Brother Victor, OSF--Rest in Peace

My high school Algebra teacher, Brother Victor Fischer, OSF, died this week. Victor was a combination of the comic rage of Lewis Black and the good-natured cynicism of Victor Borge. 

After eight years of Catholic school nuns in Blessed Sacrament School, who knew you could laugh + learn in a classroom? Brother Victor had a line for every occasion. Some of the humor was bawdy, which was legal in an all-boys school in the '70s. For example, if a kid raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom, Victor would retort, "Didn't you go already this year?" Another lad would raise his hand for the same thing and Victor would throw a rubber band at him telling him he could hold it. Then there was the boy who reported that his two quarters were missing. He was known forever by Victor as "the kid who lost the fifty cents." Or an especially nervous student he pegged "the nervous kid." One very hot day, several students broke the rule on no beverages in the classroom. Brother got very angry, seized the offending cans, and ran one over his forehead in sweet relief from the late spring Brooklyn haze.

Brother Victor was a positive influence on my brother who, like Victor, was a ham radio operator. Victor's callsign was WA2LML (We Are Two Little Meat Loaves). He taught my other brother too. The year the school went coed, my sister enrolled and he call out to her in the hall, "You're a Black [ed. note--that's our last name], right?" 

I got a 98 on the Algebra Regents exam, which we took in the Fall. I also did well in trigonometry in the Spring. When I went to college I majored in Math, no doubt due to the solid grounding in numbers and fun given to me by Brother Victor, OSF. Through several layoffs in the 2000s, the math degree has been something for me to fall back on and gets the foot in the door.

The following is courtesy of franciscanbrothers.org:

BROTHER VICTOR FISCHER, O.S.F.

James Fischer, son of George and Charlotte (Haiser) Fischer was born in Brooklyn on July 24, 1932.

After attending St. Leonard’s High School and St. Anthony’s Juniorate he entered the Franciscan Brothers on February 11, 1950.

He received the Franciscan habit and the Religious name “Victor” on August 2, 1950 and made his profession of vows two years later on July 26, 1952.

Brother Victor’s first assignment was to St. Leonard’s High School.  He was Business Manager at St. Francis College from 1956-1959 before returning to St. Leonard’s until 1963.

Brother Victor taught at St. Francis Prep, first in Brooklyn then in Fresh Meadows, from 1964 until 1978.  He was a member of the Mathematics Department and subsequently Chairman of the Business Department.

Beginning in 1979 Brother Victor served in a variety of ministries including three years in Pennsylvania and many years in the Archdiocese of New York at St. Jean Baptiste High School.

In spite of a severe hearing loss Brother Victor volunteered during his retirement years at several Brooklyn locations that included CHIPS (Christian Help in Park Slope) and St. Martin of Tours Parish.

On October 16, 2010, while out for a walk, Victor died as a result of injuries suffered in an accident.

He is survived by a sister, Catherine Mattison of Florida, a brother, William of Pennsylvania, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Who says you have to wait for Christmas to hear Standards on terrestrial radio?

You just have to wait until Sundays:

WNYC 93.9 FM

Jonathan Schwartz, Sat/Sun (Noon-4 pm); the Sunday show is simulcast on SiriusXM. The dean of Standards broadcasters, Schwartz champions the American Songbook. My only criticism is that he plays a lot of the same people and excludes other performers that the other Standards channels feature. Some high rotation artists are from his circle of friends; he could widen his horizons a little bit. When I turn on cable’s Music Choice, Singers and Swing, I hear a lot of the artists that he rarely plays, such as Steve Tyrell. Schwartz may find him unworthy somehow but should give Tyrell et al. a better shot.

Danny Stiles, Saturday night 8-10 pm, plays a lot of pre-stereo era 78s. It might be the timeslot or my own listening habits but I’ve never made Stiles appointment radio. It’s a mix of well-know tunes and lesser-known (to me) records from the ’40s to the ’80s. Yet it’s good to know he’s there.

WBGO 88.3 FM Michael Bourne: Singers Unlimited. Sunday 10-2. Fantastic show and it’s overlapped with Schwartz’s programs from 12-2 for 20 years. Perfection would move it to 8-noon or Saturday morning.

Don’t listen much to these stations but good to know they are there playing Standards:

WHLI 1100 AM daytimer 7 days.

WBAI 99.5 FM—David Kenney. Everything Old is New Again. Sunday 9-midnight.

WNYM 970 AM—Dick Robinson, American Standards by the Sea. Sunday midnight.

WFUV 90.7 The Big Broadcast with Rich Conaty. Sunday 8-midnight. Standards from the ’20s and ’30s.

WKRB 90.3 FM (Brooklyn)—Professor Ron Forman. Sweet Sounds. Sunday 5-7 pm.

WPHT 1210 AM (Philadelphia) Sid Mark. Friday night and Sunday morning with Sinatra.

Too bad WVIP-HD2 no longer simulcasts WVOX Music of Your Life (they dropped the HD2 signal in October). Sorry Signore Marconi, terrestrial lost another listener when I switched to their Internet stream at night.

When WNEW turned off the lights, Mark Simone celebrated the long run and didn’t cry over the end of the era. We can look at today as a silver age for Standards on the radio. What is striking is the decades of longevity of most of these hosts playing music that no one wants to hear. Classic music keeps you young.