L J P...

A BFF tale...



My first (and probably last) in what might be considered the true sense of the word. In fact, I'm actually somewhat surprised we didn't coin the acronym back in the day...

Don't get me wrong, I've had my share of wonderful friendships in my life and I certainly hope to have many more, but there was just something so very different, special and once-in-a-lifetime about this one. Perhaps it was because we were so young and hadn't completely discovered ourselves yet.. or maybe it was because nobody else liked us!

But we were exactly the same. We called each others mom's "mom", had the same thoughts, finished each other's sentences, had the same dreams, shared the same jokes, smokes, the driving, a bad sense of direction, pj's and the occassional outfit and boyfriend. In short, we pretty much inhabited the same space for a while (even though height-wise I was about a foot taller)...

But there we were. Mutt and Jeff, Tom and Huck, Thelma and Louise, Paris and Nicole, Lucy and Ethel...

I'm sure at that time we could never have ever imagined just how much our paths would eventually diverge and that how one day we would end up not really talking that much at all. Not that we wouldn't talk all night again if we ever had the chance... but we just never have the chance. And I'm pretty sure that the content of any late night discussions we might have now would be very, very different from the late night 'discussions' we had back then...

The first time I met my BFF was on our first night of rehearsal for a community theatre production of "West Side Story." I had escaped the dismal thespian world of Hacienda Heights and had headed over the hill that summer to a place where the opportunities were a little more promising. Anyway, there she was practicing this lift with one of the chorus guys when he almost dropped her and her eyes suddenly locked on mine (I just happened to be the only one standing there) with this big wide eyed "OMG... hahaha... Help Me!!!" face. Well, I was hooked instantly! And the rest is history. By the way, just to prevent any possible confusion here... the word is "Thespian." You can Google it.


Jannet and Lorna - 1971


Andy's SuperBurger - Our Nightly Hangout

I seriously can't remember too much more about my years from age 16 to 18 except for the time we spent together... and when ya think about it those formative years can take up a whole lot of space in one's life. I mean, those events and memories can actually add up to a lot more than say, those from even 26 to 58, which I am now... almost. Funny how that is.

But anyway... other than suffering through school all week (and doing community shows in the summertime) we pretty much just looked forward to the weekends when we could drive into Hollywood or Westwood. And all we needed was a full tank of gas and $5 cash for a night on the town. The full tank of gas cost us about $5 as well... so we were pretty big spenders and free as birds! Not sure exactly what we always did there, except for cruising the boulevard, taking in first run movies at $1.50 a pop, purchasing the latest album at Tower Records, having dinner at Old World or Ships and of course stalking Barbra Streisand. Thankfully Barbra still exists. lol (But that's another whole story entirely...)


Jannet and Lorna - 1972

The Maggot Book...

Seriously. We had one... and we carried it with us everywhere!... because I mean really, one just never knows when a thing like that might come in handy. It was dedicated to "all those obnoxious and annyoing." And all we ever had to do was to ask them their name...



To date there are just 142 entries. Come on Lorn, we could have done SO much better than that!


A Birthday Card for my 18th

Graduation...
It always happens.


Senior Choir Banquet


Graduation Day

Now keep in mind, she was still two years younger than I was and so still had to remain in High School... while I got to go off to pursue college and New York and all sorts of other things grown up... (which just now made me realize that how all of those years I may have been contributing to the downfall of a minor.. :)

But we still kept in touch!



And sent pictures...



And then finally...

Yay!

But after that, honestly?.. I think that both of our lives just got completely crazy. In fact I don't think either of us could hardly keep track of it at the time! College, jobs, shows... and then a U.S.O. tour (which by the way I cannot believe how her mom ever let her fly off to the Orient without making her bed first... and I only know that because I had to make the dang bed myself. lol) But anyway...

We were able to hook up again and re-acquaint during the spring 0f '75 for a trip up the coast...


I Dare You To Blink


BFF's


Damn Mustang


A Christening

And for yet another trip to Vegas...


What happens in Vegas stays...

