In the 1988 movie ”Dead Poets` Society,” actor Robin Williams portrayed John Keating, an unconventional English teacher who was popular with his students, but not with the hidebound administrators who ran the prestigious prep school. The movie ended with Keating being fired. The actor said he based much of Keating`s character on his memories of John Campbell, who taught English, history and government to Williams at the Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Mich. Now Campbell is getting the pink slip. Campbell said this week that he has been told, after 28 years on the faculty, that his contract with Detroit Country will not be renewed. ”I don`t fit their corporate image,” said Campbell, 55. ”I have been for a long time very unconventional. The chairs in my classroom are not in a straight row.” A statement from the school said the decision followed years of reprimands and that Campbell ”has not satisfactorily demonstrated a willingness to adhere to all the academic and professional standards of the school.”
BARD IN THE BUFF Perhaps the Detroit Country Day bigwigs were afraid that Campbell would follow the lead of Teatro do Ornitorrinco. The Brazilian troupe will stage ”A Midsummer Night`s Dream” in New York`s Central Park that will be in Portuguese and contain some nudity. ”Since Brazil`s culture is based so much on the beach, it`s not an issue there,” said New York Shakespeare Festival spokesman Richard Kornberg. ”I would think that the amount of people who might object would be nothing compared to the amount of people who would want to get in and see it.” Parks Department spokesman Stewart Desmond said,
”It`s not like we haven`t seen it all in New York.” The play opens Aug. 1.
SO SHE DIDN`T LIKE IT? Susan Lee`s critique in The New York Times Book Review left no doubt what she thought about ”Trumped! The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump.”
Wrote Lee: ”If you always suspected that beneath his crude, callow, shallow exterior lay a crude, callow, shallow interior, read `Trumped!` It will give you the pleasure of knowing that you were right.”
RELIEF COMIC Being a relief pitcher provides plenty of time to contemplate the greater issues of life. Larry Anderson, the free-spirited right-hander who toils for the San Diego Padres, offered these thoughts to the Philadelphia Inquirer:
If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn`t the plural of booth, beeth?
How do you know when you run out of invisible ink?
Why does sour cream have an expiration date?
Was Robin Hood`s mother known as Mother Hood?
Why is it that when you send something by ship, it`s cargo, and when you send it by car, it`s a shipment?
Why do you park on the driveway, but drive on the parkway?
BOUND FOR SPOKANE If you believe a new study by Ryder Truck Rentals, Spokane, Wash., has more going for it than being the hometown of Ryne Sandberg. The eastern Washington city was the most popular choice for people changing addresses in the first half of 1991. About three households moved to the area for every two households moving out, Ryder reports. Joining Spokane among the top five hot spots are Springfield, Mo., Greenville-Washington, N.C., Nashville and Las Vegas.