Jack Scribe
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MIKE It was barely a week after spring break and the meeting with Eunice and her lawyer, Henry. Justin had returned to school in Minnesota and the L.A. family was back in their busy schedule. With my management team, I had completed the hiring process of all personnel for the new El Padre restaurant in Balboa Park. Training would begin next Monday, May 3, with a soft opening on Friday, May 15. Ten days to whip the new crew into shape. Dave and I had agreed to be the first responders to Eun
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MIKE The time spent with Brent and Doug for Valentine’s Day weekend was amazing. They mysteriously mentioned that the guest bedroom was occupied but had arranged for us to stay in a pre-paid suite at the Westwood Marquis Hotel, across from the UCLA campus near their condo. Our plan was to have cocktails and a casual dinner at the condo after we checked into the hotel late Friday afternoon. Saturday night would be a more formal Valentine’s Day Dinner at a restaurant in Santa Monica. Dave an
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BRYAN I processed what they had just told me and thought,‘These two guys –Brent and Doug – are awesome. And they came back.’ I was surprised that these dudes had taken the time to return. ‘Plus, they’re a freakin’ couple to boot.’ I also thought they were pretty easy on the eyes. “Whoa, are you pulling my leg?” I asked. “We barely know each other. I mean, I know I’m kinda cute, and all.” I called up my biggest grin so that they would know I wasn’t opposed to the idea. It also gave me time
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BRENT/BRAD Doctor Bragman– Howie – patiently looked at me with a puzzled, patient expression as I mentally sorted out my past and organized my thoughts. This was the first outsider who would hear my tale. After taking a deep breath, I started, “I was 19 and didn’t expect my dad to come home. When he arrived early, dad got an eye-full. My best friend and I were really into each other.” I gave Howie a fast, capsule account of my past five years – excluding the Memphis side job – and conclude
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MIKE The rest of the Christmas holidays sped by to an accelerated conclusion. Dave and I decided to attend St. Paul’s Cathedral for an old-fashioned O Holy Night Christmas with Cappella Gloriana Episcopal service on the night before New Year’s Eve. It was my one night off during the busy week between Christmas and New Year’s. I bought four tickets and invited Justin and his Grandma. However, Eunice thought it best if we took Justin without her because she wanted to rest up for the next eve
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MIKE From the living room, Dave exclaimed, “Merry Christmas, everyone.” Like the rest of us, he was in long pants and a loose, untucked shirt over a tee. “I’m Dave Swenson, Mrs. Palmer. Welcome to our home. Justin, I hope this is just the first of many visits.” My lover’s radiant smile could melt glaciers. After we walked in, Dave gave Eunice a hug and shook Justin’s hand while grasping the young man’s right shoulder. It was not hard to notice Justin physically and emotionally absorbing th
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RICK Like a teenybopper groupie, I embarrassing gushed, “Brad Williams? Criminy, we were just watching you on Friends last week.” It took a moment for Bob and I to regain our composure. “This is crazy that we’re all together at Dave and Mike’s place. Do we call you Brent or Brad?” ‘Brother Mike has got some explaining to do,’ I thought, with a smile, ‘he’s definitely having a little fun with Bob and me.’ “Brent is for friends,” he replied as we both shook his hand. “Acting is something I f
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MIKE Dave had successfully started as a freshman at UCSD in September. I knew that he was bright but what astounded me was the dedication and concentration with which he approached studying and learning. The first of October, with the Navy behind me, I left for a two-week leave to visit my family in Chicago, before starting my new job. Dave had ‘aced’ all of his first exams and we celebrated the night before my flight in a very randy, un-academic fashion. October in Chicago was always an ex
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BILLY I walked into the den and found the portable phone receiver on a side table. ‘Christ,’ I thought, ‘I better pinch myself to make sure this isn’t a dream.’ I had always been leery of a blind date – had been since high school - but I was almost giddy about tonight. ‘I may have lucked out and met Mr. Right,’ I thought. This was definitely not going to be a fast fuck, thank you evening with Jim Weiss. ‘Mom was always bugging me to date someone Jewish, and maybe she’ll get her wish…this time.’
