I was pleased to read your tribute to Dr. Topping in the Spring ’98 issue and would like to add a few words from my recollection of those early years.
Dr. Topping and William “Bill” Pereira were dear friends and associates. As director of planning and design for Pereira, I was privileged to meet with them and engage in a number of stimulating discussions related to then current and long-term planning for the university during the early 1960s. We had under Pereira’s direction guided a broad site selection study which eventually led to development of new campuses at UC Irvine and UCSD in La Jolla.

Norman Topping

Bill Pereira, then a visiting professor of architecture and a planning consultant for USC, was clearly frustrated by the serious limitations of a severely constricted site and difficult social, economic, and infrastructure problems which enveloped the campus and environs. Because there appeared to be little likelihood of implementing even a portion of Dr. Topping’s dream for USC through the end of the century, Bill suggested that Dr. Topping consider moving USC to a large, new campus on Irvine’s huge, sprawling 80,000 acre property in Orange County. Would not a USC move to a new, healthy, well-planned environment offer substantial advantages?
Dr. Topping, after long and serious consideration, determined that the university could not, in clear conscience, abandon this historic campus and its community. Rather, it had a responsibility to exert and broaden its rich and powerful influence to enrich and enhance the community on which it stood, and to spread the health within its core outward; to influence, heal and assist in the renewal and revitalization of areas surrounding the campus.
Toward this end, Dr. Topping directed William Pereira Associates to assist the city in identification, planning and redevelopment of adjoining areas which would allow USC to grow, prosper and enhance the greater university environs. Dr. Topping vigorously directed this effort, and the rest is history.

Your article on Dr. Norman Topping was nice, but you didn’t talk about one of his greatest legacies to USC, the Norman Topping Student Aid Fund. Run and funded by students, but started by Dr. Topping, this fund awards scholarships to students at USC and was the only one of its kind. I had the honor of meeting Dr. Topping in ’82...a remarkable man even from a student’s perspective. I experienced first-hand how much he cared about the students.

The Spring 1998 issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine is another excellent issue. I wanted to thank you for the highly informative Norman Top-ping presentation and the succinct “In Mem-oriam” on Roger Egeberg.
I was especially saddened by the passing of these two great USC giants who, along with former dean John Ingle, were instrumental in my joining the dental fac-ulty 32 years ago. They were both remarkable “physician/ administrators” who established memorable records for both the university and its health sciences. I only wish that Ingle or the current dental school administrator had been given an opportunity to remember these caring humanitarians with a tribute.
Condolences to families, thanks for the presentations and keep up your excellence.

The writer is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Dentistry at USC.

I received your Spring issue for 1998 with the editor’s note regarding Norman Topping. Also, regarding the now special USC University Hospital, its expertise and its leadership. I am now 82 – happy – and have 42 descendants. I am enjoying retire-ment in St. George, Utah. Please continue sending me this magazine...thanks!

After reading the Spring 1998 issue of USC Trojan Family Magazine, which contained an obituary for my father, Royal D. Marks, I felt compelled to share some additional information about him.
He graduated from USC in 1932 and remained affiliated with the university until his death. He was president of the College of Commerce while attending the university; he made many contributions to the Alumni Association, not only during his term as president of the Assoc-iated Alumni Clubs (1975-76) but also long after that time. He
won the Tommy Trojan Award in 1977 and he was a trustee of the university.
He also played an instrumental role in the early stages of interpreting law and establishing the legal rights of Native Americans, particularly the rights to voting, citizenship, and water.
Dale Hilton, retired director of USC Alumni Affairs, said, “Royal was an example and model for USC as a dedicated Trojan for fundraising, alumni support, scholarship, and any other area. He was always there to help when needed.” This quote is from a video that was made in 1988 to
document my father’s many accomplishments during his 30+ years as an attorney for five different Native American tribes in Arizona. This video is on file in the library at USC. It was presented to my father as a gift on his 80th birthday.
My father was a loyal Trojan for over 65 years, and I’m sure he would appreciate being memorialized in your magazine.

I saw the article on Julius Shulman in USC Trojan Family Magazine [Spring 1998]. Shulman wrote and photographed a two-page article for the October 17, 1953, issue of the Los Angeles Times Home Magazine on our home at 51 East Bonita, Sierra Madre, CA. It was designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright’s who also worked for Neutra, Lautner and Schindler. We still have three Eames chairs from that period.
I wish we could get to California to see your exhibit. But you may not have this L.A. Times article in your file, so I thought I would let you know. Check your archives!

As a Trojan far-removed from home base, I look forward eagerly to each USC Trojan Family Magazine; it is a very fine periodical and keeps me in tune with what is going on, on campus.
I’m of the class of ’37 of the School of Architecture. Sixty-one years away from the campus is a very long time, and I suspect that I might not recognize the campus were I to visit it today, save for Bovard, the Library and the Student Union.
In the early ’30s, the street car ran down University Avenue; Silverwood’s and a couple of eating places were across the street from Old College; the School of Architecture was in a temporary one-story wooden structure on the corner of 35th and Hoover, and the University tennis courts were immediately behind.
I have read with interest from time to time of changes continually taking place on campus, most recently of an anticipated development along Exposition Boulevard. As I mention these streets, I retain a vivid picture in my mind of the over-all layout and environs of the campus, albeit an early ’30s picture.
I cite all of this to suggest that at some time you print, in an expanded centerfold, a rendered, in-color site plan of the entire campus that might be removed from the magazine for framing. To many who are far removed from our Alma Mater, this would be of extreme value.
I trust that this suggestion can be given some real consideration. Perhaps the thought has never crossed the minds of those who see the campus regularly. To us who are permanently separated, this would be well received.

