Page 31 - Aruba Today

PEOPLE & ARTS A31
Joel Grey, now unburdened
and emboldened, tells his story
MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — At a
cafe the other day, Joel
Grey was drawn to an item
on the menu that was both
confusing and intriguing.
He called over a waiter and
asked: “What is this thing?
The herbed goat cheese
with chili flakes and pome-
granate syrup?” The waiter
was stumped. “OK, I’m go-
ing to take a chance,” said
the Tony-and Oscar-win-
ning actor.
Grey, 83, was in high spirits
this day, which marked the
publication of his memoir,
“Master of Ceremonies.”
For a performer who hid
who he was for decades,
Grey is now unburdened
and emboldened.
“Let’s put it this way: I really
feel good. But I have been
feeling good for a long
time. I don’t think I could
have written this book if I’d
had axes to grind,” he said.
“I don’t like that in a book.”
The memoir traces his child-
hood in Cleveland, his rise
as a nightclub performer
and his breakthrough both
on stage and film as the
creepy Emcee with rouged
cheeks and cupid’s-bow
lips in “Cabaret.”
It also examines his 24-year
marriage to actress Jo
Wilder and a long internal
struggle with his attraction
to men, which triggered
feelings of self-loathing and
proved his mother’s love
was not unconditional.
Grey, who loved men
and women, tentatively
calls himself a “closeted
bisexual” but language
comes up short: “I never re-
ally thought that any of the
names were exactly right
for me,” he said.
A complex portrait emerg-
es of Grey in black and
white. He reveals he’s had
a nose job, slept with a
stripper, fought with leg-
endary director Bob Fosse
and once lugged his dirty
laundry on a plane.
“I’m not that good. I’m just
like the rest of you,” he said.
“Maybe worse.”
Colin Dickerman, the edito-
rial director of the Macmil-
lan division Flatiron Books,
which published the 230-
page book, said it’s not a
tell-all or a collection of
funny stories, but an at-
tempt to explore the roots
of the man behind some
In this Aug. 25, 2015 file pho-
to, Joel Grey attends the af-
ter party for Misty Copeland’s
Broadway debut in “On The
Town” in New York.
Associated Press manuscript. He said he was
This book cover image re-
leased by Flatiron Books
shows “Master of Ceremo-
nies,” a memoir by Joel Grey.
Associated Press
beloved characters.
“He wanted to be as hon-
est as he could be and I
think the book really re-
flects that,” said Dicker-
man. “It really goes into
some personal places and
I think does so remaining
incredibly respectful to ev-
eryone in his life.”
Grey’s story also mirrors the
evolution of American en-
tertainment, from vaude-
ville to nightclubs to Broad-
way and Hollywood, weav-
ing both his personal and
professional lives. It reaches
a peak in 1985 when Grey
started thinking about
coming out while starring in
the AIDS play “The Normal
Heart.”
The book was written over
2 1/2 years with the help
of Rebecca Paley and
Grey consulted with his
brother and his daughter
— “Dirty Dancing” star Jen-
nifer Grey — on parts of the
inspired, in part, by reading
Andre Agassi’s very honest
2010 memoir “Open: An
Autobiography.”
“I didn’t see that I could tell worked, and a Facebook
the story of my career and
not my life because they
were so intertwined. And I
also saw myself as maybe
an example and maybe,
in some small way, helping
one person,” he said. “I like
that idea.”
Grey writes that he was at-
tracted to boys as early as
8 — one of his first crushes
was a 16-year-old bellboy
— but being openly gay
wasn’t an option. Physical
violence and closed doors
would have been his life.
“The price was very high,”
he said. “There would be
no career. Look how long
it’s even taken for there to
be a few out gay people.
In the last 10 years, maybe.
The last five, maybe.”
His embrace of his sexuality
was also complicated by
the fact that he desperate-
ly wanted to be a father. “It
was something I was meant
to do along with acting.
However, it was a strange
time,” he said. “Now gay
people are having babies
all over the place.”
Grey has since forgiven his
mother, restored cordial
relations with his ex-wife
and is next focusing on his
fifth book of photographs.
The parts of his life that
were volatile and compli-
cated have gone.
“It seems to have all very
much quieted down,” he
said with a wry smile.q
Tuesday 23 February 2016
In this July 6, 2013 photo, Miss New Jersey Cara McCollum waves
during the annual Randolph Freedom Fest Parade in Randolph,
N.J.
Former Miss America
contestant dies week
after car crash
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — A for-
mer Miss America contes-
tant died early Monday, a
week after her car spun off
a New Jersey highway and
crashed into trees.
Cara McCollum died at
Cooper University Hospital,
according to Frank DiMau-
ro, chief operating officer
of the TV station where she
message posted by her
family.
Her family said in the Face-
book post that the 24-year-
old from Margate died with
her family by her side in an
operating room, and that
her organs were donated.
“We’ve prayed constantly
for a miracle, and we be-
lieve God has answered
our prayers. Although it’s
not the miracle that we first
envisioned, it’s a miracle
nonetheless,” the family
said. “In the end, it’s not the
years in your life that count.
It’s the life in your years. ... and struck a tree, then
We all will miss her now that
she’s gone.”
Her family posted a video
of McCollum performing a
version of “Cups” by Anna
Kendrick in the film “Pitch
Perfect.”
The song includes the lyr-
ics “you’re gonna miss me
when I’m gone” and was
performed by Miss New
York Kira Kazantsev when
she won the Miss America
Associated Press
pageant in September
2014. McCollum competed
in the previous year’s pag-
eant after winning the 2013
Miss New Jersey title.
The Arkansas native gradu-
ated from Princeton Univer-
sity and was an anchor on
SNJ Today, a news show
serving the southern Jersey
area.
She was dating Keith Jones,
a TV anchor for Philadel-
phia’s NBC affiliate.
“Please accept our sincer-
est thanks for your heartfelt
prayers,” Jones wrote on
Facebook. “Words fall short
of describing the pain, but
I’m eternally grateful and
blessed for the time I spent
with Cara. Her enormous
heart enriched my life and
changed me forever.”
McCollum was alone in her
vehicle and was not wear-
ing a seatbelt when her
Mustang veered off Route
55 in Pittsgrove Township
spun again and hit two
more trees before ending
up in an embankment, po-
lice said.
State police say McCollum
appeared to have been
driving too fast for condi-
tions on the wet road. They
do not believe alcohol or
drugs were a factor. The
driver’s side front air bag
in her car deployed during
the crash.q