The Panther Cultural Exam: Jerry Price edition
Collage by Matias Pacheco-Ramirez, Photographer
When Dean of Students Jerry Price announced his retirement last November, it was a shock to the Chapman community. But as the semester draws to a close and his weekly emails and video series grow numbered, it’s begun to sink in that Price is really moving on from this institution.
Before he sets off to read, catch up on old movies, golf and enjoy other retirement activities, features and entertainment had the chance to sit down with him and get his thoughts on the books, films and other forms of media that have impacted him most.
This is “The Panther Cultural Exam.”
The Panther: To start, what's one piece of culture — be it books, movies, TV — that you would say changed your life?
Jerry Price: Oh my gosh. I'm an English major twice, bachelor's and master's. So, literature, film, things like that have done that. Gosh, art changed my life in so many ways. I would probably have to say (William) Faulkner's “The Sound and the Fury” because I read that in college. So, I know some people read (it) in high school. I'm like, really? How would you even make sense of that in high school?
William Faulkner wrote in his Nobel Prize address that the only thing worth writing about is a human heart in conflict with itself. So big, dramatic things don't happen. It's just a family in conflict. I find the everyday conflict of everyday people so compelling. I think that's where it really kind of started that insight for me.
The Panther: What's one book that you think everyone should read?
JP: I want to say “The Odyssey” because I'm a big believer in how culture is piled on top of things that came before it. And so much of our storytelling and of our cultural illusions and things. And of course there's a film (coming) this summer.
The Panther: Are you excited for it?
JP: I'm always worried they're going to screw it up because (with) special effects, sometimes I think directors can be distracted from the storytelling, so I worry about that.
The Panther: What's a movie that you think everyone should see?
JP: For that, I have to say, “Citizen Kane.” It's 80 years old and it so captures the human psyche and the human condition. I so respect how Orson Welles, this 25-year-old guy, was just given free rein to go make the movie he wanted. I don't know, he just did it perfectly. He brought (together) the elements of stage and even radio because that's what he knew, but then also threw in these, for the time, remarkable special effects just because he was given license to do what he wanted..
But again, I go back to (William) Faulkner, the human condition, the human heart in conflict with itself, because here's a guy who had everything but was still tormented. What was that torment?
The Panther: What does Rosebud mean to you?
JP: I grew up in Texas, so whenever I walk out of an air-conditioned building around here on a hot day, 90 (degrees) or whatever, I'm immediately in a good mood. And because it reminds me of my carefree days of youth, in the summers, no school, (you could) go out and play baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, whatever. So to me, that's what the sled was. He had a simple, happy childhood. Loved his mother. (He) became famous and influential, but it didn't match the happiness he had as a kid and you miss that happiness. That's what it means to me.
The Panther: You just gave me a good segue. Who's someone from Texas or like a Texas legend that you are proudest to be in league with?
JP: There's a long list. Well, first, I say, (of) the long list of sports stars, at the top would probably be Nolan Ryan. Tom Landry, former coach of the Cowboys, (who) grew up in Harlingen, Texas, down on the border. Larry McMurtry wrote “Lonesome Dove,” I think his work is amazing. I’m trying to think … Well, there's a million Texans. Beyonce's from Texas, my wife drove Kelly Clarkson through a McDonald's drive-thru (and) went to a concert with her.
The Panther: If I understand it, all those bobbleheads on your shelf are Texans.
JP: Yes, that's right. And I should have mentioned front and center, Buddy Holly.
He was from Lubbock, Texas, died at 22, but he had such an influence on music by the age of 22. It's kind of amazing. I enjoy learning about people who I like being from (where I’m from).
The Panther: This one's a little esoteric, but I wanted to ask it. You walk into a movie theater. Where are you sitting?
JP: Always on the left side, on the aisle. Near the aisle. I would say about a third of the way back, a little in front of the midpoint. Part of it is because I was born mostly deaf in one ear. So I hear much better on my right. So that's why I sit there. Most times students sit here or there, but I always put them on (my right) side, so I can hear them. When I go to meetings, I always sit at the left end of the table. So, (when) I go to the theater, even though the speakers are all over, it's just kind of this psychological thing. I'm used to having my focus from the left side.
