Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Because my father was a stage director, and my brother and I had seen so many of his productions, we knew how to talk to actors after a show.
On this occasion, the show was not a play, but a movie. And ironically, we had not yet even seen the film, even though the event we were attending was a children’s charity event on the day of the film’s world premiere.
The first order of business was to find Billy Dee Williams. My father had directed Williams in William Hanley’s play, Slow Dance On the Killing Ground. Because of the actor’s dyslexia, someone was needed to run his lines with him on a regular basis, and that person was my mom, coincidentally another dyslexic person. My mom described laughing at the ridiculousness of the assignment, and then also laughing with the charismatic Billy Dee as they tried to get the lines right, lodging in Williams’ memory what could not be easily read on the page.
It was not because of his stage prowess and theatrical connections, but because of his job as the film reviewer for WUSA in Washington DC, that we were invited to the world premiere of Empire Strikes Back, which premiered 41 years ago this month. You can imagine my excitement when my dad told us that we would get to go to the Kennedy Center on May 17, 1980 to meet most of the cast.
I was a big fan of Star Wars, as was every American boy born in the late 60s. By the time I met the actors from the Empire Strikes Back, I had seen the first film 15 times in the theater. Maybe that was a little excessive, but my mom knew that I would enjoy both the show and the air conditioning during that May and June and July and August of 1977 while she attended to other responsibilities.
Once we arrived at DC’s equivalent of The Mondavi Center, my brother Oliver and I each grabbed a paper plate that was festooned with Star Wars iconography, got a felt pen from our dad, and then started swarming the cast members with all of the other children. We resolved to meet and get autographs from everyone from the cast.
As you might guess, not everyone was there. Anthony Daniels was ill, which was a shame, for I would have liked to see him interact with Kenny Baker at the event. Sir Alec Guinness did not do press for these films, thinking them rather silly (once calling his lines “mumbo jumbo”), but recognizing all the talk of magic and the Force earned him another Academy Award nomination, and made him a multimillionaire (about $50 million total from the three films).
After Billy Dee Williams. We approach some of the larger (in this case, taller) actors. At seven feet two inches, Peter Mayhew was as tall as a Washington Bullet, but without all the grace of the players on our local basketball team. Back then, almost everyone was tall to me. The man behind (inside?) Chewbacca was friendly, and I enjoyed hearing him speak in his Yorkshire accent.
Mayhew had been recruited for his elongated and wiry stature, while Dave Prowse, also a towering figure at six feet six inches, was recruited for his athletic physique. Of all the actors that day, Prowse gave me the most time and attention, saying that he would prefer to sign a photograph of himself rather than my paper plate. In block letters, the head shot of himself side by side with the Sith lord said DAVE PROWSE IS DARTH VADER. I did not argue with him, even though in my family we knew all about James Earl Jones, another (Actors Equity Theatre) buddy of my dad from two decades earlier.
By contrast to those hulking figures, Kenny Baker and I could almost look each other in the eye, in that I was only a foot taller than his three feet, eight inches. I could tell that the diminutive actor relished the opportunity to talk to all the children. I remember feeling bad for him that his shoulders seemed hunched. He did not look particularly comfortable in his own body, and I wondered if he had had enough air while operating R2D2.
You’d think I would have spent much more time with Frank Oz, for he not only voiced Yoda, but also, Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster, my constant Children’s Television Workshop companions of earlier in that same decade. Because people did not recognize his face, Frank Oz did not have as much of a crowd, assembled around him. He and I had a leisurely conversation, as much as my young self was qualified to do so. I did not request that he “do his Yoda voice.”
Harrison Ford was personable, but he also didn’t look like he was comfortable. He signed the autographs rather quickly, and then looked away. After I finished with him, I knew that there were just two actors left whom I had to summon the courage to approach: Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher.
When I walked up to Luke and Leia, they were deep in conversation, smiling and laughing with each other, obviously enjoying each other’s company, connecting authentically while a constant stream of children came up to visit with them. Mark Hamill signed the paper plate rather carefully while Carrie Fisher had a sloppier autograph. She might have been surprised by my expression of thanks, and that I kept making eye contact instead of moving along as I was supposed to. The Princess took just a moment to bend down to my level, quietly saying “you’re welcome” as if she were sharing a secret message. I will never forget her smile.
Thanks for subscribing to this newsletter. I host a print and video pub quiz every Monday night, and this makes me eager for Mondays. Please subscribe on Patreon if you would like to receive something substantive from me every week (in addition to newsletters like this one). For example, tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on topics raised above, as well as the following: That which is “under,” tears, Kamala Harris, baseball, extra soldiers in the audience, French royalty, oxygen consumption, wings, people who have an edge, pressures, promised lands, rickety alpha dogs in Congress, Wall Street, Indian food, unpleasant armies, seed production, Canadian diamonds, silent Ls, evangelicals, tropical Waldens, law firms, coaches with biscuits, collaborative rivals, rope tricks, membranous wings, singles, salsa, Trojans, securities that come in baskets, current events, and Shakespeare.
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Poetry Night is Thursday at 7 at the Natsoulas Gallery. Despite the heat, we will meet on the roof!
Be well.
Dr. Andy
P.S. Here are three questions from last week’s Pub Quiz:
- Cinematic Umbrellas. What does Gene Kelly do with his umbrella at the end of the famous titular Singing in the Rain scene?
- Pop Culture – Music. What South-Korean boy band has recently seen its video for the song “Butter” set a new record for most YouTube views within 24 hours of release?
- Science. Recently scientists have discovered the brain connection responsible for misophonia, or super-sensitivity to what? Noise
P.P.S. “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment.” Ralph Waldo Emerson