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DOUG When we returned to L.A., Brent jumped right into his summer film production, feet first, and I continued my AD gig on American History X – the working title had now been officially changed. I was running his lines with him every night after I got back from the studio. It was crazy, in my opinion, that Brent’s director didn’t want to rehearse, but several of the big guys worked that way. I was fortunate that the directors I had worked with demanded prep and rehearsal from the actors – this
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RUSS Dave was the perfect host – as I knew he would be – and a considerate friend to everyone. Watching the adult version of my childhood pal brought a smile to my face. ‘Thank God some things don’t change,’ I thought, as I joined everyone in the dining room. The energetic, fun, bright, caring boy with whom I grew up was now the other half of a solid partnership built around trust and love. I was feeling very comfortable with all these guys – guys who enjoyed each other’s company and also happe
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DAVE With an obvious expression of concern, I asked my grandma, “So, you and gramps are really okay with my friendship?” It was around noon on Sunday in the living room of Uncle Trey and Aunt Betty’s house…and the first time to talk – face to face – with her about Mike and me. “According to our priest, and from your letters, this is more than a friendship?” At 75, she was sharp as a tack. I was impressed that she would bring up the subject with her Episcopal minister. “Yeah, Mike and I
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DAVE I smiled at the route taken to my temporary job assignment as I changed in the lifeguard locker room with Petty Officer John Andrews. Last night, at dinner, Mike told me about his meeting with Lt. Connor and his suggestion that my Memphis club pool experience could come in handy at the North Island club. But I really flipped when Mike also mentioned the potential of a civilian job he might have with Connor’s dad in San Diego. “I’ll give you the rundown and routine this morning. By lunc
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BRENT/BRAD Jim Weiss was honorably discharged from the Navy, moved to L.A. in mid-December and accepted our invitation to stay at the condo until he found something. The something was a small, furnished studio on Larrabee, conveniently not far from Billy Forrest’s place in West Hollywood. Jim set up his new digs on January 2nd and started school at Cal State-Northridge as a freshman the following week. During the holidays, Doug and I had a small dinner party for Jim that included Billy, Tom
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BRENT/BRAD Dave and Russ left us at the cabin so that they could drive over to the marina. The boat would be fueled and returned to the Swenson dock by Dave while Russ returned to the cabin in the SUV. We all agreed that the powerful Chris-Craft was going to get a thorough workout for the remainder of the week. After organizing the lunch fixings and straightening up the kitchen as a team effort, we changed into swim trunks and reassembled on the back porch. Russ had returned and changed as w
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University of California, San Diego, is a large, beautiful, sprawling, modern campus, tucked in the hills above La Jolla and the ocean. It had developed a reputation for academic excellence and student casualness that appealed to me. A bonus was that the drive from home to the campus was a pleasant 20-minute reverse commute on the San Diego Freeway. I was a little bummed out when the admissions handout mentioned that transfers were only accepted for the junior year. However, when I sat do
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MIKE Tom and I arrived at Hamburger Mary’s on West University at the same time – just before seven – and opted for a table inside because of a chill in the air. A very cute waiter, wearing a tight, uniform tee shirt and faded, body-hugging jeans approached us and we ordered two beers and a couple of Maryburgers. He winked as he wrote the order on a pad and brazenly pushed his well-formed crotch against the table edge. ‘Probably angling for a better tip,’ I sardonically reasoned, smiling at him
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BRAD I put the encounter and threat from ‘Charlie’ on the back burner. An exhausting Saturday included a matinee for the Long Island blue hairs and a sold-out evening performance packed with season subscribers. Most important, however, was my expanded family gathering at The 21 Club. Our cab pulled up to 21 West 52nd Street, with the driver inching his way through a gridlock of black limousines. The restaurant building, a combination of old, joined brownstones, displayed miniature iron joc
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DOUG Sam Barron had brilliantly executed the game plan to bring Brent into the mainstream consciousness of the Hollywood community. Although the majority of the American public still thought of ‘Brad’ as the cute guy on Friends, the ‘suits’ at the studios, actors, directors and the entertainment journalists were aware that this new actor was becoming a very hot property in the most respected American thespian arena: Broadway. This was like enjoying the bouquet of a hand-warmed Grande Champagne
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BRENT/BRAD The next two weeks really tested my acting ability – theater veterans called it, ‘acting chops’. While the La Jolla Playhouse was a very professional regional theater, Broadway was the pinnacle in America. Somewhere into the second week of rehearsals the cast began to rally to me, as our characters’ interaction took on a life of their own: my interpretation of the role was positively critiqued and it was evident that all of our characters connected. On the technical side, the produce
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BRENT/BRAD I ushered in 1997 and heralded the end of my Navy enlistment, New Year’s Eve at Dave’s San Diego house with the guys. Although I was mustered out a week earlier, as the clock struck 0001, January 1, I was officially a civilian and a soon-to-be working actor in New York. Dave, Mark, Tom, Doug and I celebrated earlier with dinner and wine…Mike got home from the North Island Officer’s Club New Year’s Eve party in time to join us in the countdown, watching Dick Clark broadcasting from Ti
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Chapter 4 If It's Tuesday, It Must Be Looping
Jack Scribe posted new chapter in Splash On The Screen
BRENT/BRAD The cookout the week after we all met was a lot of fun. Tom and Mark were completely compatible with the entire group, and each couple respected the personal boundaries of the others. Dumb, sexual innuendos and joking were understood for what they were: young hormone-charged, male silliness. Tom Feldman nurtured our new friendship further by encouraging casual get-togethers several times during the remainder of summer, both in San Diego and L.A., with Mark and him. Into the first -
BRENT/BRAD Lying in my lover’s arms after we had consumed each other, with Doug in deep sleep, my thoughts reviewed the progress of our relationship. ‘A long way from our lives on the wild side in Memphis,’ I thought, ‘and this next phase will really test us.’ He would be pressured to excel in his first assistant director’s job. My acting career with the TV series, and, later, the New York production of the play would keep me busy…and keep us apart. As Doug shifted his body to his side with his
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BRENT/BRAD The play opening went off without a hitch with an explosive, positive reaction that was repeated each night of the previews. The cast, director and playwright were ecstatic, and I was still in the clouds about the reaction to my performance. The Playbill and marquee had been changed to announce me under the starring cast. It now read in large bold type, AND INTRODUCING BRAD WILLIAMS. True to Sam’s prediction, my headshot ran with the review in the San Diego Union-Tribune and the L
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NOVEL. The four Navy friends move on to California and eventual civilian life. Book 2 of the Splash trilogy.
