Should I ask?

My Encounter with Richard Harris

Music has a way of touching our lives in so many ways. What we hear is always remembered and can come back to us in the strange and sometimes enlightening ways.

In 1968 I would say that much of what I was listening to was The Beatles since they were still blazing new trails that kept me interested and intrigued.  I would let other bands and solo acts in on occasion based on my interest at the time. 

 

I first heard “MacArthur’s Park” on the radio in the car when doing errands with my parents because they wouldn’t listen to rock and roll stations. They mostly listened to country and whatever was considered pop in 1968.  

 

“ MacArthur’s Park” was written my Jim Webb.  The recording appeared on Harris's album “A Tramp Shining” in 1968 and was released as a single in April that same year.  The B-Side was the shorter 4-minute radio version. The song peaked at No. 10 in Billboard's Easy Listening survey. In 1969, "MacArthur Park" received the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists. Many with Donna Summer, The Four Tops and even Waylon Jennings have covered it as A & B side.

 

I wasn’t familiar with Richard Harris, and the song was OK, and I thought it was odd he was singing about “leaving the cake out in the rain”. I would vaguely listen and follow along. Little did I know that this song would make another appearance into my life that would be meaningful and would be a profound encounter Richard Harris himself.

 

In 1972, I was in my junior year of high school and was enjoying my life completely. I was especially enjoying my re-connection and love for the stage. I was looking for every chance I could to be on the stage. I was also looking for mentors to learn from. My first attraction was Richard Harris.  After seeing him in the film “Man in the Wilderness” I knew I wanted to have the commitment and training he obviously had. So, I would read and watch anything I could get my hands on about him. I still hadn’t made the connection in my mind that he was the same Richard Harris that sang “MacArthur’s Park”.

 

So, one Sunday morning I was reading the inside page of that magazine that comes in the Sunday paper with all the cool stories and facts about people and there it was. The question read “ Is Richard Harris the star of “Man in the Wilderness “ the same Richard Harris that sings the song “MacArthur’s Park”?  As I read the question I realized that it had never occurred to me that that was a possibility. As I read the answer I was pleasantly surprised, and it reminded me of how talented he truly was.

 

I would continue to follow him even after high school and college. In the early eighties Camelot was brought to Broadway when he returned as King Arthur.  Although I never got the chance to see him on stage I have to admit that I did watch the movie more times then I can count.

 

I moved to Jupiter, Florida in 1991, which was a favorable move in terms of my acting career. There was a huge surge in films being made in Florida and I jumped right in and started working right away. Right out of the gate I got my Screen Actors Guild card working on “Ace Ventura Pet Detective”, and worked in “The Specialist”, “B.L. Stryker”, “South Beach” and “Wrestling Ernest Hemingway” which starred Shirley Maclaine, Robert Duvall, Sandra Bullock and my mentor Richard Harris.

 

I have to admit I was very excited when in 1993 I found out I was going to be working in the same film with Richard Harris.  I didn’t think there would be much chance to meet him, but I was sure I would see him, and that was good enough for me.

 

I was cast to play an air conditioning repairman. The set was a closed up hotel on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. I showed up for costume and make-up at 8:00am and was told to rush to get ready because we would be shooting my scene first so we could beat the rain that was moving in based on the big black cloud off in the horizon.

 

Once I was made up and put on the coveralls that were my costume I was taken to the second floor holding room and met with the director Randa Haines who told me that since the rain was coming, and the clouds were rolling in, we are going to try to get my two scenes in a.s.a.p.

 

She then walked me through carrying an air-conditioner to a room, "knock on the door, when the person answered, your line is “Here is your air-conditioner” and then enter and we will 'Cut'. Then we would set-up for my second scene with the air conditioner in the window and you turning it on and stating your second line. 'There you go, that should cool things down' and exiting the room". Simple Right?

 

At this point I was told to wait in holding. This room was way down from the area being set-up so I couldn’t see anything except the crews loading in a huge bright light outside the window of the room they were shooting. The clouds had moved in the scene needed to have bright Florida sun shining outside the window. I love Hollywood!

 

After a short time I was told to head to the set. Once there we ran thought it again. I was the only person in the scene so it flew by pretty quick. A couple of angle changes and we were done. I was even told how great I was doing at my role. Then back to holding until the indoor scene was ready.

