Around the Quads
National Council: Reaching Out to Alumni
CERC Part of Multi-Diciplinary Growth
From the Nile to the Web: Putting Papyrus Online
The Application Beat Goes On
DYI Theater
An Oscar for Bill Condon '76, five Grammys for Lauryn Hill '97



OSCAR WINNER:

Bill Condon '76 won the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay of 1998 for Gods and Monsters, which he also directed.

Based on Christopher Bram's novel Father of Frankenstein, it is a fictionalized account of the end of director James Whale's life. The independently produced film starred Brendan Fraser, Ian McKellan, who was nominated for best actor for his portrayal of Whale, and Lynn Redgrave, who was nominated for best supporting actress.

The nomination for best adapted screenplay surprised Condon. "We had to fight so hard just to get the movie released -- it took five months to get a distributor after its initial screening at Sundance -- just that seemed like a victory."

Condon was a philosophy major at the College who studied Greek and Latin while auditing Andrew Sarris's film classes. He moved to Los Angeles intending to go to film school, but when a producer noticed an article Condon had written for Millimeter and called asking if he had any ideas for films, he was able to skip the classroom level and go directly to work.

"Gods and Monsters is the first project I've been really proud of," he said. "It's the first one I've had real control over."

Now he is working on directing a film about Bess Myerson, the first Jewish woman to become Miss America.

Also in the entertainment field, former College student Lauryn Hill '97 took home five Grammy Awards at the recording industry's spring event, the most ever for a female artist. Hill entered Columbia in 1993 but left after one semester to devote time to her musical career with the Fugees. She enrolled again in the spring of 1995, leaving after another two semesters when her career as a solo artist began to explode. How hot is she? Even before her Grammys, Hill was portrayed on the covers of Time, Rolling Stone, Esquire and the Fashion section of the Sunday edition of The New York Times, all within the span of a month.

Meanwhile, Zora Neale Hurston Professor of English and Comparative Literature Robert O'Meally was nominated for a Grammy in the historical category for co-producing a five-CD collection of the greatest jazz singers of the 20th century. He is believed to be the first Columbia faculty member so honored. The Jazz Singers: A Smithsonian Collection of Jazz Vocals from 1919 to 1994 resulted from a lecture O'Meally delivered to an academic conference in which he put together a selection of jazz recordings to accompany his talk.