Hawaii
PLANNING a trip to England? Take money. Lots of it. The bargain of a nonstop flight from San Francisco to London and back for less than $500 was all it took to hook me into vacationing there to visit friends and see some first class theater. The London hotels might well be subsidizing such bargains. A single night in a luxury hotel or two nights in a first class hostelry could well cost you that much again. I figured as long as it was costing me an arm, I'd throw in a leg as well. And where better to splurge than at the historic Dorchester? For a couple of days, anyway. And with theater tickets now in the New York price range, all London is a daunting and dear experience ... London trip dear
in many ways
BUT then, I had a chance to spend time with my old pal Sheridan Morley, still one of London's top critics. The day after we lunched, his article on actor John Gielgud turning 95 in a few days and the progress of his authorized biography of the great thespian came out as the cover story in the Sunday Times Culture Magazine. I was to see more of the Morleys later in the trip ... I got together with Kathleen Stuart, the talented 18-year-old Castle grad now studying theater at Mountview Academy, and we took in a couple of plays together. We saw Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha Mason in Neil Simon's "Prisoner of Second Avenue" and the latest version of "Forbidden Broadway," the latter because Kathleen had appeared in an earlier version of the ever-changing musical pastiche at the Manoa Valley Theatre before beginning her studies in London ...
Isle expatriates in London
I CHATTED with former island girl Marie Helvin, now a top model and gossip column fodder in England. Marie married famous photographer David Bailey, whose nude photos of her were featured in the book, "Catwalk." She's divorced from Bailey now, but tells me she's come out with another book and is writing a play ... I also met with aspiring actor Peter Clarke of Honolulu and took him to tea at the Dorchester. Total cost: 45 pounds. At $1.65 per pound, well, you do the math ...ASIDE from taking in plays -- more on that tomorrow -- a major reason for visiting London at this time was to visit my old pal Simon Cardew. The former head of public relations for Sheraton, first in Hawaii and later in all of Europe, Simon is housebound now with a rare and debilitating disease called Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He was my best friend for many years and I hadn't seen him since my last trip to London two and a half years ago. His condition now is appallingly worse. At that time we took walks and regaled waiters by reciting scenes from "Beyond the Fringe," our favorite British revue ...
SIMON now sits in a chair. He can't talk, save for a single word or gesture. He can't swallow, but gets his nutrition through a feeding tube in his stomach. I visited him several times to give his wife, Joan, a chance to get out of the house. Clarke and I did some scenes from "Beyond the Fringe" for him, and he gave us a "thumbs up." I took him on a wheelchair tour through the park on my final outing, and it was so very sad. We came to a tennis court and Simon looked at it wistfully. He'd been a demon tennis player as well as a sailor and athlete when living in Hawaii. I found a tennis ball and gave it to Simon to squeeze as an exercise for his hands. When I said my goodbyes, possibly for the last time, he was still squeezing the ball, his arms hugging me but his eyes staring into space, his thoughts doubtless back in the islands to happier times. As I left his flat, the wind was cold on my wet cheeks. It wasn't raining ...
Dave Donnelly has been writing on happenings
in Hawaii for the Star-Bulletin since 1968.
His columns run Monday through Friday.Contact Dave by e-mail: donnelly@kestrok.com.