Progress Update: The Knife

As is slowly evident as I write the play, this is an ensemble piece that cuts back and forth through time, sometimes very liberally and surrealistically, with the underlying concept of "home" and "homelessness". In fact, I would like to use the term "impressionistic" - I think this play will turn out to be an impressionistic work that informs through snatches of dialogue and visuals, building up to a finale that is both intriguing and patchworky, like looking through a kaleidscope and finding an interesting pattern you like.

If you know me as a writer, I hate realism. And there is nothing more boring than realism at the theatre. Give me Robert Wilson and The Wooster Group any day. That is why I always talk about David Lynch.

So, the knife. Because it is impressionistic, we need motifs to establish links between the various stories. One of them is the knife.



This is first used by the Cuban Boxer (yes, he is one of the characters) to slaughter a live chicken, as part of a Santeria ritual. After all, he wants to win his match. This is then passed to the Naked Girl, who slashes her forearm to get blood (she "paints" with blood, didn't you know?), and eventually to The Starlet, who will use it on her paramour, The Director.

The Starlet is based on (i) Mary Miles Minter, and (ii) the character Effie (played by Jennifer Hudson) from the movie "Dreamgirls", which was partly shot at the Hotel. While The Director is mainly William Desmond Taylor infused with the fictitious film director (played by Justin Theroux) from David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

When the latter director was pursued by the movie Mafia, he escaped to downtown LA and hid out at a low income hostel, very much like the Hotel. Also, note that the scene where the director meets up with the espresso drinking financier for his movie is filmed in the Banks Huntley Building at 634 Spring Street, less than a block from the Hotel.

I think The Victorian Woman will use the knife too, perhaps using it to carve a portal into the Ghost Building, as she looks for her missing son. Don't worry if you're not following, it will all make sense, impressionistically.

Interesting Fact: Cuban Boxers

By the 1960s, the Hotel was run down and crumbling, in a real shady part of town. Very much like what it is in the recent past. With this descent into seediness, a new group of people moved in, and one of these were the Cuban boxers.

At that time, boxing matches were held at Chavez Ravine, at the newly constructed Dodger Stadium (completed in 1962). Technically Chavez Ravine was gone, but the Cubans still called the place Chavez Ravine.

Out-of-town contenders are housed cheaply at the Hotel, where there was a practice ring. It is not clear where exactly in the Hotel the ring was situated, but I suspect it was on the 2nd floor ballroom.

Why do I say that? Well, during the Prohibition era, illegal boxing matches went on at the Hotel in that very ballroom, with a band and people wagering whatever money they had from the 3rd floor balcony. Illegal booze and liquor was smuggled in via the tunnels under the Hotel.

In 1963, Luis Manuel Rodriguez was training at the Hotel. He was about 5'7" and weighed 145 pounds. He didn't look menacing like what you would imagine a boxer to look like, but he was fast, really fast, and was described as the most agile boxer before the era of Muhammad Ali. He was going to fight Emile Griffiths, a fighter who had once literally killed someone in the ring. Rodriguez and Griffiths had met once before, in 1960, when the match was given to Griffiths in a split decision. At the Hotel, Rodriguez trained with Kid Rapidez, a fellow Cuban, who was rumored to be an expert in Santeria (a Cuban form of witchcraft).

This match in LA would prove to be the highlight of the Cuban boxer's career. He beat Griffiths in a unanimous decision to gain him the World Welterweight title. The two would meet again another two times, but Rodriguez would never beat Griffiths again. Perhaps Santeria had something to do with this. Or perhaps not.

Progress Update: Pig Face

This is the central mystery figure in the play. I envisage an actor (male or female) wearing either a mask or some kind of headgear to suggest a snout and pig ears. Pig Face is a combination of (i) the Phantom of the Opera, (ii) a homeless person, and (iii) Preacher Man, a habitue of the Hotel.

Let's talk a little about Preacher Man. He is the semi-famous guy who used to stand at the corner of 5th and Spring to preach. By all accounts, no one knows what he says, because he is always mumbling and muttering. But there is certainly some gravitas to this man, for people notice him. And he gives off some kind of energy, even if it is some strange vibe from an alien god.

Anyway, I think Pig Face is on a search too. And I think he is ultimately related to the little boy who disappears while running along the corridors of the Hotel. Did he somehow get into the Ghost Building, which has no exits? Maybe.

In Miyazaki's "Spirited Away", humans accidentally enter an alternative realm when they break into a theme park after dark and are morphed into pigs - ugly, greedy and voracious creatures with no care for their surroundings or fellow animals. Maybe this play is about that too.

Interesting Fact: Mary Miles Minter & William Desmond Taylor

Mary Miles Minter was a pretty girl from Chicago who made it good in Hollywood in the 1910s. She started her career on the stage in NY, before being tempted to try this new art form called "film". Ms. Minter moved out to California in June 1916, and started working with the American Mutual Film Company, based out of Santa Barbara. She was (apparently) only 14 years old then.

As far as I know, she first met film director William Desmond Taylor in December 1916, when the precursor to the DGA held a belated Thanksgiving dinner at the Hotel. In attendance were such "stars" as (and I quote names from my research) Fritzi Brunette, Myrtle Gonzales, Hobart Henley and Bessie Barriscale. I don't recognize any of these names, and I'm sure Ms. Minter would have faded into similar obscurity had she not met Taylor.

For she eventually became Taylor's protege, working with him on film production company Realart's feature "Anne of Green Gables". This happened after Ms. Minter won the top prize as the most popular actress in a contest organized Photoplay magazine. She won a "fully equipped motor car valued at $1,500", and the ceremonies was held at, where else, the Hotel. "Anne of Green Gables" was a tremendous success and Realart became a part of Famous Players-Lasky which eventually became Paramount Studios. In 1920, Ms. Minter (still only 18 then) told the newspaper Los Angeles Express that she would like to become an "airplane pilot" when she grew up. Hmmm.

