Cutting The Cord

I know I'll regret posting this whenever random memories surface that could have been included in the F/X portion of my show biz history. Nine and a quarter years is the second longest time I've ever stayed with one company, and the longer one was the family commercial art business. Truth be told, the longest stretch there, March '78 to March '87, was three months shorter - but I digress.

Carmen graduated Leslie University's Intensive Residency program in May of '04 and immediately began getting together her applications to three theological schools: Vanderbilt Divinity in Nashville, Harvard Divinity in Cambridge, MA and Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, MA. I could tell by the vibes that she wanted to go to greater Boston, but would go to Tennessee if that was her only option. It wasn't. It came to pass, as everyone but Carmen knew it would, that she was accepted to all three. She went to an open house weekend at both Harvard and Andover Newton, and her fancy was tickled by ANTS. In those early months of 2005 we got the house in selling shape and began pulling up stakes, one stake at a time.

Everyone at F/X knew what was happening: the timekeeper was moving away. Management began pressing me to declare when I would be leaving. I consulted with my management, and she decided that April 30th would be a good time. F/X hired a new Jim, and I began training the next decks-a-trim installation specialists. As April waned, there was talk of a going away dinner. A dinner? Why do I get a dinner? I've seen hundreds of people leave the fold, and none of them got a dinner. Remembering Red Buttons at the Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts of the seventies, a speech began writing itself in my head. It described many of the great F/X employees who left, and never got a dinner - including Mack's own mother-in-law Peggy, who retired three times and STILL never got a dinner. It was pretty funny, and the large gathering (for a free meal) seemed to enjoy it. The hard part was that the dinner was on the 29th, so I still had one more day to go.

My last day was hard to get through. I don't remember doing anything productive. I cleaned out my box there at the end of my twenty by six foot table. I turned in my company-issued tools and packed up my own tools into my Toyota T100 pickup truck. I pulled out my huge pile of drawings from nine and a quarter years of building scenery exhibits and displays. Anthony Ferguson seemed interested in them, but even more interested in getting a good recording of me shouting "Dot's On The Dot!" before I left. This was very confusing to people who had been conditioned to go on break when they heard that sound.

I was sad to leave, but excited about leaving Florida. I wouldn't need a vehicle in Boston, so I could shed that piece of hardware from my kit! And after twenty-seven years of suffering through summer, we were going to spend at least four years suffering through winter!