Re: John Mason, teacher, circa 1976

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Tue Oct 08, 2019 6:59 pm

Hi all,
I'm trying to find out some information about John Mason, a former CH teacher, circa 1976.
There have been a few posts on this forum about Cain! - the CH/Visitor 2035 production, circa 1976 - and it seems that John may have been involved in this.
The production was shortly after I left CH, so I didn't meet John at the time, although it's possible I may have met him in the 1980s.
So any information - where he was from, what he had been doing before his time at CH, how long he was at CH, what he taught, and what he did after he left the school - would be much appreciated.
Hope you can help.
Many thanks.

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Wed Oct 09, 2019 6:35 am

Wasn't he a chaplain?

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Thu Oct 10, 2019 4:14 pm

I'm guessing that John was a music master, but that would need confirmation.

ColA25 · Post by **ColA25** » Thu Oct 10, 2019 5:54 pm

John Mason definitely wasn't a chaplain, throughout most of 71-77 (my time) the chaplains were John Robson, Ian Atkinson and Godfrey Hall.

I remember Cain!, it was one of the first big school productions to make use of the then new theatre. I looked up Visitor 2035 and Craig Pruess, to find:
"VISITOR 2035 were a short-lived band based in the UK, with the Irishman John Mason and Craig Pruess , an American residing in UK since 1973. Mason is renowned as a member of the Irish top-notch outfit Fruup; ...The band self-released 'Cain! A Modern Mystery Play' in 1976..."

But I struggle to think it's the same John Mason that was a teacher. I do recall going to see him once or twice, which suggests we had a common interest, maybe photography club. I recall he had a good stereo system! I have images of an acoustic guitar in my memory banks, and think perhaps he taught German. I think he was at the senior end, maybe Thornton.

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Fri Oct 11, 2019 1:36 am

Thank you for your reply Phil. It's most helpful.
I think it's possible that there may have been some confusion on the internet, linking Irish keyboardist John Mason (who had played with Fruupp and I got to know in the 1980s) with the Visitor 2035 project and CH.
Any more information from anyone would be much appreciated.

AndrewH · Post by **AndrewH** » Mon Oct 14, 2019 9:21 pm

As far as I remember John Mason arrived as a recent graduate (Cambridge?). I think he was teaching French. He left shortly after Cain to try his luck with music.

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Tue Oct 15, 2019 8:56 pm

Much appreciated Andrew.
It's looking increasingly likely that there has been some confusion on the internet.

Spoonbill · Post by **Spoonbill** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 12:18 pm

He had surprisingly long hair for a CH master of that time. Longish dark hair. And I remember him carrying his guitar case, very smartly dressed. In fact he always looked immaculate. Very handsome in a rather ethereal way. I think perhaps he and Tom Jeffers performed on classical guitar together on one or more occasions. If you made contact with Tom Jeffers, I'm sure he'd be able to feed you many of the relevant facts.

As I recall it, John Mason left in the hope of making it as a lyricist first and foremost, which must be a rather sticky wicket unless your best mate is a musical genius who's hopeless with words.

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 3:14 pm

Thanks Spoonbill.
Much appreciated.
The John Mason who was the keyboardist with Fruupp (and who I knew later on in the 1980s) is pictured on this Fruupp fan site.
http://www.alexgitlin.com/fruup.html
He is in the third picture down, wearing a white jacket, with white trousers and blue shirt.
Is this the same John Mason who you knew as a master as CH?

ColA25 · Post by **ColA25** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 4:02 pm

Not as I recall...bt I agree with the guitar.

But this link https://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=5935 says the Visitor 2015/Fruup JM was Irish, which I also don't recall.

So many hazy memories, we could do with a house photo or a browse through The Blue of that era.

Spoonbill · Post by **Spoonbill** » Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:42 pm

Paul

If the guy in the white suit is definitely the John Mason of Fruup, then to my mind there's no resemblance at all and I don't think that's just to do with my powers of memory. Our John Mason looked rather refined and a bit like he'd just stepped out of a stained glass window; this other John Mason has a slight hint of farm labourer about him. And I'm sure that if ours had had any trace of an Irish accent at all, we'd have squeezed every last bit of mileage out of it and given him some sort of totally non-PC 1970s nickname and pretended he was a bog-trotting imbecile, even if he wasn't. That said, I've met a fair number of middle-class Irish people who didn't have even the slightest hint of an Irish accent, especially the British-educated ones.

I too had come across mention of the John Mason of Fruup in the past and wondered a bit, though until now I'd never seen an alleged photo. It's probably worth mentioning that nobody at all in any of the photos of Fruup looks like our John Mason except possibly the guy holding the oboe/cor Anglais (?) in the bottom-most image.