So why do we remember Ms. Minter today? In 1922, William Desmond Taylor was found dead at his apartment, shot dead in the back. The next day, Ms. Minter and her mother left town suddenly saying that they were going to Asia on vacation. Taylor's murder was never solved and is still open today, with Ms. Minter as one of the key suspects. What was particular incriminating was that her mother (allegedly) owned a gun which matched the type of bullet found in Taylor's body. Taylor murder remains one of the greatest unsolved "Hollywood" mystery.



In late 1922, Famous Players-Lasky "severed all connections" to Ms. Minter and she eventually returned to NY to continue her stage career. And one final interesting note, in the movie "Sunset Boulevard", the character "Norma Desmond" was named after William Desmond Taylor and a good friend of his named Norma.

Progress Update: The Victorian Woman

So I met up with Kim yesterday at the Hotel. She is indeed the Founder and President of the LA Paranormal Research Group, a team of ghost hunters and exorcists dedicated to uncovering bad (or good) spirits in LA. As a Hotel resident, she is of course very familiar with the ghostly presences there. This is what I found out.



First, the "Lady in Black" is NOT the same as the "Victorian Lady". The former is a famous ghost at the Hotel and often seen on the 9th floor. According to Kim, there may be a connection to Rudolph Valentino (whose suite used to be on the 12th floor). A similarly clad woman used to visit Valentino's grave every year on his birthday, and no one knew who she was. The Lady in Black probably dates from the 1910s. She is dressed like a widow at a funeral, and there's often a sad energy around her.

In contrast, the "Victorian Lady" is a more recent phenomenon, seen mostly in the Palm Court. It is not clear who she is, or what she is up to. But Kim apparently has a photo of the this woman, in an elaborate frock with puffy sleeves and a full black skirt.

Kim also confirmed the ghostly little girl, a presence I've mentioned before. But Kim doesn't think this girl stepped into an elevator well and died. She says there is no such proof. Instead, the girl (Kim calls her "Baby Girl"), apparently a friend of John Parkinson (the architect of the Hotel), used to come to the site with him (even when it was under construction), and simply loved riding the elevators. It is thought that this was the highlight of her life, and she came back to the Hotel to ride the elevators upon her death.

Apparently it is quite easy to discern the presence of Baby Girl. Kim once stepped into the elevator and it started to close, but then the door bumped into "something" and it opened again. This was Baby Girl getting in. Then the elevator, without any human intervention, will automatically travel to a floor of Baby Girl's choosing. Once, Kim even said, "Tenth Floor please" to Baby Girl and the elevator brought her to that very floor. Skeptical? Kim didn't appear to be lying.

There are many more ghosts. But I'll go into those another time.

What I've been toying with is the idea that the Victorian Woman and Baby Girl are related in some way. Perhaps they are mother and child. And now this story intersects with AL's real story. AL, a resident at the Hotel, has lived in downtown all his long life. During WWII, his mother, a widow, used to bring him (a toddler then) to the hotel so that she could meet men in a social setting, as her husband was killed in the the war. In the early 1940s, it was not proper for a lone woman to be hanging around hotel lobbies (is it now?). But with a child in tow, it is suddenly so much more respectable.

I'm thinking perhaps the child, fascinated by the elevators (or the corridors), gets lost, and the mother becomes distraught as she starts looking for her child. Perhaps this search will form the spine of the play, as it changes through time and morphs, ultimately, into a search for love, and yes, home. Will she find him (or her)? We shall see.

Interesting Fact: Wyatt Earp & Faro

From when he was a teenager, Wyatt Earp spent more time in Los Angeles than any other part of the country. According to my research, he once ran a Faro game at the Hotel. What's Faro? This was a popular card game, invented in Europe in the 1700s and introduced to America in 1803. By all accounts, Faro was the most popular saloon gambling game in the Old West, but had all but vanished in 1925 in favor of roulette and craps. You will see this game being played in the movie "Tombstone" (1993), where Earp (portrayed by Kurt Russell) was clearly an expert.


A very simple game, you can learn and play Faro here.

Progress Update: The Songwriter 2

Yesterday, I found myself again at Panera Bread, but this was the Ladera location. I was between a brunch thing and an afternoon exhibition opening so I settled down to ... well, drink tea and surf the web. But before long, The Songwriter started to make noise. So I wrote a scene.

The Songwriter, having landed in LA, goes in search of a place to stay. He goes to (where else) the Hotel where he tries to rent a room from The Old Queen. Yes, The Old Queen, based on (i) a well known resident at the Hotel and (ii) Divine. I've been listening to the "Hairspray" soundtrack as I wrote, and it's, well, divine. Yes, bad pun.



As The Songwriter talks to The Old Queen, we see that his words, which had been poetry in monologue form (we will discover or perhaps intuit that they are all INTERIOR monologues), is completely inept and stutter-like in a dialogue format. Then The Naked Girl strolls pass casually. The Songwriter, already fumbling with his words, does a double take. While she doesn't say a word during this initial encounter, the die is cast; their lives will be changed forever. How? I don't know yet.

The Naked Girl, based on (i) a girl that was in a nude photo shoot at the Hotel, (ii) NJ, and (iii) those naked women from David Lynch's movies.

Oh, and The Old Queen uses an abacus to calculate the rent. And the "room" being rented out to The Songwriter is The Old Queen's closet (this really DID happen). Does he have designs on the poor (and "delectable") musician? What do you think?