And then we spent a summer together in NYC the following year, sharing a one room flat with a gal named Piper Pickeral who really loved protein drinks... long before they were fashionable.


Freedom


Rebels


*sigh*

I would end up staying in New York for the next 10 years but at the end of the summer Lorna packed her bags and bid us goodbye. Please don't misunderstand. It's not that she didn't like New York..

She just liked L.A. better...



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

So I guess this turned out to be a little more of a photo journey and a little less content filled than I had planned. But there was just so much to cover. Way too many funny little stories, antecdotes and memories to ever be able to fit in here! So I may just have to write some of those down in their own seperate blog entries in the future. Except that once I do that, we may have to kill you...

Anyway, I'm not sure when it was that we lost the together exactly, but I think it may have had something to do with this...


Haha

But seriously, I'm fairly sure that we both shared in a little bit of the blame there. Although blame is not exactly the word I really mean to use at all. I think it's just that we both grew up, which people sometimes tend to do... except that I still ended up growing up to be a little taller... ; )

I believe that a friend is someone you can always count on, someone who makes you laugh and cries along when you do. Someone who gives you good advice even when that outcome will have nothing to do with them. Someone who you can just sit with without ever wondering what to say and yet who will still forgive you when you end up saying something stupid or at least less than smart.

But a BFF is all of the above plus one who at some point defines you... and not only for a time but, in a way, forever (thus the double F's...). And someone who, if you ever happened to just show up at the other's front door one day, say 40 years later, wouldn't even question it or think it particularly weird... Someone who can attend your first wedding and then completely understand when it doesn't work out without you even having to explain it and vice-versa... Someone who rejoices with you in the birth of your first child and loves all the beautiful pictures you send and then later shares with you all the trials and joys of being a mother to that beautiful baby... and again, vice-versa.



...And also someone who introduces you to AOL (the really big thing back in the 90's!...) and then years later accepts your "friend" request on FaceBook without question, even though you may not exactly fit the demograpghic. lol

And oh yes, someone who you might be able to send a silly blog like this one to and who will just laugh right along with you at all the memories, almost as if it were yesterday.

Anyway, LJP, thanks so much for everything. It was definitely a blast!



And so just how many times did you actually end up appearing on Johnny Carson exactly anyway?...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bedtime Rituals...

Being the middle child, I always had to share a room while growing up. Or maybe a better way of putting it is that I always GOT to share a room. First with Carol, who then got her own when Jeannie got too old to sleep in the crib in my parent's room, after which I became "roomies" with Jeannie.

I have two very distinct memories of those two different arrangements, which at the time may have been just silly childhood goings on, but they have somehow stuck in my mind forever.

Carol and I had storytime.

I think it all started on the day when somebody barfed on the patio outside the nurses office right after we got our flu shots at Valinda Elementary. I was in first grade.

I came home and told everyone about it and and how totally gross it was and that how afterwards they'd had to call the Jennifer (janitor) to clean it up... (except that I don't think the word "gross" actually existed at the time...as a matter of fact I don't remember if the word "barf" did either.)

Well anyway, Carol, big sister that she was, roared with laughter...

So then ensued our midnight tales in bed every night after the lights were out. The stories could be as absolutely discusting as we could possibly make them, but the one rule was that they always had to end with the tag line "And the Jennifer cleaned it up." I remember the stories involving every possible type of bodily excretion that we were aware of at the time... And Vic Tanny (the health fitness guru at the time) also found his way into many of our stories so they were never lacking in entire swimming pools overflowing with fat and blubber. Fun times, fun times.

Many years later... I was writing to Carol and we were laughing about all those stories we use to tell each other... when I ended up with the thought of "Wow, little did we know that one day she REALLY would..." hahahaha (some of you will get that...)

We also had our alternate story theme called "The Family Wash"... but I don't remember any of them too distinctly, but I think the stories were pretty similiar just maybe not quite as graphic. At any rate airing our dirty laundry wasn't one of our big specialties at the time...


Me and Lala... a couple years before "the stories"...

