B E B E R E

Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? II

I first met Scotty years ago, when he was the producer/financier of a small (and mercifully short-lived) community theater group I belonged to. What started out as a battlefield camaraderie of sorts turned into a friendship that, no matter where he may fly off to or where I end up settling down, we'll be there for each other.

It had been several weeks since we'd last spoken, as he was busy jet-setting around the country for his great love: film. This hobby that turned into an obsession took him from Boston to Los Angeles to Rochester, NY, to NYC, with a short detour to his hometown of Baltimore to see one of his nieces perform in a school play. To be honest, I don't know how he manages this sort of breakneck pace.

The key here is that he doesn't see it as work, really. It's a joy to him and he never complains about having to fly off to do research. Finally, his decades-long "playing" is yielding fruit: negotiations to bring an off-off Broadway play off Broadway and maybe further beyond, reknown as an expert on the lives and work of two early talkie stars, and the ability to undergo the reconstruction of an early work by one of his favorites at a major film institute.

All this, and he's never quit his dayjob (in finance, of course).

It does my heart good to see all this happen for him, as he's worked so hard for it. It also gives me hope that, though I'll probably always be dependent on some sort of day job, I may too have a pastime that transcends mere hobbydom to become a violon d'Ingres, or one of Scottie's films.