The Columbia 30 - Part 6
The Columbia Talent Program was coming to the end of its initial plan of 12 weeks. Frank Price, who'd become president of Columbia Pictures, taking over for Melnick, was not keen on the Program. The word was it wouldn't be continued. He'd even wanted to kill it right away, but his advisers told him the newspapers were watching to see what would happen. Was it real? Did Columbia Pictures really mean to do something with these youngsters—or was it another trick for a better public image? Truthfully it was both. Partly developed by Melnick to give Columbia Pictures a better reputation since the fallout of the Begelman scandal where a producer was caught forging a star actor's signature to cash a misappropriated check. But Melnick was also the brainchild of many great ideas in the movie trade and he believed the Talent Program was a good idea in and of itself. Originally we were to be paid a weekly salary. But Price put a stop to that. The day came when Josh had to break this to us. He stood on stage and related the new terms for our training contract. Hogy was sitting nearby me and I heard him ask loud enough for all to hear “Is this Program a joke?” We all wondered at that moment. Still, we all stayed because of the free training and even signed contracts declaring we were the property of Columbia Pictures. After all, us hungry young actors were trying to get a break.
To conclude the 12 weeks of training there would be a series of talent showcase nights as a graduation ritual where the actors would perform scenes for the public and invited members of film industry hoping to be discovered. One night I was visiting my friend Dick at his step father's home in the Hollywood Hills. The television was on a cable channel, Home Box Office, which was just coming into vogue. This was the first time recent films were offered to paid subscribers. The film I watched was called “9/30/55”. It was a story about young people in a small town the day James Dean was killed in an auto crash. Richard Thomas starred as the main character who has a fixation on James Dean. He even imagines he's similar to some of Dean's film characters. What I saw that night was an extraordinary monologue Thomas delivered near the end of the film. He comes to visit a girl in the local hospital who was in an accident he feels partly responsible for. She has refused to speak since she was brought in for treatment. Thomas' character tells her all about driving to another town to see James Dean's latest film release “Rebel Without A Cause”. When I heard this monologue I knew I could do this as myself. It was written so well, so naturally, I just felt it was the key to me finding my voice as an actor. I recorded it with a tape recorder and later transcribed the scene word for word. At the very end the girl gets so fed up with his long winded story she let's him have it. She speaks for the first time since the accident. It's a very endearing scene with a powerful ending.
One of the few actors who was friendly with me, Loanne Bishop, also Hogy's girlfriend at the time, was a perfect choice to play the female character in the scene from “9/30/55”. I asked her and she said yes. The first time I played the tape of the scene she said “Wow. What a desiderata!” It was. The other actors had more than one scene they would perform in the talent showcase. I, only one. Several others had wanted to do a scene with me. Jeff, who'd tried with another actor in the “Picnic” scene, told Josh he got more from me as a partner. Hogy wanted another shot at “Here Comes Mr. Jordan” with me as Max—in both cases Josh talked them out of it. Jeff was particularly unhappy. He told me Josh said “Why do you want to do the scene with him because he's a friend of yours?” They couldn't figure out why Josh said no. I could. He still had in in for me.
The Program had started in October and it was now mid-December, a surprisingly cold winter for southern California. It got down to freezing some nights in the north part of the Valley. The talent showcase was coming up in a week and the actors were getting their scenes ready, but there was also something else going on—sabotage. As I remember, there was an exercise on stage. Josh sat these two actresses by one another and suddenly they reacted angrily and stood up refusing to sit next to each other. Some women in the audience reacted as well. Josh noticed. He also knew what was going on behind the scenes—pun intended. Some of the women were engaged in trying to ruin another woman’s chance of doing their talent showcase scene. The way it worked was getting her to commit to doing a scene with them. Then at the 11th hour telling them they decided they didn't want to do the scene—leaving the other actress with no scene ready in time for the showcase. Dirty pool. Josh stood calmly before us and explained what these actresses were angry about and he told us more. “Women lie more than men. It is part of their nature to be manipulative and be secretive.” The other women in class acted like little birds with ruffled feathers. They'd been caught. They couldn't deny it. Another life lesson in a very serious acting class. I took note and was again surprised at the things going on of which I was unaware.
The night I performed my scene in the showcase I wore a new red jacket I'd bought for the role like James Dean had worn in “Rebel Without A Cause”. The scene went fine. Nothing particularly stands out. I received a phone call from a good talent agent who had attended that night. I went in to interview with him, but because I had no film footage and also perhaps because he may have known the Talent Program was canceled—he wouldn't represent me. The last night of the talent showcase they had a wrap party to send the kids on their way. I had given notice at my apartment and planned to drive north to Surrey, BC to see my folks for Christmas. I stayed for a while after the last scene and had a drink with the other actors. Then I quietly exited without saying goodbye to anyone and made my way to the little VW bug. Soon I was headed north on the freeway for the long trek back to Canada.
As I drove I looked out at the road in front of me. It felt like the Program wasn't over. Like a sentence without a period. But it was over. Especially for me. I spent a strange Christmas wondering about what I had just gone through. I even called Josh once and left a message saying, well not much. No I didn't ask about the Program or the contracts. I guess I just needed to talk with him about anything. Of course I was grasping at straws. He didn't call me back. Perhaps it was an attempt to resolve the Program in my mind.
I visited a few friends in Vancouver. One, Rob, asked me if I had gotten married. I knew something was up when his mother answered the door with a pregnant smile on her face. I also I knew how she must have found out. Beside my mother the only person I told was my hair stylist who's shop was in their neighborhood. He as a gay man who I had been friends with before the move to L.A. I guessed he'd spread the news around to his female customers. Instead of answering truthfully to Rob's question—I lied. I said I wasn't married. I felt it wasn't any of his or other people's business. He replied “Well I knew it was BS.” Then said “I have an idea—tell everyone you meet tonight at the party you did get married. I want to fool them all and I'll be the only one who knows the truth!” He laughed and was very pleased with himself. So that night I decided I would tell everyone the truth: I was married. At times Rob even lectured me on going too far with my story. Saying it wasn't believable anymore—funny thing was the details I added were all true. I guess as they say truth is stranger than fiction. I imagine he found out much later what I'd done, but our paths never crossed again. That night he met a young woman he was to marry. She was studying fashion design and he was interested in being an entrepreneur starting his own company. He did and they were successful selling soccer clothes with a production plant in Kitchener, Ontario where they moved.
After the holiday I drove back to L.A. This time I didn't have a place to stay for a while and I slept in my car while I hunted for somewhere to rent. I came down with a bad infection behind my right ear. I'd been scratching there because my wire glasses were irritating the skin. I kept scratching and must've caused the infection. I became very ill and my friend Nate's family took me in. At one point my right ear swelled up like Dumbo the elephant's and I stopped being able to go to the bathroom. Nate's father accompanied me to the local free clinic, since I had no healthcare, the doctor looked me over and prescribed some pills, which turned out later to be the wrong ones. It was Nate's mother who nursed me back to health with her special broths and other foods she prepared. In a weeks time I was starting to feel myself again. I did find a place to stay, but later turned out to be a bad scene. Which I will soon explain.
End of part 6