Features

The "Thorsburg Drizzle"

In June of 1940, Dwain (then 19) and Harlan L. Brevig co-created a curious central Minnesota publication entitled the Thorsburg Drizzle. They used an old printing press someone let them have and they sold copies for 5 cents each. The circulation was doubtless what could be expected from Elbow Lake farm country. Here is a sample story:

"CRAZY KIDS: Here is a little record for you to break some time when you get left in town. Harlan Brevig and Dwain Johnson ran home from Elbow Lake (4 1/2 miles) in thirty-two minutes, so they claim. They plan to try it again sometime when they are dressed for it. By the way it happened around midnight.

I wonder what attraction home had. It is hard to believe that they were so tired that they ran 4 1/2 miles to get to bed sooner.

'Crazy kids', Mrs. Arthur Johnson said, and she may have been pretty near right."

The "I THINK..." section sports many intriguing gems, including:

"'Babe' Entwiele wants to go to Fergus pretty bad now, but there is a chance that he will change his mind when he meets "her" boyfriend. Tough luck, Babe. Better luck next time."

"Merl "Hit me on the head and call me Shorty' Johnson, who has been pretty much on the loose for a while, has finally settled down on a 'homestead' in Alex. Hey what as that place got that Thorsburg hasn't?"

"It is really hard to believe that Dwain goes to Herman just to skate. What has he on his mind anyway?"

"FOR THE BEST IN ROLLER SKATES AT NEW, REDUCED PRICES ---- SEE DWAIN JOHNSON"

'Lil Abner & The Bodybuilders

There are hundreds of stories about Mr. J's directing and hopefully you'll feel free to send us some. In the meantime, I thought I'd share one from his John Marshall High School days.

The play was Lil Abner and the script called for a group of guys to pose as body builders. Figuring that the average Minnesota high school student in the early '60s wouldn't necessarily know how to pose in the authentic manner, Mr. J decided it would be wise to provide them with research material.

He went in search of a body builders' magazine... Now you have to understand that prior to the 1970s Mr. J was a sort of a--- no, he was a bean pole. And suddenly the thought occurred to him how utterly absurd it must look to the checkout clerk that this skinny dude was buying body building magazines.

"You see, this isn't for me," he hurriedly explained. "I'm directing a play..." and he went on and on with an elaborate and lengthy explanation as to why he was buying the magazines.

No longer able to stand it, the clerk finally sighed and said, "Look mister. I really don't care why you're buying these magazines. Could we just move along so I can help the other customers waiting?"

Dwain loved to tell this story on himself as a cautionary tale against hubris.

CLICK HERE TO SEE IF DWAIN'S EFFORTS (EMBARRASSMENT?) PAID OFF

MEDIA

ROCHESTER INSTRUCTIONAL TELEVISION
Thirty years before social networks began to document every event in the life of both students and teachers, media innovator Dwain Johnson saw the potential of closed circuit television in the educational setting.

The video below is a sampling of Johnson’s preparatory lesson designed to guide the camera-shy school teachers of the 1980s into the brave new world of video communication. Substitute “television” with the “Internet” and you still have highly relevant material.

THE SPARTAN SCENE - Mayo High School
Dwain Johnson's television studio at Mayo High School in Rochester is thought to be the very first student-run television studio in the United States and The Spartan Scene to be the very first student-produced news program.

It might be hard for the average teenager today to imagine a time when everyone wasn't in possession of a video camera and instant Internet broadcast capability. But for those of us old enough, the accomplishment was monumental.

ACADEMIA

AN EXCERPT FROM "AN ANALYSIS OF ACTOR-BEHAVIOR IN EDUCATIONAL THEATER"
DWAIN'S MASTERS THESIS [1959]: -- CHAPTER TWO -- OVERT DEFENSIVE BEHAVIOR OF ACTORS "The study of actor's problem is, in reality, the study of general human behavior under rather special circumstances. The intention of this study is to examine human behavior patterns which will be of specific aid to the educational theater director in his attempt to understand and direct the actor.

This chapter will deal with certain types of overt defensive behavior that the actor may employ when confronted with acting problems he believes he cannot solve directly..."

"...The actor who rationalizes. Rationalization, for the purposes of this study, will be defined as the process whereby reasons, arguments, excuses, or explanations other than the real ones are offered to justify and act of commission or omission...."

DISSECTING CLARENCE DARROW
"A CRITICAL STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF CLARENCE DARROW'S PLEA TO THE JURY IN THE MASSIE FORTESQUE CASE" [1958] -- a paper presented to Dr. Robert Wick, St. Cloud State University

"...Whether or not Darrow intended to try this case on the basis of race difference or not, the situation did exist. For that reason the composition of the jury was very important to the presentation of the plea..."

"When we consider the integrity of the ideas expressed in this plea it is apparent that the ideas will logically have no more merit than the man who conceived them. It becomes necessary to analyze the intellectual stock of the speaker..."

A HANDBOOK FOR EDUCATIONAL THEATER DIRECTORS
"A TASTE OF SUCCESS" -- a commissioned work for Robin Johnson

"...To make this work, the director needs to do two things: He has to be innovative enough to legitimately utilize every student who makes himself available. This does not happen by just creating a titled position with nothing for the student to do which will contribute to the welfare of the play. The director must give the student a productive task to complete..."

"...Secondly, the director needs to believe in the equal importance of the contribution to the show of the crews compared to the contribution of the actors. If you accept the premise that the crews are a service group for the cast (as do many directors who are former actors), then you don't belong in educational theater as a director. The concerns of educational theater start and end with the student..."

PHOTO GALLERY

Your computer must be able to play flash in order view the photo gallery above. Picture Description: Dwain, the quintessential college man on the Gustavus Adolphus campus | Dwain as a wee small J | Swimming in (I suspect) Pomme De Terre | The "serious academic” | Administering dorm room shampoos | College graduation | The Navy slacker with his daughter | Teaching high school actors how to kiss on stage | Directing his final show | In retirement with his "chum"

I didn't know that...

• Dwain loved the comedy of Benny Hill


• He really couldn't sing that well but that didn't stop him from regular comic renditions of songs like "Oh! How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning" & "Bee-ay-bye"


• Dwain's nickname for his wife Noreen was "Chum"


• As a young man especially, Dwain loved playing practical jokes


• The "L" stands for "Luverne"


• After mistakenly arriving at the Gustavus Adolphus radio station two hours early, iconic American poet Carl Sandburg sat and talked with the college-aged Dwain, just the two of them. Dwain was amazed that Sandburg was genuinely fascinated by Dwain's life on the farm and was far more interested in talking about that than poetry


• A horse fell on its side while Dwain was still on it, crushing his foot. So many bones were broken some of them never did heal properly and that's why Mr. J walked with a limp


• Dwain's childhood dog was named "Curly"


• While in the Navy during WWII, Dwain was stationed in Chicago and was responsible for calling cadence for his troop while they marched in downtown. Every morning at the same time, he passed a little girl waiting to cross one of the busy Chicago streets. Each time, he took her hand and, never interrupting his cadence, walked her across the street where they parted company only to see each other the next day. The two never spoke to one another


• Dwain sat on one of the first advisory panels for the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis


• "He vas my boyfriend!" --- the line spoken by Cloris Leachman in Young Frankenstein --- marked the first time Dwain's daughters ever saw their father erupt in uncontrolled laughter at a movie