A few years ago I had purchased a box set for one of the early seasons of Saturday Night Live. Season Four. And about 20 episodes in there is an episode that features frequent guest host Buck Henry and then musical guest Bette Midler.
One of the songs that Midler sings is Tom Wait's "Martha".....backed up by the future Mrs Peggy Bundy,Katey Sagal, no less.
Now, I'm not overly familiar with the musical work of Miss Midler. I'd say I had seen her perform before on countless appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, but I couldn't tell you anything of a one except for the song that graced the penultimate episode of the show.
I know I've seen a handful of her movies over the years and I'm sure I saw one of her concert performances on HBO back in the early 80's when I would watch just about anything they played on repeat. I seem to recall her in a mermaid costume ....in a wheelchair?
And then of course there is "that song" that is her ode to her queefs she suffers whenever she is wearing maxi-pads.
I digress.....
So I've heard her sing, but honestly didn't know what to expect from her performance of Tom's song.
I was pleasantly surprised.
She changes the genders of the characters in the song to make herself "Betsy Frost" calling Tommy. Interesting side note. Apparently Bette and Mr Waits were a couple at one point and time.
I've since found myself listening to her version from time to time
And on one of those repeat listens I found my mind wandering and my thoughts telling me a story, taking a cue from Midler's performance. What if the genders were switched yet again?And this time it was a man calling someone he loved in his youth.Another man.Time and years have separated the two and this is the first they have spoken in almost fourty years or more.
I pictured this as a one man performance.A man sits alone on a stage upon a deep blue high back reading chair.To his left is a small dark oak table upon which sits a red rotary telephone lit by a Tiffany shaded reading lamp.The light casts a warm,yellow/orange hue over the small area of the stage.
The man in the chair opens a drawer in the table .Pauses.And then removes a few pieces of paper,old instruction booklet for some long outdated VCR and then a weathered black journal,held closed by rubber bands.He removes the bands,and opens the book. From the opened page a series of photographs fall to the stage and he picks up one of the worn photos and holds it to the light.From the audience point of view one can almost make out the image from the now backlit photograph of two young men ,arms around each others shoulders.Smiling
A slight smile appears on his face as the memory the photo recalls hits him but then fades with a sigh as he places the photo to the side.
His hand pauses on the receiver for a moment and then he picks it up. There is the familiar sound of the dial tone,which fades as he begins to turn numbers of the phone.
The music of the song begins...and he speaks/sings :
Operator, number, please...
(to himself)
It's been so many years
Will he remember my old voice
While I fight the tears?
(suddenly sits upright,excited)
Hello? hello there,... is this Tommy?
This is old Jack Frost
And I am calling long distance
(beat)
Don't worry 'bout the cost
(continues)
'Cause it's been forty years or more now
Tommy,... please recall
Meet me out for coffee
Where we'll talk ...about ....it all
(He places the receiver to his chest,over his heart, and turns away from the phone and as he does this the light on the table dims slightly.
Behind him,large on the backdrop of the stage, appears the very same photo he had just held in his hand.And then another appears ,fading in on top of the first as they form a growing pile of pictures throughout the years of various shapes and sizes and types(standard,photo booth series,polaroids-whose own images fade into existence as if just taken.Like memories fading back in recall.
The photos show various images :High school antics.First cars.First accidents(Tommy). Halloween duo costumes(Batman & Robin).Graduations caps and gowns.College campus.School dances,swimming events where one or both have won.Tommy always in first place.Jack in second.
The series of photos tell a story of a clearly close friendship,changing fashions and haircuts.The time suggested is the early to mid 1980's
As the photos transition he sings the following lines....)
And those were the days of roses
Poetry and prose and Tommy
All I had was you and all you had was me
There was no tomorrows
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day
(Then the photos on the backdrop wall fade as the light on the table turns up.He places the receiver to his ear once more)
And I feel so much older now
And you're much older too
How's your wife?
And how's your kids?
You know.... that I got married too?
Lucky that you found someone
To make you feel secure
'Cause we were all so young and foolish
(his face looks down at the next line)
Now we are mature
(Once again he places the receiver to his chest and looks away.Now upon the screen appears more images. Not photos this time.But memories.These images tell of a private relationship.Celebratory hugs.The two on dates with girls.Hands accidentally touching in the dark.A confession.The first kiss.)
And those were the days of roses
Poetry and prose and Tommy
All I had was you and all you had was me
There was no tomorrows
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day
(He turns back to the phone and continues...)
And I was always so impulsive
I guess that I still am
And all that really mattered then
Was that I had me a man
I guess that our being together
Was never meant to be
But Tommy,...Tommy
I love you can't you see?
(This time he keeps the phone to his ear.Images appear on the screen.The two together.Sharing moments.Secret relationship.In the background of one of these moments,not necessarily acknowledged by the two, we see a television showing the news where the subject is of AIDS.Then,we start to see distance between the two.Jack catches Tommy on a date with a girl.Arguments.Yelling.Tears,from both.Tommy leaving for the army.Jack alone)
And those were the days of roses
Poetry and prose and Tommy
All I had was you and all you had was me
There was no tomorrows
We'd packed away our sorrows
And we saved them for a rainy day
(As the familiar notes of Auld Lang Syne play, a final shot fades in and then slowly out.The two dancing alone in a candlelit room together.
Jack hangs up the phone and just stares at the receiver for a moment.Then as he sings the final lines of the song he slowly turns from the phone with his gaze skyward.The crane of his neck mirrors that of his seen in the final photo)
And I remember.... quiet evenings
Trembling ....close ...to you
(The table light fades and the stage is returned to darkness as the song closes.)
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