LifeSoFarLaRue

Having appeared at grade school functions, (singing, "Singin' in the Rain" complete with twirling umbrella and accompanied by my Aunt Grace on the piano), it was only a matter of time till I hit the stage in a genuine role. Well, it took a little time.....It was High School.   The play was a one-act called "High Window." My "co-stars" were Brenda Harris, Carol Subera and my dear friend to this day, Marlene Dillard (nee Fisk).  I couldn't tell you the plot but it was dramatic and concerned a suicide or murder. In one scene, I had to carry Marlene, for some reason, back to her wheelchair (held by Ms. Subera).  Oh, and do take note of the wonderful set! The reason I post this is simple.   I would still carry Marlene anywhere she needed to be.   She is a wonderful friend  and we met up again ten years ago at our High School reunion.  (Her terrific husband, John took this photo.) Most likely, I won't make it to the r

"Take Me Along" is a musical based on "Ah, Wilderness" by Eugene O'Neill and we had Ray Milland in the starring role at the Meadowbrook.   I was also in the production and had my own number near the end of Act I.  It was called "Pleasant Little Beach House" and I don't remember a bit of it. Early in the run, I asked Mr. Milland for an autographed photo.   He told me that he didn't have any with him and apologized for this oversight. There was a store in the West 40's named  The Movie Memory Shop that specialized in photos of celebrities.   They sold them to various outlets who needed the latest headshot or a scene from a film.  Upon my visit to the shop in hopes of obtaining a pic of Mr. Milland, the best they could come up with were some shots from movies he had been in.    (And I do regret that I never asked him about Hitchcock and "Dial M For Murder.")   So, since he had won the Oscar for playing an alcoholic in "The

I remember Betty Grable, Esther Williams, Debbie Reynolds, Shirley Temple.....the list goes on and on.  And I often wondered why there were no men paper dolls.   Then, lo and behold, one appeared....Rock Hudson. Soon after, there was Ricky Nelson, Edd (Kookie) Byrnes, and even Clark Gable.  I used to peruse them at the "five and dime" when I was a kid.  It's that Hollywood  thing I had. Fade out, Fade in.....Years later, when we moved to Warwick, New York (our country house) the previous tenants left something behind and I still have it to this day.  I don't know how rare it is, but it's a treasure to my movie star mind.  Published in 1939, two years before I was born, it's in better shape than I am!     (I also confess that I bought some Miss Piggy paper dolls just for fun and thought about starting a collection.)

Terry Moore co-starred with Robert Q. Lewis (as Hines, not the leading man) in a production of "The Pajama Game" at the Meadowbrook Dinner Theater.  I had a small role and was the assistant stage manager. Ms. Moore was a sweet child-like woman who traveled with her mother in tow.   I had seen her in many movies and was a bit star struck.  (She had been Oscar nominated for Supporting Actress in "Peyton Place.")  And now, she was doing a musical, live, on stage.   She was a friendly out-going type who loved to chat and told me early on, that doing our musical was a real challenge for her as she didn't think she possessed much musical talent.  I reminded her that she had played "Beautiful Dreamer" on the piano in the film, "Mighty Joe Young." while being held aloft by her friendly ape.   She laughed and said, "Oh, that.  They chose "Beautiful Dreamer" because it was the only song I could play." Midway in rehearsals

When I was a child, around 10 or so, I became fascinated by movies and would usually attend the Saturday matinee at the Ritz Theater in the neighboring town of Caldwell while my mother did her shopping and my dad shot billiards at the Pool Hall.    Saturday movies were almost always a double-feature (films were shorter then), a news reel, cartoon and a serial.   I recall several serials but my favorite was Nyoka, the "Jungle Girl."  15 Chapters!   But wait!......  Midway through this epic adventure, my parents informed me we were moving to South Dakota.  South Dakota?  We may as well have been moving to the moon.  How would I ever find out what befell my heroine in darkest Africa? Luckily, I had a cousin, Jerome, who was a serial aficionado as well.  We grew up in the same small town in Kansas, practically across the street from each other..He was a year older and infinitely wiser than I so he solved my serial dilemma  in a heartbeat.  Forget about Nyoka or? For

