Claude Caux

[schlager7]

As many of you know, I also have a website called Campeche Steel that is a rough outline of an informal fencing history of our area.

The site can also tell me the IPs that visit, how many and if they arrived via a link (like, for instance, a Google search). This is handy since it tells me what it was someone was interested in that led them to my little history piece.

What has been interesting for me these last few months is that, at least 2 or 3 times per week, someone goes to my page based on a search engine search for Claude Caux, who taught fencing at the University of Houston from 1974-1992.

Most are, predictably, from Houston or other Texas points. A few, however, have come from Louisiana, Missouri, New York, New Jersey, Florida and California.

I do not know what caused these different people so seek out some words on a long-past fencing master.

I know that I have gone on line to try to locate old friends, so part of me likes to picture the nearly two decades of fencing and mime students he trained, now scattered by life and fortune to the four winds, sitting back wondering if they can find any word about their old maitre or looking to see if he has been forgotten.

[Kimberly Key]

I am one of the individuals searching for information on Claude Caux. Not because of his fencing or mime accolades but because I have a piece of his artwork. I was wondering if anyone else owns any of his work.

Kimberly Key
[e-mail]

[schlager7]

I've never heard any of his fencing students that I have met say they had any artwork of his, but I will ask around.

I know on this forum augustskopik, Maupin, Fence4Rice and Mergs have been among his students. There are likely others.

Katman is a current UH fencer. We can ask is he has ever seen any of Maitre Caux' work on campus?

[Katman]

No but I could probably stroll into the theatre department and ask. They know me there; theatre is my minor after all. I've had the chance to speak to a few people about Caux as well. Maybe they will hook me up.

[LongBlade]

It's kind of morbid, but I found this article which adds some information to the story of the sad end of Claude Caux.

www.stp.uh.edu/vol57/92-01-21.html

STUDENTS, FRIENDS MOURN CAUX'S DEATH
BY MIKE OESER
DAILY COUGAR STAFF
January 21, 1992

Friends and students of UH associate drama professor Claude Caux are still reeling after his suicide on Jan. 10.
It was Caux's third attempt at killing himself since he allegedly stabbed fellow actress Mary Chovanetz to death in Memorial Park.
Caux, 57, was found dead hanging from the staircase of his southwest Houston condominimum by his wife Rose Marie and son Patrice.
Patrice also teaches at UH as a lecturer for the French department.
Sidney Berger, chair of the UH drama department, said, "It is terribly sad to add a second tragedy to the one that had happened in July." Caux was to direct a mime show on campus, which would have opened Jan. 31. Berger said the show had been cancelled, with no consideration given to finding a replacement director.
Berger added that a week before students began returning to school, many had already called or come by the drama department, expressing their concern and sorrow at the news.
Members of the UH Festival Mime troop, which was taught by Caux, held a memorial for him on Jan. 14.
"We love him, and we will always love him because the things he taught us were invaluable," a member of the troop said. "He opened up the world of art to us and how to use it in creating something beautiful."
Caux had taught stage combat, stage movement and mime at UH for 17 years until July 22, when he allegedly stabbed Chovanetz 15 times in the chest, abdomen and legs before turning the knife on himself.
Caux attempted suicide at the point of a knife again once he recovered from the first wound.
Since then rumors have abounded that Caux made amorous advances toward Chovanetz and that her spurning of these advances provoked the stabbing, but close friends and family of the two say they were only good friends.
Members of both families attended Patrice Caux's wedding shortly before the stabbing. The drama instructor's son was on his honeymoon when he heard of his father's arrest.
Houston Police Sergeant H. L. Mayer said, "We had heard the innuendo, but nothing was ever substantiated."
While Caux gave a taped confession to the police, he never told them what led to the argument with Chovanetz or the alleged stabbing.
"He told us over and over he did it but he didn't want to go into the details of why he did it. Said it was not the world's business why he did it but wanted us to know he did it and he stabbed himself," Mayer said.
A private funeral was held Jan. 13.
Belinda Hill of the District Attorney's office who was prosecuting the murder charges against Caux said the charges will be dropped once her office receives a death certificate.

[August Skopik]

I remember that time well, and Patrice left for his honeymoon on Sunday morning and it happened on Monday. Sandi, Lance and I left for Lake Tahoe Saturday and did not get back until Friday. I had about 100 messages from the fencing community, and did not know anything about it.