I suppose you could always try contacting Craig Pruess, either via his website or via Facebook. I'm guessing he'd probably have a fair idea of what became of John Mason, at least in the '70s. Bearing in mind your credentials, I'm sure he won't think you're a crank. (He'll probably tell you that the guy in the white suit is definitely our John Mason and that I'm just a stupid fat git in a baseball cap.)

sejintenej · Post by **sejintenej** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 8:08 pm

Spoonbill wrote: ↑Wed Oct 16, 2019 7:42 pm Paul

If the guy in the white suit is definitely the John Mason of Fruup, then to my mind there's no resemblance at all and I don't think that's just to do with my powers of memory. Our John Mason looked rather refined

You are hit by the commonality of names - how many Johns are there out there (apart from me) and Mason is far from an unusual name? I know that there is a bank officer in Banque Worms in the City with my full name - we have never knowingly met Two months ago I was introduced to a man with my exact full names whose roots are in the same house as mine though we didn't even previously know that the other existed - uncle and nephew

Straz · Post by **Straz** » Thu Oct 17, 2019 11:56 pm

The man in the white suit was definitely the John Mason that I knew in the 1980s.
He replaced Fruupp's original keyboardist in January 1975 and played on their fourth and final album 'Modern Masquerades'.
Clearly there is a mistake on the internet, where the two names are the same, and the timeline seems about right.
So, thanks to everyone for their input, and clearing up the mystery.
The enquiry was prompted by another friend, who knew John much better than I did. In all the years that he knew him, John never mentioned Visitor 2035 or Cain!
Now we know why...
Thanks again.

loringa · Post by **loringa** » Sat Oct 19, 2019 1:47 pm

I don't really remember Mr Mason but I do remember Cain. It was very much hyped but to be completely honest I thought it was pretty rubbish and something of a disappointment as we were all expecting the school play to end all school plays. If Mr Mason went on to be a lyricist I wish him well but he would have to do better than 'we shall build a tower, we shall build it high; something somethings something, until it hits the sky' on building the Tower of Babel. If the lyrics were uninspiring then the music was even less memorable and it was all wrapped up in DNP OTT production values which you either loved .... or you didn't. One could buy a copy of the album and pay by cheque payable to Cain Records Ltd; unfortunately, or so the story went, Dr Palmer was then unable to cash them as there was no such limited company and it would have cost too much to set one up and open a business account. 'Pinky' Palmer was an outstanding teacher of English (and history) but not, apparently, much of a businessman.

The 'new' theatre opened in about 1974 when I was in the Second Form. It was very badly finished; typical of construction in the 70s I guess and the stage covering needed replacing within the year as the softwood plywood immediately delaminated and broke up and ripped hands, feet and other parts of one's anatomy to pieces. The seats were so uncomfortable one couldn't sit through a complete performance of anything without having to get up and walk around.

With its opening came a great enthusiasm for 'drama' amongst much of the school hierarchy. I absolutely loathed it and it was years after leaving CH until I started going to the theatre again. On one occasion I had to miss double manual which was metalwork with Mr Stratton, my absolutely favourite subject, to attend an externally delivered drama workshop. It was a reworking of the Humpty Dumpty story done by one of those awful groups that go into schools to spoil children's days. If you've ever seen 'The League of Gentlemen' then you know where the inspiration for 'Legz Akimbo' came from!

As for so-called drama lessons, I remember two in particular. In the first someone farted, might have been me, and we were all rolling around laughing as DNP tried to tell us it was perfectly normal and just not funny. (Of course it is - everyone knows farting is funny). We also had to lie on our backs to relax and DNP wanted us to open our fingers so they were flat on the deck; very uncomfortable and not at all relaxing.

It's okay though - 45 years later I have totally got over my aversion to drama at CH and the horrible theatre!! On a more positive note; many pupils absolutely loved it and DNP too, my own step-brother for one. It was no doubt a good thing over all, but just not for me.

Spoonbill · Post by **Spoonbill** » Sun Oct 20, 2019 5:42 pm

Bring on the Whore
Bring on the Whore
Bring on the Whore of Babylon.

And Ian Cook/Edgar Newman (?) taking it in turns to play Cain on alternate nights and climbing up a rope almost to the ceiling of the auditorium, spotlit, then swivelling around in the air like trapeze artistes. I've a sneaking feeling there may have been no Risk Assessment and there was definitely no protective clothing or safety net. Weren't the 1970s great? I'm proud to have survived them.

PS: My apologies for having spelled Fruupp with only one p. Ignorant or what?