to do a comedy bit. Just, memorable Bob Hope, I mean just the pantheon of people that I- I've met and worked with and for.
James G Fisher::  And that experience- I mean, very different from all my classmates who went on into banking and law and medical school... mine was more itinerant, traveled a lot, met, like I said, really interesting people...
James G Fisher::  Went overseas, and my partner was in Spies Like Us so they sent him to Norway and took me along 'cause I was- we were writin' a feature film at the time, and so... got, gosh, 8 weeks in Norway. I mean, just wonderful mentions: went to London and I was the first American comedy duo to perform on Des O'Conner's variety show in England.
James G Fisher::  But I owe it all to Grinnell. I, yeah, I think I had the bent, but I think I actually... that hooking up with Jim Hansen, class of '63, and John Kirker, class of '63... and that launched everything.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And I'm just looking at your other questions....
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.... You know, and I was wondering about, says: "How would you compare the students of today with your classmates."
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yep.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And that was my question to you, was...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Asked me.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Do they still do the pranks, and.. I mean, all the stuff that we engaged in... it wasn't always like, illegal, but it was a bonding thing of "Okay, we're doing this." you know? And getting people together.
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  You know, I don't feel like the same amount of pranks go on as they... as I've heard about. That's just not a thing that we hear about as much.
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Hm. You might be a more serious generation. I mean, in terms of... we got together, and discussing it, we'd hate to be in your position in terms of...
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Yeah..
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  We already had jobs when we left. There was a whole kind of a future. There wasn't, I don't think, that- that kind of whole doubt of the economy and "If I leave, can I get a job?" and stuff.
James G Fisher::  And I think.. I think that weighs more heavily on my classmates at the Forum meeting yesterday run by one of our classmates started parsoning about the future... what the 60s and 70s, what it's mean for the future.
James G Fisher::  But he was saying, I think, there's been a disconnect of doing for others, because as things changed the economy and you start to worry about yourself, "Am I still gonna have a job? Am I gonna have to work past when I wanna work? Keep healthcare.." and all that.
James G Fisher::  And that brought up, I think, a lot of the this and this in the country, 'cause everybody stopped being altruistic and really kind of said "How's it affect me? How's it affect me?" as opposed to going, " How's it affect...?" You know, people kept bringing up how many kids still nowadays, like 30 percent of kids have to get their meals from school, and we've really cut off a whole segment of our population of the less.. the lesser economic people, and it's becoming a bigger divide.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And... I think all of that has affected 2015, 2013 classes. I think you guys maybe have a little different perspective, and I think our future is much more... we were into the protests and...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Well, we still protest everything.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Good.
James G Fisher::  But ours, you know, we had our classmate who was here, Michael Hart. It was while we had the group that got in the bus and went to Washington to protest the bomb and that was one of the, yeah, the really early kind of...
James G Fisher::  I don't know, getting into Peter... Well, he's Peter Cohen, now the actor, but when he was here he was-- well, he's Peter Cohen here; he's Peter Coyote now, the actor, and Zal Lefkowitz became Zalman King. And I remember they left early and went out to Hollywood and had showbiz careers.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  But otherwise my bro- I came to Grinnell 'cause my brother went to Grinnell.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Oh.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And I kept visiting the campus, going: "Well, I don't wanna go to like, the University of Illinois," you know, "I don't wanna, yeah, a big school, 34,000.... Ehh.. I like that little Grinnell school." And he said, "Okay, go to the North," 'cause he'd been in North.
James G Fisher::  And so I kinda had a little leg up on people 'cause there was people he knew. In fact, the kid who was a good friend was the dorm president, so I think they probably looked out for little brother.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  But it's been an interesting coming back, seeing the changes... I mean, I remember.. coming back for one of the cluster ones when Ward Fie-- I think Ward Field was still here, but they were building the other athletic facility.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  The Bear?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  No, PEC, or pear- something..
