Full Transcript for Throwback: Stephen Tobolowsky - Actor (Groundhog Day / Mississippi Burning / The Goldbergs)

--> 00:02:37.599 to the drug store to get some allergy medicine. Have 37 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:41.520 you done this lately? No, let me tell you, empty shelves. 38 00:02:41.759 --> 00:02:42.919 What where do you live? 39 00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.280 I live on a mountaintop in No. I live in 40 00:02:46.319 --> 00:02:49.280 Los Angeles, And I'm going like, why don't they have 41 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:52.479 a legra anywhere? Why don't they have any allergy medicine? 42 00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.199 Empty shelves? So I had to go on the internet 43 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:57.800 and I found out that there is a COVID of 44 00:02:57.840 --> 00:03:02.560 course related shortage in that a vital ingredient in most 45 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:06.800 allergy medicine comes from China, and so with the pandemic 46 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.680 and with everything being closed down and manufacturing stopping and 47 00:03:10.719 --> 00:03:13.360 shutting down, there is a shortage of this and so 48 00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:16.960 grab it while you can, ladies and gentlemen, grab that 49 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:19.840 allergy medicine, win and where you find it, because the 50 00:03:19.919 --> 00:03:23.680 shortage hit England in May, and that's when they had 51 00:03:23.719 --> 00:03:27.599 empty shelves of allergy medicine. And now it's just the 52 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:30.479 way is coming to the United States. So you know, 53 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:33.520 we all need allergy medicine. You know, I don't know 54 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:37.680 about you, but I certainly do. And you know, no restaurants, 55 00:03:37.759 --> 00:03:40.479 no theater, no going to movies. You know, it's just 56 00:03:40.639 --> 00:03:42.199 not the world we're familiar with. 57 00:03:42.879 --> 00:03:47.159 That is sad and heartbreaking and you've just ruined my 58 00:03:47.319 --> 00:03:51.319 entire weekend. Thanks buddysure my pleasure. 59 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.919 Hey, you know this is my motto. Not telling someone 60 00:03:55.039 --> 00:03:58.439 bad news is not the same as good news. 61 00:03:58.719 --> 00:04:01.080 It's worse news, right, it is worse. 62 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:06.159 Not telling someone bad news is not good news. It's 63 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:07.120 worse news. 64 00:04:07.319 --> 00:04:08.039 That is correct. 65 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:10.719 I mean if we see what the world really is, 66 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.680 then maybe we have a chance of adapting and having 67 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:15.520 some fun. Like I'm fascination street. 68 00:04:15.840 --> 00:04:18.279 I love that you said that, my man, because as 69 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:19.759 soon as I get done here, I'm going to go 70 00:04:19.800 --> 00:04:25.240 take a whole bottle of allgra and see what happens. Stephen. 71 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:27.120 What I like to do is I like to start 72 00:04:27.160 --> 00:04:29.439 from the beginning, so it helps us get to understand 73 00:04:29.439 --> 00:04:32.040 how you came to be who you are. So where 74 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:34.519 were you born and raised? Man? I think that you're 75 00:04:34.519 --> 00:04:35.319 a Texas boy. 76 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.319 Yeah, I'm a Texas boy. I grew up in oak Cliff, 77 00:04:38.399 --> 00:04:42.319 which is, I want to say, about twenty eight miles 78 00:04:42.519 --> 00:04:46.720 from downtown Dallas, so it was the early fifties. Oakcliffe 79 00:04:46.839 --> 00:04:48.399 is what you would. I didn't know it at the 80 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:52.120 time was a white flight area, which is very much 81 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:53.959 kind of one of the things that what made me 82 00:04:54.439 --> 00:04:57.439 what I am. I didn't know it, but there were 83 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.360 no black people in Ocliff at the time. There were 84 00:05:00.360 --> 00:05:03.399 only three that I knew, and it was our maid, 85 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:06.240 Leonora Alice nell Allen, who lived down the street, who 86 00:05:06.279 --> 00:05:08.879 I proposed to when she was five and I was 87 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:10.839 five and a half six. I was a little older 88 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:17.160 her maid Claudie and my father's custodian Thomas. So anyway, 89 00:05:17.240 --> 00:05:19.959 one of the things that forged me was I grew 90 00:05:20.040 --> 00:05:23.800 up in this community and our family was Jewish and 91 00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:27.439 they hated the Jews. Who did our community? 92 00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:29.399 Your whole Oak Cliff hated the Jews. 93 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:33.240 There were more Nazis whoa I mean that were in 94 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.079 the party. I'm not you know. Now we're in an 95 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:37.720 age where we call everybody a Nazi is someone we 96 00:05:37.800 --> 00:05:40.759 disagree with. These were people who were in the party. 97 00:05:40.839 --> 00:05:45.279 They paid dues. I remember I played basketball at Carpenter 98 00:05:45.480 --> 00:05:49.279 Elementary School. I was terrible. But our guard on that 99 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:52.199 was John Rutledge, and John invited us over after one 100 00:05:52.199 --> 00:05:55.519 of our many losses to his house for Pimeno cheese 101 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.920 sandwiches and Coca Cola r sia col I think was 102 00:05:58.959 --> 00:06:02.000 the drink of choice. And I went over there and 103 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.199 they had no idea I was Jewish. He had Nazi 104 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:09.240 flags on either side of the fireplace, you know, like 105 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:12.439 coming out of the wall, like hello, not little flags, 106 00:06:12.480 --> 00:06:16.680 I mean like flag flags, and a bust of Adolf Hitler. 107 00:06:18.120 --> 00:06:19.120 Of Adolf Hitler. 108 00:06:20.279 --> 00:06:20.800 Wow. 109 00:06:21.199 --> 00:06:25.879 They had Storm Trooper magazine on the coffee table like 110 00:06:25.959 --> 00:06:29.160 it was Time magazine or Life, you know,

like, oh, 111 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:32.560 here's Stormtrooper magazine. You know. Of course there were lovely 112 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.240 people on No Cliff too. A lot of the loveliest, 113 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:39.519 loveliest people I knew were fundamentalist Christians, you know, people 114 00:06:39.519 --> 00:06:43.439 who didn't listen to music, who didn't go to dances, 115 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:44.800 and that kind of thing, because. 116 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:47.480 It was like too crazy, like footloose. 117 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.160 Maybe like footlooth. You know. It was that kind of 118 00:06:50.199 --> 00:06:54.279 thing and the thing that shaped me. Of course, what 119 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:58.439 the Founding fathers intentionally or unintentionally wanted to do was 120 00:06:58.519 --> 00:07:02.759 create a world that was white and antaccepted. You know, 121 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:04.959 this is our world and our culture, and this is 122 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:07.839 what we are. It had the opposite effect on me 123 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:11.839 because so many of the white people I knew were 124 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:15.360 horrific bullies. You know. In my school, one of them, 125 00:07:15.360 --> 00:07:17.839 I remember we were playing and he put a pitchfork 126 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:22.879 through my foot. Serious stuff. They shot our cat, They 127 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.319 shot our cat. These are the kind of people that 128 00:07:26.519 --> 00:07:30.920 I grew up with. But Leonora, our black Maid, and 129 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.399 Claudie Alice Allen's Black Maid were two of the most 130 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:39.920 amazing and remarkable people I had ever met in my life. 131 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:44.120 Claudie was, as Alice now told me a couple of 132 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:47.360 years ago, the bravest person she had ever known. I 133 00:07:47.399 --> 00:07:49.079 did not know it at the time, but Alice was 134 00:07:49.079 --> 00:07:51.759 in an abusive home. They beat her up all the time. 135 00:07:51.959 --> 00:07:53.879 Her mother would come in and stick a gun in 136 00:07:53.879 --> 00:07:55.879 her face when she's a little girl, and say, say 137 00:07:55.920 --> 00:07:57.879 your prayers. This is the last night you're going to 138 00:07:57.920 --> 00:08:02.399 be alive. And Claudie found out about this and stood 139 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:07.120 between those parents and Alice spent the night, didn't go home, 140 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:10.040 spent the night with Alice and stood up to them 141 00:08:10.079 --> 00:08:12.360 and said, you come close to this job, you hurt 142 00:08:12.360 --> 00:08:14.480 this child, You're gonna have to deal with me. And 143 00:08:14.519 --> 00:08:18.439 Claudie protected that little girl until Alice got to the 144 00:08:18.480 --> 00:08:20.959 age of eighteen. And Alice left home and never came 145 00:08:21.000 --> 00:08:24.800 back again, never came back again. And Alice told me 146 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.680 when we spoke a couple of years ago, never saw 147 00:08:27.720 --> 00:08:30.680 her parents again, never did anything. But she ended up 148 00:08:30.720 --> 00:08:35.039 working as a nurse and financially would help Claudie. She 149 00:08:35.240 --> 00:08:38.320 was with Claudie for the rest of Claudie's life. She 150 00:08:38.320 --> 00:08:40.679 would help her, she would give her medical care, she 151 00:08:40.720 --> 00:08:43.080 would do anything she wanted. She said, I was at 152 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:47.000 her grave when she died. She was a true hero. 153 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:51.120 These were the kind of people that influenced me. Lenora, 154 00:08:51.240 --> 00:08:55.039 our maid, in between working at our home, decided she 155 00:08:55.159 --> 00:08:57.840 had to sell Avon product's door to door to make 156 00:08:57.840 --> 00:09:00.120 a living. And she did pretty good at it, and 157 00:09:00.159 --> 00:09:03.159 she kept moving up the ladder at Avon and eventually 158 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:06.440 she became a district or regional manager something like that. 159 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:10.039 She became a millionaire. And she came to my mother 160 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:12.639 and father and said, I'd like to buy your house. 161 00:09:14.039 --> 00:09:16.200 And mom and dad were like, huh. She says, I 162 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:18.879 always wanted to own the house that I worked in, 163 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.480 and my mother and father sold Leonora the house and 164 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:26.840 every stick of furniture in it. Lenora ended up becoming 165 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:32.399 a tycoon, multimillionaire, owning like twenty two properties in Dallas, 166 00:09:32.679 --> 00:09:38.200 including apartment buildings, restaurants, businesses, everything. Leonora multimillionaire. I got 167 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:41.600 to see Leonora just a few years ago. I went 168 00:09:41.639 --> 00:09:43.960 to Dallas and went back to back home and our house. 169 00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:47.159 How many people can go back to their childhood home 170 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:50.919 and it looks exactly the same because Leonora didn't change 171 00:09:50.960 --> 00:09:53.360 a piece of furniture. It was all the same. And 172 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:57.639 I came in and saw Lenora. She said, Stevie, you'd 173 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.440 be so happy with what we've done in your house. 174 00:10:00.480 --> 00:10:03.159 We've turned it into a church and we've saved a 175 00:10:03.200 --> 00:10:06.879 lot of souls in here. Wow, Lenora, one of the 176 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:11.639 greatest people. Want so these people framed me, I'm just rambling, 177 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:13.159 you said, Okay, if I ramble. 178 00:10:13.120 --> 00:10:15.080 This is fantastic. Knock yourself out. 179 00:10:15.440 --> 00:10:19.799 Okay. Phase two of my upbringing. Besides having these people 180

