I want to make a couple of things clear. (1) I harbor no ill feeling for Wilson. I must admit that I was a bit startled to learn that he did not prepare for the summer session and hear from him and his mother what was happening. We did have a talk about the dilemma facing him--the dilemma he explained, that is. He did not want to stay. He told me that he should go back and face consequences. I told him he would have an F in the first part of the course (you will recall that Sh at W was two courses, the first preparatory to the Winedale session) but would give him a clear drop in the second because he was leaving. He understood. I told him that I agreed to his decision to return home. In my earlier letter I said I "demanded" he leave. That was an exaggeration. I provided him a way of leaving. (2) After reading Mike's letter (below) I began to wonder whether I was hearing the "real story" after all. But I accepted everything he told me as true. When you get right down to it, there really are not many facts at all. He was not prepared with poem or lines. He brought an overnight bag for the six-week stay. Gloria did receive a call from his mother. I did talk to someone who said she was his mother. That's all, folks. (3) I am pleased that he has done well in film. I have never seen him act, however. My only experience with his work is listening to his red car voice. So Michael, you know him better than any of us it seems. Just tell him old Doc Ayres said hello. There are many lessons to be learned from all of this I suppose.
Curious that all of this should come up just after I read Rebekah's prize-winning essay on Sh's Romances, which explore systems of belief, and our forthcoming Camp Sh session on The Winter's Tale.
The 9th summer of Camp Shakespeare begins June 5! The Taming of the Shrew. Second session: The Winter's Tale. I'm once again fortunate enough to have Bob's daughter, Jessica Pees; Clayton's son Augie; Jeff Larsen's son, Will; three of my grandkids, Kaitlyn, Paxton, and Ethan; and Bruce's Gillian and Bekah (as Junior Counselor/Assistant).
Another "First": Camp Shakespeare "tour." We have been invited to perform The Winter's Tale at the Crystal Theater in Gonzales on July 7.
Cheers to all,
Doc
On May 26, 2011, at 6:06 PM, Mike Godwin wrote:
For what it's worth, Doc's account is consistent with what Owen said at the time. I don't pretend to know what the truth is, but I know that witnesses often lie, and, retrospectively, I think Owen was fabulating some or all of his situation.
Of course, it doesn't actually matter what the explanation is -- the underlying fact is that Owen couldn't/didn't even learn his poem for Day One. And he explained away his discomfort with the situation by telling a story about this girl he supposedly got pregnant. I believed him at the time, but I've dealt with a lot of dissembling witnesses since then, so I think he may have fabulated his problems in the hope of getting sent home with no penalties.
Here's an abbreviated version of his current account of the events on IMdB:
"Not Shakespeare. In college I took a Shakespeare class because I was an English major, and they had a Summer program called Shakespeare at Winedale, which is out in the German Hill country in Texas , where you go out and live for two months and then you perform three plays at the end of that time. And people from Austin drive out and see it. I was supposed to be one of the two gentlemen of Verona . And I got out there and I just could not stand being out there. There were also so many lines to memorize that it was just overwhelming for me. So I ended up going home and I got an F."
You should believe as much of this as sounds credible to you.
--m
On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Barker, Michael <Michael_Barker@spe.sony.com
wrote:
Then I will not say a word.
----- Original Message ----- From: James Ayres [mailto:jayres@cvctx.com] Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 06:33 PM To: mnemonic@gmail.com mnemonic@gmail.com; weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org Subject: Re: [Weeklong-l] Midnight in Paris
A Paul Harvey thing here, "the real story" about Owen. He arrived one day and left the next. I provided, demanded, the exit once I discovered (from his mother and the UT police) that he was using Winedale as a hideout from families and legal authorities seeking him for getting a girl pregnant. Nothing at all to do with lines. Only moral responsibility. The folklore about his connection with Shakespeare at Winedale should dissolve, disappear. He was never there.
Doc
On May 26, 2011, at 4:12 PM, Mike Godwin wrote:
Famously (or infamously in our circles), Owen Wilson was a Winedale student very briefly in the summer of 1989. (Madge and I were both there that summer.) He opted to leave rather than learn his lines -- we handled it.
It's hard not to feel a bit ambivalent about him even now (in case
you
were wondering how long I hold a grudge), but he has shown some
great
charm in some of his movies. (Of course, people feel ambivalent
about
Woody Allen too. And even about Paris!)
--m
On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Maggie Megaw maggie@bizaffairs.com
wrote:
Meant to write on Sunday after seeing the picture Saturday night—9:30 screening, sold out, as were the two preceding
screenings.
Loved the movie—full of charm and smitten with Paris. Most fun out at the movies in a long while. Congratulations, Michael. xxxm
maggie megaw | business affairs, inc | 2415 main street santa monica ca 90405 | ph 310 954 8440 | fx 310 362 8707
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