obituaries

Arthur Ballet was the most memorable professor I never had as a professor, although I had the distinct pleasure of listening to his lectures for the 6 quarters I served as a TA for his Intro to Theater class. Just thinking about his lecture about Emily's death in Act 3 of Our Town still gets me choked up. Dr. Ballet was famously intimidating. He introduced himself to his TAs as a "b*tch on wheels." Yet I felt a special kinship with him, possibly because of a shared yiddishkeit. He had chronic back pain and once I asked him how he was feeling. He said, "Do you know Yiddish?" When I relied that I knew a bissel, he rattled off an expression in yiddish which he then translated: "They bury healthier people." That was in 1984. May his memory be for a blessing.

Such sad news! What a wonderful professor! I was one of his many teaching assistants during the 1970’s. Along with Ballet we were blessed with Moulton, Adey and Nolte. Wow! No wonder a day doesn’t go by when the words of wisdom from those halls doesn’t ring in my ears. And yes, Ballet did not suffer fools . . . as teaching assistants we had to read the papers of his hundreds of students in Theatre 101. I laugh to this day because many of them began with “the curtain lifted and immediately I was struck by the scenery!” Surprisingly, most of them never missed a class because of their injuries. I bet they are still attending the Theatre. Thanks to Arthur Ballet.

Goodbye, dear Arthur. We loved you. We shaped our professions by you. You taught us so much that I'm still using it daily half a century later. If only I knew the Yiddish for "flights of angels guide thee ..."

What an inspiration. And what he did to create both future artists and audiences was brilliant. I don't know why every college and university doesn't follow his model. The days in Shevlin with David Ball and Ivar Brogger and Tom Braun and Clyde Kuemmerle were a riot. The review that said, "The lighting was from above..." And the elaborate testing ritual where retrieved booklets were more important than answer sheets. Delightful and important man.

I took Arthur's class in 1973. I had enjoyed it so much that a year or two after I graduated, maybe 1975 or 1976, I attempted to go and sit in one day. It was a large auditorium, and I was sitting in back, but after 5 minutes, Arthur spied me (out of maybe 100 students)as an interloper, and politely ejected me. It only enhanced his reputation! I loved him.

Arthur Ballet was one of the best professor's at the U. His class was an inspiration and I looked forward to it. I still recall his lectures from 40 years ago. "Good Night, sweet Prince..."

Dr. Ballet was a FORCE at U High for the class of '56! He was the best teacher I ever had all the way from kindergarten through my PhD program. I know my classmates miss him as much as I do.

I am part of the class of 1956 at University HIgh School where Arthur Ballet taught for several years. When I saw his obituary I was saddened and sent the notice to my classmates. Here are a few comments I received regarding his passing: Arthur Ballet was the best teacher I ever had. He was stunning. He opened up the whole written world of western theater to me from the Greeks on and that kept me off the street and in school. He inspired. His class plays were amazing. Remember how he got guys like me on the football team to be in the senior class play - Volpone by Johnson. I went on to be in U of M plays and minor in theater - did me well as I am in sacred theater today! Yes, we were lucky to have him as a teacher and friend. You are sorely missed my friend and a huge thank you for everything you gave us!

I took his class in the mid 70s, and other than Heller and a few others he is the only professor whose name I remember. One other thing I recall is that you did not want to be late to class, or talk in class. He would call you out and ask you to leave, no monkey business in his class.

I just read this news about Arthur Ballet, and it made me very sad. The world has lost a great teacher! I will never forget my Intro to Theatre class at the U in the late 1970's. A good friend told me that I just HAD to take his class, and I was incredibly fortunate to be able to get into the class (....by sheer luck, since it was an incredibly popular class...) in my VERY FIRST QUARTER at the U! Arthur Ballet was a strict professor...we had assigned seats, and he took attendance and KNEW if you were not there; and you did not talk during his class, HE did...and if you talked, he would call you on it, in front of EVERYONE! But, he was also the most passionate, funny, animated and engaging professor I would EVER have during my years at the U. His class was not easy, but he got you so excited about what you were learning that you barely noticed! I read plays that I would never have thought I would....most notably, "Hamlet" (...thank goodness for Cliff Notes or I would never have understood that one - oh, he would cringe at that thought.....) and "Waiting for Godot" (...which I still think is the most boring play ever, sorry....). During the time I took his class, he was commuting between MN and DC, so half of the time the lectures were a videotape of him from a previous semester's class. But even on tape, he was an engaging speaker...Arthur Ballet on tape was better than no Arthur Ballet. And we would chuckle when he would have to "reprimand" someone in the audience of that taped session or when he would direct someone in that past class to wake up a student next to them who had fallen asleep (...which I CANNOT imagine doing in his class...), always in his dry but wonderful, witty style. Ah, the memories! I feel so fortunate to have experienced his class and his teaching all those years ago. He shared his love of theatre with thousands of students over the years, and the world is better for it! I'm sure he is now teaching the angels above all about the joys of theatre....and, heaven forbid, I hope they don't talk during class!