In quite a few B-movies of the 40's, there was Gale Storm...("It Happened on Fifth Avenue")  Then in the 50's, she was all over Television.... ("My Little Margie," "The Gale Storm Show," and "Oh, Susannah!")  Then there were the hit records....("Dark Moon," and "A Little Too Late."). Welcome to the 60's......Gale Storm as Nellie Forbush in "South Pacific" at the Meadowbrook.  I was the stage manager and one of the "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" seabees.  First of all, everybody loved Gale.   She was quick with a laugh and a pleasure to be around, on or off stage. And speaking of off, we were off  two days a week.  At this time (1967) a new wunderkind had emerged upon the cinema scene and Gale suggested to me and my assistant stage manager, Frank Birt, that we go to the movies on one of those days.....to be specific,  she wanted to see Roman Polanski's "The Fearless Va

My grade school days in Corbin, Kansas, were spent in a rather large brick building at the south end of town. The ground floor had two schoolrooms, one for grades 1 - 4, the other, grades 5 - 8.  The top floor was a small "auditorium" used for monthly community meetings. There were only four in my class. Carolyn Ginn, Marilyn and Carolyn Wilson (twins) and myself. I walked to school every morning (unless the weather was dreadful) carrying my brown bag for lunch. It was usually a sandwich (peanut butter and jelly or bologna and a piece of fruit (one of three, apple, orange, or banana) When I was in the third grade, that all changed.   Part of the auditorium was converted into a kitchen, a cook was hired and we had hot lunches for the first time. Everyone, including parents were thrilled at this new innovation.   And these lunches were first rate.  Real home-cooked food.  Salisbury steak and mashed potatoes.   Cling peaches and cottage cheese.   Not a microwave in sig

Mother's Day always brings back a long ago memory. On a Saturday, January 26, 1946, I was awakened from a deep sleep.  I had just turned 5 years old on January 9th and I remember I was very aware that something was amiss.   My parents took me to my Aunt Grace who lived just a block away and she tried to console my concerns.  She put me to bed in one of their bedrooms and lay down beside me, telling me to think of happy things.   "Think of baby ducks," I remember her saying.  And I did, until I fell asleep. Later that night, my parents returned to fetch me and my mother was crying.  My 16 year old brother, Wynant, had been killed when he was hit by a drunk driver while crossing the street in the nearby town of Caldwell.  He had gone to the movies at the Ritz theater with friends and as it was a cold Kansas night, when they crossed the street after the "picture show," one of them stopped to button up his coat.  Wynant paused to wait for him and the driver roun

Opening in 1983, just down the block from us on the corner of 9th Avenue and 45th Street was a well-hidden soul food restaurant named Jezebel's.   You could walk right past it and never know it was there (although there was a bronze plaque near the door.)  But once inside, you were in a different world.  The owner, Alberta Wright, had roots in creole and Cajun cooking as well as owning an antique store in Harlem.  And she used her antiques to her advantage.  When it first opened, every table was different, from the lace table cloths, the dishes that didn't match, the silverware, even the chairs, wicker or rot iron, among others (at some tables for four or more, you might be sitting in a porch swing suspended from the ceiling) and art and potted palms were everywhere, along with  brightly colored fabrics draped at the windows.  It was all eclectic, tasteful and a treat for the eyes as well as the taste buds. Soul food to the max...Charleston She-crab soup, chicken and waff

 I've love  and admired her all my life...from "National Velvet" to "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."  Through the marriages, through the tragedies, through the AIDS activism, through it all.  She was a true movie icon.  She was what a movie star should be. In 1964, I stood near her waiting limousine in front of the Lunt-Fontaine theater to get a glimpse of her emerging with her husband Richard Burton, who was appearing in "Hamlet." She did not disappoint, waving to the crowd as she and Burton entered the limo and sped off into the night. In 1981, "The Little Foxes" by Lillian Hellman was revived on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theater (since renamed the Al Hirshfeld) with Ms.Taylor making her Broadway debut.   She garnered good reviews and it was a sold out run.  And Fabian and I were lucky enough to see it. After the show, sometimes she and fellow performer Maureen Stapleton would retire to a theatrical "watering hole"

 We had a dear friend named J.J. Coyle and while he was multi-talented, he moonlighted in other jobs.  As a member of  the Dressers Union he would do various shows on Broadway. "Breaking the Code," a play by Hugh Whitemore opened on Broadway in mid-November1987 starring the British Actor Derek Jacobi.   He had appeared numerous times on Broadway, most notably in a production of "Cyrano de Bergerac," a few years earlier.  For that productions, his dresser/assistance  was J. J. and they hit it off.  Derek even came to see a one-night only, one-man show that J.J.  had written (and that's where we first met him).  So it followed that Derek asked for J. J to be on board for the "Code." J. J. arranged for us to get house seats (good seats to be used at the producers discretion) and to  come back stage after the performance to see Derek.  It was a brilliant performance and quite demanding.  Derek had to speak with a stammer as befitted his real life char

