RIP Superman
I remember when the movie Superman came out. The tag line was “You will believe a man can fly.” I was in high school. We had just started the Druid Hills Science Fiction club which had replaced the Library Club. It had just about exactly the same members just a name change. We decided to go see Superman as a group. The only problem at the time was there was one driver and about 8 people going to the movie. She had a small hatchback. We managed to get everyone in by doubling up laps and two in the hatch. She prayed for her shocks all the way to the movie theater. I did walk out of that theater believing a man could fly. It was a magical movie that most of that group saw more than once.
Years later after I graduated from the Yale School of Drama, I was hired by the Williamstown Theater Festival to stage manage in their black box theater. I was working on a new play called “The Baby Dance”. We had opened the show but were still rehearsing because the script was still being rewritten by the author.
There was one scene that was very intense between the poor husband and wife. Linda and Richard were having a heck of a time with the scene. They asked the director to look at it since they wanted to try it a different way to try and save them both a shouting scene which none of us felt was needed at that point in the play.
It was very quiet in the theater. Richard looked at Linda and we heard “OOOOOOoooooAAAAHHHHHHOOOooooooooooAAAAHHHHHHH” from behind the metal dock door behind the set. We froze for a second. I motioned for one of my assistants Min. I asked her to go see what was going on and tell who ever it was to knock it off. She came back and told me that I had to deal with it. So I had my other assistant go back there as the warm up noises continue. Jonathan come back and says you have to. I can’t so anything. I excuse myself and go back to what was called the backyard.
I come around the corner to the sound of hee hee hee hee and see Christopher Reeve warming up. Chris studied as Julliard and I studied at Yale which makes us school rivals of sorts. Chris was performing Death in Death takes a Holiday at the time. I had be introduced to him earlier by Stephanie Zimbalist at a party that he threw for the theater every year at his ranch just outside of Williamstown.
He turned around and saw me. I explain to him that Linda and Richard were working on a very delicate scene and the metal door was not holding out the sound of his warm up.
He looked at me with his baby blue eyes and said in a sad voice, “Where should I warm up?”
I said, “I don’t know Chris. Why don’t you ask your stage manager?”
He looked at me and said in a much happier voice,” OK” and left for the main stage stage managers office.
I remember hearing about his riding accident on CNN. When the news came out that he was paralyzed from the neck down I cried for him and his children. The man I knew at Williamstown was very active. He rode horses, took his kids hiking, and loved to exercise. He loved his kids. It showed anytime he was with them. I wondered if this was going to kill him. He survived and said that it was his wife and kids that convinced him to go on even though he had lost the use of his body.
Since then he has become a hero for many. He was a superman. He took his situation and worked to make life better for everyone with spinal cord injuries. He believed that he would walk again in the future. He managed to get back partial use of his hands. He got himself to the point where he could come off the ventilator for longer periods of time. He showed great courage and character in the face of adversity.
Rest in Peace Chris. You did make me believe a man could fly.
Years later after I graduated from the Yale School of Drama, I was hired by the Williamstown Theater Festival to stage manage in their black box theater. I was working on a new play called “The Baby Dance”. We had opened the show but were still rehearsing because the script was still being rewritten by the author.
There was one scene that was very intense between the poor husband and wife. Linda and Richard were having a heck of a time with the scene. They asked the director to look at it since they wanted to try it a different way to try and save them both a shouting scene which none of us felt was needed at that point in the play.
It was very quiet in the theater. Richard looked at Linda and we heard “OOOOOOoooooAAAAHHHHHHOOOooooooooooAAAAHHHHHHH” from behind the metal dock door behind the set. We froze for a second. I motioned for one of my assistants Min. I asked her to go see what was going on and tell who ever it was to knock it off. She came back and told me that I had to deal with it. So I had my other assistant go back there as the warm up noises continue. Jonathan come back and says you have to. I can’t so anything. I excuse myself and go back to what was called the backyard.
I come around the corner to the sound of hee hee hee hee and see Christopher Reeve warming up. Chris studied as Julliard and I studied at Yale which makes us school rivals of sorts. Chris was performing Death in Death takes a Holiday at the time. I had be introduced to him earlier by Stephanie Zimbalist at a party that he threw for the theater every year at his ranch just outside of Williamstown.
He turned around and saw me. I explain to him that Linda and Richard were working on a very delicate scene and the metal door was not holding out the sound of his warm up.
He looked at me with his baby blue eyes and said in a sad voice, “Where should I warm up?”
I said, “I don’t know Chris. Why don’t you ask your stage manager?”
He looked at me and said in a much happier voice,” OK” and left for the main stage stage managers office.
I remember hearing about his riding accident on CNN. When the news came out that he was paralyzed from the neck down I cried for him and his children. The man I knew at Williamstown was very active. He rode horses, took his kids hiking, and loved to exercise. He loved his kids. It showed anytime he was with them. I wondered if this was going to kill him. He survived and said that it was his wife and kids that convinced him to go on even though he had lost the use of his body.
Since then he has become a hero for many. He was a superman. He took his situation and worked to make life better for everyone with spinal cord injuries. He believed that he would walk again in the future. He managed to get back partial use of his hands. He got himself to the point where he could come off the ventilator for longer periods of time. He showed great courage and character in the face of adversity.
Rest in Peace Chris. You did make me believe a man could fly.