00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:24.159 that I looked to as an example, Leonora, Claudie Thomas, 181 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:28.679 amazing people. I got sick when I was twelve, got 182 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:32.080 very sick. I don't know what it was, but internal bleeding. 183 00:10:32.519 --> 00:10:33.559 I started losing weight. 184 00:10:33.799 --> 00:10:35.639 It lasted a couple of years, right, a. 185 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:39.039 Couple of years. My father thought cancer, nothing like your 186 00:10:39.039 --> 00:10:42.279 parents crying at night, that'll straighten you out. And no 187 00:10:42.320 --> 00:10:45.799 one could figure out anything of what it was colliitis 188 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:48.440 of some sort. I have no idea what caused it, 189 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:52.440 autoimmune kind of thing. But I couldn't play football or 190 00:10:52.639 --> 00:10:56.639 anything anymore. So when I went to junior high school 191 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:01.399 those miserable years, how does anyone survive junior high school? 192 00:11:01.480 --> 00:11:04.440 High school, at least you have girls you can look at. 193 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:08.840 But junior high is just like Miserable. Everybody's a brat 194 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:12.200 and monstrous, and the teachers are horrible. Anyway, I had 195 00:11:12.200 --> 00:11:14.840 to be in study hall, and I had four study 196 00:11:14.879 --> 00:11:19.000 halls a day off and on, not continuously, because I 197 00:11:19.039 --> 00:11:22.320 couldn't play. I couldn't do anything, and so I started 198 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:25.039 reading in study halls. And one thing I started doing 199 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:28.279 was reading plays. And I remember I decided I would 200 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:32.519 read king Lear and I could hardly understand it, being 201 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.759 in eighth grade reading king Lear. And then there was 202 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.440 a line I think it's of Albany in there. He 203 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.120 says who is it that can say this is the worst? 204 00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:45.159 And I heard that line and it resonated with me 205 00:11:45.879 --> 00:11:49.039 in a big time way. Who is it that can 206 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:51.039 say this is the worst? I mean, we could apply 207 00:11:51.080 --> 00:11:53.720 it to today. Is this the worst? Who is it 208 00:11:53.759 --> 00:11:56.320 that can say this is the worst? You know, that 209 00:11:56.440 --> 00:12:01.480 bottom floor goes way down? And I thought I liked plays, 210 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.559 and I started reading more and more plays, and the 211 00:12:04.600 --> 00:12:07.200 one thing I could do was be in debate, and 212 00:12:07.240 --> 00:12:10.440 I could be in plays in school. So I started 213 00:12:10.440 --> 00:12:12.840 being in place in school and people always laughed at me, 214 00:12:13.159 --> 00:12:15.840 So I thought this is good. And I went into 215 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:20.279 high

school and was clearly on the debate team was 216 00:12:20.440 --> 00:12:25.360 doing school plays, and my illness stopped when I was fifteen, 217 00:12:25.879 --> 00:12:29.200 just stopped. It was gone, gone, And I went to 218 00:12:29.279 --> 00:12:32.000 a bevy of doctors, and so you know, I was 219 00:12:32.039 --> 00:12:36.120 taking a new medication at the time, something called pathabamate 220 00:12:36.320 --> 00:12:39.399 five hundred, and I looked it up. It's no longer prescribed, 221 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.120 but it was something when you have epilepsy. 222 00:12:41.759 --> 00:12:44.720 When you have seizures, seizures. 223 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:46.879 It was anti seizure medicine. 224 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:47.320 Wow. 225 00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:49.440 And for some reason they I think they still sell 226 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:51.440 it in Europe, but they don't sell it in America anymore. 227 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:55.519 I took pathabamme eate five hundred like two three times 228 00:12:55.519 --> 00:12:58.679 a day, and it went away like this. And so 229 00:12:58.759 --> 00:13:01.240 by the time I was fifteen, I was good and 230 00:13:01.399 --> 00:13:04.279 I was in a school that had a lot of plays. 231 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:06.879 Mary Curtis, our drama teacher. 232 00:13:06.759 --> 00:13:08.600 Were you still in Oakcliffe? 233 00:13:08.840 --> 00:13:12.519 Yes, Okay, still in Oakcliffe. Mary Curtis, our drama teacher, 234 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.000 was either the greatest or the worst drama teacher in 235 00:13:15.039 --> 00:13:18.600 the world, because she would always sneak out and get 236 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:21.480 these great experts that were in the city to direct 237 00:13:21.559 --> 00:13:24.159 the place for She would take credit for it, but 238 00:13:24.240 --> 00:13:26.840 everybody thought Mary Curtis was the greatest director in the world. 239 00:13:26.919 --> 00:13:30.759 She's probably the greatest producer in the world, and maybe 240 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.879 the greatest high school drama teacher in the world, because 241 00:13:34.120 --> 00:13:38.840 we were taught by really amazing people who directed the 242 00:13:38.879 --> 00:13:42.519 place that Mary was supposed to do. So I did 243 00:13:42.759 --> 00:13:46.919 tons of plays in high school and that's when I decided, Hey, 244 00:13:47.039 --> 00:13:48.120 I want to be an actor. 245 00:13:48.799 --> 00:13:49.240 Wow. 246 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:51.840 So that line from King Lear, who is it that 247 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:55.279 can say this is the worst? At the time that 248 00:13:55.320 --> 00:13:59.519 you read that, you were in the throes of this illness, right, yeah, 249 00:14:00.080 --> 00:14:03.440 so I'm assuming to your young mind you were like, look, 250 00:14:03.480 --> 00:14:06.440 this illness sucks. This is not the greatest thing for me. 251 00:14:06.519 --> 00:14:08.600 But that little girl had to get stuck in her 252 00:14:08.639

--> 00:14:11.200 face when she's a little kid, like, things can always 253 00:14:11.279 --> 00:14:14.840 get worse, right, Yes, yes, So I can understand how 254 00:14:14.960 --> 00:14:16.919 that would really strike a nerve with you and you 255 00:14:16.919 --> 00:14:19.759 would take it to heart. When was it that you 256 00:14:19.879 --> 00:14:22.879 decided that acting is what you wanted to do as 257 00:14:22.919 --> 00:14:23.480 a career. 258 00:14:23.960 --> 00:14:26.759 You know, I found something down here I wish I 259 00:14:26.759 --> 00:14:28.879 could show you, but it's in too big of a 260 00:14:28.919 --> 00:14:32.159 pile of stuff. But on career day in ninth. 261 00:14:31.840 --> 00:14:33.679 Grade, why do you still have that. 262 00:14:36.120 --> 00:14:39.759 Do you see behind me? Yeah, well it's filled with crap. 263 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:42.559 Every one of these things is a tombstone. We all 264 00:14:42.600 --> 00:14:45.840 have these little memorials that we have for our lives, 265 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:48.559 that we create for career day in ninth grade and 266 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:52.399 Miss Rough's class was my life is a professional actor. 267 00:14:53.000 --> 00:14:57.000 And I remember I finished and showed my mother at 268 00:14:57.000 --> 00:15:02.639 home and she goes, professional actor. What no, no, oh, no, 269 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:04.759 you gonna be a doctor. You're gonna be a lawyer. 270 00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:06.679 You know you'll be in debate, You'll be a lawyer. 271 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:10.039 So I knew in ninth grade I was bitten by 272 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:13.399 the acting bug. But really by the time I was 273 00:15:14.200 --> 00:15:17.639 in tenth grade, we did The Miser and I played 274 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:20.759 arpat Gone. We did a one act play version of 275 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:26.559 The Miser in competition and we won city, we won regional, 276 00:15:26.919 --> 00:15:30.039 and then we did not win state, but I got 277 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.399 honorable mention as best Actor in State. But when I 278 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:38.480 was a junior, we did Euripides Trojan Women, and I 279 00:15:38.639 --> 00:15:41.919 played the dual role of tau Phibius, the Greek soldier 280 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:45.519 with a heart and Poseidon, god of the Deep. And 281 00:15:45.639 --> 00:15:48.240 for this role we went all the way to state 282 00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:51.360 and I won the award of the best Actor in 283 00:15:51.399 --> 00:15:52.519 the State of Texas. 284 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:54.480 Who where's that a word? 285 00:15:54.840 --> 00:15:56.600 It's somewhere over here, it's a little piece of it's 286 00:15:56.679 --> 00:15:58.879 right over there. Actually, I think right over here, I 287 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:01.759 have all sorts of lilow stupid acting things over here. 288 00:16:01.919 --> 00:16:04.480 The dumb things are the things that matter. Those are 289 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:07.639 the first ones, you know, the first time you get 290 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:11.000 the pat on the shoulder from playing teu Phibius, the 291 00:16:11.039 --> 00:16:14.759 soldier with lots of grease paint on who cries holding 292 00:16:14.840 --> 00:16:18.279 the dead baby. That meant a lot to me, and 293 00:16:18.600 --> 00:16:21.039 it certainly meant a lot to mister Durrett, our principal 294 00:16:21.080 --> 00:16:23.679 at school, who went on and on and on about 295 00:16:23.759 --> 00:16:26.600 me as tau Phibius, the Greek soldier with a heart. 296 00:16:27.000 --> 00:16:31.159 But I decided, well, if I win best Actor in 297 00:16:31.200 --> 00:16:33.519 the State of Texas in the one act play contest, 298 00:16:33.879 --> 00:16:36.840 who knows what awaits me at? 299 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:37.639 Oh boy? 300 00:16:37.799 --> 00:16:40.639 If I only knew, then who is that good? Say? 301 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:44.840 This is the worst? So I studied for nothing other 302 00:16:44.879 --> 00:16:48.840 than drama. I applied to one school SMU. I had 303 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:50.679 no idea at the time. It was one of the 304 00:16:50.720 --> 00:16:54.480 top five drama colleges in the country. They had an 305 00:16:54.480 --> 00:16:58.480 amazing drama department, so I applied. My father went to SMU, 306 00:16:58.559 --> 00:17:02.759 so I got in, and there began the trial by 307 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:05.799 fire of you know, being a student in college. And 308 00:17:05.839 --> 00:17:10.079 that's when I met myself upon the field of battle, 309 00:17:10.359 --> 00:17:14.680 and I won. I didn't think i'd win, but I won. 310 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:18.039 You know, everything was stripped away from me. I had 311 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:21.319 a teacher who was destined to destroy me and get 312 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:24.079 me expelled from the drama program for some reason. I 313 00:17:24.119 --> 00:17:26.799 don't know why. Well I do know why, because she 314 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:30.119 thought I was a cut up. She thought I was 315 00:17:30.319 --> 00:17:34.839 not serious enough for Stanislavsky. She became a new teacher 316 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:38.799 my sophomore year. Her name is John Potter, and Bernard Hobgood, 317 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:40.599 who was head of the department, wanted me to do 318 00:17:40.799 --> 00:17:44.079 freshman auditions when I was a sophomore. I had already 319 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:46.400 done freshman audition one, but he wanted me to audition 320 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.359 again with all the little freshmen because we had all 321 00:17:49.359 --> 00:17:52.799 these new teachers. To impress the new teachers. So I 322 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:56.720 did the same audition I did as a freshman, but 323 00:17:56.839 --> 00:18:00.880 to be funny, I did my speed each from as 324 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:03.880 you like It, Orlando, and as you like it. These 325 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:06.079 trees shall be my

