Three weeks ago I took my first paid vacation since 1987. Kevin and Susie and the kids were here to see Susie's dad, Tim, who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. I was invited up to Tim's house on Easter Sunday where the whole family had gathered -- all the Kiley kids except Susie have migrated to California.
On Tuesday, Kevin and his sister Barb (who lives in Santa Monica) and I took Megan, Ian, Molly and Casey to the Santa Monica Pier for the day -- some of us were even brave enough to jump in the ocean. Casey wound up in the water too, but his baptism was unplanned.
Wednesday we left Casey safely with Susie and joined forces with Chris Kiley and his kids, Samantha, Taylor and Andrew for a trip to Disneyland. We rode all of the rollercoasters and other major attractions and kept going until 10 p.m. by which time we were all pretty wiped out. That afternoon, Tim went into the hospital where he stayed the rest of the week.
I spent the next few days playing with the kids in Tim's pool while the grownups took turns visiting the hospital, some of the kids made a visit too. Friday night Tim called his kids in to say goodbye. He died the next night.
They held his memorial service at Forest Lawn on the following Wednesday and had a reception at the house afterwards. I met some of Tim's siblings and heard some funny stories about his first directing job, which he lied his way into, and how he would invite friends to see the Sullivan show and seat them behind whichever celebs Ed was introducing from the audience, so they would be on camera.
Susie and Kevin stayed around a couple more days -- their last night here, we had pizza at Tim's house with Susie's sister Laura, who lives in the guest house. Susie was trying to come up with an epitaph for her dad, but was having trouble finding something appropriate. She remembered one her father had seen and said was his favorite, it read: "See, I told you I was sick."
Last weekend, I went for a hike in Griffith Park with Brian Nesin and his brother Seth and Seth's wife Taunya. We took them up to the Observatory and hiked to the top of Mt. Hollywood. On the way down we decided to take a shortcut, a steep trail that cuts straight down the slope and avoids the long switchback. Tanya and Seth slid down successfully, getting pretty dusty in the process. I decided to try and remain upright and slid most of the way on my feet. When I got near the bottom I thought I could just run the rest of the way. I failed to take into account the large gully at the foot of the trail and the fact that I am no longer 16. I tried to jump the gully, but when I landed I pitched forward, diving onto my right arm and tumbling ass over teakettle. I wound up sprawled like a rag doll in the dirt. I sprained my wrist, bruised my forearm and my hip and scraped up both legs pretty good. I also damaged my ego.
Wednesday I was part of a group that was taken out to lunch by a sales rep from one of the court reporters we use. I had the fish. That night I woke up with major stomach cramps, dizziness and nausea.
By Friday I was barely functional at work. I've spent most of the weekend in bed. I think I am coming down with a cold.
By the way my health coverage started last week.
Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers.
Hope everyone is well.
Love HWD
After 10 years as a temp, I have reluctantly accepted a "permanent" position with the law firm I have been working for this past year. That's 10 years without health insurance, 10 years without sick leave or paid vacation. When my boss found out that I don't have health coverage she was stunned. 'What do you do when you get sick?' 'I sleep.' Nearly all of our clients are insurance companies and it is incomprehensible to anyone there that I don't believe in insurance. Look at it this way: If someone said to you, "I'll bet you five thousand dollars that in the next year you won't suffer a debilitating illness and end up in the hospital. If I win, you stay healthy and I keep the five thousand dollars. If you win, you suffer from a debilitating illness and end up in the hospital and I refuse to pay for half of your costs." Would you take that bet? Of course most of you already have. And as of this past monday, so have I.
I'll be taking a week of paid vacation next week, my first paid vacation since 1987, to spend some time with Kevin, Susie, Megan, Ian, Molly and Casey Kiley-Osborn, et al. They were all here a couple of weeks ago to see Susie's father, who has been very ill and won't likely live out this year. Tim Kiley has been a television director since the early sixties when he did The Ed Sullivan Show -- where he worked with Elvis and The Beatles among countless others. He also did several variety shows, including The Smothers Brothers and Sonny and Cher and eventually graduated to The Miss America Pageant and the Bob Hope specials. Susie has a picture of Tim hanging out with Bob and George Bush, but my favorite is the one on Tim's wall of him sitting on a Husquavarna motorcycle out in the desert with Steve McQueen standing next to him. The one with Sinatra is pretty cool too.