Be forewarned, this story may be a little hard to take, but it's all true.  When I acted in a production of "Guys and Dolls" at the Meadowbrook, the star was Tony Martin. He was undoubtedly my least favorite "star" I  worked with over the years.  Here's why. There was a small toilet just outside the Chorus Boys dressing room.   It was for everyone to use. However, if it was occupied, Mr. Martin had the disgusting habit of coming into the chorus dressing room and urinating in the sink.  I mean, he couldn't even go back to his own sink in the "Star" dressing room? Also, on more than one occasion, he would ad lib an insult aimed toward his leading lady, a lovely but slightly overweight actress.  When she fell into his arms as per her direction he would quip "Jeeze, she just gave me a hernia." Now, if that's not enough,  I remember we were at the theater on a matinee day when we all learned that Robert Kennedy had been assass

In the late 60's, the era of Woodstock and flower children, I was one of them.  We were called hippies, druggies, and worse.  But we were family. A few friends and I had a ritual meeting every Sunday afternoon.   Dressed in our finest fringed vests, our best bell-bottoms and sporting our love beads, we would meet in someone's apartment, smoke a bit of grass, on occasion take a "downer" and then head to Central Park where we would proceed to approach black people and tell them they we're beautiful.  That may sound condescending by today moreys but the "Black is beautiful" movement had just begun and Afro-American was yet to be. In those days, Central Park on a Sunday was teeming with flower children, some literally passing out flowers with an "I love you."  It was heady stuff.  Love was in the air. But, there were also the protests. "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, LBJ has got to go." as we marched down Broadway against the Viet Nam war.  We w

 My wonderful cousin, Judy Niebaum, was married last weekend and although I couldn't attend, I couldn't be happier for her.  So, in her honor and new husband Dave, I repost this story from an earlier time and hope I will have many memories of  the newlyweds. My dear cousin, Jerome Niebaum, and his equally dear wife, Judy, visited NYC, now and then, when we lived there.  The first time that I remember, I went with them to the top of the Empire State building with their children, Richard and Jerri who were still in grade school, I think. As the years passed, the children went off to pursue their own lives, but my "Jeromeo and Judiette." (as they christened themselves) continued to come back on occasion.  (Sometimes it was work related and once they even sang in a chorale at Carnegie Hall!)  And over the years, we saw a few Broadway musicals together, "Crazy For You" and "Contact" come to mind. But, to the point of this entry......I don't re

My first Christmas in New York, I was alone.  My friends Bob and Judy had returned to spend the holiday with their families in Pittsburgh.  So what to do. Christmas Eve, I decided I would go to Midnight Mass as St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.  While I was not a Catholic, I knew it would be a wonderful evening of faith and song.  Arriving around 11 o'clock or so, I encountered hordes of people, milling around.   As I made my way up the steps of the great edifice and through the open door, an elderly usher said, 'Ticket, please." I explained that I had no ticket and he offered a brief explanation.  Tickets were required because attendance was always full to overflowing.  And of course, it was too late to get one for this particular night as it was "Sold out." Dejected, I made my way back out to the steps of the Cathedral, exiting as many were coming in. A voice to my left said, "Young man?"  I turned to see a gentleman, bundled up in

You see the word "Marilyn" and you automatically think of Marilyn Monroe.   But there was another one....Marilyn Maxwell.  She was in the movies in the 40's and 50's....most notable with Bob Hope in "The Lemon Drop Kid" that introduced the Christmas song "Silver Bells." Early on, in my "career" at Meadowbrook, I was the Technical Assistant on a production of  "Kismet" starring Ms. Maxwell.  Johnny Carson, at that time, had taken up saying "Ho-kay" as one of his catch phrases when he was perturbed by or questioning a guest.  I had taken it up as well.  I don't know why.  But Marilyn found it amusing. A week of so into the run, Marilyn said, "Guess what?  Big Chuck is coming to the show tomorrow night. I used to date him and  I can't wait for you to meet him.  Ho-kay?" I did not know of whom she spoke but I replied "Ho-kay!" And sure enough, the next night, the costume mistress found m