books, and in their barks my 326 00:18:06.160 --> 00:18:09.720 thoughts on character, that every eye within this forest look 327 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:12.599 shall see thy virtue witness everywhere. I did it as 328 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:15.799 a strip tease. So I'm doing the speech and taking 329 00:18:15.880 --> 00:18:18.279 off my clothes and I end up with just my 330 00:18:18.839 --> 00:18:21.880 boxer shorts on, and I wrote high hob on my butt, 331 00:18:22.079 --> 00:18:24.799 and at the end of the monologue, I turned and 332 00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.480 did my butt to the audience and danced off stage. 333 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:31.519 The audience was in hysterics. Everyone was laughing. But I 334 00:18:31.559 --> 00:18:34.640 suspect this teacher, John Potter, thought I was not the 335 00:18:34.759 --> 00:18:37.440 right stuff, and she was determined to get me out 336 00:18:37.440 --> 00:18:41.359 of school. I had never had a teacher who would 337 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:45.440 use any means that would be unscrupulous, and teachers are 338 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:48.039 powerful to get what they wanted. They would lie, they 339 00:18:48.039 --> 00:18:50.759 would cheat, they would do anything to make sure that 340 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:54.160 she could fail me out of school. And I realized 341 00:18:54.799 --> 00:18:58.000 this is where Steve met Steve Stephen. In my head, 342 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:00.839 I was in such despair. I know what to do. 343 00:19:01.400 --> 00:19:04.759 I went to my theater history teacher, Tony Graham White, 344 00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:08.000 at the end of my sophomore year, and I said, Tony, 345 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:11.039 you know that I'm having difficulties with this teacher here. 346 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:13.839 I said, are there any rules against me taking the 347 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:17.839 graduate exam now, and he says, well, no, I mean 348 00:19:17.960 --> 00:19:19.720 usually people take it the end of I know they 349 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:21.160 take it the end of senior year. But can I 350 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.359 take the graduate exam now? And so I did, and 351 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:28.359 I said, Tony, don't tell anyone I've taken this test, 352 00:19:28.920 --> 00:19:31.480 and if you could just grate it yourself and hold 353 00:19:31.519 --> 00:19:33.559 it for me in case I need it. And so 354 00:19:34.039 --> 00:19:37.400 I didn't get cast in anything my junior year. She 355 00:19:37.559 --> 00:19:40.400 blackballed me from getting cast in anything. So I made 356 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:43.319 her even more furious by going out into the community 357 00:19:43.720 --> 00:19:46.960 to the only equity theater in Dallas, Theater three, and 358 00:19:47.000 --> 00:19:50.319 I got my equity card and I started working professionally, 359 00:19:50.720 --> 00:19:54.920 so that really infuriated her. Joan then started being nice 360 00:19:54.920 --> 00:19:56.920 to me and all this sort of thing. And then 361 00:19:57.000 --> 00:20:00.400 I found out six weeks before the end of when 362 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:03.079 I was a senior Bernard Hopgood, my advisor keim Mes, 363 00:20:03.079 --> 00:20:06.680 I'm so sorry, Joan Potter has given you an unsatisfactory 364 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.599 critique that means you will not be allowed to graduate. 365 00:20:11.079 --> 00:20:13.440 And I said why, I mean, I've taken four years 366 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:15.720 of class and everything like this. He says, well, it 367 00:20:15.720 --> 00:20:18.279 means you won't be allowed to take the graduate exam. 368 00:20:18.519 --> 00:20:20.759 You need that to graduate, I said, I took it 369 00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:23.640 two years ago. Hobb talked to Tony Graham White. He 370 00:20:23.640 --> 00:20:27.279 has it in his office. I ended up graduating, and 371 00:20:27.359 --> 00:20:30.839 I ended up graduating first in my class. So I 372 00:20:30.920 --> 00:20:32.599 won the battle of John Potter. 373 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:39.440 Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. So 374 00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:42.480 I ran into previous guest of the show, Chris Gronkowski, 375 00:20:42.519 --> 00:20:47.720 the other day, and it went a little something like this, Hey, Steve, Hey, Chris. Hey, 376 00:20:47.720 --> 00:20:49.680 you know what sucks. When I get done with my 377 00:20:49.759 --> 00:20:53.119 workout at the gym, I protein shake. It's not cold anymore, man, 378 00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:54.079 it's room temperature. 379 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:54.880 Weird. 380 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:58.079 I haven't run into you at the gym lately, busted. 381 00:20:58.640 --> 00:21:01.279 Okay, truth be told. I don't work out, but I 382 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:04.119 do get thirsty after a long day of podcasting. I 383 00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:06.359 just can't seem to keep my cocktails cold. 384 00:21:06.799 --> 00:21:07.960 You should use an ice shaker. 385 00:21:08.279 --> 00:21:09.319 What's an ice shaker? 386 00:21:09.640 --> 00:21:13.400 The ice shaker is a double walled, vacuum insulated, stainless 387 00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:17.119 steel shaker bottle with a patented twist and agitator that 388 00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:18.519 breaks up the protein powders. 389 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:21.039 So you're saying I should switch to an ice shaker. 390 00:21:21.279 --> 00:21:23.559 Take out the agitator struck and fit more ice in 391 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:25.359 the cup and it'll stay cold longer. 392 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:27.319 Steve, you don't need more ice. 393 00:21:27.519 --> 00:21:30.200 Ice shaker is third party tested and verified to keep 394 00:21:30.200 --> 00:21:32.119 your drink cold for thirty plus hours. 395 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:36.359 Chris, you're a genius. I'll still remove the patented screw 396 00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:38.759 an agitator and just add more booze. 397 00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:41.799 I guess technically you could, but if you

actually use 398 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:43.960 the ice shaker as a protein drink up, the agitator 399 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.240 breaks up the powder and doesn't bounce around like you're 400 00:21:46.240 --> 00:21:47.599 shaking a pink can. 401 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:53.880 Why are we still talking. Let's party, grounchtyle. That's right, 402 00:21:53.920 --> 00:21:57.720 Street Walkers ice shaker is made from kitchen grade stainless steel, 403 00:21:57.759 --> 00:21:59.759 so it doesn't smell all funky if you use it 404 00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:02.640 a couple of times, like those cheap plastic ones. When 405 00:22:02.640 --> 00:22:05.440 I'm out and about doing interviews or party in gronk style, 406 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:09.240 I use the Fascination Street Podcast Edition twenty six ounce 407 00:22:09.279 --> 00:22:12.000 flex ice shaker cup and it keeps my drink cold 408 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:14.839 until the sun comes up. You saw ice shaker on 409 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:18.039 Shark Tank. All Five Sharks made an offer with Mark 410 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:21.559 Cuban and Alex Rodriguez closing the deal. Now you can 411 00:22:21.599 --> 00:22:24.920 get a deal to order your own twenty six ounce 412 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:28.160 flex cup right now at ice shaker dot com and 413 00:22:28.279 --> 00:22:31.920 use the promo code f SP for five dollars off 414 00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:35.039 your first order. Once again, that's ice shaker dot Com 415 00:22:35.079 --> 00:22:40.039 promo code f SP, as in Fascination Street Pod for 416 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.160 five dollars off your first order. That's ice shaker dot 417 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:49.079 Com promo code f SP. Let's get back into it. 418 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:57.440 John Potter was such a snake. God, can I say that? 419 00:22:58.200 --> 00:22:59.240 Yeah, you can say that. 420 00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:02.599 She's such a nag. I ended up on Broadway a 421 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:06.720 few years later, and Joan Potter came to see the show. 422 00:23:06.559 --> 00:23:07.920 On Broadway in New York. 423 00:23:08.119 --> 00:23:11.240 On Broadway in New York, the New York Broadway, the 424 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:15.160 Broadway Broadway, the Broadway Broadway, at the Eugene O'Neil Theater. 425 00:23:15.519 --> 00:23:17.559 I was in a lovely play that we were sure 426 00:23:17.680 --> 00:23:19.839 was going to be an enormous hit. It wasn't, but 427 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:24.279 we got standing ovations those first performances from everybody before 428 00:23:24.319 --> 00:23:27.519 Frank Rich destroyed us with his review. But Joan Potter 429 00:23:27.759 --> 00:23:31.279 came to see the show and came backstage and came 430 00:23:31.319 --> 00:23:35.519 to my dressing room and said, you're still no good. 431 00:23:36.319 --> 00:23:37.119 You're kidding me. 432 00:23:37.680 --> 00:23:41.960 No, no, And the only thing I was thinking of, Yeah, 433 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.680 but you still had to

pay fifty six bucks to 434 00:23:44.759 --> 00:23:45.119 see me. 435 00:23:45.720 --> 00:23:47.200 Oh my god, what did you say? 436 00:23:47.720 --> 00:23:51.319 I think I said something along those lines. I said, 437 00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:54.559 but you still paid full price to see me, something 438 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:57.079 like that. I know, Joan, I know I'm terrible, but 439 00:23:57.119 --> 00:23:59.519 you're still paying full price to see me. Thanks for 440 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:00.720 seeing the SHO show. Bye Bye. 441 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:05.000 Wow Snake is the nicest thing you could have said 442 00:24:05.000 --> 00:24:05.759 about that lady. 443 00:24:05.960 --> 00:24:09.400 Oh, she was amazing. And there are people at SMU 444 00:24:09.559 --> 00:24:13.480 that absolutely adored her because what she was to me, 445 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.680 she was the opposite to them. She was a magnificent teacher. 446 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:18.519 And I got to tell you, you know, there was 447 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:23.160 a period of time in there where Joan in her class. 448 00:24:23.640 --> 00:24:27.039 She would never grade my papers, she would never grade 449 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.599 my tests, she never gave me assignments in her class, 450 00:24:30.839 --> 00:24:33.359 but for some reason, at the end of the term, 451 00:24:33.640 --> 00:24:35.720 she would always give me an A. And I had 452 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:40.599 no idea why until I realized, oh, I'm not a 453 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:43.640 guy who gets bad grades. I was a guy who 454 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:46.720 had close to a four point average. So if you 455 00:24:46.880 --> 00:24:50.920 have this one teacher giving you ds and everybody else 456 00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:53.240 is giving you a's, it's going to look like some 457 00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.519 kind of setup job. But she had the other thing 458 00:24:56.559 --> 00:25:00.119 in mind. She thought she could give me a's and 459 00:25:00.119 --> 00:25:03.319 then right before graduation, she could screw me up so 460 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:06.200 I couldn't graduate and she would have the last laugh. 461 00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:08.400 But she didn't know that. I took my test two 462 00:25:08.440 --> 00:25:11.839 years early because I knew not to trust her, not 463 00:25:11.960 --> 00:25:15.400 to trust the situation I was in. Wow, terrible, But 464 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:19.400 that's kind of how I became an actor. And people 465 00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:21.559 push you around all the time when you're an actor, 466 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.400 and that's part of it. That's fine, that's their job, 467 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:26.759 and I appreciate what they do when they push me 468 00:25:26.839 --> 00:25:31.079 around with good motives. But what one acting teacher taught 469 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:34.400 me was ed K Martin, nothing is more important than 470 00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:37.160 the play. The play is the thing. People can say 471 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:40.440 what they want to about you, criticize, do whatever, but 472 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:43.799 whatever you do, you make the play the most important 473 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:46.720 thing and not yourself. The ego goes down, and what 474 00:25:46.759 --> 00:25:49.000 you do is you just want to do the best 475 00:25:49.039 --> 00:25:51.759 thing for the show that you possibly can. And so 476 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.440 that helped me a lot all through my career. 477 00:25:54.920 --> 00:25:57.920 Well, this is going to be an awkward introduction. She's 478 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:00.759 been quiet this whole time as saying yeah. 479 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:06.160 Yes, no, no. Joan passed on a few years ago. 480 00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:09.839 And I have no idea how people get that way 481 00:26:09.920 --> 00:26:12.920 or how they feel they can. I don't know because 482 00:26:13.000 --> 00:26:15.480 that's not part of my makeup. I mean, I get 483 00:26:15.559 --> 00:26:17.519 mad at people too, and I get upset, but I 484 00:26:17.720 --> 00:26:19.519 never would do that to a student. 485 00:26:20.039 --> 00:26:22.240 That takes a lot of effort, Like, that's a lot 486 00:26:22.319 --> 00:26:26.680 of calories burned just to be a mean person. How 487 00:26:26.759 --> 00:26:27.440 is that helping her? 488 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:27.880 Yeah? 489 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:31.359 And I was nineteen, she was a grown up. 490 00:26:32.079 --> 00:26:33.559 Uh No, she wasn't, Stephen. 491 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:39.279 I know she taught at the Actors Studio. You know, 492 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:43.039 you made a reputation. Yeah, she had a reputation, a 493 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:46.599 great reputation. And you know, I worked with another acting 494 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:50.640 teacher in graduate school, ed K. Martin, who was also 495 00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:54.039 just the mean as a snake, but he was brilliant 496 00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:58.160 and he was not out to destroy you, but he 497 00:26:58.319 --> 00:27:01.440 was had no patience. It was an furiated with people 498 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:04.400 who were lazier, you know, actors who weren't trying, or 499 00:27:04.480 --> 00:27:07.440 actors who are whatever. I go, like, I'm going from 500 00:27:07.480 --> 00:27:09.480 out of the frying pan with Joan Potter to Endo 501 00:27:09.559 --> 00:27:12.039 the Fire with Ed K Martin, But Ed K. Martin 502 00:27:12.119 --> 00:27:15.000 was a whole other animal, and Ed K. Martin was 503 00:27:15.759 --> 00:27:20.000 a genius. Everywhere I go people who have been taught 504 00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:24.640 by Ed. It's like we still are in silent memorial 505 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:28.079 and not so silent here on your show. Holly Hunter 506 00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:31.240 was one of Ed's students. So whenever Holly and I 507 00:27:31.400 --> 00:27:33.079 get together, we tell Ed's stories. 508 00:27:33.480 -->