Next came little sis Jeannie and the back scratches. We had a nightly routine that we couldn't stray from. This was the order. Short design, long design, scribble, short picture, long picture, scratch. Of course each one had to be erased in between, which basically meant a backrub. I was usually the unselfish older sister always offering to do her back first... so that I could just fall asleep afterwards. Haha

We had a date last year to revisit the backscratches when we found out we were going to have to share a bed at our family reunion in Aspen Grove, but then unfortunately, a room freed up...

We all played Apples to Apples out in the common area instead.


Jeannie and me in the BYU dorms summer of '64 while mom was going to school. I think this may have been where our backscratching tradition began.


The three of us in the backyard on Lawnwood St. in '60.

I sure do love my sisters and all our memories! I think we really need to do another sleepover one of these days.

A Chorus Line...

So it's been well over 30 years since I did this show. Which also equates to over 30 years of not being able to imagine ever NOT doing it.. as well. But that's pretty much always the way it is with things you do...

But I still believe it must have been my destiny somehow, because it was the thing that really defined all of those other things that came after it. And I tend to wonder about those kinds of things sometime. Like if something hadn't happened just exactly the way it did (on that one day), would I still have my children.. or my grandchildren? Would they look the way they do? Would they still be who they are? Would I have gone back to school? Would I have had this same job for 18 years? Would I have ever (EVER) lived in Michigan? Would I even be typing this right now? Because there is so much it seems... that could have the capacity to change one's life entirely, just by the direction of one's path or a decision made in a millisecond.

But I think I already wrote down some similar thoughts like this once, so I suppose there's really no need to reinvent the wheel.

A Simple Twist of Fate...

Anyway, rewinding back to the 70's...

I think that when this show hit the NY scene in May of 1976 it suddenly became every dancers dream. I think that, because the 5 auditions I attended (and all of which I was almost immediately cut from without given a second chance) was fairly similar to how I picture the American Idol cattle calls of today. They were crazy and exhilarating... but also totally humiliating.

And I don't even know what kept me going back time after time except for that little voice inside that kept telling me I could TOTALLY do that role. (To be honest I don't think that I ever really "pictured" myself doing that role... but I just really, really wanted to do it!)

So I suppose you'll now (in case you didn't do it before) have to click on that little link up there to find out how it all went down...

I guess I'm only saying this because, really?... I don't think anyone should ever doubt their potential to do anything that they're willing to set their sights on and work to achieve. Because although nothing usually comes from nothing... something will always SOMEHOW find it's way... I truly believe that.

And that one moment, on the Shubert stage, when I was finally, FINALLY offered the show?... Well, all I can say is that everyone should be allowed to have at least one of those moments in their life.

Because wow... What a really, REALLY great sixty seconds!









Here's an audio tape of a recording from a portion of the show in from San Francisco, Golden Gate Theatre, 1980 (not 1979 btw.. my goof! But when you get to be my age what's a year or two in either direction anyway?...) And what an added blessing to our posterity that Brad also happened to be on that night!..



And see? Sometimes you don't even need to be able to sing! (2:06-2:38) and (3:47-4:36) But at 6:50?...well, I think those seven syllables were pretty good : )... lol

Cast List:
Don - Rick Conant
Maggie - Stephanie Eley
Mike - Jamie Torcellini
Connie - Sachi Shimizu
Greg - Stephen Moore
Cassie - Wanda Richert
Sheila - Rita O'Conner
Bobby - Ron Kurowski
Bebe - Tracy Shayne
Judy - Jannet Moranz
Richie - Ralph Glenmore
Al - Brad Moranz
Kristine - Kerry Casserly
Mark - Scott Plank
Val - Pamela Ann Wilson
Paul - Stephen Crenshaw
Diana - Gay Marshall
Zach - Tony Teague
Larry - Marshall Hagins

Up next I suppose... All the other stuff that came before.

I Left My Heart In San Francisco... oops.

