Arthur Penn: Our Miami
I was introduced to Arthur Penn by Lois Smith at the 2006 memorial service for Maureen Stapleton, held at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The stage on which this service was conducted was designed for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and there were chairs suited for children, colorful swirls—all of which, we agreed, would have amused Maureen.
Arthur effusively greeted Lois, and when Lois introduced us, he said to me “This is a great lady. I’ve been apologizing to her since 1960, at least.” Lois laughed and shrugged it off, but Penn was referring to the fact that he had wanted Lois to appear in his production of Lillian Hellman’s Toys in the Attic, but, for reasons best known to the play’s producer, Kermit Bloomgarden, an edict was announced: Penn had gotten the designer he wanted, the lead actors he wanted, the theatre he wanted, but now Kermit Bloomgarden was going to get what he wanted. Rochelle Oliver got the part, and Penn sent Lois a lovely letter and an enormous floral arrangement. Rochelle Oliver was a marvelous actress, but Penn had offered his word, and he felt he had betrayed Lois, although they later worked together again.
When Arthur Penn was told about the book I was working on, and the names of some of the people I had interviewed, he told me that he wanted to be included. “I have some things to say,” he told me. Yes, he did. I’ve shared a lot of them.
Here is what I remember him saying at our first meeting, which I think of often.
“We met at a memorial. Maureen. And all around us were these people who knew and loved her. Or who loved her work. And I looked around and there was Lois, there was Maria Tucci, there was Lee Grant, there were Anne [Jackson] and Eli [Wallach], there was Zoe Caldwell, there was Carol Kane. Frances Sternhagen, Elizabeth Wilson. All of us connected. Spokes on a wheel. Then I thought of those no longer with us, no longer able to gather and love a person, an idea, the theatre. But that community exists, if only in our memories. I gather with them often. I don’t think I could write anything, but I can look back on those I worked with, those I admired, and I’m with them again.”
Less than a year later, Mike Nichols spoke at the induction of director Jack O’Brien into the Theatre Hall of Fame, and he voiced a similar sentiment: “I look out at this crowd,” he said of those gathered in a corner of the Gershwin Theatre, “and, you know, this is our Miami.”
I shared this with Arthur Penn, and he laughed. “Yes,” he said. “Mike made it work so well. Always. Funny, sharp, and sad. Yes, let’s all retreat to our Miami.”