"kiss today goodbye"

 all weekend the internet was taken over by the 50th anniversary of "A Chorus Line" opening on Broadway. I was one of the lucky ones. I first saw that great musical in its original staging at the Public Theater. from almost the beginning it was sold out. but I got in because one of its creators -- James Kirkwood Jr. -- gave me one of his house seats. & there I was sitting next to him while theater history was being made.

Jimmy was the son of silent screen stars Lila Lee & James Kirkwood. lovely Lila had her share of troubles. so her son came to my home town to live with his aunt for a few years. he graduatd from Elyria High School 19 years before I did. (one of his classmates lived next door to my parents.) 

I was in high school when Jimmy came to town to visit his aunt. of course I met him. he signd my copy of Daniel Blum's Pictorial History of Television -- just as his mother had signd by copies of Blum's volumes on the silents & the talkies.

his Aunt Peg gave me some of her theater books (she had appeard on Broadway opposite Al Jolson) as well as photos from her brief time in Hollywood. one was a striking photo of Nita Naldi who playd the other woman in "Blood and Sand" in which Lila was Valentino's wife. it had a sweet inscription to Jimmy.  I had it on my walls for years. when I went to Buffalo for the try-out of his play "P.S. Your Cat is Dead" I brought it as a gift. I felt he really shd have it again.

here is a detail from the poster of that show. the pen he was using faild & he finishd signing in another. the ink from the first has faded so badly it's nearly gone. but it says "Alex -- with appreciation -- I mean coming to Buffalo is beyond THE CALL OF DUTY."  seeing that always reminds me of the Buffalo line he put in the other show he was working on then -- "A Chous Line."

I'm sure he wd've been so excitd to know so many people still care abt "ACL."

a little play abt writing a play

 from Wanderbuch :

                                                                                                10 aug 86: Charlemont

Scene: The kitchen & adjoining study in the Berkshires farmhouse of a playwright.

Time: Morning.

Jean-Claude (seatd in front of a word processor in his study): Give me an Italian name.

Alex (pouring hot water into an ironstone cup): Marcello.

Jean-Claude: No. People wd think Mastroianni.

Alex: Giuseppe.

Jean-Claude: Too long.

Alex: Paolo.

Jean-Claude: Hmmmmmmmm. Short & soft. (He types the name on the machine.)

Alex: (Dunks an Earl Grey teabag in the cup.)

                                                    *.    *.    *

after J-C leads David & I in yoga exercises   followed by a watermelon feast   he reads the newest version of the opening of "The Traveller." this time the traveller addresses the audience directly which he didn't last nite.  I smile when the Joe Chaikin character talking on the phone to an Italian reporter addresses him as Paolo.

                                                        

                       

                               (Jean-Claude's cats cuddle beside my Wanderbuch 2)

full circle

 in the fall of 1965 I was enrolled in the masters program at Kent State's English Department. one of the classes I had was with a fellow by the name of Bob Carothers fresh from getting his bachelor's degree from Edinboro University. we became study buddies & then friends.

a year later he & his wife joind me & my partner along with Jacob & Mary Leed   Linda Lyke & her husband   & Jerrald & Pat Ranta to form a collective which we calld Standing Rock Press. together we actually bought a huge heavy press which we stored in the basement of a bar in town.  my memory is that very little got printd on the press & we eventually sold it. later in its life the press became a part of Kent lore when it was used by various activist groups (I think even SDS).

as young poets Bob & I were involved in the thriving literary scene in northern Ohio at that time. we read together & publishd both locally & nationally. I no longer remember which of us decided to start our own magazine. but together we co-editd the first issue of Toucan which came out in may of 1967.

along the way I got tired of studying & left the Ph. D. program. Bob got his. & we each went abt our lives.

along the way Bob became president of University of Rhode Island from 1991-2009 -- longer than anyone else at that institution. & when that university built a new library they named it the R. L. Carothers Library.

if you're one of my regular readers here you know I've been working on what I call my Legacy Project -- finding appropriate homes for the last remaining copies I have of my publications. I only had one complete run of Toucan & it already had Bob's name on it. I think we co-editd the first 2 issues together. so I wrote to the director of Special Collections at the R. L. Carothers Library to see if they had the magazine.  they didn't. I offered to send my set. they were happy. & having it safely there makes me happy.

(photo by Hannah Charron)

in circles

 the flooding in Texas hit hard. one of the reasons is the reporting on Camp Mystic. that brought memories of boyhood summers at Camp Iss See Kes -- the YMCA camp in Amherst. so I got out  my earliest photo album & there were my photos. then I did an online search & discoverd that the main building there was calld Rotary Lodge. here's the photo I took of my cabin mates & counselors in front of it in 1951.

I also learnd that it was the idea of Ralph Murbach (1888-1987) -- a founding member of Elyria's chapter of the Rotary Club.  he was the local coal dealer who added building supplies to his store whose customers included my father.

I met Ralph's grandson John years later. in the 1990s I became part of a group of gay men interested in "Music / Art / Books" who met online & calld ourselves the MABsters. after a quarter century I remain friends with some of them. actually 2 of them were/are among the best friends of my life.

in conversations I mentiond being from Elyria & one of the members told me that that was his roommate's hometown as well.  the next time I went to Chicago where they lived I met them. that was the only time I met John -- a prominent set designer who workd with Wisdom Bridge & Center Theatre. 

but the story goes deeper. it turns out a cousin of John's was a high school classmate of mine. but even more significantly he had been a lover of an actor with whom I had an important connection. he shared details of our mutual friend's death that I didn't know.  

people & events overlap. I understand that & try to capture those reverberations in my work.

forget the fireworks

 

No Kings

 I'm late posting this. when I left the house Saturday to walk to the bus stop it was 107.  why organizers decided 6 pm wd be a good time to start our rally is suspect. but gather we did. 5000 of us. hours later when I got home it had only coold to 98.  so yesterday I was sorta tired & forgot to put up a picture.

here's Palm Springs.  part of the 11 million disgustd by the president & his criminal cabinet.

completing a circle

 in the summer of 1967 I attended Indiana University Writers Conference to study with Gwendolyn Brooks.  at the concluding awards banquet I was surprisd & delightd when Miss Brooks announcd that I had won the poetry award. (this story was told in an article by Rasa Gustaitis -- who later wrote Turning On -- which appeard in Cosmopolitan the next year.)   shortly thereafter I wrote the poem “On Winning a Prize" which I dedicatd to Miss Brooks.

In 1969 Abraxas Press published my first book — a little chapbook with just 3 poems. one of those was the poem for Miss Brooks.

for a while now I've been working on what I call my Legacy Project.  this is finding good homes for my publications & art. I only had one copy left of that first book -- Into the Sea.  it didn't take long for me to realize the perfect match was the Lilly Library at Indiana University. & I was so happy when they agreed to accept it.

here I am in my study bidding bye to that copy which is now in Bloomington.