About Grace Hall and July 21

"The 21 July Woodstock City Council meeting is probably the crucial one at which the council members will vote for or against demolishing Grace Hall, where Welles lived, studied, and worked as a student at the Todd School for Boys that he always credited as the most important and lifelong influence on his creativity.Please let your views on the importance of preserving this Prairie School building as an historic site be known to the Major and City Council members before 21 July. In addition, send a copy of your letters to the local papers.

"Email addresses for the Mayor and Council members appear on the (City's website, www.woodstockil.gov, at the "City Council" link).

"Welles's 1966 film Chimes at Midnight, as well as previous stage adaptations of Shakespeare's English history cycle, has its origins in his attempts to produce such an adaptation at Todd School when he was a student. This is only one example of the importance of this school to the career of Orson Welles.Your letters have played a vital part in the campaign to preserve this building. Thank you.

"If you can attend the meeting, or urge others to do so, that would be splendid."

Kathleen Spaltro

(Note from Gus: when you email a Letter to the Editor, please include your name, address and telephone number. Most will contact you to verify that you submitted the letter.)