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Random Musings from Gerry Mandel
Random Musings
FROM GERRY MANDEL
GERRY MANDEL writes life stories, plays, short stories, essays, blogs, and the occasional novel. He enjoys sharing his writings, and would appreciate your comments.
Time To Be Musing Along
or much of my life,
FI’ve had a problem with setting priorities. I’m not saying I’m irresponsible. To the contrary, if I say I’ll meet you at noon for lunch or get a dozen eggs on the way home or finish writing an article for a magazine, you can count on me. But it’s in that vague area between responsibility and procrastination where I fall short. Case in point: I bought a book on procrastination last year but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. I inhabit at times a loosely-formed alternate universe for which no deadlines exist, no commitments are made. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. I have a very large box of 35mm slides and 8mm home movies in my basement. Dozens and dozens, most of them in the familiar yellow Kodak boxes. I seriously intend to go through them, pick the ones I want to preserve and get digitized. Pictures and movies of my mom and dad, my kids’ birthdays, holidays, parties, trips, good friends - some of them no longer here - and people who were important in my life. Not a difficult project, just takes some time. And a commitment. I look at that box every time I go into the basement and say the same thing to myself: “I should go through that box.” I’ve been saying that “should” word for more than ten years now. And the pile hasn’t gotten any smaller. So it continues to sit there. For months, even years. But one of these days… So, what’s the point of all this breast beating and mea culpas? I guess it’s to say I am turning my “should’s” into “will’s.” As in, “I will do this.” It’s something I accept as a responsibility, a priority affixed to a project. To get to the point of all this – I started writing a second novel almost two years ago. I had a pretty good start, then got sidetracked to write someone’s life story, a man of 59 who was in the late stages of ALS. I had told him I couldn’t, but the more we talked, the more tempting the project
became. He became my priority. But the novel? It hung there, note cards taped to my wall, ideas and scenes and characters. The novel – when it’s finished – will be called “The End of Silence” and tells the story of Charlie Chaplin’s challenge to make “The Great Dictator” – a talkie – against much resistance and fear in Hollywood. Therefore this is my final Random Musings for this magazine. I’ve been writing them for several years, am grateful for the opportunity given to me by Todd Abrams, editor and publisher. Writing for the magazine – both Musings and the artist profiles – made me set priorities. Also known as deadlines. And I never missed a deadline. Close a couple of times, but managed to squeeze out that last paragraph before the presses ran. One thing I found out through my search for subjects was I could write a column on just about any subject. Kitchen remodeling. Choosing a cereal. Hawaiian shirts. Pumpkins. Poodles. I even wrote about mail boxes and toothpicks. I guess there’s humor and an angle in just about anything, if you just look hard enough and keep an open mind. I don’t know if any of you will miss me, feel your life is a little emptier without the words and smiles, or will even read this good-bye letter. If someone writes to me and says they shed a tear or held an issue of this magazine closer to their breast, then I will be redeemed. So, to move things along, here are my priorities now: The Chaplin novel. A second book of my writings, which would be a volume 2 of “Selected Writings.” (Note: It’s not too late to order volume 1, $22 plus $4 postage. Email me: spidermandel@ charter.net) Write Act 2 of a play I wrote (first act only) called “Two Old Actors Walk Into a Bar.” Guaranteed to win a Tony. Begin a new blog about jazz and me, and maybe one about my life in advertising, although the audience for that is surely smaller than for Perry Como. (Google him). One more thought: Save this issue of County Living. It might become a collector’s item.
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