By Tommy Bourgeois
Updates from a lighter-than-usual mailbag:
Jay Shanker, whose 2005 return to his hometown of Oklahoma City left a void in Los Angeles (most acutely felt in your faithful reporter’s Fairfax Village/Carthay Circle neighborhood), writes, “I’ve been deeply immersed the last year in a new book project, The Essential Guide to Entertainment Law, which is due out in May from Juris Publishers. I’m an editor/author (and managed the contributions of another 16 colleague-author contributors) of this 2,100-page, two-volume compendium on legal and business fundamentals in the core entertainment industries (film, television, music, theater, book publishing, entertainment industry taxation, digital gaming, and talent representation). Figured I’d put out a career’s worth of accumulated knowledge (mine and others’) in one place so I can return to it should my memory start failing. Would love to share this with interested classmates, and perhaps their kids now making their way in these industries, via our website www.eg2el.com. Now, if I can only find a similar repository for my house and car keys.” Whatever else Jay has learned in his distinguished entertainment law career, he clearly knows how to address his target demographic.
Speaking of show business, another former Angeleno (and, what’s more, erstwhile resident of my neighborhood), the much-heralded theatrical producer Catherine Schreiber, checks in with this news: “Happy to be working on fabulous projects on Broadway and in London. On the Great White Way, the fun continues with The Play that Goes Wrong, hailed as ‘the longest and funniest play on Broadway.’ Look for it soon in a city near you. Also proud to be a Tony-nominated producer on the epic production Angels in America, the most Tony-nominated play in history! It’s the 25th anniversary of Tony Kushner’s unfortunately still-timely work. Up soon on Broadway: Pretty Woman. In London I’m working with Elliott Harper Productions on a new version of Sondheim’s Company with a female Bobby, and a new production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. There’s also lots of stuff in development. I love theater and how it can change lives. Come join me at www.catherineschreiberproductions.com!” Catherine adds, “So proud of our children Stephanie and Jeremy, both in medical school. Husband Miles Ruthberg remains a senior partner at Latham & Watkins. Not sure where the medical gene came from.”
I am sad to report that Harold Naill Falls died on February 9 at his home in Nashville. Born in Memphis, Naill was raised in Wynne, Arkansas, and graduated from its public high school. After Yale, he earned a law degree in ’79 at Vanderbilt, where he graduated Order of the Coif and served as managing editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He subsequently clerked for Judge Harry Wellford of the US District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, and he went on to practice commercial and securities litigation in Nashville.
John Veach shares this remembrance: “Naill was my roommate in Branford College for three years and my law partner for the last 22 years. We started our small law firm in ’96 in Nashville, both coming from large firms. I moved to Asheville, North Carolina, in late ’99 with my family, and we telecommuted. We joked that to be a partner in the firm one needed to have a somewhat unusual first name (my nickname is Tucker), have three children with the second and third being twin boys, and live in a town ending in ‘ville.’ Naill’s daughter Catherine is a member of the Yale College Class of 2019, and his sons Christopher and Andrew will be headed off to college this fall. Over the years we shared lots of hard work, lots of fun, and lots of great stories. He will be greatly missed.” John also notes, “Naill died of a rare neurological disease. (Only eight cases have been diagnosed in the US.) He dealt with his illness with the courage and grace we would have expected.”
In addition to his children, Naill is also survived by his wife Mary, his sisters Nancy Falls and Jessie McClure, his brother Everett, and by many cousins, nieces, and nephews. On behalf of the class I send condolences to all his loved ones. His family welcomes gifts in his memory to the Tennessee Justice Center or to Alive Hospice. It is remarkable in connection with Naill’s untimely passing to take stock of the profound effect many of us still feel from “the friendships formed at Yale.” Other Branford alums who wrote to me in the wake of this sad news include Nick Koechlin, Pennlee Lanselle, and Mitch Tilner.
As always, I welcome any news you’d like to share, and I encourage you to seek out and enjoy the company of classmates in your proximity.