Back in 1957 I played a half-season of stock at the Allegheny Playhouse in Meadville, Pennsylvania. One of my roles that summer was “Dignan” in Jean Kerr’s Broadway hit King of Hearts.
As the young leading man, I recall making an exit with a rather large dog under one arm and an 8-year-old boy under the other. I don’t recall the dog’s name, but the boy was called “Norman.”
Flash forward to 1973! I’m in rehearsal for A Shot in the Dark at the Piedmont Repertory Company in North Carolina. On a rehearsal break our producer-director, Ron Law, chimed in that his very first stage appearance in his hometown of Meadville was in King of Hearts.
I looked at this young man in disbelief and asked, “What part did you play?” “Norman,” he replied. I gasped. “I carried you off the stage,” I shrieked incredulously. “Thank God I didn’t drop you!”
Six degrees of separation!