00:27:35.400 Y'all get together a lot, y'all just hang out. 509 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:39.359 We used to. We work together a lot, like on 510 00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:43.839 that show on Broadway that didn't last. Holly Hunter played 511 00:27:43.880 --> 00:27:44.559 my girlfriend. 512 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:45.319 Oh cool. 513 00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:49.400 And when I directed Miss Firecracker Contest in New York, 514 00:27:49.480 --> 00:27:52.039 I cast Holly Hunter as the lead because I thought, 515 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:54.000 no one's going to be better than Holly, and so 516 00:27:54.119 --> 00:27:57.359 did Beth Beth Henley, who wrote it. You know, nobody's 517 00:27:57.359 --> 00:27:59.039 gonna play this part better than Holly Hunter. 518 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:01.279 Beth Henley didn't. She went a Pulitzer Prize. 519 00:28:01.559 --> 00:28:02.000 She did. 520 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:05.000 Yeah, it was amazing. Beth and I were together for 521 00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:06.359 about sixteen years. 522 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:06.960 Oh. 523 00:28:07.680 --> 00:28:10.400 I fell in love with her at first sight. At SMU. 524 00:28:11.039 --> 00:28:13.599 I was a sophomore and she was a freshman, and 525 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:17.160 I was very stressed because as a freshman I didn't 526 00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:20.559 get any parts. Of course, freshmen, you spear carriers and 527 00:28:20.640 --> 00:28:22.960 you move scenery and that's all. But now I was 528 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.480 a sophomore, and it was tough me coming from Kimball 529 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.599 and Mary Curtis, where I was the king of theater. 530 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:33.599 You know, I won the State of Texas for Telphibius, 531 00:28:33.680 --> 00:28:36.680 the soldier that cried, you know, from coming and having 532 00:28:36.759 --> 00:28:39.039 such high hopes, then you go to college and you 533 00:28:39.160 --> 00:28:41.519 go like, oh, well, now I'm with all these other 534 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.079 people that were stars in their high school and it's 535 00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:47.640 a whole different story. And if I didn't get cast 536 00:28:47.920 --> 00:28:51.119 my sophomore year in college, then I could be in 537 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:54.839 serious trouble in terms of even my parents understanding why 538 00:28:54.839 --> 00:28:58.960 I'm pursuing this. So I was so depressed first day 539 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:02.640 of school. I ran upstairs into the Margo Jones Theater 540 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:05.319 and it was pitch black, but they had what they 541 00:29:05.400 --> 00:29:08.920 call a ghost light on stage, the spotlight like center stage, 542 00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:11.359 and I ran up into the seats and just sat 543 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:14.559 there and just was praying to whatever gods may be, 544 00:29:15.079 --> 00:29:18.640 with something happen to me on this stage that would 545 00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:22.200 change my life? Will this be the year where something happens? 546 00:29:22.279 --> 00:29:24.839 And then I hear this door open and shut, I 547 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:28.200 hear footsteps coming. I'm thinking it's security to kick me out, 548 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:32.240 And on stage comes this girl, little blonde girl. Didn't 549 00:29:32.279 --> 00:29:34.680 know who she was, and she walked out, and I 550 00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:36.319 thought I was going to say something. Then I realized 551 00:29:36.359 --> 00:29:39.160 she couldn't see me. I'm sitting in the dark in 552 00:29:39.279 --> 00:29:42.200 the back rows. She couldn't see me at all. She 553 00:29:42.359 --> 00:29:45.279 thought she was alone too, and out of nowhere in 554 00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.920 this spotlight. She puts out her arms like she's losing 555 00:29:49.000 --> 00:29:52.359 her balance, and then she begins to try to tight 556 00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:56.680 rope her way across the stage, oh losing her balance 557 00:29:56.720 --> 00:29:59.160 and then recovering it and going from one side of 558 00:29:59.240 --> 00:30:01.359 the stage to the other. And then she got to 559 00:30:01.440 --> 00:30:03.839 that side of the stage and bowed and ran out 560 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:08.440 of the theater. And I was in love. I have 561 00:30:08.920 --> 00:30:11.599 maybe had love at first sight a couple times in 562 00:30:11.720 --> 00:30:15.079 my life, only that's it, and I've considered myself kind 563 00:30:15.079 --> 00:30:17.240 of a romantic guy. I fell in love with her, 564 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:18.960 and I had to find out who that person was. 565 00:30:19.559 --> 00:30:22.559 And I said, look, she's short, blonde hair. She was 566 00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:24.480 wearing blue jeans, she had these kind of shoes, and 567 00:30:24.519 --> 00:30:26.440 people in the costume shop said oh, I think we 568 00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:29.279 saw her. She's a freshman. I think her name is Beth, 569 00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:33.440 and she's from Mississippi. So those were my clues. Beth 570 00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:36.559 from Mississippi. So I started asking people, do you know 571 00:30:36.599 --> 00:30:41.079 any Beth from Mississippi. Oh, she's in the scenery practic. 572 00:30:41.079 --> 00:30:44.640 Come after, So I went in and met Beth from 573 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:48.680 Mississippi and asked if sometime, you know, if I could 574 00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:51.440 have dinner with her at the cafeteria. So I used 575 00:30:51.480 --> 00:30:54.119 to go with Beth in her roommate Louise, and we 576 00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:58.079 would go to the cafeteria, and I realized from the 577 00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:01.480 get go I was enormous in love with her. I 578 00:31:01.519 --> 00:31:04.279 had never felt such a thing before. And Beth turned 579 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:06.200 out to be one of these people because she was 580 00:31:06.279 --> 00:31:08.519 little and cute and all this, they cast her as 581 00:31:09.000 -->

00:31:13.039 little children in plays, you know, because they had all 582 00:31:13.119 --> 00:31:16.200 the juniors and seniors in the advance acting students playing 583 00:31:16.240 --> 00:31:19.480 the leads, and then occasionally they'd have a professor playing 584 00:31:19.559 --> 00:31:22.039 the old people. But then they got people like Beth 585 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:25.279 to play the children. So Beth really never got any 586 00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:29.200 roles at SMU that were worthy of her. And I 587 00:31:29.279 --> 00:31:31.799 think it was her senior year she signed up for 588 00:31:31.839 --> 00:31:36.119 a playwriting class and wrote a play called am I Blue. 589 00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:39.640 And she was talking about how terrible this play was. 590 00:31:40.079 --> 00:31:42.519 She was saying, it's going to be complete glottal vomit, 591 00:31:42.680 --> 00:31:44.839 I mean. And she had all of us, she had 592 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:49.279 me in her roommate Louise Terry van de Voord, typing 593 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:52.440 up the play for none of us saw the entire play. 594 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:55.920 We're only typing up three pages. And then Louise takes over, 595 00:31:56.079 --> 00:31:59.039 so I see, you know, mister Spoon comes in and 596 00:32:00.079 --> 00:32:02.680 these weird names and all this stuff happening. None of 597 00:32:02.720 --> 00:32:04.680 us got sense of playing. Beth is saying, please don't 598 00:32:04.720 --> 00:32:06.960 read it. It's just terrible. It's just terrible. It's just terrible. 599 00:32:07.279 --> 00:32:10.440 So she took the play in and what happened was 600 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:13.240 one of the plays that we were supposed to do 601 00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:17.200 at SMU. The playwright dropped out. The play got pulled, 602 00:32:17.240 --> 00:32:19.680 and so there was a slide open, and so the 603 00:32:19.759 --> 00:32:23.920 school said, why don't we do a play from within 604 00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:28.440 the workings of the playwriting class. And then they decided, well, 605 00:32:28.519 --> 00:32:31.480 let's open it up to the whole university. Anyone could 606 00:32:31.720 --> 00:32:35.759 enter a play. Teachers, faculty members could interplace too. So 607 00:32:36.160 --> 00:32:38.920 all these plays were submitted, and Beth said she was 608 00:32:39.000 --> 00:32:41.799 so humiliated she couldn't put her name on the play 609 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:45.839 for the contest, so she put her name as Amy Peach. 610 00:32:46.480 --> 00:32:51.000 And we were all amazed, surprised, and horrified when the 611 00:32:51.119 --> 00:32:53.599 winner of the prize, which would get a full production 612 00:32:53.720 --> 00:32:58.480 at SMU, was Amy Peach ram I Blue. Everybody was sure, like, 613 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:01.079 Kathy Bates was one of the students at our school. 614 00:33:01.200 --> 00:33:04.200 Then Kathy Bates she was a junior, then a senior. 615 00:33:04.319 --> 00:33:07.079 Everybody thought, well, Kathy Bates has to be Amy Peach. 616 00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:11.079 Powers Booth was a graduate student at our school. Then well, 617 00:33:11.160 --> 00:33:14.319 Powers Booth has to be Amy Peach. You know, anybody. 618 00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:17.400 It could have been any of the professors, anybody Amy Peach. 619 00:33:18.079 --> 00:33:21.400 But instead it was this little girl that everybody made 620 00:33:21.440 --> 00:33:24.680 fun of, that never got cast in place except to 621 00:33:24.720 --> 00:33:28.440 play children. It was Beth Henley. I'm going like, how 622 00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:32.240 did this happen? So Best's mother came out for opening, 623 00:33:32.759 --> 00:33:36.519 and I'm like terrified because now I'm seeing the reviewers 624 00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:39.359 for the Morning News and the Dallas Times Harold sitting 625 00:33:39.400 --> 00:33:41.720 in the audience with their paths. I thought, oh my god, 626 00:33:42.279 --> 00:33:44.079 you know she's going to get reviewed. This is going 627 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:46.920 to be terrifying. And I still have not read the play. 628 00:33:47.440 --> 00:33:49.279 I'd read a few pages here and there. I still 629 00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:51.000 didn't know what this was. I just figured it was 630 00:33:51.000 --> 00:33:53.720 going to be some sort of terrible thing. The lights 631 00:33:53.799 --> 00:33:58.759 came down, came up on stage, and you could you 632 00:33:58.880 --> 00:34:02.920 could not hear a person breathe for the next hour 633 00:34:02.960 --> 00:34:09.559 and a half. It was hilarious. It was heartbreaking. It 634 00:34:09.880 --> 00:34:14.239 was fantastic. And I'm sitting in the audience. I'm saying, like, 635 00:34:14.559 --> 00:34:18.360 who's sitting next to me? Who is this person? Why 636 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:21.639 didn't I read this play? This is like, not only 637 00:34:21.679 --> 00:34:24.480 a good play, this is fabulous. It was such a 638 00:34:24.559 --> 00:34:27.800 fabulous play that later in Best's career, Jonathan Demi said, 639 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:30.199 you know that play you did in college, Am I Blue? 640 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:33.440 I'd like to do a short film e that Jonathan directed, 641 00:34:33.679 --> 00:34:36.280 I think for PBS or something. Am I Blue? It's 642 00:34:36.480 --> 00:34:40.280 that good, you know. But still graduation came. By this point, 643 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:43.519 I was a big star in Dallas. I was the 644 00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:47.119 big ingenue star at the Equity Theater. I was doing 645 00:34:47.440 --> 00:34:50.840 Algernon Importance of being earnest, all sorts of roles. I 646 00:34:51.000 --> 00:34:54.800 was cute and I had hair, and they were always 647 00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:57.480 giving me the leads and we got good reviews. And 648 00:34:57.599 --> 00:35:01.320 Beth was still Nowheeresville. So the only thing we could 649 00:35:01.400 --> 00:35:05.639 do together was being graduate