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Oh, the P-E-C, yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And that was a huge improvement. I remember seeing that thing and going, "Oh, wow," and all that. And then here they tore that down and now they built this-- yeah, and visiting the new one is just utterly fantastic.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  The Bear's great.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  When we were here, the student union-- the Forum wasn't even here-- the student union was an old Barracks 'cause they had built barracks here for... the guys coming back from World War II to go to school. So the Student Union was this.. essentially an old barracks building.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And... just wooden, wind would blow through it, oh..
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Where was that located at?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Right where the Forum is.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Oh! Okay. Where the south Forum is?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah, okay.
James G Fisher::  And that building... they had burgers and hamburgers and stuff.. And we, as the- I was on the track team then, and we used to come back from spring- no, Christmas vacation early 'cause we had indoor meets, and they put us up in that old wooden building in bunk beds. Ugh, it was horrible.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  It used to be a women's gym in the middle of the campus.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And during indoor season there was a gym in the basement-- less than 200, I think it was only 200 yards. It was a real steep bank cinder track that was stale and stunk 'cause no air ever got down there. It was enclosed, and you'd have to run that thing. And because it was so short you laps, you know, you're gonna run 19 laps to go around.
James G Fisher::  So they tore that down somewhere in there and built the Forum. Actually, I think... my partner might ha- I think we came back and he performed some stuff in the Forum. There was a big fireplace there I think I remember us being by.
James G Fisher::  And then, I remember the old barracks, not the one that left the union, and they burned down a year we were here, a huge fire on campus at the old barracks. But there weren't anymore veterans by that time, comin' back.
James G Fisher::  The stables that were out the way I played freshman baseball, and the way to get to that baseball diamond you had to hike where it still is, but then it was past the stables and you know, past the fields, and I remember goin', carryin' my bat out there goin' "Where's the baseball diamond?!"
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And it was terrible. It was just dirt- infield was all dirt.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  You know, holes and little hills in the outfield and stuff, and... Met with the new baseball coach and took us out there goin' "Oh my God." This is heaven.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So there's been amazing improvements, probably mostly through the funds of Noyce and...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  -investing in such things that in that day, like, I think: "Invest in a television station? What? Are you crazy?" And that endowment brought 80 million dollars or something.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Oh, social stuff. I don't know if they still- if guys and girls get pinned, that the guys would go over and we'd serenade the women 'cause it was- Well, it was north was men's campus, south was women's.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Uh-huh.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So we'd go over and sing, and then they'd sing back, and that was "oooh" the wonderful romantic moment of getting pinned.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So, at least here.... yeah, three couples that married, still married, were here, and there were several... unfortunately one of the spouses passed away.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  I've met several married couples..
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  --that were both Grinnell students.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  I know.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  I- I, as people were doing that, I go: "Well, that's right. I remember goin'...." You know?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Still together. That is wonderful for them.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  You have any questions? That you asked the other people?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  I don't know. I mean, one of the things that has been really interesting to hear about, and I don't know if you have anything that you want to say to this, but people have been talking about it: the different social movements that were very active on campus during your times. Like, what the politics of the- that the student body was most interested in was...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  What's- well, it's interesting because...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Well, and like, what sort of changes were going on on campus?
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Yeah, well, because we were here, yeah, in the big upheaval late 60s...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  It's funny... but it gave our comedy trio... That's where all like, the comedy fodder came from.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Right, mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  So really, all that social stuff, we did songs about or we did sketches about what was going on... I'm tryin' to find- recall anything specific, but nothing...
James G Fisher::  Again, our one partner, John passed away, but Jim Hansen was here, and Jim Hansen I went to grade school with, went to high school with, we both came to Grinnell, and so we still get together, but... And he was lookin' around, and one of the discussions was going on and the person's political group points were flying around, and he looked at me and he said, "And those were the vary same discussions that gave us all our material."
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  'Cause we go, "Oooh, yeah. Let's make fun of that point of view!" "Let's make fun of that point of view!" And... I mean, I... There was a lot going on, 'cause I said, I remember the group that- the fourteen that got on the bus, you know...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Right.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And went on to Washington..
