this past week, my friend george died. he had always taken an interest in me since we met back in 2004. he never hesitated to add his 2 cents about my life or plans [yeah, sometimes i'd role my eyes or be a little upset over some criticism. i guess i now look upon it now as helpful nudging].i learned alot from him. he led a life where he went for what he wanted. he wasn't afraid to try new things and brag about them to me.
he always asked me questions. more often than not he asked them so he could talk about himself, but that was george.
george always had a funny anecdote that one of his friends said or did. he knew E V E R Y O N E . he'd have a story about so and so and how they had met or what happened to them, not in a gossipy sort of way, but in the fact that there was a story there. then there were his emails: he would always email me forwards of things he thought we funny or outrageous, and most of the time they were. and if he wrote a personal note to me, THE ENTIRE EMAIL WAS IN CAPITAL LETTERS AND WAS SIGNED "XXOO, GEORGE." everytime i saw the capital letters i could hear his voice...sorta like he was leaving a phone message for me...in my head. it also brings to mind when the reader hears writer john irving's character owen meany in their heads from his novel "a prayer for owen meany" [owen only spoke in "capital letters," or at least that's how irving wrote the character's dialogue]. when george spoke he always had something relevent to say or an opinion to voice, but he did it with wit and charm and sometimes concern and urgency depending on what it was he had to say.
i'm sad to know george died alone in a hospital, sedated because of a lung infection. this week when i called his house to hear george's witty outgoing message on his answering machine one last time, the house man [a.k.a. cat keeper guy ] answered and told me that it looked like he was getting better and then he died. he also said george didn't want a funeral or a memorial service, so his friends are throwing him a party. how cool is that?
my friend george is tony award-winning george furth, book writer of his and stephen sondheim's musical COMPANY. i met george back in 2004 when i was hired by my friend mike ward to MD his and doug katsaros' new musical, then called THE END. george took an instant liking to me and i to him. we would chat constantly about musical theatre and he'd try to stump me with trivia questions about theatre. most of the time i'd get them right which seemed to rather impressed george.
i went to visit george several times in beverly hills and had the priviledge of staying in his penthouse apartment. wow. what luxery. but i guess when you are the writer of so many plays and musicals AND an actor who guest starred on just about every sitcom from the 60s all the way thru the 90s, and been in countless but memorable roles in film, i guess he was entitled to live beverly hills.
i remember being at his home and it was around oscar time. all the members of the academy had just received their ballots and george had his on the kitchen counter trying to fill it out. so he read me all the categories he hadn't seen the people's work who were nominated and asked me to fill out the little circles for the ones i wanted to win [i think i got a few of the winners right].
also, i remember it was late one night and george had already gone to bed. i went into his study, not to snoop but to look at the impressive book collection and all the incredible jawdropping [at least for me] memorabilia from the likes of cloris leachman - who starred in the video taped television version of his play TWIGS - and stephen sondheim, who was a dear friend and collaborator...they spoke by phone weekly....there's a wonderful plaque on george's study wall by the door from SS...i wish i could remember what it says and what it was...but the gist of it conveyed a very special heartfelt sentiment from SS to GF on their friendship and their work they did together].
so... as i turned to go out of the room, i saw it there, on one of the highest shelves: his tony award for best book for COMPANY. i took it down and held it in my hands and saw that it wasn't really made very well. just some wood and cheap metal...i mean, come on - even oscar and grammy award winners get gold statues when they win! but here was this tony award with his name on it and i was holding it. well it remains to be seen if i will ever have one myself...i'm not ruling it out, but i'm not going to say it will be a definite thing. just maybe. but for a moment there, holding george's trophy for all of his creativity, sweat, and tears, i felt a surge of joy and hope. joy for george that he had been successful and had something to show for all of his hard work and for me, hope that somehow, someday, maybe i would get to be happy the way he did when his name was called and know that i was successful than i could ever imagine. i just stood there and held it for a while as if i was putting a baby to bed. i kept saying to myself that i was holding george furth's tony award. in my hands. it's real. it's tangible. i feel it in my hands.
okay, i know it's getting a little weird, but that evening was very special for me.
an interesting six degrees of separation sidenote: as a thank you for allowing me to stay with him on one of my visits, i sent him a gift certificate to trader joe's. believe it or not, he had never been [he was a whole foods kind of guy]. so he and his boyfriend, david, went to TJ and didn't buy anything for themselves. they bought an orchid for annette bening because she lost the best actress oscar [she was in the fantastic period piece, being julia] to hillary swank [million dollar baby] for the second time. so in actuality, i gave annette bening flowers. who woulda think it? cool, huh?
so at the end of august, the friends of george furth will gather at his beverly hills penthouse apartment and pay tribute to him and his life. i'm going to try to go if i can find a cheap ticket. if i can't be there, i will imagine that michael finestein will sit at george's baby grand leading debbie reynolds in a medley of songs [michael and george were great friends; they spoke by phone everyday]. and i'm sure shirley macclaine and annette bening and warren beatty will have wonderful things to say about their friend of many years [george played the asshole banker in warren's film shampoo and a few other films].
so every month, sometimes every two or so, i would talk to george by phone. if he called me on a saturday and i didn't answer, he'd ALWAYS say, "oh, you must be at temple." he repeated himself alot. i'm not sure if it was because he was getting up there in years or just because it was his shtick. but it was george and he was funny.
recently we were discussing my plans to move to new york and what i would do to pay the bills. he said if you're going to be rich in theatre, "you've got to make a killing!" like he did with COMPANY and MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. one of the last things he said to me before we hung up was a story about actress ruth gordon [i.e. rosemary's baby & harold and maude]. he said she once told him, "you've got to have a talent for having talent!" i think george was trying to tell me to step into my talent and own it and then it will really become part of me and what i have to offer the world.
i miss george. not because he was famous but because he was a friend and he was an interesting person who genuinely cared for people.
thanks, george for all you gave to me and for making me laugh and think.
George Furth's body of work:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0299149/
http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=5812
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What a beautiful testament to your friend. The anecdotes are great and you are so fortunate to have experienced them.
I actually had the good fortune the last professional revival of MERRILY that would occur during George's lifetime: John Doyle's production at the Watermill in England. I am so looking forward to the rumored revival at The Roundabout, as it is one of my favorites. :)
BTW - I had heard that the Tony is pretty lightweight and flimsy, considering what it represents. I intend to find out firsthand someday. I'm just saying.
What a small world. I just found out I'm related to Cloris Leachman. Okay, she was my aunt Angie's father's first cousin, and Angie is my aunt by marriage (and only 4 years older than me and her kids are my 1st cousins even though they're younger than Donald, so it's hard to think about her as my aunt), but...well, we were just talking about her.
I think we've now constructed a clock of separation-degrees... by which I and you are both connected to Frau Blücher in a circular pattern.
Lovely bit of writing. I was with you there, holding that oddly flimsy award, feeling it!