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 the way it always is with things you do... right?

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 (B L M)...

My memories must be pretty disjointed. 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...

But then he sang.

And that zigzaggy cord of light and energy zipped and zapped me every this way and that. And there would be no relief, not for a long time to come...

Not for years and years in fact...

But then about 20 years later...

Somehow, 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 than I made it out to be at the time.


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

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

It would still be years before she'd be officially diagnosed with bi-polar and would eventually become a major spokesperson for the disease. What an amazing life she's had! Long time President of the Screen actors Guild, mother and grandmother of many... and a happy wife (who now lives in Idaho!) There is just so much more I could say about her!

There are so many wonderful videos out there on YouTube but I really like this interview with Ernie Manhouse that I recently found.

One of the best autobiographies I've ever read!

Call Me Anna

Anyway... to finish off this post.

GoGo Bewts!...


...verses Social Security...


Gotta love it!