My memories must be pretty disorganized. Because this isn't the exact order I'd hoped to present it in when I started all this. There's a ton of stuff that came before. A ton! But if I don't do this now it might all get buried amongst the countless piles of life's living, so I guess I should just share it now while it's still somewhat fresh on my mind for the first time in well, a long time...

So anyway... Somewhere along the line I found my self lucky enough to be cast in this show.. "A Chorus Line." I toured with it for a year, which looking back, was probably one of the sweetest years of my life. San Francisco fell about half way into that tour with Baltimore, Minneapolis, Denver, San Diego, Portland, San Jose and LA lying on one half and Memphis, Buffalo, Cleveland, St. Louis and Louisville on the other. I seriously don't remember too much about the "before or after" halfs. In fact, I even had to go searching through my old scrapbooks even to be able to remember where they fell in the scheme of things... and even then, I'm pretty certain I haven't gotten them in the right order.

But I DO remember San Francisco. It was where I fell in love. And the whole thing of it was sort of odd because I hadn't really been attracted to him at all during that first half. And I was staying in this (seedy) apartment, right in the middle of the tenderloin district at the time. So how it all ended up, somehow, equating to love... I'm not really sure. It just did.

Perhaps it all began that night he returned from Aspen...





Or, during that foggy evening at the Cliff House, gazing out at the seals...



Or that beautiful afternoon at Stinson Beach...



Or during that trippy trip to Tahoe...





Or over that incredible weekend in Maui?





Or during that (icky) month in Europe?





Honestly?.. I'm thinking it could have been any one of those times... if memory serves me correctly...



But Memory's getting ahead of herself here... (she tends to do that sometimes...)

And right now, she's thinking it was still all the tenderloin's fault somehow...



Or the fact that she just really liked bowling...



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

P.S. Just found this. Written some time around 2004...

I've always heard the saying "lightning doesn't strike the same place twice" or something like that. So since i've already been struck I think I can safely assume that I am now relatively safe from any future calamity..

The "striking" occurred in the winter of 1980. San Francisco. He had verdant eyes the color of mossy pools and lips that were plump and ripe shell pink... and he spoke of truths. He was kind and gentle, witty and snarky, yet firm and deliberate when the occassion warranted. The lightening clouds began rumbling overhead but the ZAP held back. Because he was way to "sensitive" to be the macho man of my dreams... and I'd already had a pretty long relationship with one of those "sensitive" types, if you get my drift...

And then he sang. And that zigzaggy cord of light and energy zipped and zapped me every this way and that. I begged for mercy but there would be no relief, for a long time to come...

Not for years and years in fact...

But then about 20 years later...

There it was...

Long story short - If you wanna make God laugh ~ all you gotta do is tell Him your plans...

Anyway, all I really meant to do here was just share some of these pictures with our kids... and of course, this vid...

My First "Girl Crush"...

It's Saturday Night! And at least seventy Saturday nights since I last posted, I know!... but I've been kind of busy. And I guess I just wasn't sure what else to add to my "memoirs." I mean, you've already learned about my family... and all my very first memories. The next several years were just pretty much well,... embarrassing.

But I guess now seems like just as good a time as any to jump in and tell you this little story...

In 1967 my family moved me from being a big fish in a little pond (La Puente, California) to being a very little fish (though already 5'7" with a fairly big nose) to a much bigger pond (Hacienda Heights), and, being only 13 at the time, I really didn't really handle it very well.

I had just recently seen a production of "The Diary of Anne Frank" at my big sister's High School and so immediately, upon moving into our new home, found the perfect spot (under the staircase) where I could lock myself in for hours at a time to write in my "journal," pretty much only coming out for school, mealtimes, or to watch my favorite TV program "The Patty Duke Show."

Remember it?

*sigh*

It was already in syndication by that time so, depending on the night, we'd get different versions of the show's opener. Here's one of the earlier versions...


But enough of that...

And then she began appearing on all these variety shows. So many in fact that I could hardly keep track, given that we only had this one little printed version of the TV guide that we had to actually go to the grocery store and purchase each week. But I loved this performance!



