The "The Famous Classmate Whom Made My Dad Proud!" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Thinking back to when my father was alive and the many stories he shared with me about his youth.  He was born in 1920 and would have been 100 this year had he lived this long.  Dad died in 2007, but his stories still live on in my memory.  His stories of meeting mom in high school were all rather humorous.  When dad was a senior, mom was a sophomore.  She dated all of dad's friends and as a last resort, dated dad.  Since there were no more guys for mom to date, she kept dad.  Dad graduated in 1938 from J.P. McCaskey High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Two years prior, a fine athlete by the name of Henry Norwood "Barney" Ewell graduated from J.P. McCaskey.  Dad often told stories about Barney and his athletic achievements.  "He even won gold medals in the Olympics," dad had told me at one time.  Dad always thought it was neat that his middle name was the same as Barney's first name.  But, the "star" of dad's class was a guy by the name of Franklin J. Schaffner.  Recognize that name?  Not only was Franklin a friend of my dads, he was an Academy Award-winning director of television, Broadway as well as movies.  Memories of my dad and his friend flooded back into my mind this past Thursday when I found a lengthy story titled "Remembering Franklin Schaffner" in my local newspaper.  Story told of his being a famed filmmaker, a McCaskey grad as well as a graduate of local Franklin & Marshall College.  As a senior at McCaskey, he starred as Mr. Darcy in "Pride and Prejudice" which was the first play ever presented on the J.P. McCaskey High School auditorium stage.  Mr. Schaffner was born in Tokyo to Protestant missionary parents in 1920.  At the age of five he came to the United States and was raised in Lancaster.  As a teenager he worked as an usher at the local Hamilton Movie Theatre.  The movies must have made a lasting impression on him at the time.  

Mr. Schaffner

After graduating with my dad as the valedictorian of his class, Frank enrolled in nearby Franklin and Marshall College where he majored in government and English.  While in college he performed in numerous student productions at the Green Room Theater and worked as a part-time announcer for WGAL Radio.  In a newspaper article from the local Intelligencer Journal, one of Frank's college friends who performed with him, Mary Atlee, recalled that his finest performance was as Feste in "The Twelfth Night."  She called his acting brilliant!  After graduating from F&M in 1942, Frank had plans to enter law school, but his career was sidetracked by WWII.  Both he and my dad served during the war.  After the war Frank worked with the World Peace Organization where he served as assistant director for the documentary film series, "The March of Time."  That must have given him the taste of directing that led to his career in directing.  He then accepted a position with the news and public affairs department of CBS Television News.  At first he covered sports along with public service programs which included the national conventions of 1948 and 1952.  He switched to drama and directed more than 150 live television plays for "Studio One," "Ford Theatre" and "Playhouse 90."  He was the director for the series "Person to Person" for Edward R. Murrow and the documentary "A Tour of the White House" which was hosted by Jackie Kennedy.  He received a Trustees' Emmy and the Peabody Award for his directing in these shows.  He received Emmys for productions of "Twelve Angry Men" in 1954, "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial" in 1955 and for the first six episodes of the "The Defenders" in 1961 which was considered to be television's best episodic dramatic series.  The year before he had directed the successful Broadway production "Advice and Consent," which earned him Best Director recognition in the Variety Critics Poll.  At this point in time he formed his own production company and entered films.  His first picture was "The Stripper" which was followed by "The Best Man."  Other films you may remember were "Planet of the Apes" and "Nicholas and Alexandra" which was nominated for the Academy Award in 1972.  One of his films, "Boys from Brazil" was partially filmed in his home town of Lancaster.  That film starred Gregory Peck.  During the filming of this movie he received an honorary doctorate from F&M.  after receiving the award he began work on the film about the life of General George Patton called "Patton."  

Mr. Shaffner receiving an award.

Before directing the movie he read 13 different books on the general.  The film, which was made in 1970, won him the Academy Award for best directing.  The star of the movie, George C. Scott, won a best actor Oscar for his starring role.  Franklin & Marshall College  is going to feature a special exhibit dedicated to Mr. Schaffner as soon as the college reopens due to COVID-19.  Starting in the 1970s, many artifacts and memorabilia have been donated to the college and are now being gathered into a special exhibit.  I am anxious to make a visit when it does open. I'm so sorry my dad will not be able to attend it with me.  Mr Franklin J. Shaffner died in California of cancer in 1989.  He has made Lancaster proud and placed our city on the filmmaker's map.  Dad at least had the chance to celebrate some his friend's achievements before he passed.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.