21 April 2007

Back in LA

My, what a beautiful day to be indoors, it is a delightfully dreary and very, very windy. So I had to fix pancakes, read The Nation and have a wonderful nap. And now it's back to my eyeball fixation, you know, they really are the windows of the soul. So beware, I will be looking for eyeballs.

I also captured some old snapshots from my digital family notebook. And you all may be graced with some wonderful stories about my family (for those of you seeking answers to those "probing" questions). For today, I think we'll talk about... me. Jeanne Barrett Magill Somewhere in a wicked youth or childhood, I spent about a year and a half in Hollywood, seeking fame and fortune. I had majored in art and theater in high school, and a year as a theater major in college. So I was sure that everyone would be ready for me. My good friend Rick had planned to go to California to make a movie he had written. And I thought that it would be a good idea to go with him. My mother gave us her blessings while everyone else thought she was crazy to let two kids drive cross-country. Ha, what did they know.


We had more adventures than I could ever hope to put on this blog. But in the end Rick had his movie, I had a brief shot at a movie career, and we both returned with some valuable lessons (at all costs, don't give your credit card to friends that you just met and be careful who you let in your apartment, who might come back later and steal your stereo.)
We met a wonderful woman named Lucy Dolly, who was a bag lady-but very cheerful and carried a plastic wrapped in newspaper touting the end of days. There was a funny doper named Laura, I think. There were some normal people too, I met Susie, who became my roomie,her family was in Whittier and were kind enough to invite a lonely midwesterner to their home for Christmas.
In return , I got Susie a puppy from the pound. We called him Enoch Snow (from Carousel), because he was a small, white ball of fluff. Turned out that Susie was not as much of a dog lover as she thought so, he ended up being mine.
I also met Jimmy, he was from Twenty nine Palms and was really cute, platinum blonde curly hair and freckles-he gave me his ID bracelet ...(blush).
But after I found myself inexplicably, debt ridden, I was forced to retreat home to Glenview, with my tail between my legs. My family had moved to Glenview while I was still in college, but I had no say in it. So really wasn't my home.
That credit card debt, hung over my head for a long time, and I worked hard to make minimum payments. After about a year, a real truly angel sent me two paid in full receipts- a gift that I shall always treasure. It was a rough year, in a lot of ways, especially being so far from home. With no one to depend on but me. (Rick returned after three months to continue college.) I learned a lot of valuable lessons about what I was capable of doing and not doing. I remember some of those times, as vividly today. As I did 40+ years ago.

3 comments:

Wicked Thistle said...

That was a fantastic walk down memory lane--and the pictures were oh-ma-gawd great! I hope you will ignore my 4th grade vocabulary (fantastic? great?) and know that I thoroughly enjoyed your reminiscings of your time in Hollywood!

moi said...

Wow, I never knew you did that! So cool! Sounds like a true blue adventure. Great pics. Love the high school year book photo!

A.Fanny said...

Re today's word, appurtenance: does this mean that if you sold your place the dogs would come with it?

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