I met Yesu (I'm sure I'm spelling her name wrong so if anyone reading this is more familiar with Chinese names, feel free to correct me) in The Grove (an outdoor mall in LA) where she was sitting with her son, Patrick. Visiting from China, she was in town for only a few days. They drove down from Oakland where Patrick now lives. Yesu speaks no English so I had her son translate for me. A housewife to a husband in the Chinese military (he's now 88), Yesu is a practicing Buddhist.
Yesu, age 82.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Live The Life You Want To Live
I see Mavis every now and then but we've never had the chance to speak. Today I saw her on Fairfax carrying bags of groceries and I stopped her. I asked her if she'd talk to me and she said, "Sure." She gave me some good advice and rushed off. I just showed the clip to my wife, Carrie who said, "I've never seen that woman in my life." I said, "She lives right next door." Carrie took a beat. "It's good you're filming these people."
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
The Austrians
I met these women at the Farmer's Market on 3rd and Fairfax in LA. I'm there a lot. It's in walking distance from my house, there's a variety of (mostly) good food, and I often meet interesting people. I love hearing their stories. When I introduced myself to these three women I realized I was talking to gentiles from Austria. I'm not one to care if anyone's Jew or Gentile - my friends have been all kinds. But, I guess I realized that when meeting gentiles from Austria - especially ones who are over 80 - I can't help but wonder what they were doing during WWII in a country which was part of the Third Reich. Stranger still, was when Lily's friend told me how she met Alice's sister while living in South America after the war, and how they became life long friends. Isn't that where Nazis hid after the war? I had so many questions - all of which I was too afraid to ask. Instead, I just asked them for advice.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
I Like The Life
I was in Silverlake taking a walk when I saw Andres standing in his yard. I said Hi and was surprised when I heard his accent. Having grown up in Miami, an overwhelmingly Cuban city, I recognized it right away. You don't meet a ton of Cubans in LA. Andres came from Cuba in 1956 and moved to Miami. He couldn't find any work at the time so he moved to LA where he worked his whole life in Spanish radio covering the news. When I asked him if I could get some advice from him for a project I was doing, he was happy to oblige... even if he wasn't sure what I was asking.
The Actors
I saw a couple of movies this weekend as I'm a member of the SAG Film Society, the Screen Actors Guild group that puts together movie screenings. There's a great group of older actors who belong to the society and I spoke with a few of them this weekend.
I saw Phyllis on Saturday afternoon at such a packed screening for Public Enemies that we didn't get in to see the show. They have a few screenings a day so my wife and I came back for the later showing, but the median age dropped by about 50 years and there was no one who fit the advice-giving bill. Luckily, I got one interview that afternoon. I thought Phyllis had an interesting look when I saw her and I walked right over and asked if she would mind giving me some advice. When I tried to talk to her off camera, she wouldn't talk to me anymore. She said, "I don't know who you are," an implication I thought having to do with a fear of being taken advantage. She was with a younger woman who laughed, but when I pushed it I realized that Phyllis was less worried about being taken advantage of and more worried about not having her ego stroked. She was really bothered I didn't recognize her for her work. When I asked her what she had been in, she refused to tell me. I said, "What's your last name? I'll look you up." She said, "I told you enough. I shouldn't have to give you my name."
The Sunday screening of Answer Man was more fun. The movie was lighter, shorter, and had a character who was questioning God and chose to write a book in which he posed all the questions to God that bothered him. Because it was an earlier screening we had an older crowd so I was happy. I spoke with a few really cool people. Murray is an actor who used to be a principal as well as a professor of art. He was married for 37 years before his wife passed away and then remarried an actor named Roz, who was with him at the screening. They've been together for 20 years. They are a really nice couple - funny and warm.
Howard was there with his wife, Meg. He tells a funny story about her start in the movie business at age two so I kept it in the video clip, even if it does veer a bit from the "advice" theme. He was really proud of his wife and it was nice to see. He was also pretty happy that SAG has dental insurance as apparently the US Army - even after a guy's fought in WWII and Vietnam - doesn't really care much about your teeth.
Meg is Howard's wife. She's still beautiful in her 80's and works as a portrait painter when she's not acting - www.sargentportraits.com. So far, this has been the most internet savvy of the older people I've interviewed so I promised them I'd email the link to the site after I posted it. I hope they like it.
I saw Phyllis on Saturday afternoon at such a packed screening for Public Enemies that we didn't get in to see the show. They have a few screenings a day so my wife and I came back for the later showing, but the median age dropped by about 50 years and there was no one who fit the advice-giving bill. Luckily, I got one interview that afternoon. I thought Phyllis had an interesting look when I saw her and I walked right over and asked if she would mind giving me some advice. When I tried to talk to her off camera, she wouldn't talk to me anymore. She said, "I don't know who you are," an implication I thought having to do with a fear of being taken advantage. She was with a younger woman who laughed, but when I pushed it I realized that Phyllis was less worried about being taken advantage of and more worried about not having her ego stroked. She was really bothered I didn't recognize her for her work. When I asked her what she had been in, she refused to tell me. I said, "What's your last name? I'll look you up." She said, "I told you enough. I shouldn't have to give you my name."
The Sunday screening of Answer Man was more fun. The movie was lighter, shorter, and had a character who was questioning God and chose to write a book in which he posed all the questions to God that bothered him. Because it was an earlier screening we had an older crowd so I was happy. I spoke with a few really cool people. Murray is an actor who used to be a principal as well as a professor of art. He was married for 37 years before his wife passed away and then remarried an actor named Roz, who was with him at the screening. They've been together for 20 years. They are a really nice couple - funny and warm.