school together. And so even 650 00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:09.400 though I was already a professional actor, now equity and 651 00:35:09.760 --> 00:35:12.079 I even did a SAG film and got my SAG 652 00:35:12.199 --> 00:35:17.519 card in what like nineteen seventy four, I think one 653 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:21.000 hundred and twenty dollars a cost nineteen seventy four, I 654 00:35:21.079 --> 00:35:23.760 got my SAG and aftercard. Now I think you have 655 00:35:24.000 --> 00:35:27.320 to get a loan downpayment down from your house, put 656 00:35:27.360 --> 00:35:29.519 your house up to get a SAG card. I mean, 657 00:35:29.559 --> 00:35:33.119 it's so expensive now, one hundred twenty dollars. So I 658 00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:36.159 went back to graduate school to the University of Illinois 659 00:35:36.239 --> 00:35:39.039 to be with Beth. And one day we're walking across 660 00:35:39.159 --> 00:35:42.159 campus and Beth is saying, you know, I'm thinking maybe 661 00:35:42.199 --> 00:35:44.440 I shouldn't be an actor after all, Maybe I should 662 00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:46.920 be a writer. And I said, or you know, a 663 00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.519 dental hygienist. You know, one of us is going to 664 00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:51.920 have to have a job that pays money. I mean, 665 00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:54.400 I'm an actor, you know. But this is where I 666 00:35:54.440 --> 00:35:57.360 met ed k Martin at University of Illinois. If I 667 00:35:57.400 --> 00:36:00.840 hadn't gone there, I went and met him, so started 668 00:36:00.880 --> 00:36:05.360 writing again. We both escaped the University of Illinois after 669 00:36:05.480 --> 00:36:08.760 one year and realized graduate school is the last thing 670 00:36:08.880 --> 00:36:11.679 we needed in our lives. I came out to la 671 00:36:11.840 --> 00:36:14.000 and Beth came to join me, and she had a 672 00:36:14.079 --> 00:36:18.159 family tragedy. Her grandfather got lost in the woods, was 673 00:36:18.239 --> 00:36:21.639 assumed dead, and they had all sorts of bloodhounds and 674 00:36:21.960 --> 00:36:24.760 people searching the woods for him, and it turned out okay. 675 00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:27.880 They found him. He was okay, and he was joking. 676 00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:31.039 He ended up just worse for wear, being in the 677 00:36:31.079 --> 00:36:33.000 woods with nothing to eat for three or four days 678 00:36:33.039 --> 00:36:36.880 something like that. He survived. But it started Beth working 679 00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:40.320 on this idea of a play. And so in our 680 00:36:40.360 --> 00:36:43.039 little house where we were living together here, she starts 681 00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:47.239 writing and notes her everywhere. She has stacks of notes, 682 00:36:47.320 --> 00:36:50.159 and she's typing in the kitchen on the typewriter and 683 00:36:50.239 --> 00:36:53.239 the pages are getting higher and higher. And I said, well, 684 00:36:53.280 --> 00:36:57.239 what's your play called? She says, it's called Old Granddaddy's Dying. 685 00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:00.320 And I'm going with Beth, that didn't like the best 686 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:02.760 title I've heard for a play. And she says, well, 687 00:37:02.800 --> 00:37:06.000 if I don't call it Old Granddaddy's Dying, maybe I'll 688 00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:10.320 call it the Three Mississippi Sisters because I love Chekhov 689 00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:13.519 so much. Then this play has to do with you know, 690 00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:16.320 it's kind of about our family and my sisters and 691 00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:19.559 three Mississippi Sisters. So she said, would you like to 692 00:37:19.639 --> 00:37:22.320 read it? So I said sure. So Beth hasn't finished yet, 693 00:37:22.400 --> 00:37:24.800 she's typing, and so I take the first pages and 694 00:37:24.920 --> 00:37:27.280 I start reading. And I'm sitting out on the front 695 00:37:27.320 --> 00:37:30.199 porch reading. She's typing in the kitchen. I'm hearing the 696 00:37:30.280 --> 00:37:34.719 typewriter going as good as am i blue was. This 697 00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:38.840 play was stratospheric. I'm going like, this isn't just a 698 00:37:38.880 --> 00:37:41.159 good play. This is and I'm reading. I said, please 699 00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:44.519 don't let me down because the first two acts are 700 00:37:44.719 --> 00:37:47.400 so good and I'm reading it and it was like 701 00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:50.280 the best sex you could ever imagine in your life, 702 00:37:50.760 --> 00:37:53.599 and that I'm reading this play and I need to 703 00:37:53.639 --> 00:37:56.280 get to the last page. Just as she's finishing it, 704 00:37:56.440 --> 00:37:59.000 being comes out of the typewriter. I read it. I 705 00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:02.079 burst into tears, and I'm going like, baby, this play 706 00:38:02.159 --> 00:38:04.599 is going to be on Broadway. This is the greatest 707 00:38:04.679 --> 00:38:07.559 play I've read. And I've read all those damn plays 708 00:38:07.599 --> 00:38:11.679 in Tony Graanmit's class. This is phenomenal play, but you 709 00:38:11.800 --> 00:38:13.639 cannot call it Old Granddaddy's Dying. 710 00:38:14.239 --> 00:38:14.880 You cannot. 711 00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:17.440 You have to have a better title for this play. 712 00:38:18.079 --> 00:38:21.320 And because the youngest sister and that the Beath character 713 00:38:21.440 --> 00:38:23.960 in that shot her husband because she didn't like the 714 00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:26.440 way he looked in it, I said, why don't you 715 00:38:26.559 --> 00:38:29.159 call the play? I know in the South they would 716 00:38:29.199 --> 00:38:32.000 call this a crime of passion, So why do you 717 00:38:32.119 --> 00:38:35.199 call it Crimes of Passion? So that was the name 718 00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:38.119 of the play now instead of Old Granddaddy's Dying. And 719 00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:41.559 we decided to do an equity waiver play of Crimes 720 00:38:41.599 --> 00:38:44.199 of

Passion. All of our friends I was going to 721 00:38:44.239 --> 00:38:47.480 play Barnett, Lloyd Beth was going to play Babe. Our 722 00:38:47.559 --> 00:38:50.480 friend Sharon was going to play Lenny. Our other friend 723 00:38:50.559 --> 00:38:53.639 Sharon was going to play Meg. Her boyfriend Thurman was 724 00:38:53.679 --> 00:38:55.559 going to play Doc. We had all the thing and 725 00:38:55.639 --> 00:38:57.519 we had a theater. We're going to do it. And 726 00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.719 Sharon Ulrich, who was in the Last Pick Show, who 727 00:39:00.800 --> 00:39:02.719 was going to play Meg and was our friend out here, 728 00:39:03.079 --> 00:39:06.840 gave a copy of Crimes of Passion to her agent 729 00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:11.039 and Richard, her agent, put it in a stack of 730 00:39:11.320 --> 00:39:14.239 plays that he always saved for his boyfriend. When his 731 00:39:14.360 --> 00:39:17.719 boyfriend came out from New York and he took this 732 00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:21.079 stack of plays back to New York with him. It 733 00:39:21.199 --> 00:39:23.280 just turned out the Crimes of Passion was the top 734 00:39:23.360 --> 00:39:25.599 one on the stack. And we got a call from 735 00:39:25.639 --> 00:39:29.920 Gilbert Parker from Kennedy Airport and he says, excuse me, 736 00:39:30.079 --> 00:39:33.000 this is Gilbert Parker in New York. Is Beth Henley there? 737 00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:35.480 And I'm going, like, Beth, phone for you somebody in 738 00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:38.559 New York. Beth gets the phone call and I'll never 739 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:43.960 forget her face. Gilbert Parker was the agent of Lillian Hellman, 740 00:39:44.480 --> 00:39:48.280 worked with Tennessee Williams, worked with Mark Medoff. He was 741 00:39:48.679 --> 00:39:53.840 like the number one literary agent for playwrights in New York. 742 00:39:54.360 --> 00:39:56.360 He said, I want to help you with your play. 743 00:39:56.880 --> 00:40:01.039 It's extraordinary, but you can't call Crimes of Passion because 744 00:40:01.159 --> 00:40:04.159 Ken Russell is making a movie now called Crimes of Passion. 745 00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:06.760 Even though you can't copyright a title. We don't want 746 00:40:06.800 --> 00:40:10.679 people to be confused. And so Beth told me, well, 747 00:40:10.679 --> 00:40:13.400 I'm gonna let Gilbert help me on the play. But 748 00:40:13.519 --> 00:40:15.840 what should we call the play now? I said, well, 749 00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:19.000 if you can't call crimes of passion, call crimes of 750 00:40:19.039 --> 00:40:21.679 the heart, so she called the Crimes of the Heart. 751 00:40:22.199 --> 00:40:25.679 Kathy Bates from SMU was now working at the Actor's 752 00:40:25.760 --> 00:40:29.719 Theater of Louisville, and Kathy Bates was cast as the 753 00:40:29.800 --> 00:40:33.039 first Lenny. Susan Kingsley was cast as the first Meg. 754 00:40:33.639 --> 00:40:36.639 And Beth called me from Louisville and said, you know, 755 00:40:36.800 --> 00:40:39.119 Kathy Bates is in the play. And I said, well, 756 00:40:39.159 --> 00:40:41.719 if you have Kathy Bates in your play, you're sick 757 00:40:41.719 --> 00:40:43.960 because she's the best actor I've ever seen in my life. 758 00:40:44.320 --> 00:40:46.719 You're set there. And she said, well, this other woman, 759 00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:52.679 Susan Kingsley is amazing. Susan Kingsley Kathy Bates two of 760 00:40:52.719 --> 00:40:55.119 the greatest actors that ever walked on the face of 761 00:40:55.159 --> 00:40:57.320 the earth, and they were both in Best's play. Beth 762 00:40:57.400 --> 00:41:01.639 won first prize Actors Theatre of Louisville Great American Play Contest. 763 00:41:02.039 --> 00:41:05.239 Then Gilbert took that to New York. The play was 764 00:41:05.320 --> 00:41:07.960 going to be done at the Manhattan Theater Club, where 765 00:41:08.000 --> 00:41:10.400 it won the Pulitzer Prize, and then it moved a 766 00:41:10.440 --> 00:41:14.119 Broadway where it ran for a couple of years, maybe more, 767 00:41:14.239 --> 00:41:16.639 And she got a big film deal for millions of dollars, 768 00:41:17.199 --> 00:41:22.760 and she was set phenomenal success story. It wasn't easy 769 00:41:23.159 --> 00:41:26.880 to be a girl from Mississippi and say I'm not 770 00:41:26.920 --> 00:41:29.400 going to be an actress. I guess, but maybe I'll 771 00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.599 be a playwright. I mean, who's a playwright. But she 772 00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:34.599 just turned out to be one of the best playwrights 773 00:41:34.679 --> 00:41:37.760 we've had in our generation. Just fabulous. 774 00:41:38.199 --> 00:41:42.280 That is amazing. That is a wonderful story. I'm assuming, 775 00:41:42.400 --> 00:41:44.440 by the way you're talking about here that you guys 776 00:41:44.440 --> 00:41:45.199 are still friends. 777 00:41:45.679 --> 00:41:51.599 Not at all, Not at all, not at all. No, seriously, 778 00:41:51.800 --> 00:41:52.320 not at all. 779 00:41:55.679 --> 00:41:58.400 Hey, street walkers, here's a word from our sponsors. 780 00:42:02.480 --> 00:42:06.039 Welcome to the Cool Grandpa Podcast. This is the podcast 781 00:42:06.119 --> 00:42:08.719 where we get to talk to other grandfathers and figure 782 00:42:08.760 --> 00:42:11.360 out what they are doing to make their relationships grow 783 00:42:11.440 --> 00:42:15.639 and become meaningful. I also talk to experts on mental health, addiction, 784 00:42:16.039 --> 00:42:20.119 career advice, writing books, and many other topics. If you're 785 00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:23.880 not a grandfather, that's perfectly okay. Much of what we 786 00:42:24.000 --> 00:42:26.400 talk about are tips and tricks that you can use 787 00:42:26.440 --> 00:42:30.400 in your everyday relationships as well, So you're more than 788 00:42:30.440 --> 00:42:33.119 welcome to come on in and join us. The Cool 789 00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:37.320 Grandpa podcast can be found on all major podcast

