"Hello Again" Oil on canvas 18"x24"

SONG LYRICS BY AL MEDINA

1. IT'S BETTER

2. DREAMER

3. MARKET STREET

4. THE BRASS RING

5. REMEMBER MY NAME

6. LOVE IS LIKE A CHILD

7. TO BE A CIRCUS CLOWN

8. WHY CAN'T WE ALL GET ALONG






By Albert L.R. Medina

Writers Guild West
Registration # 1015293

"Mondrian"

"Mondrian" by Medina Oil on canvas

4x8 "Women Waiting" 2004

JOURNEY By A.L.R. MEDINA

JOURNEY

From the day we are born, we are on a journey! Where to start? My Spanish ancestors settled in Colorado over three hundred years ago when it was New Spain. I can still feel the blood of the Conquistadors coursing through my veins! My Dad came to California in 1923, in a Ford Flivver over muddy roads, when he was sixteen. He returned to Colorado five years later, and married my Mom. I was born in a two room adobe house, in the shadow of the Sangria De Christo mountain range, in a bend of a rural country road called San Pablo. My mother taught school in near by San Luis, and it is due to her tenacity in getting a college education in spite growing up in rural Colorado, that I owe any ambitions I have ever nurtured.

I remember lazy summer days, running across open fields to a river where we would swim. My dad had an artesian well drilled in our front yard, and an underground spring surfaced at our door. Mom tutored me, and by age three, I was singing songs on the street for nickels. Once, two drunks laughed at me, refusing to give me my nickel, and I did not sing again. When I was six, my mom left my three sisters and I with my aunt so she could visit my dad who was working in Pueblo. I was being my usual precocious self, swearing at my cousins, and as a penalty, my aunt put me down a well. As I hung there crying, I thought I’d died and gone to hell. I didn’t swear much after that!

At the beginning of World War II, we moved west to a beautiful island by the Golden Gate. Alameda, California, a wonderful place in which to grow up. Mom and Dad worked in the shipyards helping the war effort. It was a happy time. At age ten, I played Wildcat Willie, and Charlie McCarthy to a big kids Edgar Bergen in school plays. In my teens, I fell for a cute blonde, and found myself in her ballet class to impress her. I wound up dancing in the Oakland Light Opera productions of “Carousel” and “Showboat”. I started singing again, and studied Opera in the North Beach section of San Francisco. While attending College, I finally figured out that what I really wanted to be was an actor. My angel Mom said to me. “Go after your dream”! She also paid a thousand dollars year tuition for my theater school, which was a fortune in those days, and a real sacrifice for her. I found Elizabeth Holloway School of the Theater, with a wonderful old teacher, Miss Elizabeth Holloway. Acting, fencing, Shakespeare, make-up, voice, tap-dancing. I loved it!

Shakespeare said it best: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women, merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts”. I remember reading it on the proscenium arch of the Alameda High School auditorium at every assembly. Little did I realize what far reaching effect those words would have on my future? For the next few years, I studied, did plays, and some repertory work at various theaters in the bay area.

I am now driving across the San Francisco- Oakland Bay Bridge, in my red convertible, with the top down. It is early dusk, and the robins egg blue sky is streaked with a rainbow of colored clouds, creating a montage of lights reflecting on the water of the beautiful “City By The Bay”. I am playing the role of the actor, wearing my tassel loafers, gray flannel slacks, open collar sport shirt, camel-hair overcoat with sash in the middle, silk scarf flying in the wind. Also of course, the prerequisite “Marlborough” cigarette, which was the quintesinal machismo symbol in the fifties, dangling from my lips.

A film director saw me in a production of “Mr. Robert’s”, and came to speak to me after the play. He needed an actor to play a sardonic, nasty, jockey protagonist in a horseracing film, and asked if I’d be interested. The answer was of course yes! I started English riding lessons the next week. Sometime later, as I drove to Hollywood, with everything I owned in my car, I convinced myself that I would do the role, spend a few days looking around, and then head for New York, because I was a legitimate stage actor. I didn’t want to admit that I really wanted to get into films. All those wonderful old actors, Cary Grant, James Cagney, and Charlie Chaplin had influenced me. The magic was here! I had my feet planted firmly in the clouds, and my eyes upon the stars. My plans changed. I would spend six months struggling in order to gain a little humility, and then become a star! Little did I know that shortly after arriving in Hollywood, I would have one of the most interesting adventures of my career?