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  There were the huge, really bad incident once of a bunch of the football players... When it was... Smith was always the jock dorm...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Oh.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And I understand there was a guy, a hippie, long hair, and I guess he was in Smith and that's what I didn't realize, but anyways he never, evidently, refused to bathe and I guess smelled so bad that the roommate, you know, complained to all the guys, goin' "I can't even go in the room it's so bad."
James G Fisher::  So they all got together and they physically grabbed him and took him into the shower and bathed him and cut his hair, and that was a hu- oh man.. I mean, on campus it was... violating somebody's rights, and I mean...
James G Fisher::  I remember being shocked by the fact that they did that. Just like, "What?" You know, "they would do something like that?"
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  But that showed a bit of a conflict on campus. What I didn't realize- I thought it was, well, quote, he's a hippie and has long hair. I just now, 50 years later found out, what it went back to was the roommate complaining: "This guy's made my room uninhabitable because of the odor."
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  'Cause he didn't do anything.
James G Fisher::  And I- now when I look at it I go, "Oh, I never got that-" I thought it was a whole political reason, was 'we don't like your long hair.' You know? 'We're cuttin' off your long hair, you hippie guys.'
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  And... so I was... 50 years I've been goin' around goin' "Ooh, that was a big incident." I can see now somebody going, "Oh my God." You know. It was unbearable.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Mhm.
James G Fisher::  I'm tryin' to remember some... but there was a... the beginnings, I mean, that was the lecture of the whole 60s of the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Rights Movement... that Terry Parson and his wife, from our dorm led...
James G Fisher::  Is it still going on? Did it start something, and all that... And then it took us really... My years in Second City were really the yuppy old days.
James G Fisher::  I mean it was... Abby Hoffman, and I remember the trial of Chicago... Seven was in Chicago and Abby Hoffman used to come visit us on stage. After we performed the regular show, we'd improvise.
James G Fisher::  And... he would play Judge Hoffman, who he just hated from the trial, and you'd just make a mockery of the trial that had just happened that day. And then we would find out that the Illinois Bureau of Investigation was like, had tracked him down and were showing up to see what he was doing, and we'd smuggle him- we'd put props on him and old hats and sneak him out the back door.
James G Fisher::  But... that really... more than Grinnell, was the Helcion days of like social protest and being in the midst. So we did all kinds of, you know, of course anti-war stuff, and.... It was a great day to be- great time to be at Second City.
James G Fisher::  Okay, yeah... Grinnell's changed a looooot.... And I- and like I said, and I've been telling everybody- I say: "I don't-" All my memories of Grinnell are the group, the stuff at dorm, the pranks, the social stuff, my performing....
James G Fisher::  Not a lot about classes other than Comparative Religion where they, we got into a discussion on it today.... growing up and you know, going to church and stuff, and I remember going to Comparative Religion, and they brought up the mythology of all these religions and they start...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  They all had, like... they all had the baby that's put in the reeds and floated down the river some, you know, and this-- I remember there was a huge awakening.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Uh-huh.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  It was like, I thought "I don't even belong to my religion. What? There's seven stories like that? Oh, boy. And Christianity has some of these Pagan festivals that were taken over?" You know.
James G Fisher::  We just named them different holidays, and Christ was born in April but we say December.. And spring- I was like... And I think that put me out- my brother who was at Grinnell went on to be a minister, and I kinda went the other way.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  What kind of clothes did I wear? He,heh.. What did my dorm look like? Oh, we had a very neat dorm room. We had one of the few triples on campus when I got here, so that was...
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  It's over there.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  In north, yeah.. I never realized we had two triples in north, and I think there was one in Rawson.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  But, unless you have any other questions... I've rambled enough.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  You about done? Alright.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  Sure. Unless you want..
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  I think we're good.
James G Fisher & Willa Collins::  -to feed me more..
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Alright. Well, thank you.
Willa Collins & James G Fisher::  Yeah.