hosting platforms, 790 00:42:37.960 --> 00:42:42.920 as well as cool Dash Grandpa dot Us. That's cool 791 00:42:43.280 --> 00:42:47.320 Dash Grandpa dot Us. Come in, kick up your feet 792 00:42:47.880 --> 00:42:49.679 and join us as we figure out this role of 793 00:42:49.719 --> 00:42:53.360 grandfather together. Now, Steve, why don't you hit us again 794 00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:55.039 with another fascinating conversation. 795 00:42:56.800 --> 00:42:57.880 Let's get back into it. 796 00:43:01.400 --> 00:43:05.599 You know, we're all dealing with incomplete information in our lives. 797 00:43:06.199 --> 00:43:10.119 But somehow, at the time she won the Pulitzer, something 798 00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:14.199 began to deteriorate in our relationship. And I don't know 799 00:43:14.320 --> 00:43:16.960 how or what or why, but you know, we were 800 00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:19.719 together for several years after that. I think what she 801 00:43:19.800 --> 00:43:22.320 won the Pulitzer and something like you have to google it, 802 00:43:22.400 --> 00:43:24.840 but I think some like eighty nine or something, and 803 00:43:24.960 --> 00:43:28.599 I think we eventually parted ways in nineteen ninety five. 804 00:43:29.039 --> 00:43:31.360 Oh wow, No, Crimes of the Heart was earlier, right, 805 00:43:31.440 --> 00:43:33.760 It was a seventy eight, maybe eighty one or something. 806 00:43:33.840 --> 00:43:36.400 She won the Pulitzer. You have to google that. But 807 00:43:36.559 --> 00:43:39.639 I did miss Firecracker in New York in eighty four, 808 00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:43.360 and that was a huge success. I directed that with 809 00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:46.159 Holly Hunter and that ran for almost a year, and 810 00:43:46.239 --> 00:43:48.960 Beth got a movie deal from that as well, and 811 00:43:49.159 --> 00:43:51.559 so we were a part a lot. I was in 812 00:43:51.639 --> 00:43:53.840 New York working on her play. She was in La 813 00:43:54.000 --> 00:43:58.719 writing and distance makes a problem. This is something I've 814 00:43:58.760 --> 00:44:01.679 been on lately. How many apologies do you think you 815 00:44:01.800 --> 00:44:02.480 get in life? 816 00:44:02.920 --> 00:44:03.719 Get or give? 817 00:44:04.519 --> 00:44:09.039 Get? How many apologies do you think you get in life? 818 00:44:09.719 --> 00:44:14.480 Hmmm? It feels like not very many. It feels like 819 00:44:14.559 --> 00:44:15.400 they're pretty rare. 820 00:44:16.000 --> 00:44:19.880 Thing you win because we're all used to thinking like children, 821 00:44:20.320 --> 00:44:24.840 and like me as grandparents, we're always forgiving kids one 822 00:44:24.920 --> 00:44:27.039 hundred times a day for everything they do, you know, 823 00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:29.920 like dropping the spoon on the floor and scaring the 824 00:44:30.000 --> 00:44:32.280 cat and everything. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You teach our 825 00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:35.119 kids to say I'm sorry, and they're sorry hundreds of 826 00:44:35.199 --> 00:44:37.920 times a day. And then we move slowly into adulthood, 827 00:44:38.519 --> 00:44:42.320 and sometimes we carry our childhood brain with us into 828 00:44:42.360 --> 00:44:47.599 adulthood forever, and we think like we have unlimited apologies. 829 00:44:48.280 --> 00:44:51.639 But once you're an adult, you're really an adult. You're 830 00:44:51.760 --> 00:44:55.159 lucky if you get one. But you're not used to this. 831 00:44:55.320 --> 00:44:58.159 You don't know it, but you realize if someone has 832 00:44:58.280 --> 00:45:02.400 done something big time to hurt you, or somebody does 833 00:45:02.480 --> 00:45:05.679 something that is non supportive in a huge, huge way 834 00:45:06.199 --> 00:45:08.239 that you always count on to support you. And then 835 00:45:08.280 --> 00:45:11.880 they apologize, oh I'm sorry. You go, yes, I forgive you, 836 00:45:12.199 --> 00:45:14.119 but then you realize in your heart, you really don't. 837 00:45:14.719 --> 00:45:18.159 You go like, okay, there's limitations here. I get it. 838 00:45:18.239 --> 00:45:21.440 There are limitations, and so you kind of bear up 839 00:45:21.559 --> 00:45:25.800 under it. And in business you don't get one. If 840 00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:30.280 you're working with someone and they cheat you at business, 841 00:45:30.480 --> 00:45:32.199 like they don't pay you when they say they should, 842 00:45:32.639 --> 00:45:35.599 no apology necessary, never going to work with you, never 843 00:45:35.679 --> 00:45:38.119 going to talk, not going to answer your emails again, 844 00:45:38.440 --> 00:45:41.480 you get no apology. And when you're in a love 845 00:45:41.599 --> 00:45:46.840 relationship and you hurt someone beyond repair, you know when 846 00:45:46.840 --> 00:45:49.599 you think, well, i'm sorry, you know I was this, 847 00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:52.039 I was that, Oh this was happening, that was happening, 848 00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:55.000 and you go, sure, sure, it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. 849 00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:58.719 Then you realize, oh, none of those things were really forgiven. 850 00:45:59.239 --> 00:46:02.719 You know, all those things begin limiting what you end 851 00:46:02.840 --> 00:46:06.440 up sharing with that person. And one day I just 852 00:46:06.920 --> 00:46:10.360 walked out of the house. I took whatever clothes I could, 853 00:46:10.480 --> 00:46:12.920 walked out of a house, rented a house down the street, 854 00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:16.320 and oh, this is an amusing story. So one of 855 00:46:16.360 --> 00:46:19.440 the first big jobs I did see, I put my 856 00:46:19.679 --> 00:46:23.079 career on hold. And there's no bitterness in this, because 857 00:46:23.440 --> 00:46:25.440 I wouldn't have had it any other way. You just 858 00:46:25.480 --> 00:46:28.000 want to have two lives, if you could. I put 859 00:46:28.079 --> 00:46:31.400 my acting career on hold to direct Beth's plays. 860 00:46:31.719 --> 00:46:31.920 You

know. 861 00:46:32.079 --> 00:46:35.440 So I'm in New York. I can't act in anything, 862 00:46:35.599 --> 00:46:38.639 and I'm in New York for a year. Any agents 863 00:46:38.679 --> 00:46:42.079 I had were in Los Angeles. There's nothing for me 864 00:46:42.199 --> 00:46:45.440 to do, and so I'm just really working for Beth, 865 00:46:45.719 --> 00:46:47.800 you know, to make sure that her play comes off good. 866 00:46:48.480 --> 00:46:53.039 So when I decided, Okay, I can't do this anymore. 867 00:46:53.559 --> 00:46:56.800 I have to resuscitate my life, you know. I have 868 00:46:56.920 --> 00:46:58.639 to be more than just the guy who lets the 869 00:46:58.719 --> 00:47:01.760 gardener into the gate and here to occasionally do her play. 870 00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:03.960 I have to have my life. So I moved out. 871 00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:08.039 And the week I moved out was the week I 872 00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:12.599 got my first big audition for a big movie, Mississippi Burning, 873 00:47:13.039 --> 00:47:17.000 a great movie. I am so depressed because of me 874 00:47:17.159 --> 00:47:19.159 and Beth, but by the fact I moved out of 875 00:47:19.199 --> 00:47:22.480 the house, I can't even see straight. So I agree 876 00:47:22.519 --> 00:47:25.440 to do this audition to play the Ku Klux Klan 877 00:47:25.599 --> 00:47:28.320 guy for Alan Parker. So I go in to have 878 00:47:28.440 --> 00:47:31.920 my first audition. I don't even remember what I was thinking. 879 00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:33.800 I was looking out the window. There was a golf 880 00:47:33.920 --> 00:47:35.840 course out there, so I was just looking out there 881 00:47:35.880 --> 00:47:40.440 and I did the speech I love Mississippi, they hate Mississippi. 882 00:47:40.960 --> 00:47:43.280 And I just did the whole Ku Klux Clan speech 883 00:47:43.360 --> 00:47:45.519 just looking up me and Alan Parker was just filming me, 884 00:47:46.079 --> 00:47:49.639 and I left, didn't say anything to him, and then 885 00:47:49.679 --> 00:47:51.400 I get a call from my agent, Oh, you have 886 00:47:51.480 --> 00:47:54.079 a call back, went oh. So I go back a 887 00:47:54.159 --> 00:47:56.320 week later and I do the same thing kind of 888 00:47:56.360 --> 00:47:59.119 for Alan Parker. But now I'm kind of more aware 889 00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:01.920 of where I am and I do the same thing again. 890 00:48:02.079 --> 00:48:05.880 He films me again and I leave and I get 891 00:48:05.920 --> 00:48:12.199 a third callback. Now I'm scared. Now I'm nervous. Now 892 00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:15.079 it all comes into play, like what have I been doing? 893 00:48:15.360 --> 00:48:17.760 You know? Now I'm really here. And I went into 894 00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:21.239 Alan's office so nervous, and I sat down. You've got 895 00:48:21.320 --> 00:48:22.519 to be cool. You got to be cool. You got 896 00:48:22.599 --> 00:48:24.719 to do just do what you did before, you know, 897 00:48:24.880 --> 00:48:30.840 don't ruin