Since I live in Munich, Germany, and travel quite a bit, my sweet 94-year-old mother receives and reads my USC Trojan Family Magazine before forwarding it on to me. When she read in the Autumn and Winter issues [“Mailbag”] that musicians do not write in enough, she embarrassed me into writing in a “thumbnail” description of my musical career by saying that (A) she’s so proud of my musical accomplishments and (B) she’s tired of hearing, “Oh, so your son is a composer. How wonderful. What does he do for a living?”
I graduated from USC in 1950 with my Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude), majoring in composition, and then went to Paris to study further at the Ecole Normale de Musique, where I studied composition with Arthur Honegger and conducting with Jean Fournet.
Returning to USC, I did some assistant teaching and put in a year studying
towards my Master’s degree before I got a great job offer composing and conducting in Austria under the auspices of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Information Ser-vice. Among other super-fun undertakings there, I conducted, wrote and arranged for an international prize-winning choir, and conducted the first Broadway musical in Austria and Italy (Bernstein’s On the Town).
After recovering from a long, incapacitating siege of hepatitis I started writing, recording, and conducting for Austrian and German radio and TV, and was luckily “discovered” by NFL films, for whom I wrote and recorded all their music for the next 25 years, while continuing to write and record for German international TV (25 TV series) plus several feature films and a myriad of TV spots. Along the way I won some film prizes, including a Clio in New York, a prize in the Venice Film Festival, and the Bundes Filmpreis in Berlin.
My main residence is now in Munich, Germany, but my wife and I manage to spend some time in our homes in Mal-lorca, the Bahamas and Switzerland. We have a beautiful life thanks to USC and music.
Oh, if you’ve started to add up the years since I graduated, you’ve probably concluded that I should be retired by now. But I’m having too much fun. I’ve recently finished my latest international TV series which is now running in 26 countries.
“Fight on for old ’SC” How’m I doin’, Mom?

Your recent article on KUSC [Winter 1997] brought back memories of when I, as a student, presented part of my senior piano recital as a broadcast from Hancock Audi-torium in early 1948.
A memorable experience was that of turning pages for John Crown, pianist and my teacher, when the Hancock Trio consisting of Crown, Anton Maskoff, violin, and Stephen De’ak played the Beethoven “Archduke” Trio in a broadcast from Hancock Auditorium.
They had forgotten about it until an hour or so before, so they had no time to rehearse. Since they had played together for several years they managed to give a credible performance by John Crown cueing the others.
It was quite something to watch! Fortunately, they were not on TV.

This publication is always welcome in our household. The Spring 1998 issue was of particular interest to me since I was an employee in University Planning during the Master Plan. And a letter in “Mailbag” is getting me back in touch with a campus friend from that time. Thanks for your magazine of “Excellence.”

When the Spring ’98 issue arrived, as it happened I was keeping company with a venerable English lady of letters. We enjoyed the contents, especially meeting such a glorious gang of Trojan people. “However,” said my friend, author of Emma, Persuasion, etc., “I must demur with modest pride and a mere tickle of prejudice, on behalf of my dear papa and myself, in stating that our cherished surname is inexplicably vowellated on page 11.”
That demurrer aside, it’s a Spring issue worthy of handsprings.
So says his friend Jane and of course,

I am conducting research for a history of the USC Cinema School and would appreciate hearing from any students or faculty who could share memories or materials with me – especially from the early days of cinema study at USC (1929 and on).
Contact Professor Dana Polan, Critical Studies, School of Cinema-Television, 405 George Lucas Building, USC, 90089-2211. My telephone is (213) 740-3329; e-mail: DPolan@cntv.usc.edu.

As a part of the 1998 USC Emeriti Center’s “Celebration of 20 Years,” we want to honor USC’s retired faculty.
I would like to invite alumni to submit, in writing, the name of your favorite
professor at USC, along with a brief sketch expressing your feelings about why that professor made a difference in your life, both then and now.
Send your written piece to the USC Emeriti Center, Attn: Harriet S. Servis, Associate Director, 3715 McClintock Ave., Suite 220, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0191.
Thank you. We look forward to honoring your favorite faculty member!

USC Alternative Spring Break volunteers gather on the balcony of Dorothy’s Place, a homeless shelter in Salinas, CA, where they washed dishes, served meals and interacted with residents. Other students worked on the Navajo Nation Indian reservation and in Death Valley National Park.

This past March, 24 USC students spent their spring break here in Salinas volunteering at Dorothy’s Place, a hospitality center offering shelter, meals and comfort to the homeless and street people.
These 24 young people could have headed to Palm Springs or Hawaii, but instead they chose to give of themselves and help the homeless and our community.
It is heartwarming to see such a contribution made by college students. As a graduate of USC, I am proud and pleased to see such service being performed.
Congratulations, USC! You have set a wonderful example for all of us and especially the young people of Salinas.

As part of the USC History Project, the USC Alumni Association is encouraging alumni and friends of the University to donate their USC “archives” back to the university. It is our goal to display some of the more interesting items in the Widney Alumni House on a permanent basis.
If you have any such materials (such as yearbooks, programs, pictures) that you would like to donate, please contact Margaret Doss at the Alumni House at (213) 740-2300.

Mailbag, c/o USC Trojan Family Magazine, University of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA 90089-2537, fax: (213) 740-1746

And of course, by e-mail at magazines@usc.edu