I got a little room off Hollywood Boulevard, and went to look up a friend in an apartment building on Ivar Street, just above the Capitol Records Tower. My friend wasn’t home, but as I started to leave, I met some new arrivals that were standing on the balcony having a beer. They were a couple of guys who had just returned from Europe, after half a year of traveling from country to country drawing, painting, trying to be artists. One was Jack Brendlinger, the other was Bob Redford. Next door to them were four girls from Provo, Utah, here ostensibly to work for the summer, but really to look around for men, which seemed to be at a premium in Provo. I would drop by often to have a beer and chat. One day, a guy in the building informed us that he had rented a big, furnished, Spanish house in the hills, and as he put it,“ I can’t afford it alone. Please everybody move in, and we’ll have a great time. It will be reasonable if we split the rent”! We all went for it! It was a big house, very comfortable, with a view from the Capitol Tower to the Hollywood Bowl.

Thus began the summer of “57”, and some very interesting times with a youthful Bob Redford. He was like a young lion in those days. Very witty, arrogant, worldly, quite sophisticated for a young guy. He got quite a kick out of how naïve and idealistic I was. Always spouting quotes about acting, and what a noble thing I thought it to be. He had grown up in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles, and had an ambivalent attitude toward acting. He said: “Actor’s are fags or losers, and I don’t want to be either”! He was amused at my efforts to get acting work.

Bob’s dad helped him get a job with Standard Oil Company in Baldwin Hills. He spent the summer working as a roughneck in the oil fields, while he tried to figure out his next course of action. He had partied himself right out of college, and his baseball scholarship. He loved art and wanted to be an artist, but as he put it. “Nobody will pay me anything for my art until long after I’m dead, and maybe not even then”! Towards the fall, his family convinced him that he should try “The American Academy of Dramatic Arts”, one of the most prestigious acting schools in the country, in New York City. He was very skeptical about it, but as long as they would also help him attend “The Pratt Art Institute”, a well-regarded art academy, he would go along with it.

Meanwhile, we had a magical Southern California summer. Jack had a black and white Austin-Healey Lemans Roadster Convertible, with a heavy leather strap over the bonnet. Bob would borrow his brother’s red “57” Porsche Speedster Convertible, and they would chase each other all over Mulholland Drive, and the Santa Monica Mountains, while I would navigate. We’d get chased by the cops, and ditch them. We had every spot on the road mapped out. We knew at what speed we could hit each curve, where there was sand on the road, turn-offs where we could hide. It was a blast!

We would have parties at the house, which we had dubbed “The Villa Bartonia”, after a section of Rome where Jack and Bob had lived. We’d light the fire in the fireplace; make homemade Cappuccino, and the girls would materialize. The phonograph would be playing “honky-tonk” piano by Lucky Pierre in Paris. It was a really fun time, with lots of laughs, lots of beer. We would go to downtown Los Angeles to a German Beer Garden, and get smashed. Jack had a trick where he’d stand on a table on his hands, and drink a glass of beer upside down in one swallow. No one else could beat his time. He had it down to about three seconds.