Howard was there with his wife, Meg. He tells a funny story about her start in the movie business at age two so I kept it in the video clip, even if it does veer a bit from the "advice" theme. He was really proud of his wife and it was nice to see. He was also pretty happy that SAG has dental insurance as apparently the US Army - even after a guy's fought in WWII and Vietnam - doesn't really care much about your teeth.
Meg is Howard's wife. She's still beautiful in her 80's and works as a portrait painter when she's not acting - www.sargentportraits.com. So far, this has been the most internet savvy of the older people I've interviewed so I promised them I'd email the link to the site after I posted it. I hope they like it.
Monday, July 6, 2009
My Father-In-Law
Roy is funny. He's a writer - not a performer - yet when his public persona is on, it's like watching a stand-up comic. And, like a stand up comic, he's also full of fears. He's learned to cope with his fears by making jokes. I interviewed him in front of his pool - one in which he's never swam because he doesn't know how. "My Italian mother would yell 'Stay away from the water!' when we were kids. So, we stayed away."
Roy was an Artists Relations Manager in the music business. He was very successful and dealt with a ton of famous acts, though when music started leaning away from the jazz and mellower rock he loved, he stepped away from the industry. He always loved writing and he decided to pursue it. He had a lot of friends in the business and they tested him out as a writer on their shows. They liked what he did and soon he was writing episodes of The Love Boat. Then, he quickly moved up the ranks to head writer on The New Hollywood Squares. He went on to write for some other game shows, but when those shows came to an end so did Roy's TV writing. He was still talented, but he had never gotten an agent. He thought he didn't need one. And, so he struggled for the first time in a very long time.
Roy focused his energy on writing for national magazines, as well as plays - all comedies - and continues to do so to this day. He's gotten a few plays produced and is very involved with his theater company, Theater West, and the theater community at large.
Roy's the most brilliant "roaster" I've ever seen. For a Jew to admit that to an Italian is a tough thing. Whether rehearsed or not, his speeches never fail to put people in hysterics. At Carrie and my wedding he introduced himself as, "My name is Roy, and I'm a Catholic," and then proceeded to tell a fictional story about my Hasidic rabbi helping him to write the speech from inside of a strip club. Sure, getting laughs might be easier at a wedding or a birthday, but Roy can do it at funerals. At the memorial service for his best friend, Charlie - friends since they were kids in Mount Vernon, NY - Roy stood at the dais and said he'd like to speak about the Charlie he knew as a kid, "before he fell prey to the evils of the gay community." The mostly gay men at the funeral were falling off of their chairs in laughter and tears.
Roy's a creature of habit. He wakes up, eats the same cereal, does his chores around the house, has the same salad for lunch, and so on. But, as my mother-in-law, Carol has been struggling with breast cancer, Roy's been forced to step outside of his comfort zone. This requires facing some fears. After I interviewed him, Carol shouted out to Roy, "I really want to go to Pho for dinner," a Vietnamese restaurant where they have the healthier food she's been trying to eat. Roy looked at me and said, "Vietnamese? What am I going to eat there?" I said, "You'll have some soup." He replied, "That's a meal? Soup?" But then he turned towards Carol and shouted back, "I don't know what it is but we'll try it." Carol and I gasped. It took 75 years but he's ready to try something new.
Roy was an Artists Relations Manager in the music business. He was very successful and dealt with a ton of famous acts, though when music started leaning away from the jazz and mellower rock he loved, he stepped away from the industry. He always loved writing and he decided to pursue it. He had a lot of friends in the business and they tested him out as a writer on their shows. They liked what he did and soon he was writing episodes of The Love Boat. Then, he quickly moved up the ranks to head writer on The New Hollywood Squares. He went on to write for some other game shows, but when those shows came to an end so did Roy's TV writing. He was still talented, but he had never gotten an agent. He thought he didn't need one. And, so he struggled for the first time in a very long time.
Roy focused his energy on writing for national magazines, as well as plays - all comedies - and continues to do so to this day. He's gotten a few plays produced and is very involved with his theater company, Theater West, and the theater community at large.
Roy's the most brilliant "roaster" I've ever seen. For a Jew to admit that to an Italian is a tough thing. Whether rehearsed or not, his speeches never fail to put people in hysterics. At Carrie and my wedding he introduced himself as, "My name is Roy, and I'm a Catholic," and then proceeded to tell a fictional story about my Hasidic rabbi helping him to write the speech from inside of a strip club. Sure, getting laughs might be easier at a wedding or a birthday, but Roy can do it at funerals. At the memorial service for his best friend, Charlie - friends since they were kids in Mount Vernon, NY - Roy stood at the dais and said he'd like to speak about the Charlie he knew as a kid, "before he fell prey to the evils of the gay community." The mostly gay men at the funeral were falling off of their chairs in laughter and tears.
Roy's a creature of habit. He wakes up, eats the same cereal, does his chores around the house, has the same salad for lunch, and so on. But, as my mother-in-law, Carol has been struggling with breast cancer, Roy's been forced to step outside of his comfort zone. This requires facing some fears. After I interviewed him, Carol shouted out to Roy, "I really want to go to Pho for dinner," a Vietnamese restaurant where they have the healthier food she's been trying to eat. Roy looked at me and said, "Vietnamese? What am I going to eat there?" I said, "You'll have some soup." He replied, "That's a meal? Soup?" But then he turned towards Carol and shouted back, "I don't know what it is but we'll try it." Carol and I gasped. It took 75 years but he's ready to try something new.
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