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After the happy opening night performance of 'Travels with My Aunt' with my honey-husband, artist Drew Strouble. April 2000
Yep! That's me with the darling James MacArthur on the set of 'Superboy' where we go to play with the 'Birdwoman of the Swamps' at Disney MGM for Viacom. On a break from shooting, I got a chance to share with Jim some personal stories about his mom, Helen Hayes . I was training at Catholic U in Washington D.C. 'Auntie H' was in residence there to dedicate the new Hartke Theatre and later star in what was to be her last stage appearance in 'Long Day's Journey into Night' for director Leo Brady. |
| Early in the school year of 1970, we both ended up in the hospital close to school with a diagnosis of allergy to stage dust. But I'm an actor, how can I be allergic to stage dust??? Nevertheless, resin, a closed circulation system, sawdust and gel smoke combine to close up the throat and if you don't catch it quickly, you end up needing an antibiotic. My first occupational hazard! How will I ever make it as an actor? I was loaded up with Tuss Ornade and shots shots of b-12 and penicillin and sniffle-shuffled along into a dress rehearsal of a class presentation. Later I was to find out that Helen Hayes was also allergic to stage dust and diagnosed by the same doctor at the same time, This I took to be an especially auspicious omen --if Helen Hayes has it, it's good enough for me.
I got a chance to watch her rehearse. My job for the production was cutting out the stencils for the wall paper. When I was finished in the shop, I'd quietly enter the house and sit in the back row. 'My damn feet don't reach the ground.' she giggled, sitting on the stage sofa. 'I want this line to sound like mice running up and down a drainpipe,' she told Leo Brady. And the line did. We first met as i was walking to an Intro to Theatre class my freshman year. She rounded the corner, surrounded by several female upperclassmen who looked particularly hefty, fierce and trained in the martial arts. They were Graduate Students in the Drama department and they did even see Freshmen. I screwed my courage and blurted, 'Miss Hayes, you don't remember me because we've never met, but I've been watching you work and you're so sexy...' Horrified silence from all. 'Uh, not like Raquel Welch, but you know, so completely Womanly!' She smiled, reached for my hands and said, 'Kim, no one has said that to me in 40 years and it's wonderful to hear at any age.' |
| Dearest Marion, Drew and I finally made it to a movie and guess what we saw? YOU! Yes, 'Remember the Titans!' We were enthralled and made quite a spectacle of ourselves in the dollar movie house: 'See her? She's OUR Friend! OURS!' and Yay Danny! 'Oh Dr. Dan...I have an indescribable ache all over my body, and could you fix it, .. pretty please!???' I want to be a football Jock so Dr. Dan can fix me, too! ( See that guy? He's OUR Friend! OURS!!) But MARION.... 'Look Drew - that's the back of her head, I KNOW IT! ( and sure enough! it was! BUT WAIT...THERE WAS MORE!) When you were a bigot, you were so scary and your eyebrows were so dark! We were afraid! That's GREAT ACTING! Then we could see the CONFLICT IN YOUR FACE when your son starts pal-ing around with AN ANATHEMA! That's GREAT ACTING! (Meanwhile I'm counting all the scenes you are in, ecstatic that you are getting WEEKS OF WORK and making a CHUNK OF CHANGE and best of all, are really starting to come into your own ......YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! 'See her? She's OUR Friend! OURS!') And omigod, the ANGUISH and SORROW...the DECISION to GO YOUR OWN WAY (with that kind of genteel, subtle 'f--- you all and the red neck vehicles you rode in on, this is MY SON....AND IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO, DAMMIT! -all WITHOUT A HAIR OUT OF PLACE (How does she do it?) We were held at the edge...That's GREAT ACTING! And then when we both were ready to take off our clothes....You walked into the Stadium AND THE WORLD STOOD STILL and STOOD UP!!!! (So FITTING, so superb on so many levels - it made the entire audience SOAR! 'THAT'S OUR FRIEND She's OUR Friend! OURS!' ( 'Aaah can it, you trouble makers! Siddown and let us enjoy the movie for crissakes!) WE WERE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!! And then PEOPLE KISSED YOU and showered you with affection...AND RIGHTLY SO! That wasn't ACTING AT ALL!!!! Well Done Cinema Star! Shine Brightly and Forever! You did a great GREAT job! We are so happy for you and can't wait to see your work again! I'm just so delighted for you, hon! You deserve ALL THE BEST! All my love, Kim |
OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - A Norwegian swan named Oscar, famous for his short temper, attacked an elderly woman, biting her bottom, dragging her into a lake and ducking her twice before letting go.
'Oscar came flying from across the other side of the lake and bit me in the buttocks before dragging me about five meters (yards) into the water and under,' Kerstin Arbsved told Reuters Monday.
'He only let me go when my daughter started to throw rocks.'
Arbsved said the attack happened as she, her daughter and three small grandchildren were strolling in a nature reserve near the southwestern city Kristiansand Saturday.
Police and medical staff were quickly on the scene and Oscar was immediately put down by police.
Arbsved spent the night in a hospital. (I say: Poor Oscar, 'famous for his short temper' and great aim, got pissed-offed, got even, got eighty-sixed. The next pet I have I'm naming Oscar.)
