Steve and I have always loved live theater and went to many plays over the years. We often went to Starlight Musicals at Butler when we first were married. The outdoor venue was wonderful, except when it rained. We went to see Yul Brynner in “The King and I” and it rained so hard that Yul came out on stage and apologized. He said we would all get to see it another night, which we did, with extra seats down the aisles (much closer seats than what we’d purchased). We also enjoyed Rock Hudson (cute knees) as Lancelot in “Camelot” at Starlight. We saw the very first play Beef & Boards did 49 years ago (the play was “Tom Jones”). We saw “Dracula” at the Atheneum and “Phantom of the Opera” at The Murat. We loved “Man of La Mancha” and saw it with Richard Kiley starring. We also loved “1776” with William Daniels as John Adams. We saw “Jesus Christ Superstar” twice at The Murat with Ted Neely starring (he was in the movie too).
In later years we attended many Fringe Festival plays. We also attended many shows at IRT, which we think is the best theater anywhere. We saw Eva Kor (Holocaust survivor) at IRT in a question and answer session and got a signed copy of her book.
So with this love of theater, it’s not a surprise that Steve got into acting. His first play was “Blood Bath Beach” with our daughter at Theater on the Square (now renamed as District Theater on Mass Ave). Our daughter had previously been in several plays while at Howe High School. In “Blood Bath Beach” Steve played a professor in a spoof of two classic 50s movie genres, beach movies and horror. The nostalgia was right up Steve’s alley.
This inspired Steve to try out for more acting roles. He acted in independent films. He said they always need an old fat guy, so he got the parts. Usually, his character was killed off in some gruesome way. I remember once it was with a pitchfork and another time he was shot and had to fall in front of a fridge on a kitchen floor (laying still was the hardest acting he’d ever had to do). One film was called “Barefoot Tour Guide” and was actually shown at Greenbriar Theater on the westside (with food service at to your table). Remember “Hollywood Bar & Filmworks” that had food served at your table? We saw more movies there than anywhere.
Steve was also in a film called “Reconciliation” which debuted at Key Cinema on the southside. The next film was “A Certain Justice” and it went to the Sundance Film Festival. He played a Mexican general, who was shot, of course. I had a walk-on role myself, or it was actually a dance-in role. One scene was filmed at the Atheneum Ballroom and I danced with another extra in the background (we kept yanking each other around trying to be in the camera shot). Several years later Steve was in another show titled “Creeporia” and he was a Zombie Orson Wells and his only line was “Rooooooosebud.”
After Steve’s hearing got worse (Meniere’s disease, which hearing aids didn’t help, just made ringing louder), he had to give up acting. You have to hear the cues.
A reader asked how I remember all of these details — I have been writing a family newsletter to put in my Christmas cards for the past 30 years and that documents what happened each year. Believe me, my memory isn’t that good, but Steve could remember our first movie, what we had for dinner out, etc. but not the next doctor’s appointment. He could always remember his lines in the films. And our daughter has a good memory too, and she has been proof-reading this series.
In 1998, I fell on my basement steps and hit my hip and back — the same day I was supposed to see a chiropractor for the first time, I was in the kitchen having breakfast, when I heard water running in the stairway to the basement. We had had plumbing work done and it had left a hole next to the claw foot tub upstairs. I got upstairs the best I could with the hip and backache, to find Steve slumped over the side of the tub with the shower head spraying all over. I shook him until he woke and called 911. The EMTs got him out of the tub and down the stairs to an ambulance. I grabbed some clothes for him (he was naked except for a towel) and went to the hospital. His blood sugar had dropped, because he hadn’t eaten before taking his diabetic meds. He was released later that day. I ended up with back surgery a month later and did well. My mother came to live with us the next year and passed away a few months later. My father had passed years before, when our son was only 10 months old.
