SLOW
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Oh, man. For cute, as we say in Minnesota. Who IS this kid? Would YOU
have guessed he'd grow into Dermot?
Senior ski trip to Canada. It's night and the kids are visiting
each other in their rooms and drinking massive quantities of
Molson. Taken in Dermot's and Taki's room as a favor for someone
with a crush on Taki.
Dermot with some high school
classmates at the Washington DC premiere of MY BEST FRIEND's WEDDING, just
before he and the guy in the flowered shirt (Richard Krauss) got into a
fight for no good reason.... just kidding. The guy in the light shirt is
Dale Riggs and the other gentleman is Ron Delaney, and I'd gladly add more
specifics (about the talk that night or anything else substantial) if I
had them to add, gentlemen...
Now, back to our regularly
scheduled page.
Dermot Mulroney in High
School
Photos from the 1981 T.C. Williams High School
Yearbook.
Ah, high school. Life before PR reps. Dermot and I share the same birth
year and high school graduation year (but I'm older, boy). Perhaps, if my
family had remained in McLean (another upscale northern Virginia
community), we might have ended up at the same competitive scholastic
music events (and I wonder if his buddy Melissa Etheridge ever took
horse-back riding lessons from Vernon at English Squire Farms?). Maybe we
bumped fannies at Campbell's Music Store in Tyson's Corner.
The senior picture of Dermot Mulroney, senior class president, thespian,
Civitan (service club), Boys State attendee, Conor-wannabe (i.e. ski bum
in training).
In high school, Dermot was, in a word... short. That's what people seem
to remember most about him... that and a stinging sense of humor. Here,
in the Civitans service club pic, he's the small guy third from the left,
squeezing into the picture from behind the guy next to him. If YOU served
in the Civitans with Dermot and you have a story to tell, you know where
to find me.
This is one of my favorites. Dermot and his staff work on the senior
class float. The general boyishness will still be evident in college.
Who was this guy and where is he now?
The float depicted what students might be in the future and it won the
competition.
Dermot as "Jem" in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.
The ski club. Dermot's in the back row.
Rusty Ring. Rusty was senior class treasurer and his dad served on the
school board with Dermot's dad.
"Ah, the cello." Dermot Mulroney,
December 1986, George Washington Junior High, confronted by his orchestra
teacher while visiting his drama coach.
The positioning would seem to indicate that our boy is sitting first seat,
first chair.
Is that Dermot under the conductor's arm? Looks like it, except there
seems to be too much hair compared to other photos.
And then there's sophomore Kieran. But where are the curls?
The Rosemont Mafia
My brother, who spent his 9th grade year at Langley High School (one of
the finest public high schools in the country), remembers TCW as a "tough"
school. Nonetheless, Dermot lived in an area of prestige and privilege
known as Rosemont.
His friends included:
The esteemable Taki (Scott) Sidley, inspirer of schoolgirl crushes. Taki
has made education his profession. Good for him! Ironically enough, when
the revered English teacher these boys studied under in junior high got
the ax for his critical publications about the Alexandria school system,
Taki was brought in to replace him.
Jeff Winter. 'Twas Jeff who co-hosted the Washington DC premiere of MY
BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING that served as a fund-raiser for an Alexandria
scholarship fund. In his wannabe days, Jeff resided with Dermot and
Catherine in Hollywood. Catherine reportedly grew weary of serving as
hostess of a wannabe flop house (don't shake your head... you'd wanna be
alone with Derm, too). Last I heard, Jeff was back in the Alexandria area
breaking stock (that's a quote). He and wife Cheryl have started a
family.
J.F. Prendergast, the OUR TOWN martian, and his sister, Mary. Debate
rages as to which of these three guys was Dermot's best friend. But most
of them were in OUR TOWN together in junior high (Dermot as the stage
manager and Jeff, I believe, was George Webb). My kingdom for photos from
that production.
Two of these three guys are reportedly writing a screenplay together at
this time, but for the life of me I can't remember which. My money is on
English teacher Taki and former Hollywood resident Jeff, though. J.F. is
no longer in the area.
I'm Rebecca Webb and I can be reached
via e-mail at:
webbrl@morris.umn.edu
Created: December 15, 1998