The Columbia 30 - Part 7
One night visiting with some friends I'd known when living in West Hollywood I called Loanne my “9/30/55” scene partner and found out some actors were given contracts by Columbia Pictures, she was one of them. Of course I was let down since I wasn't, but what could I expect? I asked for trouble and I got it. Another actor friend of mine, Alex Hyde-White, who I'd met before the Program at a UCLA Extension acting course, suggested he talk with the casting directors where he was under contract at Universal Pictures about getting me an audition as a contract player. It was very nice of him. So I interviewed with a casting director there and they set-up an appointment to do an audition scene. I prepared a scene from the film “The Graduate” with an actress I'd met in the same UCLA class and she suggested we have it directed by her ex-husband actor Thomas Wheatley who'd taught the course we'd been in. He did. The day of the audition at Universal Alex told me if the casting directors say “We'll be talking.”—that's a good sign. We showed up for our scheduled appointment at 10 am and did the scene. As an actor I still didn't know what I was doing, but I tried to keep it simple. The casting people watched and after one of them said “Thank you. We'll be talking.”
I called Alex to let him know how the audition went. He wasn't home but his father was, the famous British character actor Wilfred Hyde-White. He also knew about the audition and asked how it went. I said I thought it was okay, they'd said “We be talking.” Wilfred said “Oh no. No. We can't have you giving Alex any competition at the studio.” I thought he was kidding. But sadly no. He took the casting directors to lunch that day and told them it was not a good idea to bring me aboard. They respected his request and never called me back. Later, I would guess after Alex had a little lecture from his father about this matter, he used the excuse the casting directors said I was nervous in the audition. I wasn't nervous. I just shook my head and said “Oh Alex!” He knew I wasn't buying it. Still, we stayed friends. You see I was so confused after the Columbia Talent Program I really didn't know if I wanted to pursue acting or for that matter what I wanted to do with my life. I was a rudderless little boat in the Hollywood swamp. Later that night I was sitting on Alex's couch next to his dad who turned, smiled, and handed me a 20 dollar bill. I guess this was his little way of compensating me for stopping my contract at Universal. I took it—boy was I cheap! I learned later if you didn't take what was offered you by Wilfred—you'd incur his anger. Not nice. So it was a good thing I didn't refuse even if it makes me feel small in retrospect.
The place I'd found to rent a room lead to a misadventure with the French couple there: Elise and Andre. They were cheating their land-lady out of rent money and spent what I paid them for my room on food and gas. Since one was French and the other French Canadian my guess is they had no green cards or temporary work visas. One morning there was a loud pounding on their front door. It was an L.A. County Sheriff Deputy serving a subpena to the Andre for something he was being charged with. I answered and told the cop to wait a moment, then knocked on their bedroom door waking him up. He wasn't happy with me disturbing them. I said “There's someone at the front door to see you….It's the police.” You should have seen his expression change. He immediately went into his innocent act talking to the cop, “Yes sir, no sir.” These two were definitely up to some scams and mischief. I got into an argument with them a few days later, packed up, and left.
The next night I realized I'd left my cooking utensils at the French couple's place and went back to pick them up. The Elise came out to the kitchen and tried to stop me. As she reached out her bathrobe came open exposing her nakedness underneath. She smiled at me as though she thought I enjoyed seeing her naked. She tried to grab my leather key fob which broke spilling the colored beads on it all over the floor. I just looked at her and said “What's the matter with you?” Then she called Andre out to fight me. I tried to leave. They wanted the house key back. He grabbed me from behind trying to hold me as I tried to exit out the door. I yelled out to stop it. My voice was so adamant he let go. They told me to give back the key. I shook my head at them—what a pair they were. I took the key off the keyring, gave it back and left. Next they used me as an excuse for their lack of rent money to their landlady. Telling her I never paid them rent. The landlady called me at Alex's the next night. I told her the truth about her French tenants. I don't know if she believed me, but hopefully she wised up to their games. I slept on Alex's couch for a few nights until I found an apartment not far away in Studio City. One night back visiting Alex, his sister Julie was there, as well as Wilfred. I recounted my experience with the French couple and the strange behavior of the French woman, Elise. Wilfred said “It sounds like she was in love with you.” I replied I didn't see how she could be if she acted so mean to me, but Julie smiled agreeing with her father. I was baffled. Clearly there was much I did not understand about the female sex. Add it to the list.
I'm afraid I didn't have much luck getting any auditions for acting roles. I did find a talent agent. She tried, but to no avail. I worked several jobs, one in a large department store called Bullocks first in Century City then at their Sherman Oaks location. After that a job at the Whitsett Golf Course as a maintenance person. It was a beautiful summer. I did enjoy that, but eventually I decided I would return to the north, Seattle. I needed time to sort myself out. What direction did I want to take in life? And by that I mean what career in particular. I was lost and uncertain of my direction. So I drifted for a time. Years. One thing I did do was begin to study acting. First with the best books I could find and I tried to write down anything I could remember from Josh's teachings. I couldn't seem to remember or grasp enough to write down much, but I do remember one thing he told us. Whatever you use in a scene it must make you behave. Behave being the operative word. It's like when a particular thought effects your emotions—that is what you must use. Something with enough power to make you feel and behave. It's also what's called sense memory. When you re-imagine some important or traumatic moment you once experienced. You put yourself back into that memory: visualize it, feel it, see it, and real emotional behavior can result.
With all my wandering around the country I eventually moved to New York and for a few months lived and worked in the city. On weekend visits I met up with Dick, who'd returned to the east where he grew up, and his friends. First upstate in New Hampshire, then in his home Newtown, CT. One Saturday night we went to a road house to dance and drink. There I met a girl I got involved with, Susan. She lived in in North Salem, NY, so I decided to try living in Danbury, CT which wasn't far from her and Newtown. It was a very snowy cold winter. I rented a small apartment and worked different trade jobs through to the Spring. After this strange sabbatical in 2 years time and after another stay in Seattle, I returned to L.A. with my girlfriend Susan in tow and eventually took another shot at acting. Susan didn't want me to pursue acting so the friction built until we broke up after four years together. I began studying with industry industry mentors like MGM acting couch Vincent Chase and New York casting director turned acting guru Michael Shurtleff. I worked hard and began to develop skills and understanding I'd been lacking.
Though I maintained a certain amount of productive pursuits there was another element that became a destructive part of my life: alcoholism. I drank everyday. For 14 years. I was a functioning drunk. You wouldn't know I'd been drinking and was half-cut much of the time. It helped with my daily temperament. Improving my mood for the most part and making me more social, since I had a tendency to be a lone wolf. However it took a toll on my health and my body decided to break me of this habit. I became more hung over with smaller and smaller amounts of booze in my system. Like my body was developing a toxic/allergic reaction to alcohol. After a while I couldn't even have one drink without being hungover for days—that was it. I knew I had to quit. Even though I had weened myself down to only a few drinks a day—to suddenly go cold turkey was hard. The first 3 months were the hardest. Then one day walking down the street I saw a friend of a friend laying passed out in a park under a little tree. It hit—there but for the grace of God go I—it was like I suddenly walked out of a fog and realized how important my sobriety was. Like a precious gift I didn't ever want to lose. This moment cliched it for me and I never regretted not be able to drink again. I felt I was lucky to kick it.
End of part 7