Steve always went to the doctor regularly, but on a day he thought he had bronchitis his doctor’s office wanted him to go to a MedCheck instead of seeing them. The doctor at MedCheck saw symptoms his doctor hadn’t noticed before and sent him to the hospital. Soon after Steve went through open heart surgery (one bypass). I’ll never forget a massage therapist came in and asked if he wanted a massage before surgery, which he did and I wish they all still did that as part of the prep. He was home in 3 days and did well, except back then they took a vein out of your leg to make the bypass and in the long run, that gave him more trouble than anything else.
After a medical leave, Steve was back at Spades Park Library, where he got to do a lot of special programs, but was soon transferred to Fountain Square Library.
Not long after, he left the library and became Death Registrar for the State Health Department. He found his new job fascinating. The causes of death and the statistics were interesting to him. Those living in the northern counties, where the Amish live, have much longer lives. I remember him telling me about a case of a 98-year-old farmer falling off his tractor and dying (who farms at 98?!). When Timothy McVeigh was executed in Terre Haute, Steve had to process his death certificate and it was a big deal. He was included in a feature written up in Indy Men’s Magazine while doing this new job.
That same year our teenage son Chris was working for the Keystone Grill, preparing the Sunday brunch that was named the best in town. He was photographed in an article in The Indianapolis Monthly (he got to make omelettes for Peyton Manning). Several years earlier our daughter had interned at Indianapolis Monthly, writing various feature articles. We are so proud of our kids!
After 911, we took a trip to California to see my sister Gail (she had been designing hospitals and got a new job there). Our flight was not nearly full and I remember the flight attendant saying if we wanted to nap, we could have center row 25 or 26 (no passengers). Gail lived in Oakland and commuted into San Francisco. She had to work, so Steve and I bought a pass that let us ride buses and cable cars all day. We did that for a couple days in a row and saw so much. We went to Fisherman’s Wharf and ate lunch out on the deck watching the sea lions sunbathe. I nearly fell off the cable car as it bounced around up a hill. We toured Coit Tower, which from the top you can see all of San Fran, including the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s full of Depression era murals (WPA). We enjoyed shopping in Chinatown, which had every kind of shop from inexpensive souvenirs to museum quality antiques.
Gail took us to Muir Woods to see the Redwoods. These are magnificent trees that have always been on my bucket list to see. These trees are up to 1,200 years old — just imagine what they have lived through. Another day we took a ferry to Alcatraz in the bay. I remember we had heavy coats on and it was July. A little Asian woman on board complained about how cold it was and another couple from the Midwest agreed with us that it felt pretty good compared to the 98 degrees back home at the time. Alcatraz was fascinating with all the history and the tours were spellbinding.
Gail took us to Yosemite too, which is a picture postcard kind of place. Whatever direction you turned you saw the most spectacular mountain views ever, from the granite cliffs of El Capitan and Half Dome to Wedding Veil Falls. Photographer Ansel Adams used these subjects for many of his famous black and white photographs.
Gail then took us to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose. It’s the house of Sarah Winchester, widow of the man who made his fortune selling rifles – William Winchester. Sarah believed her family and fortune were haunted by ghosts of the people killed by the Winchester rifle and a psychic told her the only way to appease the spirits was to continuously build on to her house, which she did for 38 years (1884 to 1922). She didn’t use an architect and just added on randomly, so there are doors and stairways to nowhere. There are 161 rooms, 40 bedrooms (Sarah slept in a different one every night), a ballroom and 47 fireplaces. It’s lavishly furnished with stained glass windows by Tiffany and 3 elevators. I took photos throughout and when we looked at the prints later, I had captured a ghost like blur of Sarah on one of the dining room chairs (it was on the negative). Steve of course wanted it framed to show off.
Next Time: Club President!
Steve’s Celebration of Life will be Sunday, May 1st at Oakley Hammond Funeral Home at 5342 E. Washington St. with visitation from 1-3:30 p.m. and service at 3:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers. Donations to the Weekly View, 195 N. Shortridge Rd. Suite D, 46219 in his memory will be greatly appreciated.