it. And the secretary said mister Tobolowski. I 898 00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:33.719 just wanted you to know a mister Parker likes you 899 00:48:33.960 --> 00:48:37.000 very much. He says, a lot of people come in 900 00:48:37.119 --> 00:48:39.800 here and try to be scary as the ku Klux 901 00:48:39.840 --> 00:48:46.719 Klan leader, but you're scary naturally. Like I'm like, okay, 902 00:48:48.159 --> 00:48:51.679 she gave me heart, you know, she heartened me. So 903 00:48:52.039 --> 00:48:54.440 I went in and did a third audition for Alan Parker. 904 00:48:54.440 --> 00:48:58.719 I go home two weeks later. Fourth audition in Jackson, 905 00:48:58.800 --> 00:49:03.559 Mississippi's home town. So I'm thinking like, oh my god, 906 00:49:03.960 --> 00:49:06.159 you know, I really haven't seen Beth for the last 907 00:49:06.280 --> 00:49:08.880 maybe because of the breakup. She went back to Jackson. 908 00:49:09.360 --> 00:49:13.039 Oh my god, what if oh damn, what if she's there? 909 00:49:14.000 --> 00:49:17.960 So I fly out to Jackson, Mississippi. They put me 910 00:49:18.039 --> 00:49:20.719 up at the Holiday Inn, thank you very much. And 911 00:49:20.880 --> 00:49:25.000 I think should I stalk Beth? This would be a 912 00:49:25.039 --> 00:49:27.440 good chance to do the stalking thing because I know 913 00:49:27.559 --> 00:49:29.960 where she lives. I've been there many times. So I 914 00:49:30.039 --> 00:49:32.480 got a car and I drove to her house, parked 915 00:49:32.519 --> 00:49:36.039 across the street and like hid down and just looking 916 00:49:36.119 --> 00:49:39.039 over the window, like is anybody inside? Could I see 917 00:49:39.079 --> 00:49:41.360 your mother? Could I see your sisters? What's going on? 918 00:49:41.960 --> 00:49:44.800 You know it's Beth there with another guy. What's going on? 919 00:49:44.960 --> 00:49:47.480 You know then what's happened? And I thought, Steven, this 920 00:49:47.639 --> 00:49:50.480 is deranged. You have to audition tomorrow. This could be 921 00:49:50.519 --> 00:49:52.840 the end of the line. Let's go back. So I 922 00:49:52.920 --> 00:49:55.639 go back and go to sleep. One o'clock next day, 923 00:49:55.719 --> 00:49:59.119 I have my fourth audition with Alan Parker and I 924 00:49:59.280 --> 00:50:02.559 go to meet out and he says, Stephen, I had 925 00:50:02.639 --> 00:50:06.400 dinner with your ex last night. She's very amusing and 926 00:50:06.559 --> 00:50:10.280 I go, yes, Alan, she's very amusing. So tell me 927 00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:13.880 why did you two break up? And I said, Alan, 928 00:50:14.760 --> 00:50:18.000 we broke up because we had a great disagreement as 929 00:50:18.039 --> 00:50:23.360 to what constituted a joke. And Alan started laughing, very good, 930 00:50:24.199 --> 00:50:26.639 very good, very good. Why don't we do the scene? 931 00:50:27.280 --> 00:50:29.880 So I went over. I'm in a hotel room. He 932 00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:32.280 has a little light there, he has his

camera. I 933 00:50:32.480 --> 00:50:35.920 do the same scene, looking right at Alan. I love missing. 934 00:50:35.960 --> 00:50:38.480 I do the same scene, go back to my room 935 00:50:38.519 --> 00:50:40.639 in the Holiday Inn, and as I'm coming down the hall, 936 00:50:40.719 --> 00:50:43.920 I hear my phone ringing it's my agent in Los 937 00:50:43.960 --> 00:50:48.119 Angeles telling me I have the part despite my four auditions. 938 00:50:48.639 --> 00:50:51.960 I think it was my answer about him going out 939 00:50:52.000 --> 00:50:55.840 with Beth and what constituted a joke. I think he 940 00:50:55.960 --> 00:50:59.920 appreciated that this is sliding into another thing that matter 941 00:51:00.199 --> 00:51:02.199 to me greatly. While I was in the movie, I 942 00:51:02.320 --> 00:51:04.719 was scheduled to be in the movie for three weeks 943 00:51:05.199 --> 00:51:08.039 to do my Ku Klux Klan stuff. But because one 944 00:51:08.079 --> 00:51:11.440 of the scenes was an outdoor scene and utilized two 945 00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:14.719 thousand extras, they asked if I could do a run 946 00:51:14.800 --> 00:51:17.480 of the picture contract, which means I would be there 947 00:51:17.519 --> 00:51:20.000 for three months. Now, I'm not making a ton of 948 00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:22.440 money each week, but that means i'd be making three 949 00:51:22.519 --> 00:51:25.519 months worth of money instead of three weeks. I said sure. 950 00:51:26.039 --> 00:51:27.760 My part didn't get any bigger, but I was just 951 00:51:27.880 --> 00:51:30.440 on hold the whole time, ready to go in case 952 00:51:30.559 --> 00:51:33.559 we ever did not have thunderstorms in Mississippi and Alabama, 953 00:51:33.639 --> 00:51:36.360 which was not likely at this time of year. So 954 00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:40.360 Alan Parker comes to my door and says, I know 955 00:51:40.440 --> 00:51:42.840 you're going to be waiting here quite a while. I 956 00:51:43.159 --> 00:51:46.840 hear you're interested in directing. Maybe you'd like to follow 957 00:51:46.880 --> 00:51:48.880 me around and see what I do. And I said, 958 00:51:49.039 --> 00:51:52.960 well sure, Alan, sure, great, thank you. So instead of 959 00:51:53.039 --> 00:51:56.960 hanging out at the hotel or playing pac Man at 960 00:51:57.039 --> 00:52:01.800 the local place, I followed Alan are around for each scene. 961 00:52:02.159 --> 00:52:04.760 There was no real exchange of anything. And then after 962 00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:06.840 a week or two Alan would turn to me and 963 00:52:07.000 --> 00:52:08.960 after he do it, he'd say, how would you do 964 00:52:09.079 --> 00:52:11.880 this scene? And I was like, oh, I would set 965 00:52:11.960 --> 00:52:15.239 up the camera here. Terrible idea, terrible idea. What you 966 00:52:15.320 --> 00:52:16.679 want to do is you want to start here and 967 00:52:16.719 --> 00:52:19.360 then you want to see you understand, Come on, let's 968 00:52:19.400 --> 00:52:21.519 do this. We're going to go to film editing. Take 969 00:52:21.519 --> 00:52:23.719 a look at this scene. Where would you cut? For 970 00:52:23.840 --> 00:52:29.679 the next six weeks, I had this time with Alan 971 00:52:29.800 --> 00:52:33.920 Parker where we went through every facet of filmmaking. He 972 00:52:34.039 --> 00:52:37.079 took me behind the scenes with everything, and it was 973 00:52:37.119 --> 00:52:39.760 before I ended up shooting my scenes, and he goes, 974 00:52:40.280 --> 00:52:43.599 now it's your time, so don't I'm changing the words 975 00:52:43.639 --> 00:52:47.119 a little bit. Don't don't mess it up. It's all 976 00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:50.559 on you. And he says, we're going to start filming you, 977 00:52:51.159 --> 00:52:53.079 and it was I got to say, it's like midnight 978 00:52:53.119 --> 00:52:55.880 because when you see any movie scene that takes place 979 00:52:55.920 --> 00:52:58.599 at night, it means they shot all night. You know, 980 00:52:58.679 --> 00:53:02.039 the shot when it's dark. So we have two thousand 981 00:53:02.119 --> 00:53:05.079 extras and then I find out that about fifteen hundred 982 00:53:05.079 --> 00:53:07.960 of them use their Ku Klux Klan cards as id 983 00:53:08.599 --> 00:53:12.599 to be extras. So Alan said, this is the situation 984 00:53:12.760 --> 00:53:15.719 we have. We have all these clansmen here. We're going 985 00:53:15.800 --> 00:53:17.199 to get the crowd and you and the crowd and 986 00:53:17.360 --> 00:53:19.840 just do the first part of the speech, and we'll 987 00:53:19.880 --> 00:53:22.039 do it from a lot of different angles. Because the 988 00:53:22.119 --> 00:53:25.119 first part of the speech was not very racist. Second 989 00:53:25.159 --> 00:53:28.239 part of my speech was very racist. So he said, 990 00:53:28.239 --> 00:53:30.079 we'll just do the first part of the speech and 991 00:53:30.159 --> 00:53:32.079 then we'll send everybody home, and then we'll put the 992 00:53:32.159 --> 00:53:35.000 cameras on stage and get you in close up at 993 00:53:35.039 --> 00:53:38.039 different things. Okay, I go sure. So we did about 994 00:53:38.360 --> 00:53:41.199 two hours worth of shooting of that, and then one 995 00:53:41.320 --> 00:53:44.360 time Alan does not say cut halfway through the speech. 996 00:53:44.440 --> 00:53:47.400 So it's my job to do the rest of the speech. 997 00:53:47.960 --> 00:53:50.079 So I go into the racist part of the speech 998 00:53:50.159 --> 00:53:54.599 and the audience starts screaming, they start cheering, they start 999 00:53:54.760 --> 00:53:57.079 stamping and doing this, and Alan runs up to the 1000 00:53:57.119 --> 00:54:00.280 stage afterwards it says, well, I didn't expect this, thought'd 1001 00:54:00.320 --> 00:54:04.119 be insulted. I gad, let's just keep shooting. So we 1002 00:54:04.519 --> 00:54:08.320 then used all of that great energy we had from 1003 00:54:08.400 --> 00:54:11.360 that crowd and shot that Ku Klux Clan

