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Why

A poster of the 1984 play "You Can't Take it with You", with a cracked and taped glass.

There are a few reasons for this project:

  1. STUFF. So much stuff. We have boxes and boxes of photos, super 8 movies, slides, paper and on and on. Not only are there a lot of photographs of my dad, but he loved to take pictures. It's overwhelming. I need to organize this stuff once and for all. Partially so this stuff doesn't become more of a burden to others. (See: Swedish Death Cleaning.) Making it a project, digging in to Dad's movies and shows, and putting the memorabilia and actual memories in context – creating some meaning – seems like the most fun and interesting way to go about this task. We live in an unusual time, when privileged humans have an enormous amount of stuff. For the moment, I am simply acknowledging this privilege and this era where humans have made so many things from the earth and on the backs of other humans.
  2. CURIOSITY. I don't really know what I will find. I wasn't alive for most of my dad's life, both his actual life and his creative life. I was born when he was 49, and he died at 78, when I was 29, just before my first son was born. When I was alive, he and my mom usually didn't center his work for my brother and I. Yes, we did attend some premieres and had some famous people at our house, but we generally weren't required to watch his latest movie or play, and he generally left his work "at work," other than studying lines at home by himself. I don't know how I will feel about what I will find. Usually when I open up a box I feel first excitement, and then a heaviness. Is it dread? I'll explore these feelings, the rewards and perils of decluttering, cleaning, gleaning.
  3. ENTERTAINMENT. All these movies! I've not seen the vast majority of Jason Robards' 90-some movies for the big and small screen. Some are legendary, some are forgettable, some are memorable stinkers. There are also recordings of plays in some cases, and fun little tidbits like commercials. As a film buff, I've got to see them. As family, I've got to see them.
  4. FAMILY. My children and my partner never met my dad, and some didn't meet my mom or know her in her prime. For one, I want to spare my living family the mountain of unsorted stuff that they are relatively distant from (see what I did there?). I also hope to preserve some family memories for them, when they are ready for it.
  5. MOM. My mom wanted Dad's creative accomplishments to be properly recognized. She didn't finish this work, and she didn't get through the stuff, something that pained her deeply, even on her deathbed.
  6. DAD. My dad had intermittently worked on a memoir. I have the recordings and/or transcripts from these attempts, which will be part of the gleaning. While I won't be doing a formal biography, I hope he would appreciate my personal effort to tell some of his story. I'll be relying on my brother and perhaps other half-siblings and others to help remember these stories.
  7. YOU. Most of the above could be accomplished privately. Even though I've been a very private person, I'm called to make this public, to hopefully share and connect with readers and film buffs and actors whose lives were touched in some way by my dad's (and mom's) work. I hope there will be a conversation, and that I get to hear from you! Please subscribe and comment!