After college and "The Chessman" years, I was accepted by the Totem Pole Playhouse in Fayetteville Pennsylvania to be an "apprentice."   That simply meant that I would be learning my craft under the watchful eyes of the owner/director, Bill Putch and his wife Jean Stapleton (Yes, pre-Edith of "All in the Family").  This was the summer of  "The Twist," eagerly executed many nights on the porch of the building where most of the actors lived.   (After the evening performance, of course.) As an apprentice, you did a lot of backstage work, handling props, painting scenery, any odd job.  And you appeared in one or two shows.   The one I remember appearing in was "Oklahoma" with Ms. Stapleton as Aunt Eller.   And I also remember reporting for work with the other apprentices to paint scenery on the morning of August 6th, 1962 to discover that Marilyn Monroe had been found dead on the previous day.  Everyone was in shock. Near the end of the

About 1962, during my college years,  I was the member of a folk-singing group called The Chessmen. (The Kingston Trio debuted in 1958.)  Organized by a brilliant guitar player by the name of Chuck Cowan, he recruited me and another friend named Max Gile to form this group. I was the comic of the group (doubling on bongo and conga drums and faking guitar as best I could)  and Max played the bass. Chuck, being the real musician always played the lead (electric) guitar. We practiced a lot, bought matching clothing, had photos taken and played for various group gatherings on campus.   And while I don't remember exactly how it came about, in due time we had a "manager" on campus and an agent (from Kansas City.)  So, we gave up school for the time being to pursue this new goal. The agent got us various gigs throughout the mid-west.   The first one was in Moorehead, Minnesota, just across the border from Fargo, North Dakota, at a spot called Sunset Lanes....  Yes, you g

Another production at the Meadowbrook was "High Spirits," a musical based on Noel Coward's "Blithe Sprit."  In the role of Madame Arcati, the medium who conjures up the ghosts, we had the high spirited Imogene Coca.  As some of you will know, she rose to fame in the early days of television on "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar.  I watched it as a kid and always had a laugh or two.   And now she was doing the dinner theater circuit. For this production I was in charge of props and also had a small role (i.e. chorus) as Rupert, one of Arcati's "Friends of the Unseen." Theater-in-the-round is unique in that there is no curtain. Our stage had four ramps at its four corners for entrances and exits through the audience.  Sets are changed in the dark between scenes.   I was part of that crew as well.  I remember, every night, without fail, when we were moving Madame Arcati's bed onto the stage, Imogene would run up beside me in the da

One of my favorite "movie stars" I worked with at the Meadowbrook, was Van Johnson, a wonderful, kind and caring man.  I had a rather large role in a production of "There's a Girl in my Soup." playing the cockney boyfriend of the Girl.  It was great fun and I became quite good at the accent after a bit of coaching. The show was a hit with the critics.  In fact, I received an award later in the year as Best All Around Featured Actor from The New Jersey Drama Critics.  (Surprise, who knew they were a group.) At any rate,  shortly after the show closed,  I received a phone call from Van.  It seemed that his agent had booked him in quite a lot of theaters around the country doing "Soup" (sort of a mini-tour).  He very kindly asked me to be in the cast as it moved from venue to venue taking which would entail about a year. I pondered it for a day and called him back and declined.   I was young and a little stupid, I daresay. I just couldn't leave

In 1967,  I did a production of  "The Boy Friend' at the Wedgewood Dinner Theater in Glen Cove, Long Island.  (Bernadette Peters was in the chorus).   The star was Yvonne de Carlo.   Yvonne had been a movie star in the 40's and 50's achieving her best role as Charlton Heston's wife in "The Ten Commandments,"  released in 1956.  On the set of that movie, in the previous year, she was re-united with an old flame, stuntman Robert Morgan whom she married in 1955 and they had two sons, Bruce (who became the god-son of Cecil B. DeMille) and Michael.  Yvonne gave up her career to raise the two boys. Tragically, in 1962 Robert lost his leg in an accident while working on "How the West Was Won." and M-G-M disavowed any responsibility.  The Morgans sued and settled for an undisclosed amount. And Yvonne went back to work, taking on TV as the wife, Lily in "The Munsters." When that show came to an end in 1966, she ventured into theater.   (L

