The
March radio show of “Schmidt Happens” is still in the works; stay tuned for air
dates. All on WBCA-LP 102.9 Boston, your Community Radio Station.
Ironically, quite coincidentally,
just after taping the January radio show on Democracy, where Ellen threw in the
George Takei quote, we learned that George Takei himself was coming to Boston,
for a Q & A session at the Boch Wang Center Friday night, February 3, 2017.
First we were treated to
a complete showing of the second Star Trek movie, “The Wrath of Khan,” released
in 1982. “How quaint,” I remember thinking, “they’re still using flip phones.”
Oh, wait a minute, how prescient they were, to have imagined flip phones more
than ten years before they were invented and marketed! As it has been said,
sometimes art imitates life, and this time perhaps technology imitated art.
I was struck by a number
of lines from the movie that are still relevant today:
“As a matter of cosmic history, it has always
been easier to destroy than to create.”
“Scientists have always
been the pawns of the military.”“Just words, but that’s where ideas come from.”
A question and answer session with George Takei followed after the movie, running the gamut, from Star Trek, to being gay and closeted in Hollywood, to recalling his childhood experience being interned with his family during World War II, and his life as an activist, especially in light of recent events, while balancing his public life with his private life with husband, Brad, who was also in the audience. Some of the highlights follow.
George Takei observed
that although the Starfleet was supposed to be a meritocracy, he got so
frustrated that year after year, movie after movie, his character, Sulu,
remained at the console. “I was always an activist,” he said, in his life, for
his career, and for his character. “When I saw the script for movie six,” where
Sulu was finally promoted to Captain, “I was over the moon.”
He donated the Sulu
costume to the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles. Later, a docent
commented to him, “We’re getting a lot of Trekkies here. I didn’t know they
were so interested in the Japanese-American experience.” George had to chuckle.
He spoke warmly of
Boston native Leonard Nimoy, and saw him as the voice of conscience on the
show. Boston has always held a special place in his heart as well.
He talked about being
closeted most of his life, in order to work. He seldom went to bars, but one
time he went into one, and quite by chance, ran into Merrick Buttrick, the
actor who played Captain Kirk’s son in the movie we had just watched. They sort
of acknowledged each other, but didn’t speak. He spoke admiringly of Merrick’s
talents as an actor, and of his perseverance and courage later, performing on
Broadway, playing a gay man dying from AIDS, while Merrick himself was also in
actuality suffering from AIDS. I guess this would be a case of life imitating art,
imitating life. It also struck me, the irony – or foreshadowing, or great
prescience – of the line his character spoke in the movie:
“How you face death is
as important as how you face life.”
George Takei spoke of
how Star Trek pushed the limits in its day. For example, they aired the first
black-white kiss on television and “got into real trouble.” It was one of their
first seasons. Some stations in the South refused to air it. George had lobbied
with Gene Rodenberry to push the envelope even further, by adding a gay
character. Gene told him they were “walking a tight rope.” They had almost
gotten canceled. “We have to stay on the air to tell the stories we want to,”
he told George. It’s interesting to think about how so many viewers at the time
saw Star Trek as simply just a science fiction fantasy series, when it was
really just the medium for telling these allegorical tales about society, human
nature, culture, civil rights, and justice. We are all now hoping that these
themes themself do not disappear and become merely a fantasy in our current
environment.
In the run-up to the
fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek, George Takei heard that as a tribute to him,
they were making Mr. Sulu gay. He tried to convince the writers that the
anniversary “shouldn’t be about me, but should be about Gene Rodenberry, and
his vision and determination to tell these stories, and honor his creations.”
He urged the writers to create a new character, and “be as creative as Gene
was, as imaginative as Gene was.” In the end, they still made Mr. Sulu gay.
George Takei has been a
regular host on the Howard Stern radio show, which might seem incongruous, but
he explained his reasoning. He realized that most of his LGBT activism and
talks had been made for and to the LGBT audience, yet “we need to get the
message to the middle; show them that we’re family; their sons and daughters.”
This echoed some of my earlier thoughts immediately after the election, when I was
trying to understand the election results and how demographics played into it.
The cities are full of the sons and daughters of Middle America, who left their
small towns and fled to the cities, to become the people they would become.
He also commented on his
experience as a Japanese American. He was a small child when his family was
taken away to an internment camp during World War II. February 19th marked the
75-year anniversary of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signing the
Executive Order requiring that all Japanese-American citizens be rounded up and
imprisoned in camps. This eerily echoed the most recent travel ban Executive
Order that President Trump had just signed on Friday January 27, with the same
kind of mentality, and even more ironically, on Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The musical,
“Allegiance,” was partially based on and inspired by George Takei’s childhood experience
at an internment camp, and he performed in the Broadway production of it. In
honor of the anniversary, the movie version of Allegiance was screened at 600
theaters across the country on February 19.