I finished the first draft of my screenplay, BEFORE THE FLOOD, and am getting ready to dive back in for a rewrite. I also wrote a couple of songs that appear at the beginning and the end of the movie, including the title song, "Before the Flood," which as many of you may know comes from a line in Bob Dylan song and was also the title of his live album with The Band.
I watched the Oscars with Jon and Ivana and some of their neighbors. Ivana could not understand what the big deal was with American Beauty. I said it's kind of an American thing. Hell, there must be thousands of French and Italian films that I don't get. Ivana has written a screenplay which Jon has translated that they want to give to their good buddy Harvey Keitel, the famous television star. They claimed to have finished a month ago, but every time I call they are busy rewriting it.
Brian Nesin ran off to Vegas last weekend with his girlfriend, Allison. I have not heard from him since then. You do the math.
I am having my car worked on today, I figured I have pushed my luck as far as I should by driving around for a year with bald tires and no brakes.
I have determined that there are two kinds of drivers in L.A.: The Heartless and the Brainless.
The Heartless prefer to drive large black SUVs with tinted windows and they like to merge into your lane without notice, completely unconcerned with the sound of your honking horn, the screech of your brakes and the torrent of obscenities you shout at their taillights. In order to qualify for the large black SUV (with tinted windows) you must first submit to an electrocardiograph test. If they determine that there is even the remotest possibility that you do in fact have a heart, you are not permitted to purchase the vehicle. Studio Executives need not take the test.
The Brainless, on the other hand, drive white mini-vans and enjoy such antics as making right turns from the middle lane without using their signal and pulling into fast-moving traffic and then driving at least 15 mph below the speed limit (which means at least 30 mph slower than traffic). In order to purchase the white mini-van, applicants must undergo a screening procedure involving an electroencephalogram and a CAT scan. If even the faintest trace of brain activity is indicated, the application is denied.
Until next time,
Love, HWD
Within a week after they moved in, I was invited to dinner at Jon & Ivana's. We had pasta prepared specially by Ivana, who is known the world over for her culinary skills. In fact, the well-respected food critic Harvey Keitel once tried to persuade the Four Seasons to allow Ivana to prepare his dinner, in place of their regular chef. Unfortunately, due to stringent union regulations, it was not possible. Dinner, by the way, was excellent.
Surfin' Dino (aka Rob Sherman) showed up with his growing brood: new-guy Jonas is now in the walking-talking club as well as the climbing-on-furniture club and the cute-as-a-bug club. Clio is becoming quite the sophisticated and charming young lady, clearly taking after Rifka in this respect. Jon, Ivana and I spent a rainy afternoon in the lobby of their hotel playing dominos and stealing Clio's french fries when she wasn't looking. It's still hard to believe Dino is a respectable family man. It's even harder for him to believe.
Heard back from the big-time agent I sent MERLIN to, he said 'no thanks' but I could call him if I had anything else. I decided to pitch him IN YOUR DREAMS, but as soon as I said "It's about a young lawyer..." he said "I'm a lawyer and I hate stories about lawyers -- I'm in litgation right now and if I read a story about a lawyer I'd probably throw-up." A simple 'no thank-you' would have been sufficient.
I finally got back to work on my newest script, which is about a burned-out rock star who is chosen to save the world by a superior race of aliens and/or angels. Still having problems with the title, currently I'm calling it 'Faith' but other possibilities include: Before the Flood, Lost Angel, and Star Wars. That last one may cause me problems.
I have put in a little more work on the old HWD web site, specifically on the Favorite Flicks page. Only a few of you have sent in your list of top five favorite movies, and I thought that before I became too self-righteous about it, I should pick my own favorites. That turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. But it's also a lot of fun, because you get to go back and remember all those great movies you've loved and maybe forgotten.
I added a few links to the page that connect to sites like Roger Ebert's Great Movies and the AFI 100 Years, 100 Movies page. They help give you some ideas and reminders, but somehow I think the most interesting picks will be the ones that aren't on anybody's "Greatest" lists. So check out the Favorite Flicks web page and click on some of the links, then come up with your own list and send it in. Remember it is not legally binding, so if you want to add or change or even send in additional lists, that's just fine.http://members.aol.com/rxe4255/flicks.htm
Hope everyone is doing well.
Love HWD
