Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Kurt Weill

I never did hear from the Independent Filmmaker on Sunday about going to the Robert Downey Sr. screening with me. I called her number and left a couple messages with no results, so it's anybody's guess what happened.

So I ended up attending by myself, but as I told The Gryphon, he shouldn't feel guilty about it, because I had gone to many such events by myself in my years as a newspaper reporter. The big difference was that then, I would have been zipping around with a camera and a notebook.

The Gryphon and I ate first at a Chinese restaurant and then I hung out with him for a little while at the Ethical Society, where PAGE meets. Then I got a cab to the Prince Music Theater, where the event was being held. I was about half an hour early.

For the event, I wore a pair of black pants, a black jacket and a velvet top, along with pointy black shoe, a multi-strand beaded necklace and a silver clutch. I was happy to see, when I arrived, that I fit right in.

A few people were gathered at the tables in the lobby area, so I took a seat at a table. Before long, a woman started talking to me. She complimented my suit, and I thanked her. In conversation, it turned out we have the same last name. She's an author, trying to promote her nonfiction book. I told her she could send a review copy to Wild Violet, for which she seemed grateful.

It took me a while to notice the pin on her jacket indicating that she was a volunteer at the theater. She was very excited to be there, having met Bob Downey at his Rittenhouse Square DVD signing earlier this year. It was nice to have someone to talk to.

I let the folks at the front door know that I was expecting two guests but wasn't sure if they would make it. I told them I would stay close to the front door, so that if I saw them I could let him know.

In the meantime, I talked more with the writer. We went to the bar, where she got a ginger ale and I got a glass of white wine. Before long, more people started to arrive, including Mr. Downey and his wife, Rosemary Rogers. They made the rounds, greeting the guests. When he got to us, he recognized me before I'd said anything: "Interview in the hotel lobby," he said.

I told him yes and that it was online now. As he drifted off to talk to some other people, his wife came up and started chatting with me. She wanted to know exactly where she could find the interview, so I gave her another one of my cards and told her where she could find it on the site. We chatted for a little while about the magazine.

I hadn't stood next to her before, so I was struck by how tiny she is, especially compared to her husband, who is rather tall. She's a delicate person with dark, curly shoulder-length hair, and she was wearing a black dress with a fur collar. He was dressed very similarly to the way he had for the Pound screening, in a black crew neck sweater, black jacket and black pants.

While I had the opportunity, I made sure to thank Rosemary for facilitating the interview. It was she who had given me the contact information while we were at the Pound screening, since her husband was overwhelmed with a crowd of admirers.

Then the volunteer had to go do some volunteer things, so I was on my own again. I made another call to the Independent Filmmaker, hoping to reach her, but left another message instead. So I decided to get a glass of ginger ale and mingle.

First, I stood near the musicians and enjoyed the music, a pianist and bassist playing jazz. I would learn later that the piano player is a major performer in the area. He smiled when he noticed me watching.

A lot of the people attending had either brought somebody with them or knew each other. I gathered that a number of them were from the production company working on the new film. Others appeared to be old friends and associates.

The Prince Theater person who was running the event came up to me and noted that I was all by myself in a corner.

"I'm just checking out the musicians," I said.

"I thought you were holding up the column," he said, referring to the column inset in the wall that I was leaning against. I told him I thought it had been in danger of falling.

He told me that a young blonde woman in the lobby was the violinist from Rittenhouse Square, Caeli Veronica Smith. This seemed a little unlikely to me, because she looked too old, even though Caeli has grown up a bit since the film. She was blonde and bore a slight resemblance to her, though.

I walked up to her and asked her if she was the violinist from Rittenhouse Square. She giggled and said no. "I'm sorry. I got some bad information," I said.

Her date, who seemed older than her but is probably prematurely gray, introduced himself. Turns out he works with Comcast and has known Downey for a while. So we got to talking about various things. He asked me about Wild Violet, and I told him about the magazine and the interview. He suggested I try to get a grant for Wild Violet, possibly from someplace like the art museum. I told him I'd consider it.