I recognized the woman from the stage movement, (the toughest footwork class around), class. When Claude was in a mood those kids would go for 30 minutes without a break. Patrice, Mike Mergens and I would attempt to double up and he could hurt us without meaning to.

Claude was "best man" of France in 1959, which was the three weapon champion. He liked epee the best, and choreographed many of the local theaters where they could have multiple stage fights as realistic in a live setting as anything in the movies. He was also a champion diver.

There are a couple of details missing from the story, but I caught grief for years that instead of the standard 10 touch bouts we were going to fence to 15 touches.

[schlager7]

longblade said:

It's kind of morbid, but I found this article which adds some information to the story of the sad end of Claude Caux.

Yes, I have this article along with many others from that time. I have incorporated them as well as the personal recollections of a number of people from the theatre and fencing communities in my history (including what Augie has told me).

If you go to the chapters for 1991 and 1992 in Campeche Steel, what I have so far is there...

Augie said, "There are a couple of details missing from the story..." Aren't there always. Once I get back my routine I hope to dive back into my history project, to record what is available before it all disappears.

So if you see me coming at you with a tape recorder, be nice.

[LongBlade]

www.stp.uh.edu/vol56/91-08-07.html

PROF RELEASED ON BOND,
BUT HOSPITALIZED
Daily Cougar Staff
August 7, 1991

UH Drama Professor Claude Caux, recently charged with first degree murder in the stabbing death of UH alumna and actress Mary Chovantez, was released from sheriff's department custody on bond late last week.

Since being released Caux has not been back to the Central Campus and has been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, Drama Department Head Sidney Berger said.

Since Caux's stay at the hospital, the case against him has not progressed much further. While the police have many witnesses and a taped confession from Caux, the Samaritan who intervened during Caux's attack has not been located.

In preparing for the trial, Caux's family has enlisted the services of noted lawyer Dick Deguerin for the professor's defense.

[LongBlade]

Another little tidbit of information:
www.music.uh.edu/people/nelson.html

Robert Nelson
Professor of Composition and Music Theory
Moores School of Music
University of Houston

Robert Nelson received his DMA from the University of Southern California where he studied composition with Ingolf Dahl and Halsey Stevens and opera production with Walter Ducloux. He is currently Professor of Music Theory and Composition at the Moores School of Music. He has long been interested in theatrical music, both as a composer and coach/conductor. This interest meshes with a life-long interest in the widest range of musical idioms - from the most avant garde contemporary effects to the most current jazz and popular styles. Writing for the theatre has allowed him to explore all these various idioms and employ whichever were most appropriate to the project at hand.

His theatrical experience has included a long involvement as composer for the extraordinary mime troupe in the University of Houston's School of Theatre. His collaborations with director Claude Caux resulted in music that ranged from an acid rock score for an adaptation of Poe's Tell-Tale Heart to a highly expressionist score for a dramatization of Schiller's Darkness to a neoclassic suite composed for an extended Pilobolus-like mime based on the graphics of M.C. Escher. He also served for fifteen seasons as music director and composer for the Houston Shakespeare Festival, during which time he composed songs and incidental music for nearly the entire canon of Shakespeare plays.

Nelson has always loved the voice and has composed numerous choral works and music for solo voice. His interest in both vocal music and theatrical music led him naturally to opera. In addition to A Room With a View, with libretto by Buck Ross, his operatic works include Tickets, Please and The Demon Lover, both one-act chamber operas with libretto by Sidney Berger. Tickets, Please has been staged by, among others, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Milton Keynes in England, Flordia State University, and the University of Houston. His most recent collaboration with Buck Ross is Shadows and Music, a dramatic cycle for soprano, mezzo-soprano, violin, and piano based loosely on the lives of Lillian and Dorothy Gish.

[LongBlade]

Classical Fencing Master, Richard Alvarez, mentions his association with Claude Caux on his website:
home.flash.net/~lalvarez/INDEX.HTM

"CLASSICAL FENCING Richard began his career of the sword with classical fencing instruction under the late French Master, Claude Caux at the University of Houston. At Claude's suggestion, Richard pursued his desire to teach at the America Fencing Academy, located at Cornell University under the guidance of Maitre Jean-Jacques Gillet."

[schlager7]

I just wanted to make a post today in memory of the late Maitre Claude Caux, on this, his birthday.

[Kimberly Key]

About a year ago I had some guests in my home that swore they recognized the work of the artist that had created the piece that I own. Thinking they couldn't possibly, I quized where they had seen other similar pieces. One guest said there was a showing at U of H. I'll have to take a pic and show you guys. It's charcoal and reminds the viewer of either matchstick men or Pez dispensers rolling down hill...

