Day 332…
On top of one of the low white storage units along the wall of one side of our front hall we have a very heavy carved wooden, seemingly old, Chinese duck.
I say it’s Chinese, but in truth I have no idea where it’s from. It might represent some sort of mythological being or maybe even a deity. Rather than being depicted realistically, it is somewhat abstract with distinct sharp angles and it is carved with a saddle on its back.
In the Hindu religion there is a bird called a Hamsa which translates from Sanskrit, from what I read, to mean some sort of bird of passage like a goose or a flamingo. It is believed to be the vehicle of Brahma and others. So, I guess it could depict one of those and be from India.
At any rate this solid and weighty wooden duck sits in our front hall and I’m embarrassed to say that it’s where I usually hang my bicycle helmet.
The duck was a gift to Michael from Christopher Plummer.
Michael appeared in the play Barrymore with him back in 1996 up in Stratford, Canada and then again on Broadway and, then briefly on tour.
Barrymore was ostensibly a one-man play about the actor John Barrymore rehearsing a revival of his big hit, Richard III, but, in reality, Michael played a second character - the offstage voice of a stage manager named Frank. He was invisible for the entire show except during the curtain call when he would join Chris onstage for a bow.
They worked together for over a year, but I only met him once. We saw the revival of Inherit the Wind that he did on Broadway with Brian Dennehy, who, himself, passed away last year, and we went backstage afterwards to say hello.
Chris was very fond of Michael and seemed very happy to see him. When we got there, he was already talking to a somewhat stooped and elderly lady. After she left, he told us, with a twinkle in his eye, that she had played a vestal virgin in one of his very early films, The Fall of the Roman Empire.
Besides Inherit the Wind, I saw him onstage in Macbeth alongside Glenda Jackson and then again up in Stratford in a truly wonderful production of Caesar and Cleopatra opposite Nikki James and as Prospero in The Tempest. The latter two were beautifully directed by Des McAnuff, who also directed Jersey Boys. Des and Chris had a long and happy working relationship and were good friends.
In the last weeks we have lost several other spectacular actors - all of whom were in their nineties. Cloris Leachman, Hal Holbrook and the incomparable Cicely Tyson all passed in the last two weeks. All of them, along with Mr. Plummer, created unforgettable characters that are an integral part of our cultural life. All of them enjoyed careers that spanned almost countless decades. Between them, they are responsible for some of the most indelible performances I have ever seen.
Michael has some wonderful stories about working with Christopher Plummer, but they are his to tell, so I won’t repeat them here. Unfortunately, when it came time to film Barrymore, Michael was no longer doing the show, so another actor played his role. He does, however mention Michael several times in his autobiography, In Spite of Myself.
I should probably find another spot for my helmet, but really, the duck is the perfect place.
Governor Cuomo has just announced that they are somewhat expanding the eligibility requirements for who can get the vaccine. As of February 15, I will now be able to get it because of having had prostate cancer, now nearly nine years ago.
I now officially join the ranks of people scrambling to get an appointment to take advantage of the limited supply. At the moment, the various websites I have gone on won’t let me schedule one, but I’ll keep at it. Michael, coincidentally, will also become eligible at the same time because he suffers from laughter-induced asthma which is included on the new list.
The Johnson & Johnson company have just applied to get emergency approval for their one-dose vaccine. It is somewhat less effective than the other two, but apparently still very helpful in keeping those who do subsequently get infected with the virus from getting a serious case of it. It still goes a long way towards keeping you out of the hospital and off a ventilator.
As of this morning nearly 7 million people have been fully vaccinated with both shots of either the Moderna or the Pfizer version. All told, 36 million doses have been administered so there is a sizeable group of people awaiting their second shot.
New cases of the virus are down 15% from last week. Currently, the United States is clocking in at over 26 million cases of the virus and we have had just about 460,000 people die from it.
To put this into some kind of perspective, the total US population stands at 328.2 million. While nobody knows for sure, we will likely need to inoculate 50-80% of the population to achieve some sort of herd immunity. We still have a long way to go.
There is a lot that remains unknown about both the virus and the vaccine. Nobody really knows how long the vaccine is going to be effective for. I am sure that there must be ongoing tests to determine this, but we won’t know how long it remains effective until enough time passes, and it stops being effective.
It seems that actually having COVID gives you antibodies for just a few months. While I have been tested for the virus since having confirmed that I’d had it (and tested negative), I haven’t been tested again for the antibodies. When Michael was tested a few months ago, there was no evidence that he still had them from our bouts with it back in March of last year. On the other hand, we have some friends who still have the antibodies many months after having come down with the virus, themselves.
The simple truth of the moment is that nobody knows for sure what, beyond, throwing some obstacles in the virus’s way, these vaccines are actually going to do. That said, they very well MIGHT solve the problem. What they won’t do is allow us to stop wearing masks and keeping our distance from each other. At least not at first.
When the vaccines were first being developed, the big fear was that the former-President was somehow going to interfere with them and render them unsafe in some way. That doesn’t seem to have been the case.
If the former President were more engaged and, let’s face it, better at his job, maybe he might have tried to influence what the scientists were doing for whatever reason. As it is, aside from railing against obstacles and taking credit for successes from within his rooms at the White House or on the stages of one of his rallies, it doesn’t look like he actually did anything at all about any of it - good or bad. We were saved by his ineptitude.
Given that we now have a President, whose policies are rooted in science, we are finally getting some leadership by example. The anti-vaxxers will not get the vaccine but maybe natural selection will take care of that. Personally, I have no reservations at all about getting either of the vaccines.
In the meantime, life continues its steady slog forward. Even though we are due for another round of snow tomorrow, it is a beautiful day out there today.
Today, a walk. Tomorrow, when it snows, might be the perfect time to re-watch the Sound of Music. Christopher Plummer didn’t care for it very much, but despite that, as he feared, it was in the headlines of most of his obituaries. After the election in November, a meme featuring a scene from the movie of him ripping a Nazi flag in half went viral. I think it’s high time to watch the movie again.
Thank you, Christopher Plummer - and Cloris Leachman, Hal Holbrook, Brian Dennehy and Cicely Tyson - for the remarkable legacies and bodies of work that you leave behind.
You all influenced and changed us more than you will ever know.
May you all rest in peace and in power.
Loved this. Thank you. 💞
💕💕Rest in peace and power as we left behind learn to live all that is love