When asked about what he
thought his greatest accomplishment was, he turned it into a question about
what’s next, saying he still “has more worlds to discover.”
George Takei will be
performing in the musical, “Pacific Overtures,” opening on Broadway at the
Classic Stage Company Theater, starting April 5, 2017. He will also be
celebrating his 80th birthday later that same month. He is clearly following
Mr. Spock’s Vulcan greeting:
“Live long and prosper.”
Ironically, this salutation and the signature V-hand symbol originated from his friend, Leonard Nimoy, inspired by a Jewish prayer service he attended in his youth.
Post-Script
First, thank you to
George Takei and the Boch Wang Center for the complimentary tickets to the
show. While we weren’t able to fit in an interview this time, our offer stands,
and you have an open invitation to join us on the show any time you are in
town.
File under “Damn You
Auto-Correct” – In the e-mail from George Takei’s media contact, I had to laugh
when I saw the venue referred to as the “Bosch Wang.” Alas.
As we made our way to
the show, we weighed our dinner options, and while we could have gone to the
Panera, a very good choice, with the nice turkey chili and pecan rolls, my
faves, but in honor of Mr. Takei we opted to dine at Genki Ya, the Japanese
restaurant at the corner of Tremont and Stuart. Quite fitting, perfect choice,
and wonderfully tasty miso soup, seaweed salad, noodle dish, and of course
sushi.
While most of the
audience appeared to be Star Trek fans, I have to confess I had never seen the
movie, “Wrath of Khan,” before. Or any of the other twelve Star Trek movies,
for that matter. I must be living under a rock, as I was also completely
unaware of Mr. Takei’s signature exclamation, “Oh my!” It apparently originated
during an interview on Howard Stern’s radio show. So literally, within the span
of a few weeks, I went from having almost no awareness of George Takei, to be
being surrounded by him, first with the quote about democracy, and then the
show in town, and then, there he was on the Domino’s Pizza commercial during
the Super Bowl. Oh my! He’s everywhere!
And, how about that
miracle comeback by the Patriots? It ranks right up there with the Cubs’
improbable comeback, and victory in Game 7, rain delay and all. Going into the
fourth quarter, just for the record, I said it: “It’s still possible. We need
three scores in 15 minutes, one every five minutes. That’s doable. It’s still
in the future, it hasn’t happened yet, and so it is still possible.” Certainly,
this year has been a series of unexpected, improbable events, which would
include the election results in November.
Next:
A return to trying to
make sense of what is happening at the White House, with possibly a reference
back to the “Wrath of Khan.”
Coming Soon:
·
March
8 – A Day Without A Woman· April 8 – I Can’t Be Quiet, announced by Milck
· April 5 – Pacific Overtures opens on Broadway
· April 22 – March for Science, 2 to 4 PM, Boston Common
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/march-for-science-boston-tickets-31758316981
https://www.facebook.com/events/246381619134165/
· I have to believe the March for the Arts can’t be far behind, right?
· HUBweek 2017 in Boston, various locations, October 8 – 15, 2017 https://hubweek.org/
· Walk For Education, UNCF, October 14, 2017
About
WBCA-LP 102.9 FM Boston & Schmidt Happens:
WBCA is a low-power FM radio station
sponsored by the Boston Neighborhood Network, and is on the air from 6 PM to 2
AM each night.
Radio Beantown is on the air! Jumana
Hashim is a current member of Beantown Women’s Rugby Club, while Rosemary, aka
Rosebud, Schmidt has been retired a few years.
Beantown practice has started! Check
out www.BeantownRugby.com for more details. No experience necessary; a place for
everybody, literally for every body. All are welcome. Go Forward, Support!
Song
For The Day:
From Jason Mraz again, this time “93
Million Miles,” which just seemed to bridge all the topics, from Star Trek,
space the final frontier, to the upcoming March for Science, and our
fundamental yearning for light, love, and home.
A few pics from when Jason Mraz
performed at the Bosch Wang Center a couple of years ago.
References
Ohlheiser, Abby. 2015. The Jewish roots
of Leonard Nimoy and ‘live long and prosper.’ The Washington Post. 27 February 2015.
© 2017 Rosemary A. Schmidt
Rose Schmidt is the author of “Go Forward, Support! The Rugby of Life” (Gainline Press 2004). The views expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the views of any other agency or organization. Use of individual quotes with proper citation and attribution, within the limits of fair use, is permitted. If you would like to request permission to use or reprint any of the content on the site, please contact me.
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