Is has been four months since I lost Fabian and I pass this on to illustrate what a wonderful sense of humor he had. During his battle with Parkinson's he would lose mobility every now and then and fall down. We both coped with the situation as best we could.  And usually it was a minor incident. However, one morning when I woke up, his face was covered in blood.  It seems he had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and upon returning to bed, lost his balance and slammed his face into the bedroom doorknob causing considerable damage to his lower lip.  And, half-dazed, he returned to bed. After I awoke and saw all the blood on the sheet and on the rug, not to mention on him, I got him cleaned up as best I could, dressed and into the car where we went to an Urgent Care center that was near us. When the receptionist observed his bloodied lower lip, we had very little waiting time to see a doctor.  We were ushered into a room.  As we talked to the

In New York, Fabian and I both worked for American Tree and Wreath, a manufacturer of artificial Christmas trees.  As part of our job, we were sent out to various stores in season to help them set up their Christmas departments by decorating the trees that had been purchased from our company. We also were responsible for setting up our showroom and it's sister one in Skokie, Illinois, as well as holding teaching seminars on "How to decorate your tree." At still other times of the year, we were dispatched to trade shows in various parts of the country to again set up displays that would be taken over by the local reps for the duration of the show and later dismantled by them. One such year, we had trade shows in Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and Indianapolis and all in a matter of weeks of each other.  Since Fabian hated to fly, we offered an alternate plan to the powers-that-be.  Upon consideration, they agreed to the plan.  It was cheaper to let us take the train

In my preteen years, I was obsessed with the movies.  More accurately, movie stars and movie magazines....Photoplay, Modern Screen, etc.   Debbie Reynolds had burst on the screen in "Singing in the Rain" when I was nine and I was in love with her.  I gobbled up anything written about her. That being said, there was a dear, formidable woman in my hometown of Corbin, Kansas who was the postmistress....Ruth Rinehart.  Most days, after she had deposited the mail (delivered by train to the station at the north end of town) into the assigned post office boxes, Ruth could be found sitting on a bench in front of the establishment, greeting passers-by or reading or what you will. I almost always stopped for a visit on my way up the street to the grocery store for a candy bar or on some errand for my mom as well as just getting the mail.   And Ruth always chatted to me like I was an equal, asking question about my young life.  Invariably, the subject of movies came up.   I filled h

Sylvia Miles passed away this week at the age of 94.  I repost this to add another dimension to her persona. Another of the odd jobs I had occasionally was as a dresser at fashion shows.  Dressers worked backstage to assist the models in making quick changes for runway events.  I was hired by a friend and did mostly men's shows but an occasional show for the opposite sex.  These various shows were always at interesting venues....aboard the Intrepid in the Hudson River or at the Rainbow Room in Rockefeller center.   You were usually assigned one or two models depending on the size of the show.  I remember having as many as six at one time which could be a little daunting especially if they had numerous changes. Some shows also had a celebrity wearing the clothing along with the models.  Hope Lang was in one.  Arlene Dahl in another.  Etc. Etc.   The one I  still remember vividly was Academy Award Winner Sylvia Miles. (Oscar as Best Supporting Actress in "Midnight Cowboy&quo

Today, I offer one of my favorite memories............In 1976, the year of our bi-centennial, five friends journeyed to England.  Leaving NYC on a late afternoon and arriving at Heathrow airport in London the next morning.   Well, allowing for the time change, it was morning there.  We got to our hotel and immediately took naps. The following few days, we did all the tourist things.....the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral as well as some Pub crawling.  And we booked tickets to a couple of shows in the West End for a later date.  And, indeed, as I recall, we saw the first of those, a revue, "Side by Side by Sondheim," that week. (It later moved to Broadway where we saw it again.)  But I digress. The real adventure began after those first few days in London    The next evening after "Sondheim," we left Paddington Station by train and overnight, made our way down to Cornwall and Land's End.  From there we took a he

In the Christmas business, many companies acquire licenses from other companies to use their products to make still other products.  That is how you get Disney Christmas Ornaments or Star Wars or you name it.  The company I worked for at the time  had the exclusive rights to the E.T. franchise and asked me to design an ornament they could manufacture in China, once they received the go-ahead from the Steven Spielberg/Universal Pictures people. I got to work, using bits of this and that, trying to recreate a feeling of the scene from the film where E.T. was hiding in the closet.  And adding a bit of my own whimsy to the back of the ornament.  My prototype was sent off to China where they tweaked it (with a better E.T. than I could come up with) and returned it to us.  Then, off to the Spielberg/Universal camp.   After a week or two we got the OK for things to move forward.  So, back to China. Then came the problem.   The cost.  My company felt it was too prohibitive in the cost