The Panther: What's your favorite movie that you feel like no one else has seen?
JP: That's what I want to get to. There's an amazing movie called “Quiz Show.” Robert Redford directed it. I'm not about special effects. I'm about storytelling and character. It's both straightforward and remarkably complex about people's motivations, why they do what they do … I won't spoil it for everybody.
There's one scene where they're playing poker that I think is just not only written spectacularly well, but to me, that scene becomes a microcosm of what the whole movie's about. And that's what I love, (it) doesn't have to be a shootout, doesn't have to be Tom Cruise running down an airport runway or whatever. This is some people who vaguely know each other, playing poker — but the thing is, two of them have an agenda that are kind of in conflict, but they also don't even have the same information about how deep they're into that agenda.
The Panther: That's a human heart versus a human heart.
JP: Yeah. And everybody else just thinks it's a poker game, right? But these two people know it's something different, but not even on the same level, and it's just brilliant.
The Panther: Big question: “Creature From the Black Lagoon” posters here, “Creature From the Black Lagoon” memorabilia there. What's up? Where did the passion begin?
JP: It's probably not as elevated as it appears from those things. When I was a kid, I was the youngest of four. Long before cable, we had like three or four channels … I had two older brothers and an older sister, but the family television was dominated by my older brothers. So, I watched whatever they watched ‘cause there was (only) one TV and they loved old monster movies. And the king of the monster movies is the “Creature From the Black Lagoon.”
The reason why it's here is I probably found that poster in a garage sale back in the mid- to late-‘80s. I kept it and I wanted to put it up, but my wife was not really crazy about (it being) up in the house. And then probably 15 years ago, Jim Doti — who was president, and also was a film buff — was a big fan of old black and white films, right? He and I started a black and white film festival that we did (over) five Fridays in the fall semester. And we did it in the piazza. We'd pick a series of five black and white movies and we always did one in October that would be a horror movie. And so the very first one, we did the “Creature From the Black Lagoon” because I got to pick the movies and he approved them. I thought well, since we're now showing the film as part of this series, that gives me license to get my poster framed, there's some relevance now to the work and so that's why I did it. But other people see that and then they give me little “Creature From the Black Lagoon” gifts.
The Panther: And then to ask about the other accessories here. I see a “Wicked” poster on the wall. Someone told me that you love the book, but not the musical.
JP: They're very, very different. I like the musical very much. It's one of my favorites. The reason it's up there is because in the musical, they're college roommates. I also just love this graphic. First of all, there's two characters that we know in culture very differently in how they’re portrayed in (“The Wizard of Oz”), which I find interesting. And now here there's one sharing some kind of secret or thought with the other that the other is finding amusing. So the almost little conspiracy kind of tone to it. I just like the whole thing. So I thought, okay, they're college roommates. So thematically, it fits.
The Panther: What are your favorite musicals?
JP: Well, the one next to it is “The Secret Garden,” which almost everyone knows. My wife and I saw it with the original cast in New York back in the early ‘90s. Mandy Patinkin (and) Rebecca Luker. It's the first Broadway musical to win Tony Awards that was written, produced and directed all by women but it's just absolutely beautiful music. I love “Into the Woods.” I love “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which is kind of dated today, but for someone who grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s, it was just an absolute aberration that you take something as serious as Christianity and the Passion of Christ and set it to rock music. I liked how they contemporized their personalities and their struggles. The whole notion of Judas as really dedicated to the cause, who feels Jesus is allowing his followers (to go in) a whole different direction, and he shouldn't. He and his failure to really control them is going to be the downfall of them all, which of course ends up being true in the musical. Whether it's true in life is up for everyone else to decide.
The Panther: With that, we bid farewell to Jerry Price and wish him the best in his retirement. Hopefully he’ll have time to sing along to show tunes, rewatch Quiz Show and discover more notable Texans.