scene in 1004 00:54:11.360 --> 00:54:15.000 Mississippi Burning, I finished my work, I went back, and 1005 00:54:15.440 --> 00:54:19.039 then I ended up doing a series of movies. Because 1006 00:54:19.800 --> 00:54:22.880 I was in Mississippi Burning. People didn't know what Mississippi 1007 00:54:22.920 --> 00:54:25.519 Burning was about, but they knew it was Alan Parker, 1008 00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:28.639 and Alan Parker was the sign of quality. And if 1009 00:54:28.679 --> 00:54:31.639 Alan Parker cast me, they wanted to cast me. So 1010 00:54:32.079 --> 00:54:36.079 I ended up doing all sorts of movies, comedies, dramas. 1011 00:54:36.320 --> 00:54:40.639 I played goofy characters that played villains because no one 1012 00:54:40.719 --> 00:54:43.440 knew what Mississippi Burning was going to be, what category 1013 00:54:43.440 --> 00:54:46.800 I'd fallen in, And I ended up doing groundhog Day. 1014 00:54:47.480 --> 00:54:51.559 Opening of Groundhog Day, I'm walking up with Andy. She 1015 00:54:51.719 --> 00:54:53.880 wanted me to be her chaperone, to make sure to 1016 00:54:54.000 --> 00:54:56.840 keep men away from her day McDonald and we're going 1017 00:54:56.920 --> 00:54:59.280 to the premiere and standing in front of the theater 1018 00:55:00.159 --> 00:55:03.880 Alan Parker and he said, well, you know, you did 1019 00:55:03.920 --> 00:55:06.079 a good job for me, but you better be good 1020 00:55:06.159 --> 00:55:10.239 in this. And I said, Alan, I'm such an idiot. 1021 00:55:11.039 --> 00:55:15.639 I am such an idiot. I had no idea what 1022 00:55:15.800 --> 00:55:18.440 you were giving me when you took me around and 1023 00:55:18.559 --> 00:55:21.280 showed me everything, all the aspects of film, the teaching 1024 00:55:21.400 --> 00:55:23.599 you gave me, I just thought Oh, this is what 1025 00:55:23.760 --> 00:55:26.679 directors do all the time. Come on, follow me around, 1026 00:55:26.719 --> 00:55:29.840 see what I do. I said, I owe you so much. 1027 00:55:30.360 --> 00:55:33.199 I learned so much from you. Thank you. And I 1028 00:55:33.280 --> 00:55:35.000 hugged him and he says, oh, stop it stop it 1029 00:55:35.320 --> 00:55:37.400 just be good in this and we'll be fine. And 1030 00:55:37.599 --> 00:55:41.239 so Alan Parker became one of the guiding lights in 1031 00:55:41.400 --> 00:55:45.320 my life to such an extent. My son, for some 1032 00:55:45.719 --> 00:55:48.280 misguided reason, decided he wanted to do a year of 1033 00:55:48.320 --> 00:55:51.679 school in Paris. God, I don't know what that was about. 1034 00:55:52.280 --> 00:55:55.480 But in Paris they don't have a lot of laundromats. 1035 00:55:56.079 --> 00:55:58.800 And so I asked Robert, is there anything you need 1036 00:55:59.000 --> 00:56:02.800 from us Annie and I while you're in Paris. He says, yeah, 1037 00:56:02.840 --> 00:56:06.360 do my laundry. So I'm taking Robert's laundry, trying to 1038 00:56:06.440 --> 00:56:10.559 find a laundromat in Paris and taking the Metro with 1039 00:56:10.719 --> 00:56:13.519 this huge stack of clothes. So I'm walking down some 1040 00:56:13.840 --> 00:56:17.719 random street toward a laundromat after thirty minutes on the Metro, 1041 00:56:18.199 --> 00:56:20.559 and a guy comes around the corner. He goes, excuse me, 1042 00:56:21.320 --> 00:56:25.480 you're Stephen Tobolowski and I go, yeah, you were in 1043 00:56:25.559 --> 00:56:29.400 Mississippi burning and I go yes, He says, you know, 1044 00:56:29.639 --> 00:56:32.880 Alan Parker is my close friend in England and we 1045 00:56:33.039 --> 00:56:35.840 were just talking about you the other day. Alan loves 1046 00:56:35.880 --> 00:56:38.599 you very much and sends his regards. If ever I 1047 00:56:38.719 --> 00:56:40.760 were to see you and I go, well, send my 1048 00:56:40.920 --> 00:56:44.119 love to Alan. And for me, it was one of 1049 00:56:44.199 --> 00:56:46.840 the great teachers I ever had in my life, was 1050 00:56:46.880 --> 00:56:47.519 Alan Parker. 1051 00:56:47.920 --> 00:56:49.840 That's amazing, you had your own mister Miagi. 1052 00:56:50.239 --> 00:56:51.199 Oh crazy. 1053 00:56:51.599 --> 00:56:53.360 He taught you all these things that you didn't even 1054 00:56:53.400 --> 00:56:55.400 know you were learning. That's that's amazing. 1055 00:56:55.679 --> 00:56:58.639 Didn't even know and from the greatest director of that age, 1056 00:56:59.239 --> 00:57:04.199 just that is, did realize it? 1057 00:57:04.760 --> 00:57:07.320 That is hilarious. This is gonna hurt my heart to 1058 00:57:07.400 --> 00:57:10.039 say this, but I think we're out of time here, buddy. 1059 00:57:11.079 --> 00:57:13.559 Well, but I got to say, you got my roots, 1060 00:57:14.159 --> 00:57:16.280 for sure, you got my roots. You wanted to do 1061 00:57:16.400 --> 00:57:18.480 the roots, and these are roots. 1062 00:57:19.239 --> 00:57:20.599 These are roots. 1063 00:57:21.039 --> 00:57:24.280 The women who affected my life were my mother Beth, 1064 00:57:24.920 --> 00:57:29.320 Joan Potter and my wife Anne. Those women have shaped me. 1065 00:57:29.960 --> 00:57:32.039 And you your maid from when you were a little kid. 1066 00:57:32.440 --> 00:57:37.840 Oh, Leonora hero. Lenora's a hero, Claude's a hero. But 1067 00:57:38.079 --> 00:57:42.119 in my life those people shape me very much and 1068 00:57:42.440 --> 00:57:44.719 appreciative to all of them. Even Joan Potter. 1069 00:57:45.119 --> 00:57:48.199 You learn a lot. You learned how to not treat people, 1070 00:57:48.480 --> 00:57:52.480 You learned how strong you really are and how determined 1071 00:57:52.559 --> 00:57:55.440 you can be. Oh, she's one of your greatest teachers. 1072 00:57:55.800 --> 00:57:57.559 She's one of those you know, what is it the 1073 00:57:57.599 --> 00:57:59.320 seven people you meet in heaven or whatever it is, 1074 00:57:59.440 --> 00:58:01.559 but those are the people on earth that helped you 1075 00:58:01.840 --> 00:58:06.199

to become who you are, and she's definitely one of them. Yep, Yeah, Steven, 1076 00:58:06.199 --> 00:58:08.840 I'm gonna ask you two things, yes, sir. Well, first, 1077 00:58:08.880 --> 00:58:10.960 I'm going to ask you to come back, because not 1078 00:58:11.079 --> 00:58:13.079 even the tip of the iceberg on you. Man, you 1079 00:58:13.360 --> 00:58:14.440 are an onion. 1080 00:58:15.719 --> 00:58:18.039 But you know, after this is all the TV stuff 1081 00:58:18.119 --> 00:58:21.079 and all that, which is highly amusing, but it's not 1082 00:58:21.239 --> 00:58:23.880 the formative stuff. The formative stuff you got here. 1083 00:58:24.159 --> 00:58:27.400 Sure, oh I got you everybody listening. We didn't talk 1084 00:58:27.440 --> 00:58:31.480 about it at all. But Stephen has his own podcast. 1085 00:58:32.039 --> 00:58:36.079 He did ninety nine episodes. It's called Tobolowski Files, and 1086 00:58:36.760 --> 00:58:40.119 I suggest that you start with Camember, which episode number 1087 00:58:40.119 --> 00:58:42.760 it is, but it's a Good Day in Auschwitz. Definitely 1088 00:58:42.880 --> 00:58:46.239 start with that episode, and then I think episode four 1089 00:58:46.639 --> 00:58:48.239 he talks about his mother. 1090 00:58:48.519 --> 00:58:49.239 The alchemist. 1091 00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:51.239 Yeah, those are the two I would start with for sure, 1092 00:58:51.239 --> 00:58:55.199 because they're amazing. Where can people find you on social media? 1093 00:58:55.519 --> 00:58:58.440 I think, as you mentioned, if you go to tobolowskifiles 1094 00:58:58.519 --> 00:59:01.559 dot com you'll get all the ninety and David Chen 1095 00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:04.079 and I we did it for free, so there's no paywall. 1096 00:59:04.599 --> 00:59:07.840 And they're true stories from my life, some about show 1097 00:59:07.920 --> 00:59:10.480 business and some just about love and heartbreak and all 1098 00:59:10.559 --> 00:59:13.840 sorts of things. Getting held hostage at gunpoint that's a 1099 00:59:13.920 --> 00:59:17.199 good one. My broken neck is another good one. You know. 1100 00:59:17.599 --> 00:59:20.599 I wrote these for my kids. So the tobolowskifiles dot 1101 00:59:20.719 --> 00:59:23.079 com that's a good place to go. I have my 1102 00:59:23.400 --> 00:59:26.760 two books, which is The Dangerous Animals Club and My 1103 00:59:26.840 --> 00:59:29.599 Adventures with God with Simon and Schuster. These are books 1104 00:59:29.639 --> 00:59:32.320 of stories I have which are kind of amusing. And 1105 00:59:32.480 --> 00:59:36.199 I think on Twitter, I'm at Tobolowski and I'm you know, 1106 00:59:36.639 --> 00:59:39.599 Steven Tobolowski on Facebook. That's pretty much where I am 1107 00:59:39.679 --> 00:59:40.320 on the internet. 1108 00:59:40.679 --> 00:59:45.760 Guys. I cannot recommend Tobolowski Files enough. Those stories are 1109 00:59:46.000 --> 00:59:48.960 amazing and they're told very well. Did you say his 1110 00:59:49.039 --> 00:59:49.880 name is David Chen? 1111 00:59:50.119 --> 00:59:50.960 Yeah, David Chen. 1112 00:59:51.320 --> 00:59:53.480 Yeah. Does he direct you at all when you're doing 1113 00:59:53.559 --> 00:59:54.119 these stories. 1114 00:59:54.679 --> 00:59:57.840 No, No, David's another big force in my life. He's 1115 00:59:57.920 --> 01:00:00.440 now living in Seattle, and he was just a student 1116 01:00:00.480 --> 01:00:02.719 at Harvard who called me up when I had my 1117 01:00:02.840 --> 01:00:05.400 broken neck and said, I've heard some of your stories. 1118 01:00:05.440 --> 01:00:07.840 Would you like to do stories on the internet. I'll 1119 01:00:08.039 --> 01:00:10.760 produce them and I'll introduce them, and then you do 1120 01:00:10.880 --> 01:00:14.679 what you do. And he's been He's just marvelous person, 1121 01:00:15.039 --> 01:00:16.360 great talented person. 1122 01:00:16.920 --> 01:00:18.679 It's my new favorite podcast. 1123 01:00:18.960 --> 01:00:19.880 Oh great, thank you. 1124 01:00:20.119 --> 01:00:24.239 It's phenomenal. Steven Tobylowski. Thank you for taking the time 1125 01:00:24.320 --> 01:00:26.719 out of your busy day and your hectic schedule to 1126 01:00:26.760 --> 01:00:27.960 hang out and let us get to know you a 1127 01:00:28.000 --> 01:00:29.440 little bit better on Fascination Street. 1128 01:00:29.480 --> 01:00:29.599 Man. 1129 01:00:29.639 --> 01:00:32.360 I really appreciate it. I had so much fun. You 1130 01:00:32.760 --> 01:00:34.679 are a remarkable storyteller, my friend. 1131 01:00:34.960 --> 01:00:37.000 Well, thank you, thank you, and we could do it 1132 01:00:37.079 --> 01:00:40.039 again and we'll get to Groundhog Day and other stories. 1133 01:00:40.119 --> 01:00:44.719 Yeah, basic instincts, Garfield, all kinds of things. All right, Well, 1134 01:00:44.800 --> 01:00:46.519 thank you so much, Mann, and you have a great 1135 01:00:46.559 --> 01:00:49.679 weekend and have fun babysitting again. 1136 01:00:51.239 --> 01:00:53.679 That's tonight. That's all boy. 1137 01:00:53.760 --> 01:00:56.679 I'm a bass with that. Thank you, Stephen, Thank you, 1138 01:00:57.400 --> 01:01:08.400 Bye bye bye bye. Opening music is the song Magnolia 1139 01:01:08.480 --> 01:01:11.719 from the two thousand and one album In Transigence use 1140 01:01:11.800 --> 01:01:17.079 with permission from Douglas Miles Clark. Closing music is from 1141 01:01:17.159 --> 01:01:21.199 the song say My Name off the twenty twenty one 1142 01:01:21.320 --> 01:01:27.440 album Underdog Anthems, used with permission from Jack's Allow. If 1143 01:01:27.480 --> 01:01:31.440 you like the show, tell a friend, Subscribe and rate 1144 01:01:31.519 --> 01:01:34.599 and review the show on iTunes and wherever else you 1145 01:01:34.760 --> 01:01:38.920 download podcasts. Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. 1146 01:01:39.559 --> 01:01:42.800 All the episodes are available there as well. Check me 1147 01:01:42.840 --> 01:01:47.320 out on vero at Fascination Street Pod and TikTok at 1148 01:01:47.400 --> 01:01:50.719 Fascination Street Pod. And again, thanks for listening.