[schlager7]

Kimberly said:

I'll have to take a pic and show you guys. It's charcoal and reminds the viewer of either matchstick men or Pez dispensers rolling down hill...

I would be very interested in seeing that.

[R Matthew Emerson]

I was reflecting on the time I spent as a member of Claude Caux's mime troupe and found these forums via Google.

I was associated with him from about 1986 to 1990. I was in three CTF productions and several mime shows. Numbers I remember well include "Where Is The Sun," which was done in collaboration with Bob Nelson, mentioned above. The Magritte sketch was also memorable (I think Nelson wrote the music for that, too), as was our little Commedia dell'arte act.

I learned foil fencing from him; I now fence sabre casually.

His death saddened me greatly, and still does whenever I think about it. I never really performed again after he died.

Matt Emerson
[e-mail]

[schlager7]

Lovely remembrance. May I ask where you fence these days? Around here?

[R Matthew Emerson]

I'm in the Northern Ohio Division. I haven't competed for a couple of years now.

[katyblades]

Dear Mathew,

We may have crossed paths several times. Patrice, Mike Mergens and I used to "monitor" his stage movements class during that time. Claude would kill them in footwork. If he was in a bad mood, he would walk in and say engarde and then 30 minutes later you could not stand up. This was during the period when I would fence many more bouts in a weekend of fencing, (in the 1986 state championships I fenced 56 bouts between epee, foil and saber and won my last six bouts in the epee pool to win the epee).

I saw many of his mime productions, including the one right after the Challenger explosion. He had a skit based upon a rocket explosion and had to change it.

[schlager7]

Just a belated note (I had to rush back to work Saturday), that yesterday marked Maire Caux' birthday.

No comments or elaboration, just noting it in passing.

[diamond]

I was trying to find out about Claude Caux and came across your forum. Claude Caux came to South Africa during the 1960`s and he introduced fencing into some of the schools.I was taught by Claude for a number of years, mainly foil and epee.He introduced me to Marcel Marceau when he performed in Johanesburg but at the time I did not realise their link through mime.I understood their connection was through their fencing interests.
Claude was married at that time and his son Patrice was very young.I left South Africa around 1970 and when I returned I found he had left S.A. leaving his wife and son.
Reading about his life in the USA has left me rather stunned.
I hope I have the right Claude Caux as his demise did not relate to the Claude I Knew.

[schlager7]

Diamond, sadly it is the same Claude Caux. I recall reading in the newspapers at the time of his death that he had taught the South African fencing team.

My wife was a college student at the University of Houston, at that time. She had originally taken French from Patrice Caux and that led her to Claude's fencing class.

[diamond]

Thank you, it leaves me saddened that a man who introduced me to fencing and planted the seed to travel the world, finished the way he did.

[Jann Whaley]

Claude Caux committed suicide many years ago after murdering a local Houston actress in Houston's Memorial Park.

[Cyndi Scarr]

Claude Caux was a special friend and teacher to me and I will always be blessed by having known him and his family. I was a member of his first mime troupe and a fencing student. He encouraged me professionally and personally. May he always be remembered!
Cyndi

[Thom Box]

My wife Patrice Taylor studied with Caux in 1987 at UofH as part of her drama studies. We have lived in Europe since 1988 and only recently found out about these tragic events. She was sick at heart for days and still won't speak of it much. He was such a positive influence on her. She also was in the Festival Mime Company and did a few productions with the Childrens Theatre festival as well as other productions on campus. So she was there a lot and got to know him as much as one could. His name and influence has been brought up in this house over the last twenty years quite regularly. He will be missed. If anyone out there remembers my Patrice (Caux would never call her Patrice... only Patricia! in deference to his son's name) shoot her an e-mail at [e-mail]
TB

[antoon cornelissen]

Hi there stranger in memory of Claude Caux.... you ask why ... at 65 you think back of NICE TIMES.... in my study I still have a Pretoria University fencing club photo which includes Claude. He was my fencing master from 1966 to 1972 at UP and at the Wanderers Spoorts Club in Johannesburg... others he coached were Willie Koschade , Nic van Jeney de Boros jena etc I have action photos of Claude as master
interested
antoon
contact me on
[e-mail] or
[e-mail]
I am currenttly staying in RUSTENBURG... wst of Pretoria (120 km) and very near Sun City Resort
Bye for now