They started moving people upstairs then to one of the upper rooms for the screening. I took a seat in the middle and ended up talking to a man who was sitting at the end of the row. He was in his 60s, wearing an argyle sweater over a button down shirt, with a close-cropped beard and glasses. When I said hi he told me his name was Stan and that he'd been a cinematographer for Rittenhouse Square and also did some photography for Strut.

He told me that it's funny how you can shoot hours and hours of stuff and then only a fraction of it makes it into the end product.

The event started first with some musical performances. The invitation had promised a "surprise musical guest", and I thought it might be Caeli Veronica Smith and possibly Fiona Apple, who I knew was going to be recording some music for the film. Turns out I was partially right. They started with a solo by Caeli and then a performance with a vocalist, cellist and pianist.

Afterwards, Downey introduced them. The soloist, he revealed, was Maude Maggart, Fiona Apple's sister. That would explain why she looked and sounded a lot like Fiona. She does sound, however, like she's more classically trained. She's a cabaret singer, I've learned. She gave a very heartfelt performance of a couple songs, includinga beautiful rendition of "The River is Blue".

Then we watched a rough cut of the film so far, about 33 minutes of it. So far, it primarily consists of archival footage cut together, interspersing interviews with performances. The interviews include insights from Kurt Weill's widow, Lotte Lenya, as well as thoughts from performers.

Not surprisingly, since it was a Bob Downey film, there were moments of humor interspersed with the more serious moments, such as when Jack Benny and Liberace do a performance of "September Song".

Afterwards, Downey opened up the floor for questions and answers. People were asking him about his plans for the film. He said they'd just started. They are recording performances now with contemporary musicians, including Maude. Fiona will also be in it, doing a duet with her sister. Robert Downey Jr. will perform in it, too.

Downey said he has been spending a lot of time watching all the archival footage to choose portions to use. So he was able to answer questions about such topics as Weill's relationship with playwright Bertolt Brecht.

He also allowed people to ask Maude questions. I asked her how, as a performer, she reconciled the darker parts of Kurt Weill's music with the beautiful melodies. She said, essentially, that even ugliness can be beautiful.

At the close of the event, people mingled some more. I talked a little more with the cinematographer, Stan. He told me that he photographed the cover of a Tony Bennett album when Bennett performed in Philly back in the day. I told him I'll have to look for it.

At this point, I decided to head out. I had a severe pain in my shoulder; it's an old injury in my trapezius muscle that I've aggravated recently. The ibuprophen I took earlier was wearing off, so I thought it was a good time to make my exit.

Coincidentally, I ran into Rosemary and a friend of hers in the lobby. She asked me how far it was to the Rouge restaurant on Rittenhouse Square and whether it was walkable. I told her that it was five or six long blocks, so she'd be better off getting a cab. Then she offered that, if we were heading in the same direction, we could all share the cab.

As it turned out, I was, because I was headed back to The Ethical Society to meet with The Gryphon. Rosemary's friend was fascinated by the name Ethical Society. I told her it was something like a community center where various groups met and where people even hold weddings and concerts.

We made conversation on the way there, primarily about Philadelphia. Rosemary's friend, whose name was Mary, asked me if our newspaper was called the Enquirer.

"Close, the Philadelphia Inquirer," I said. "The Enquirer is the gossip rag." She also was a little turned around about the name of the area of the city we were in, asking if it was "Central City." I told her it was Center City. I got the impression she was probably from New York, like many of the non-Philadelphia guests.

The cabride didn't take very long, and when we got out, we spoke briefly before heading our seprate ways. Rosemary was very sweet. She thanked me again for coming and even kissed me on the cheek! She seems like a very nice person. I can see how, with her cheerful, focused energy, she complements her husband, who is a very laconic, down-to-earth, Type B sort.

I walked across Rittenhouse Square to the Ethical Society, where The Gryphon was just finishing up. After he gathered his things, we walked together to The Continental for dessert and for coffee with Frangelica, while I told him all about the evening.

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

October 2006 Index

Musings Index

What do you think? Share your thoughts
at Alyce's message board (left button):