Friday, July 1, 2022
If I ever have the opportunity to run into the creator of the HBO tv series, Succession, I'm going to make mention to him that he probably most likely lifted the entire premise from The Freeman Clan. If memory serves me right, whenever I entered the doors into their old house located near the 287 freeway, you had to flip a coin on whether the time will be filled with conflict or camaraderie - but whatever the fates may choose, there was Barbara Freeman ready to rudder the ship, no matter how choppy or unsteadily the waters may be. She certainly imbued the Logan Roy persona of the family, because she was always the one who always got in the best verbal licks when it came to inner-family brawling.
Roughly from the period of 1980 - 1988, I pretty much beheld the Freeman clan as my alternative family, starting out when I would occasionally take Barbara's youngest daughter, Linda out to concerts and I'll never forget when I met Barbara for the first time at a Lakeland Bus Stop at the Pathmark on Route 46 while I was waiting for her to drop Linda off, so I could take her to see a show at Madison Square Garden. So Barbara looked me up and down from her driver window and said "you're going to take my daughter out wearing yellow sneakers? Are you studying to be a clown at the Ringling Bros and Barnam & Bailey Circus?'
After a few more times taking out Linda , I was trusted enough to be acquainted with the rest of the family, Susan, Lisa, Robert, and their German Shepherd Tivoli(?). The reason I came up with Succession analogy is because everytime I tune in to that show, the actress who plays the daughter of the Roy family, Sarah Snook reminds me so much of Susan when she was younger, the only redhead in the family.
Barbara took a liking toward me (but didn't really consider me good boyfriend material for her daughter Linda, but that's ok - I considered Linda more as my best friend during high school anyway) and always left the door open for a few dinners for me to be invited to. It was only the dad, Don who only viewed me as kinda odd. At a young age, 16 or 17, Barbara allowed me to help her finish off a wine bottle. I got so woozy celebrating Linda's birthday, that I somehow woke up the next morning in The Freeman's backyard using their German Shephard's tummy as a pillow. I think the dog got more enjoyment out of it than I did.
As years flew by and all the girls were off to college, I still hung around, sometimes feeling like the Robert Duvall concierge role in the Godfather movie. One way of helping Barbara out was driving Robert places, just to get him out of the house whenever he became too much of a pain in the tuchus. When recess would come and go, I would make Susan chicken soup whenever she was in bed with the flu, Lisa made some mean Betty & Crocker cakes, and Linda modeled beauty pageant gowns. For a brief time, it was the idyllic life for a guy like me who didn't really have much of a cohesive familylife, as I was stuck throughout high school life sharing a two bedroom apartment and stuck sharing a bedroom with a younger half-sister, even though my grandfather was a millionaire who owned a giant house in East Hanover (but later sold it and moved to Atlanta). So Barbara's house reminded me a lot of what I used to have in East Hanover before my mother selfishly got remarried.
Before packing and moving out west, I used to visit Barbara at the Pine Brook Pizzeria whenever I went crusing around on weekends. I would stop by to say hi and she was always gracious to load me up with free slices much to the chagrin of the owners (' go ahead, don't worry about it, I'll just deduct it from my tips when I close for the night). I came back for a few visits as the 1980s were winding down and remembering having Christmas dinner with the family, but as soon as I got back to San Diego, life started to change, I got a job, got a new girlfriend, dumped girlfriend and moved to Los Angeles to get steady work in the entertaiment business. I had a few gaps in between gigs and I remember when I sort of got reacquainted again with the family after Linda found me on facebook, I remember during one recent visit back east telling Barbara one of my Buster Keaton moments when I took on a holiday position of maintaining a stem cell research lab over at UCLA. While everyone was on holiday vacation, one of my duties, was transporting hydrogen gas tanks via a cement railed bridge between two connecting buildings. The buildings were at least four stories tall. I didn't fasten one of the tanks probably to the dolly and the tank came loose from the leather strap and almost spilled over the side. I stopped the tank from falling over, but then I fell backward on the bridge with the tank pinning me and I told Barbara, all I could think of while pinned under this tank without no one around to help me was like I was living this stupid scene from out of a movie I saw as a kid about two trucks loaded up with nitroglycerin trying to make it across a broken plank rope bridge in a raging typhoon out in some South American jungle and one truck didn't quite make it. Boy, Barbara really howled with laughter about that story. She couldn't stop bringing it up in future phone conversations would ask to me to regale her that story again and again. I last saw Barbara in October of 2019 - stopping by to see her at her Rockaway condo where she made me a nice real delicious hamburger and we talk about stuff regarding her health and giving me a stern lecture about how to take care of myself more by urging me to get cancer checks and taught me quite a bit about diabetes, warning me if I ever spot a blood blister, that I should immediately see a doctor to get my blood tested . She was very proud of Susan's son, talked endlessly about him. I feel awful that Linda's children never got to know her. I took it upon myself to purchase her a DVD copy of a movie that Linda's youngest completed with actor William Hurt while I was in New York attending a comic book convention and I remember her being quite happy that she got to see one of her grandchildren being in the movies. She was quite a character and I'll miss her voice most of all, the inflection of her voice always raising upward whenever she spoke my name, like as if she were reading a speaking part of an animated cartoon character.
I'll be reposting this remembrance on my own PPGuru blog - which is pretty easy to find, if you google it. So I would to keep the memories flowing, Sometime during this week, I'll be showing some personal photos of mine that I have of Barbara and her family.
Sorry, I couldn't be there in person today.
