Hair Vs. Lauren Bacall

I was visiting my parents just outside of New York City, and I invited a friend from Seattle to come visit as well.  My brother and sister-in-law and their children were also visiting, but my parents found a way to squeeze in Nick, my friend from Seattle.

I picked Nick up at the airport, and brought him to my parents’ house.  As a joke, I introduced my sister-in-law, saying she lives out West in Cleveland.  

Nick, who grew up 2,500 miles west of Cleveland, was incredulous.  He asked my sister-in-law if Cleveland was really in the West, and she replied: “Cleveland sure ain’t in the East.”  I think she was speaking for herself, not merely going along with my joke.

Nick had two requests for his visit to New York City: he wanted to see a Broadway play, and he hoped to see a guy named George Feldman, the only other person he knew in the area besides me.  I told Nick I would get us tickets to a play.  However, since there were ten million people in the New York City area, it would be impossible to see George Feldman --- Nick did have his address or phone number.

Our first jaunt into New York City was to see an underground movie. 

Underground movies were low-budget artsy movies --- a new concept in America.  The film we saw was Chafed Elbows, which mixed some 35mm photos developed in a Walgreen’s drugstore with live scenes thrown in.  The film, whose main character was a man who once had a hysterectomy, was totally in bad taste.  It was produced by Robert Downey, Sr., whose wife played all of the 12 female roles in the film.

Nick and I were suitably astonished by Chafed Elbows.  Nick, however, was disappointed that we did not watch this underground movie while underground; it was shown in a small theater at street level.

We walked out of the theater, and heard a voice call: “Hey, Nick!”  It was George Feldman.  The odds were ten million to one that we would bump into him on a New York sidewalk, but bump into him we did.

Our second jaunt into the City was to see a Broadway play. 

I was torn about which play to see.  The City was plastered with posters for a play called Hair, which billed itself as "America’s First Tribal Love-Rock Musical".  I had no idea what a tribal love-rock musical was.  So, I got tickets to Cactus Flower because it starred Lauren Bacall, the husky-voiced actress who appeared opposite Humphrey Bogart in many movies.

It was a thrill to see Lauren Bacall live on stage.  But as the play dragged on, I got the impression that everyone in the theater was there to see Lauren Bacall live on stage.  The play was pretty forgettable.

Eventually I would get to see Hair, and realize that I should have purchased tickets to that show instead of a piece of theatrical fluff like Cactus Flower.

Hair addressed contemporary issues.  Claude is one of the main characters, who wears tie-dye clothes and sports long hair.  He spends most of the show agonizing over getting drafted.  At the end of the play, Claude appears on stage, hard to recognize because he now wears a military uniform and his hair is short.  He declares, “Like it or not, they got me.”

The cast of Hair then sings a song with the poignant lyrics: “Inside something there is a rush of greatness.  Who knows what stands in front of us.”

Within a few short years after Nick’s visit to New York City, both Nick and I would be wearing military uniforms and our hair would be short.  Like it or not, they got us. 

We were in the Army, at one point stationed at the same fort, waiting to see what stands in front of us.  Waiting to let the sunshine in.

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The last six minutes of Hair (the film, not the play)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNrqc6yvTU

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NOTE: Doug's best stories have been collected into a book: Puppy Out Of Breath.  Price = $11.  You can purchase a copy at  http://www.puppyoutofbreath.com