I don’t know how I came to latch on to him. The heart wants what the heart wants. For some reason from an early age, I have been attracted to the all purpose show biz journeymen: Screen, Stage, Concerts, TV, Nightclubs, commercials; actor/singer/dancers: Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Liza, Fred Astaire, Noel Coward. I became fascinated with Joel Grey in the mid-1960s. I wanted to model my career on his & strangely... I wanted to kiss him.
I look back now, & I am actually embarrassed that I had a Joel Grey scrapbook; what sort of really weird little gay child was I? I was 12 years old, & while visiting the grandparents in rural Illinois, I insisted that they drive 80 miles to St Louis to see Joel Grey (& Bernadette Peters) in George M! at the Muni (The Municipal Opera). I need you to understand, I didn’t want the grandparents to take me to the musical; I wanted them to drop me off a block away & I would enter on my own. I would see the show solo (so very cosmopolitan) & not have to share my Joel Grey moment with the rubes. I loved seeing the musical about the life of George M. Cohen & I was zany- over the moon for Mr. Grey’s performance. Singing, Dancing, Acting. The thrill lasted for months.
The scene shifts to Seattle, in 1991. I am fully adult, in my late 30s & I have done a little acting, singing & dancing myself. I am "day jobbing" as a maitre d’ at a swank, upscale vegetarian eatery. I’m not easily impressed by celebrity. In the year of having this job, I have sat regular- Tom Skerritt & his many actor guests such as Yaphet Kotto & Meg Ryan, but I am not prepared when I have to face my childhood idol- Joel Grey when he & guest enter the cafe.
I gently explain to the Oscar, Tony, BAFTA, & Golden Globe winner (he is one of only 8 actors to win a Tony & Oscar for the same role) & his guest, that we have a short wait, & that while trying not to offend the others in line, I will do everything I can to get them a table very soon. I consider kicking the lingering, tea drinking lesbians out. While standing at the host podium, a few inches away from the object of my childhood obsession-JOEL GREY, a small group of 20 something veg-heads enter & push their way up to me & my waiting list. I keep thinking- “No! Please! Don’t bother Mr.Joel Grey, he is MY guest.” When the group reaches me, they shriek & giggle, point, & then ask- “Hey, aren’t you that guy in SINGLES?”
Yes indeed, boys & girls, I was recognized as an actor in front of the man whose photos, reviews, programs & ticket stubs filled a little homosexual theatre nerd’s scrapbook.
Joel Grey: “You are in the movie SINGLES?”
Stephen: (sheepish, yet sexy, with genuine humility) “Yes, Mr. Grey. Cameron Crowe was really fun to work with. It was a great shoot.”
Joel Grey: "My daughter is a friend of Campbell Scott & I believe he is on that film. He is such a nice young man… & so smart & talented. He is really gonna go places.”
Stephen: (a bit bodacious) “& that would be Jennifer Grey, star of DIRTY DANCING?... & yes Campbell Scott is quite talented & a sweetheart.
Then it happens.I held off for so long & now sickeningly, I gush. I tell this great performer about the experience of seeing George M! all by myself at 12 years old & about the scrapbook & even the crush. I have met & worked with many celebrities & important actors by this point in my life, & I have never behaved like this. & I am on the job! What was wrong with me? It was as if my circuit board overloaded.
Joel Grey: (laughing & smiling) “Well Mr. Appears in SINGLES, you are just something else!”
Stephen: (crossing Mr. Grey's name off the waiting list) "Your table is ready, Mr. Grey. This way, please."
Joel Grey tears off a corner of the wait-list from the clip board, borrows my pen, & takes a moment to write something down. I pray it is not a complaint to the owners & about my blathering. Am I the gayest thing he has ever encountered? He smiles & sticks the paper in my jacket pocket.
On my first chance, I read his note: “Thanks for being such a big fan for so many years. Love, Joel Grey”. I go in the walk-in fridge & cry. I cry for the little 12 year gay boy who would have never believed it possible. I still have the note. It is in a cigar box with Merle Oberon’s place card from MGM’s 50th Anniversary Ball, my ticket stub from the 1974 Academy Awards, my call sheet from Drugstore Cowboy, a post card from my father postmarked from Rutledge, Georgia, & a love letter from my Husband.
Grey turns 80 years old today. I have been a very big fan for 45+ years. Grey continues to work. He is appearing on Broadway in Cole Porter's Anything Goes alongside the fabulous Sutton Foster. He directed The Normal Heart on Broadway, winning another Tony.
No comments:
Post a Comment