A Delicate Balance on an extra-long weekend
“He was uninterested in the material world and didn’t want to be a burden on anybody. Three things mattered to him: family, food and home.” --Philippe Ands, EAST WEST STREET No sooner am I back to L.A. after the wedding in Yosemite and it’s almost time to celebrate my Birthday in NEW YORK CITY! Hoorah! Alan and I flew out of LAX arriving in NY on May 22nd. My birthday is on a Sunday this year and Monday is the Memorial Day holiday, so it enabled an extra-long weekend celebration.
I was able to see some of Alan’s relatives living there. On the night of the 23rd we went to THE CHINA GRILL at the CBS Building which is conveniently located near the PARKER MERIDIEN Hotel where we were staying in a suite. We had been staying at the New York Hilton but we moved due to issues that didn’t make Alan happy and we secretly flipped-off the employee named Shirley Fernandez who could care less that we left. Joining us for dinner at the CHINA GRILL were Alan’s first cousin, Bobbi Shmaruk, and her kids, Leslie Shmaruk and Alan Shmaruk with his recent fiance, Dawn Manning. We toasted to Alan and Dawn’s engagement. Dawn works at the PARKER MERIDIEN, so she assisted in our nabbing a posh suite. And besides John Wayne and I...Bobbi Shmaruk is also born on May 26, so we toasted our birthdays as well.
The day of the 25th Alan and I walked the city and took pictures here and there. I got a photo of me in front of the infamous SAMSUNG electronics ad in the background.
I captured Alan getting out of a taxicab. Alan snapped me amidst Times Square and the new VIRGIN RECORDS Megastore.
I set my Polaroid timer to take photo of the both of us across the street from a Kenneth Cole story located on Columbus Avenue. I bought a watch and tie there and got a free t-shirt for the purchase, so Alan took a pic of me in glee over that buy. I planned on wearing the new Kenneth Cole t-shirt for my Birthday Day.
I shot Alan in Times Square in front of his favorite new DOW JONES Ticker Building. I photographed Alan, reading the Metro Section of the NY Times at LE PARKER MERIDIEN Hotel, in our Room number 3511.
We really made good use of our days. We ate at a beautiful restaurant together called AUREOLE at 34 East 61st. Street. We had a random Italian lunch in SOHO one day at a place called MEZZOGIORNO at 195 Spring Street. On the night of the 24th we saw A FUNNY THINBG HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM at the St. James Theater. Alan really likes BROADWAY and now I really do, too.
That night we went to see A DELICATE BALANCE, a Broadway Play revival. It was about a suburban couple named Agnes and Tobias who live with Agnes’s alcoholic sister, Claire. Thjen they must cope with the unexpected arrivals of their friends Harry and Edna along with their daughter, Julia. I love dramatic plays. I loved the humor, too. The cast included George Grizzard and Rosemary Harris as Tobias and Agnes. The alcoholic sister was played perfectly by Elaine Stritch (who seemed like an alcoholic in real-life). The daughter, Julia, was played by Mary Beth Hurt who I’ve seen in TV shows and movies like The World According to Garp, The Age of Innocence, Six Degrees of Separation. During intermission from the show, I spotted a guy dressed like Phantom (from Phantom of the Opera), trying to make a few extra bucks. That was some fun sidebar entertainment we didn’t expect.
On my Birthday, Alan and I enjoyed a smothered with mustard pretzel near Times Square. It’s the thing to do in NY: Buy a fresh, warm pretzel. Alan wore his JOLSON sweatshirt on my Birthday. I photographed him wearing it while at a bagel shop. I liked that photo of him. We also spent time in Central Park, just sitting on the lawn. I had Alan take a few shots of me at random telephone booths.
Alan surprised me with Matinee Tickets to see the Broadway Musical RENT on at the NEDERLANDER THEATER. That was fun!
We went to visit Alan’s first cousin, Ilene Kaplan and her husband Donald at their Fifth Avenue Apartment. It was small but lush. Their window had a remarkable Central Park view and their building was a Co-op building. Actor Charles Grodin lived in the building as well. I loved him the early 1970s film, THE HEARTBREAK KID. Ilene is the sister of Bobbi Shmaruk, who we saw for dinner the other night. Upon our return to our Hotel Alan pleasantly surprised me with a cool, artsy Birthday card depicting an excerpt of art done by MICHELANGELO BUONAROTTI of The Creation of Adam (two hands touching). Alan wrote:
May 26, 1996Dear Michael,Happy Birthday! I know that this beautiful weekend in NY made you very happy--but I also know that if we spent it in LA in bed you'd be happy. I am. You are. So, let's keep it that way. We have to get past all of the interference from everyday life. I Love You.Alan
My actual Birthday dinner was celebrated at a restaurant called FLOWERS at East 18th Street and Fifth Avenue. Besides Alan and I, the celebrating guests included Donald and Ilene Kaplan, their eldest son, Jaren and his girlfriend, Kamina, and their middle son, Jonas (they have a daughter, too, but she wasn’t there).
On May 27th I had Alan photograph me at another phone booth because Drew Barrymore was pictured there in an advertisement that I liked. We took the subway to Flushing, NY and met Sam Hirsch and live-in partner, Miriam, for lunch. I took a group pic of all of us in front of BEN” s DELI in Flushing. We returned to Los Angeles on the 27th. Before packing everything, I took a photo of all of the memorabilia purchases from the NYC trip. I’m not obsessed with material things but I cannot help buying a little something when I go far away from home.
Upon our arrival home to Marina Del Rey, Jack and Gloria were waiting for us along with the girls (Lauren and Carrie). That was a splendid welcome back.
A memory drifts by, I reach for it, as if I am snatching a leaf spiraling down from a high branch. I have to. Who knows if it will ever come back to me again? --Tan Twan Eng, THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS
