Mesa Musings:

He tooled around town in a flashy orange Volkswagen Karmann Ghia half a century ago.

He was Lucian Davis Scott, and from 1955 to 1969 he supervised Orange Coast College’s theater department.

Luke, as his friends knew him, could be counted on to shake up the status quo. He was a child of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Luke was born in the kitchen of his parents’ home in Saratoga four days after the quake.

The chimney in his mother’s bedroom had collapsed, covering her bed. The family ended up sleeping on the porch, and she delivered Luke on the kitchen table.

He graduated from the College of the Pacific with a bachelor’s in theater, and taught drama at a high school in Carmel. He taught at Highlands University in New Mexico, where he earned a master’s. After serving three years in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II, Scott took classes for a year at Pasadena Playhouse.

He spent another year with the Honolulu Community theater, and developed a one-man show that toured the U.S.

In 1950, he sold his worldly possessions — for $900 — and took his one-man show to the Middle East, Athens, Rome and Paris. He fell in love with the City of Light, and spent a semester studying at the Alliance Francaise.

“Luke spoke often of idle Paris afternoons,” recalls John Ford, who served with Luke as an OCC theater professor from 1959-67. “He spent those afternoons trying to catch glimpses of other expatriates. He mentioned meeting American and British writers, composers and dancers.”

After teaching speech and drama at Bakersfield High School, Luke moved south and served for 14 years as chairman of OCC’s theater department until his retirement in 1969. He died a decade later at 73.

In the summer of ’56, Luke launched what turned out to be a decades-long summer musical tradition at OCC. The Robert B. Moore Theatre opened that year.

Luke enjoyed assembling lavish musicals.

He opened the Moore in ’56 with the Rodgers and Hammerstein blockbuster “South Pacific.” He directed the musical again in the summer of 1968, in celebration of the college’s 20th anniversary. He also directed “Kismet” (1957), “Oklahoma!” (1958), “Guys and Dolls” (1959), “Kiss Me Kate” (1962) and “The Sound of Music” (1964), starring Diane Hall — later to be known as Diane Keaton.

Luke played the title role in the college’s 1955 production of “King Lear,” and received high praise from critics.

Four years later he was Macbeth.

Luke’s student, David Emmes — who went on to found South Coast Repertory, and, today, serves as the company’s artistic director — was Macduff.

I was Luke’s student from 1962-64, and appeared in his productions of “Peter Pan,” “The Matchmaker” and “Two Gentlemen of Verona.” I remember that his 90-year-old mother attended almost every rehearsal.

Following his OCC retirement, Luke moved to New York City and played Dr. Rance in the Broadway production “What the Butler Saw,” directed by his former student, Joseph Hardy. During the 1974-75 television season, he appeared in five episodes of the “Bob Newhart Show.” Scott was hilarious as Bob’s aged, befuddled and bumbling therapy patient, Edgar J. Vickers.

Luke was known to all as a shameless name-dropper. He frequently mentioned acquaintances — like Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre — in his OCC acting classes.

Ford recalls an occasion late in his life when Luke played the addled priest in an Ahmanson Theatre production of “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

“While in rehearsals Luke often spoke of his early days on Broadway, and casually mentioned many famous stars,” Ford said. “The young actors were polite, but didn’t believe him for a moment!

“On opening night, the director called the cast together to announce that Katherine Hepburn would be in attendance and would visit them backstage after the performance.

All were instructed to remain on stage after the final curtain, and to line up according to cast importance.

“When Miss Hepburn made her way down the line expressing cursory remarks to the leads, she spied Luke. Stretching out her arms she gleefully shouted, ‘Lucian!’ He crossed to her, dropped to one knee and gallantly kissed her hand. With that, they embraced and walked off to a corner to reminisce.”

Luke had upstaged the entire cast! He was ever the scene-stealer.

JIM CARNETT lives in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays.