Project Update
It's been a slightly slower week on the proofreading front—I'm guessing that some people are still busy scoring Matt Ginsberg's word lists, since there's a lot of crossover between volunteers on these two projects! In any case, early Tuesday morning Todd Gross sent in 10 puzzles. Then Thursday afternoon an anonymous proofreader sent in 8 puzzles with 11 mistakes. And Friday Denny Baker sent in 32 puzzles. Thanks so much, everyone! We're still finishing up 1966 and will soon be into 1965, a year that had quite a few publication problems—mostly missing, duplicate, and incorrectly typeset puzzles. Definitely a challenge!Blast! Solution
Speaking of challenges, there were no correct answers to last week's Blast! from the Past. The clue, from the June 12, 1967, puzzle, was: "Guy, good or bad." The hint: "The answer is 3 letters (1 vowel, 2 consonants)." The answer was EGG! As usual, this week's Blast! challenge appears in the sidebar.American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame
I recently came across an article in a 1992 CROSSW RD magazine about efforts to establish a crossword academy. The article, written by constructor and American Crossword Puzzle Tournament organizer Helene Hovanec, profiled Robert Guilbert, a marketing and communications executive and freelance writer who spent his final years trying to create a crossword academy. Guilbert's "vision was to recognize many levels of professional crossword people—constructors, editors, writers, publishers, contest winners—and house the Academy in a public institution in Washington, D.C." |
| Photo of Robert Guilbert courtesy of CROSSW RD |
Intrigued, I Googled Guilbert and found a 1990 New York Times article by Randall Rothenberg, "Money Is the Word to Cruciverbalists." Apparently Guilbert had begun laying groundwork for the academy in 1988, which Rothenberg wrote about in his August 10, 1988, Times article, "Puzzle Makers Exchange Cross Words." The 170-member group, whose official name was the American Crossword Puzzle Academy and Hall of Fame, held its first—and seemingly only—meeting on Saturday, September 15, 1990, in New York and was attended by 28 constructors and editors. The meeting lasted for three hours and focused on "ways to improve contracts, fees and publishers' profits." This fascinating Times article, which you can read by clicking here, includes comments by Dorothy Davis, Maura Jacobson, William Lutwiniak, Eugene T. Maleska, Stan Newman, Lou Sabin, and John Samson. And another article on Guilbert and his academy appeared in a blog post on kolynychboss8, which you can see by clicking here; it includes comments by William Lutwiniak and Mel Rosen.
Unfortunately, as Helene Hovanec's article notes, Guilbert passed away shortly thereafter, and "the idea of the Academy seemed to die also." She adds, "No one in the puzzle field has expressed any interest in continuing the project as he envisioned it." I did find a listing for the academy on Bizopedia, which you can see by clicking here. It shows that the academy was registered as a Wisconsin Non-Stock Corporation on June 9, 1989.
I wonder whether there would be interest today in reviving the academy or creating something like it. If anyone has any thoughts about this, please feel free to comment or contact me directly. And if you attended this historic meeting and care to reminisce about how it went, I'd welcome any comments on that as well!
Now that I've reread the Times article, I'm sure that I was there. I can recall the two camps "making nice," but of course nothing came of Bob Guilbert's project. One significant historical footnote: Note the photo credit at the bottom of the article is Dith Pran, which confirmed for me that I was at that meeting. Cambodian-born Mr. Pran was portrayed by Haing Ngor in an Oscar-winning performance in "The Killing Fields" I recall recognizing the name on his nametag, and chatting with him about his experiences.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stan—what an interesting thing to remember!
DeleteDear Mr. Strindberg. Your interest in Bob Guilbert is of interest to me, as I am his youngest son. He was a remarkable person - and his dream for a "Crossword Puzzle Hall of Fame" did indeed die with him in October, 1990. Born in 1911 in Bruce, WI to a charismatic, intellectual and somewhat itinerant Congregational minister, my father was "farmed-out" to uncles on a farm in Wapello, Iowa before living and making- it on his at 15 in Chicago. Phi Beta Kappa in his all-boy high school, Lane Tech - Bob excelled academically while working at night at the Chicago Public Library. He became an actor after two years of study at Cornell College - both on stage and radio. In the mid to late 1930's, Bob played "Don Winslow of the Navy". He worked with later stars such as Don Ameche and Tyrone Power. As an ad executive with J. Walter Thompson, Bob worked in Manila in the 1950's, and also Mexico, D.F. His dreams included "Historical Portage Park", and "Portage Playhouse", both unfulfilled. A dreamer, businessman, writer, linguist and bob Vivian - Bob, now gone for 26 years, left a legacy of dreams and accomplishments. He was a great father and loved the written word. His wife of 40 years, my mother, is still alive and doing well, at 92. Hope this information is of some interest. Best wishes, Jonathan Guilbert, Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for writing, Jonathan! I'd like to discuss this with you further—can you please contact me at preshortzianpuzzleproject at gmail dot com (using the usual email format, not spelled out like here)?
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