 Back in 1984, I was looking to write a play. I wasn’t sure what the subject matter would be however I’d written quite a few movie screenplays and I wanted to get back to my roots in the theater. One day, my neighbor, Johnny, walked across the street to my house to talk to me in confidence. He was 84 years old and worried about his living situation with his wife, Clara, who was also 84. He told me he was afraid his wife’s daughter from another marriage might be moving in and he didn’t get along with her. He thought the stepdaughter might try to remove him from the house so she could live alone with her mother. We had a long conversation and after my attempt of calming his fears, he asked me if I would be interested in painting the inside of his house. I agreed.
As I was inside his living room standing on a ladder with a brush in my hand, I kept trying to think of what I was going to write. I just happened to look over at Johnny sitting in his recliner and it hit me like lightening. I thought to myself, “That’s it! That’s my play right there!”
I began writing “Antique White” as a play. During the writing, Johnny got very ill. He was taken to the hospital and then eventually transferred to a rest home/hospital. I went to see him at the home. I helped him to the bathroom and then back to bed. As he lay there with his eyes closed, I told him not to worry and that I would take care of Clara. With tears in my eyes, I also whispered to him that I had finished a play about him and that I had a wonderful ending. It was the last time I saw Johnny.
I began taking care of Clara that year. I told her that I was writing a story about her and Johnny. She was happy about it but never really asked what it was about, and I never told her. She trusted me. Clara and I had become very close. Of my many, many hours of conversation with Clara, I learned that Johnny’s fear back then was just that… fear.
I then decided to turn my play into a movie script. I finished “Antique White” as a screenplay in 1989 and presented it to my brother, Chris, as a birthday present.
Clara passed away in 1996 at the age of 96.
“Antique White” is a tribute to Johnny and Clara, and a lesson to all of us that love can help conquer all fear. |
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