The Chautauquan Daily The Offi cial Newspaper of Chautauqua Institution | Final Edition, August 28 & 29, 2010

Putting family fi rstMike Sullivan, retiring at year’s end, refl ects on his 13 years at the InstitutionPAGE A9

The journey to the high courtSandra Day O’Connor gives a special Wednesday evening talkPAGE A10

Women’s Club’s outgoing presidentBarbara Vackar looks back on her six-year tenurePAGE B6

VOLUME CXXXIV, ISSUE 55CHAUTAUQUA, NEW YORK $1.00

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WWW.CHQDAILY.COMThe Daily online is all Chautauqua, all the time — view select stories from the print edition, plus big, beautiful photos and plenty of exclusive multimedia content.

by Sara Toth | Staff writer

After a heftily themed week on the Supreme Court and the bittersweet taste of the end of the season, Chautau-quans might be in need of a lighthearted evening and

a good laugh.They will get both when celebrated comedian and actor Bob

Newhart takes the Amphitheater stage at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.Newhart has appeared in several movies, including the

1970 adaptation of Joseph Heller’s “Catch-22,” in which he played Major Major, and more recently, 2003’s “Elf,” in which he played Papa Elf. A longtime stand-up co-

median, Newhart is perhaps best-known for his two sitcoms, “The Bob Newhart Show,” which

ran from 1972 to 1978, and “Newhart,” in which he played innkeeper Dick Loudon, which ran from 1982 to 1990.

After more than 50 years in the business, Newhart said that the best part of his job is that he is still able to do it.

“As long as I’m physically able to do it, I don’t see ever giving it up,” Newhart said. “I won’t make the George Burns 100 years, but I can’t ever imagine not standing up on

stage and doing it. It’s a wonderful tradition that goes back years

and years and years.”

by Laura McCrystalStaff writer

The 2010 Chautauqua Sea-son will offi cially come to a close on Sunday night with the fi nal Sacred Song service and the traditional Three Taps of the Gavel.

The service, titled “’Blessed my soul and gone away!’ — Final Chautauqua Thoughts,” is at 8 p.m. Sun-day in the Amphitheater.

Jared Jacobsen, organist and coordinator of worship and sacred music, named the service after the tag-

line of a choir anthem, “My Good Lord’s Done Been Here, Blessed My Soul and Gone Away.” It is a newer spiritual; André Thomas —who has been to Chautauqua twice — wrote it in 2008.

“And as soon as I heard the piece, I thought, ‘You know,

FixingonChautauqua

Newhart takes the Amphitheater stage Saturday

See NEWHART, Page A4

I think Richard Pryor was a seminal infl uence of the past 50 years. What he did was extraordinary, and God knows he and I don’t work alike at all, but just the pure genius of what he did as another comedian is amazing to watch.

— Bob Newhart

“

“

Closing Sacred Song service to capture nostalgia and celebration

this is perfect for Chautau-qua, because that’s the way we all feel when we come to that closing night,’” he said. “It’s a strange mixture of nos-talgia and celebration.”

Jacobsen said the songs he chose to frame Chautau-qua Institution President Thomas M. Becker’s closing remarks and the Three Taps of the Gavel demonstrate the mixed feelings of cel-ebration and nostalgia that Chautauquans feel at the end of the season. The ser-vice will be somewhat ab-breviated to allow for this ceremonious closing.

“We design it to be a set-ting for a jewel,” Jacobsen said about the service. “The jewel is the Three Taps of the Gavel.”

Daily fi le photo

President Thomas M. Becker gives 2009’s closing Three Taps of the Gavel. See SACRED SONG, Page A4

Labberton delivers 2010’s fi nal sermonby Joan Lipscomb SolomonStaff writer

How many times have you heard: “Hey, I’ve got some people you’ve just got to meet?” Chaplain Mark Lab-berton, in Sunday’s sermon at 10:45 a.m. at the Amphi-theater, has some people he’s eager for you to meet. He will oversee your “Encountering

the People from Porlock.”The chaplain’s choice of

Scripture for the morning, Luke 8:40-56, relates the double miracle of Jesus’ rais-ing of Jairus’ daughter from the dead and of his healing of the hemorrhaging woman who, in faith, touched the hem of his garment as he ap-proached Jairus’ house.

See CHAPLAIN, Page A4 Labberton

Saying goodbye to a ‘gobsmackingly beautiful’ season » TOM BECKER’S FINAL COLUMN, PAGE A3

Photo by Greg Funka