 

At this point the black cloud was getting closer, and was almost on top of us. The assistant director rushed in and took me to the set, and it was obvious we were running out of time.

 

They were shooting a short scene inside the room and I was positioned outside the door so they could step right into the next scene. So, there I was standing there holding the air-conditioner waiting. (It was a gutted shell that only weights a few pounds). After about 10 minutes the sky opened up and torrential rains came falling down with crashes of thunder and lightning.

 

At this point I was told to put the prop down and come inside and sit. I was told with any luck this would blow over quickly and we would be able to shoot the scene soon. I was lead into the room from the adjoining room next door through wires and lights. Now here is where it gets unbelievably awesome!

 

I was instructed to sit on the couch, which was in the middle of the room, I saw from the back two people sitting with an opening in the middle. On the left was woman; based on the big feminine looking haircut and on the right was a man with what looked like a white baseball hat with a black brim on backwards.  As I came around to the front of the couch and got a look at who was on the couch, I almost fainted. I froze and must have had a look of shock on my face looking at Shirley Maclaine and the one and only Richard Harris.  I hear a voice from behind me say “Mr. Erb you can sit on the couch while we wait for the rain to stop” So, I sat in the middle of two of the biggest star to ever walk the earth waiting for the rain to stop.

 

There was still an enormous amount of hustle and bustle with make-up people touching us all up because of the heat. Fans where brought in to keep us cool. The director told us that she was going to try and keep this scene ready for a while since we were all set-up. Shirley said “Its lunch time. How long will we have to wait to eat? Randa ask Richard and myself if we were hungry. Richard said “not really”. And then she looked at me. I was in the middle and didn’t want to say anything to upset anybody. Then Shirley turned to me and said “You’re hungry right? I responded the only I know when a women ask me a question like that. “Why yes Shirley I am hungry”.

 

The director asks if she served us lunch here on the couch would that be OK? We all agreed and in minutes there I was having lunch with two of my favorite actors.

 

After a while I relaxed and we began to all have conversation to pass the time. Shirley asks me what I was up too. I told her “I was directing the musical “Romance Romance” at the Lake Worth Playhouse just a few miles up the road". Richard jumped in a said he love that show. Shirley responded, “We should go, when does it open”? I told her and she said she would still be around, and maybe she would come to see it. I then told her, I would leave two tickets at the Box Office under Shirley for every show and wouldn't tell a soul that she was coming..

 

I couldn’t help myself once I was relaxed to tell Richard about my fixation with him. And jokingly I said “I just have one question if you don’t mind” and he replied  “Sure as long as it isn’t, who left the cake out in the rain”? Shirley and I both laughed. Unfortunately, that was my question. So my one question was “How often do people asked you that question”? His answer “You have no idea”?

 

I actually have a history of asking stupid questions to famous people that I was fortunate to be in their company. I once asked: Mikhail Baryshnikov standing on the bow of the “Spirit of Charleston” during “Spoleto” “What do you call a male ballerina”? His answer “A dancer” I asked Jerry Lewis in his dressing room during “Damn Yankees” “Do you think that your career was better with Dean Martin”? His answer “No”. I asked Placido Domingo in his dressing room “Don’t you think its weird to hear all the music you sing on the cartoons on Saturday mornings? His answer “I like cartoon”. That’s just a few of my stupid question to famous people.

 

My afternoon sitting on the couch with Shirley Maclaine and Richard Harris was, and still is one of my fondest memories. I always recall us laughing and sharing stories as if we knew each other. As far as the scene goes, the rain never stopped and after two hours they wrapped us and I never got the call to re-shoot. My scene was cut. And what I did shoot landed on the cutting room floor and didn’t make the movie. It was not big deal because of the experience I had on that awesome day.

 

Just a footnote.  I work again with Mikhail Baryshnikov many years later in West Palm Beach. I was the stage manager for show he was touring with. He asked me “You look familiar have we met”?  I reminded him of that night in Charleston. We both laughed and caught up over coffee.

 

Finally, a woman wearing a big hat and sunglasses claimed those two tickets for “Romance Romance” left at the Box Office at the Lake Worth Playhouse.  I wonder?