Music, art, books gave local author perspective
By Bev Davis
Register-Herald Senior EditorThis article appeared in the Register-Herald on November 18, 2002.
The road from Cool Ridge to New York City took Charles Webb from the pages of history books to manuscripts composed at his own computer.
There were plenty of interesting stops along the way.
Like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where Webb served as development consultant for several years. A choice of jobs in Cleveland taught Webb the value of taking risks.
"I've been an avid lover of music all my life. My mother instilled that love in me. I was offered positions at the Cleveland Institute of Music and at the Cleveland Institute of Art. I decided to take the one at the Art Institute because I knew very little about art, and I thought that would be a wonderful opportunity to develop a knowledge and appreciation of art," Webb said.
His educational pursuits took him from the 1952 graduating class of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, to West Virginia University, where he studied journalism and developed his love of poetry. Webb has had several of his poems published over the years.
He switched his major to English literature and headed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and later pursued post-graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin.
Webb's expansive knowledge of the arts and literature prepared him well for taking on the major fund-raising endeavors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he spent seven years before founding The Charles Webb Co. Inc. in 1974. His company directs large capital campaigns for museums of art, history and science and for the performing arts.
Now headquartered in culture-rich Berkshire County, Mass., where Webb had had a second home since 1979, the company has managed drives with aggregate goals exceeding $500 million.
"I'm very pleased that there are galleries, exhibition and education wings, libraries, concert halls and even brand new museums all over America that were built with funds raised by this company," Webb said.
Webb became chairman of the board of the Circle Repertory Co., recognized in the early 1980s as one of the best non-profit professional theaters in New York. The resident acting company included such not-yet-famous actors as William Hurt, Christopher Reeve, Judd Hirsch, Jeff Daniels, Swoosie Kurtz, Lindsay Krause and Richard Thomas, known better to TV viewers as John Boy Walton.
His new-found interest in drama led Webb to pursue his love of writing more passionately. During the next few years he would write three novels, and this year, "Jake and Jasmine" became the first one published. The story of a poor white boy whose musical genius led him to the Julliard School of Music takes on a complex plot when Jake meets Jasmine, a rich, talented student from a powerful black family from the South.
"It's another take on the racial issue, which we simply must deal with more effectively, and it has several significant passages set in the region where I grew up," Webb said.
The author signed copies of the book for friends and Beckley area readers this summer during a visit home for his 50th high school reunion.
"The book has sold well, and I've heard good feedback about it. The irony is, I don't think it's as good a novel as one of the others that hasn't been published, but I'm pleased it's on the market and doing well," Webb said.
A reviewer for Writer's Digest described "Jake and Jasmine" as "a brilliant mainstream novel whose protagonists and other characters are likable families and sympathetic people whose main conflicts arise from the families' love and concern for their children."
"I was quite flattered and humbled by the review. As a writer, I felt the work was good, but when you see a positive review like that one come back from an objective source, it's a bit overwhelming," Webb said.
He expects his two other novels, "The Credence of Christopher Craig" and "The Playoff" to be published soon.
Through all of these endeavors, Webb has never been far from home, although his visits to West Virginia are only occasional.
"My feelings when I come back there are ones of gratitude. It was a tremendous blessing to grow up there. I got a sense of the pasts, of values, of place and traditions. At the same time, because my family were great readers, I got an independent and questioning attitude. I think it gave me a richer life through a sense that everything is connected," Webb said.
The self-described existentialist said he becomes frustrated with people whose focus is too narrow to appreciate the diversities of experience that make a workplace - or a world - whole.
"The biggest problem I have with clients is getting them to take an open mind about things. If we would all stop and reason things out and take a wider view, we would have a lot less trouble in the world. We need to stop jumping to conclusions and look for the wholeness of things," Webb said.