Di and Da

The big story in the summer of 1981 was not the plays that I worked on at Seton Hall University but the wedding of a pretty 19 year old girl to a goofy looking future king.
I watched some of the “Wedding of the Century” on a grainy black white TV in the Theatre office.
Now their son is getting married this spring in another “Wedding of the Century”.
I wish him better luck then his parents.

The final play of the summer was the Tony Award winning play Da by Hugh Leonard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_(play)

It is a memory play set just after the funeral of the main character and as Charlie comes home he finds the Ghost or memory of his father is still at the home.
The play is flash backs to different moments in Charlie’s life growing up that involved his father.
My favorite scene is one in which Charlie is talking with a neighborhood girl who will “go down back” with the boys.
Just as she agrees to go Charlie’s father comes by and ruins the moment.
“Oh, she's a fine girl, from a good family” Da tells Charlie.
Charlie’s introduction into manhood would have to wait for another day.

The lead character of Da was played by the Director/Department Chair and Charlie by Rudy Hornish, a local actor who had just finished working on the film Ordinary People.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395183/

Rudy told a story about how after he won his Oscar for directing the film, Robert Redford sent certificates of thanks, with mini Oscars printed on them, to everyone who had worked on the film.

They loved their Irish Theatre at Seton Hall and one of the directors who was there in 1981 is still working there today.
http://www.shu.edu/academics/artsci/seton-hall-theatre/

In addition to the summer job I had also applied for a full time job working at the University.
The interview for the full time job was during my second week there.
They gave the job to someone with more experience but at the end of the summer, just before I left, the Chairman told me that he enjoyed working with me and maybe he hired the wrong guy.
As it turned he was right and the other guy was fired before the end of the first year.
They had their chance but I was moving on to other things by then.

My older brother was working as a Photographer in NYC and told me that the studio that he worked for was looking for someone like me to be like a technical director building sets for the different photo set ups.
I took a trip into the city and met with the president of the company and sold him on the idea that I was just what he needed to save his studio, or at least make it run smoother.
They offered me the job at $250 a week plus medical and dental benefits.
This was about $50 more than the junior Photographers starting wage so I guess they really wanted me.

So at the end of the summer, with no other leads on Theatre jobs, I started working full time in Manhattan at Vogue Wright Photographic Studios on Park Avenue near Union Square.
Living back with me parents on Long Island, I would commute on the Long Island Railroad for the next year.

Those train rides alone could fill another blog, but highlights of my adventures in the Photo World are soon to follow.