Anyway, I suppose my real downward spiral and decline began very innocently one night while attending some family friendly movie at the local Eastland Theater. I was simply out there in the lobby buying either popcorn or one of those 15 cents (at the time) packages of "Charms," when I happened upon this poster of upcoming attractions...



Ok, so who's to say that posters like this shouldn't be allowed to be displayed in the lobby during the normal "family friendly" movie nights? But bingo! It hooked me.

I'm not sure exactly what happened after that. I can only assume now that, at the time, I realized it was actually possible for a dorky, gangly little girl to still have a chance of blossoming into a mature, sexy, pill-popping, slut. Though I don't really think those were the actual adjectives that were running through my mind at the time. I just suddenly wanted to BE her... or at least know that there was a chance I'd ever be able to escape my boring little world. Because I really DID want to become an actress... eventually. In fact, during that very same time I remember standing in my backyard at night and looking down over the lights of my little town thinking... "Someday they'll ALL know who I am!" Haha, as if the lights of Hacienda Heights was "the world."

But so, the very next week, I BEGGED my mom to take me to see "Jungle Book" at that same theater... secretly hoping that they'd show previews of the upcoming attractions. Little did I know that even back then they typically gear the previews to the general demographics in attendance... And so anyway, by the way, I hated "Jungle Book."

But I somehow eventually snuck into the movie illegally anyway and it was AWESOME!





(Watching it 30 years later though, not so much...)

Memories get a little mixed up here, but I think it was shortly after that that I changed my journal entries from "Dear Diary.." to "Dear Patty.." Yeah, I know. But hey, I was still only 13. I wrote to her every day, religiously. I still have them. Every single entry, of which I will most likely burn shortly before I die... : ) And I bought and clipped out every single thing I could find about her from "Teen Beat" etc... as if it were all spot on true... and made the most amazing scrapbook! Followed everything about her for years! Ask mom.

And then somehow I ended up with mononucleoses during my 15th year which confined me to bed-rest for about 2 months. My grandma was there to bring up my meals during the day... I had a tutor from school come in once or twice a week... and of course the best thing about the whole thing was that I got a TV moved into my room! My mom even surprised me one day with this little gift to keep me company!



Which included a bunch of golden oldies...

Say Something Funny

Funny Little Butterflies

And the all time Shindig favorite...Please Don't Just Stand There

But still! I wore that thing out!

And then, well, after being confined to bed for a month or so I remember not being able to sleep at all one night, and so I most innocently stumbled into my parents bathroom, and into their medicine cabinet. It really didn't seem like such a bad thing to do at the time. I mean, wasn't that what Neely O'Hara did whenever she wanted to get some shut-eye? Turned out to be not such a great idea though. Oh I lived alright! But only after an emergency trip to the hospital. It also cost my parents a couple of sleepless nights of their own. I was a pretty dumb kid back then...

But I don't think it was until the evening I watched the Golden Globe Awards in 1970 that I even realized something might be wrong with her. And even then, I still thought she was so beautiful and went right back afterwards to my journal and wrote... "Awww, are you ok??? Call me... !" As if. I just love how completely innocent I was at the time. This video is quite telling and I'm sure much more complicated that I could have ever made it out to be in my mind at the time.


And yes, that was Desi Arnaz Jr. sitting beside her...

But as with all things... they eventually pass. And by 1971 I'd pretty much changed by journal entry benefactress to "Barbra"... which I guess will now be the NEXT story I'll probably have to write...

But in all loyalty... I just love these next interviews from a TV talk show from Toronto around 1981. She still hadn't been diagnosed yet with bi-polar, but was definitely on her way to discovering it. She turned out to be a very happy woman afterall. Mother and grandmother of many. Eventual happy wife (who now lives in Idaho!)... and a long time President of the Screen Actors Guild. So I suppose things could have turned out much worse...

Interview Part 1

Interview Part 2

Interview Part 3

One of the best autobiographies I've ever read! v v v


Call Me Anna

Anyway... to finish off this post.

GoGo Bewts!...


...verses Social Security...


Gotta love it!