My Real Memoir
“When you can’t find a way,” my hero George Pal had told me, “make a way.” I’d decided to do just that. For starters, my GPA had plummeted so badly that I was in danger of winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Vietnam. So I signed up for subjects I knew I’d be good at—Art, Stagecraft, Mime, Poetry—and got the best grades of my life.
Poetry class was amusing, if not particularly instructive. Peter, our balding, free-spirited (i.e. bonkers) professor, routinely thumbed his nose (and other body parts) at the college administration. Finally, after he’d ridden to class on a camel, while high on LSD, they chose to out-source him (possibly to another planet). This being his final semester, Peter promised to give us whatever course grade we wanted, regardless of whether we attended. I was one of the few who did, all of my poems receiving insightful feedback, like “Far out!” Our last session was at the beach house Peter shared with his “old lady” Hayley, aged nineteen. Clearly the mature one, Hayley chastised him when he arrived half-an-hour late, dripping wet and clutching his surfboard. “Whoa! Students. Groovy!”
My closest friends, my band, were stuck in a holding pattern, waiting for our album to be released (it never was). So I decided to immerse myself in college life. I took over the flagging Theatre Department newsletter, renaming it and drawing a new banner for every marvelous mimeo-ed edition; the heading (which I borrowed for my pen pal letter above), “The Bugle Bondi Beulah,” was a follow-up to the previous “Beulah Bondi Bugle,” named for an eccentric 1930s movie actress.
I talked two talented actors, Larry and Janet, out of their competition to see which one of them would deflower handsome, sexually-confused freshman Randy. Played in the Pacific ocean’s phosphorescent red tide with adorable plus-sized Mary in her tutu-style one-piece. Threw a party for actor friends and chuckled as self-described “modest” Sunny danced in her underwear on a coffee table, blaming the marijuana (oregano cigarettes distributed as a joke) for her uninhibited behavior.
And finally, tired of playing the theatrical outfield, I ad-libbed my way into our school’s touring version of Pinocchio. Directed by my freshman acting teacher Ken “Bear” Rugg, it was developed through improvisation by the cast themselves. Now that I could do! I took a prominent role in the final scripting, wrote a theme song, and with guitar in hand, led our cast and audience in singing along. The college newspaper reviewer praised the show, and ended by saying he couldn’t get the tune out of his head. I’d not only arrived, I’d arrived with an earworm!
Soon, I started getting asked to audition and advise; wrote songs for a mystery-satire, recording the main theme “Who Done It, My Love?” in my best female torch-singer falsetto; and began thinking about creating an original musical of my own. I was finally off the bench, on the team…
And up to bat!
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You sure were living with passion – and then purpose arrived!!!!
That’s a very good way to put it, Mary.
My Junior and Senior years at high school I was apsolutely wrapped up in doing our annual musical. Junior year it was Anything Goes and senior Pajama Game. I was ready to run off to Hollywood then came university. However, once I got my first job I enrolled in the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC with hope of breaking out of the ordinary. Never made it through the four year required but got through two years and it was an experience I will always remember.
I hadn’t realized we shared such similar backgrounds, Rasma. Sounds like, despite the fact you went in a different direction, you have no regrets about those two year.
No regreat whatsoever and a humorous memory of perhaps finishing those four years, traveling to Hollywood, and walking about the studios waving my certificate from the school and saying “I am a star and I have come to prove it”. I really doubt I would have gotten very far but glad I tried it anyway.
;>)
Far Out !!! LOL
;>)
It sounds like you had developed the wildly fun stage presence of a rocker. 🙂
Something like that, Nancy. ;>)
I’m clapping my hands with enjoyment … I love the memoir, the references, the visuals. Somewhere in all of us we have a similar memoir, although somewhat different depending on experience & personality. VERY entertaining.
Thank you so much, Linda.
I also enjoy my life with teaching, writing watching movies ,cooking , so enjoy your life as your way! Well shared 👌
Mitch, yer way with words still has me chuckling whilst I’m commenting. If your memoir ever makes it to the silver screen, I’ll be first in the ticket line.
;>) Thanks, Tom!
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