Then there was the time at a party, when Bob asked me if I was a Cardinal, or Cardinal Puff? I answered no, and he said: “Well come on, I’ll show you”. He poured a large glass of beer to the top, and he said. “Cardinal Puff says, take one sip, tap the top of the table once with the glass, tap the top of the table with each fore finger one tap; then the bottom of the table with each fore finger one tap, then, with your feet, one tap on the floor on each side, then one tap on the chair with your butt. Next Cardinal Puff says: “Drink two sips of beer, and do the same thing twice, and go all the way around again, Then Cardinal Puff says, three sips, three taps on the table, under the table, with your feet on each side, then three times with your butt, three taps on the table with your glass, drink the rest of the beer, turn the glass upside-down on the table, and say “Once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal”! If the glass did not leave a ring of beer on the table, then you were a Cardinal! If you made a mistake in this routine, you had to start all over again with a full glass. Lola kept telling him. “Leave Al alone, he can’t handle this.” Of course, it took me about five glasses, and by that time I was sloshed, but,” I WAS A CARDINAL”! I remember Bob and Lola walking me down the street, and through a graveyard trying to sober me up. He laughing his ass off at how smashed I was, with Lola saying: “I told you not to let him drink so much beer! Well, I was a Cardinal. It’s sort of a college routine, and lots of fun.

Lola Van Wagenen was a fresh, pretty, nineteen year old redhead from Provo, Utah. She had a sparkling personality, and she and Bob hit it off immediately. They would joke, that they could never get married, or they’d have all these red-haired, freckled, green-eyed kids. It would be intolerable!

One day, Bob came home from work, and said: “”Al, come on let’s go”. I hopped into the Austin-Healy roadster, and we drove to the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, which was about ten blocks from our house. The film playing was “Love In The Afternoon”, with Audrey Hepburn, and Gary Cooper. In front of the theater, they had this twelve-foot tall Eiffel Tower. Bob said, “Come on.” We got out of the car, grabbed the Eiffel Tower, and got it into the car, as he yelled, “Hang on to it Al”! We drove to the house, and put our trophy on the front terrace. Bob was incredible! The things he would think of doing. One Sunday, a bunch of us piled into my red convertible and drove to Tijuana, Mexico to experience a bullfight. Gruesome sport that, but it was fun! He had such imagination. It’s no surprise to me that he is where he is today!

We would jog around Lake Hollywood Reservoir on a nice asphalt track, and talk about acting, art, and philosophy. I told him about the Vedanta Society, an Eastern Philosophical religion, which was interesting, very esoteric. He was quite interested. As I was giving him a lot of detail on it, I happened to mention that they had a temple about a block from our house. He immediately wanted to go there. We approached the temple in the late afternoon. The gates were closed. We were tapping on the door, then knocking hard, when a police car pulled up. They wanted to know what we were doing? We told them that we just wanted to get information. The cops told us that the place was closed, and we better get out of here, or they might have to run us in. That was as far as we looked into that.

Bob was very intrigued by anything offbeat, and seemed at the tender age of twenty, to be quite liberal in his views. We would talk about acting, and he’d say: “If you want to be an actor, go see Pappy Warner, and tell him you want to be an actor!” I was new in town. I had no presumption that I could go and see the head of a major studio. The idea of doing that didn’t faze him for a second. I don’t know if he had that kind of access, or if he simply knew no fear. A little of that rubbed off on me, and soon I was pushing like crazy, and getting a bit of work. I remember one documentary film I was doing in Death Valley. Bob was laughing hard, because I was actually part of the crew as well as acting. It was a small unit doing an industrial type educational film. I was playing an Indian, with a wig and the whole number. He thought this was the funniest thing that ever happened. He knew that this was important to me, but to him this was just plain ludicrous. Should he ever want to be an actor, he’d jump way ahead of that, and of course in time, he did! I did get him to read a few scenes with me, like William Inge’s “Picnic”. I read the rich guy, he read the bum. It was the first acting he had ever attempted, and he was pretty good!

In the fall, Bob left to attend The American Academy Of Dramatic Arts. When he returned three months later on a Christmas visit, he had quite a different attitude about acting. He said: “Al, let’s hop in the Healy and drive to the beach”. It was a beautiful California winter day as Sunset Boulevard snaked to the sea. We walked on the sand, and he could hardly contain his enthusiasm! He said: “I’m surprised at what a challenge it is! The teachers are excellent. It’s very interesting. I’m actually enjoying it! It’s heavy stuff! I’m working with good people, and everybody’s really serious, very sincere!” I knew then that he understood how I felt about acting!

He mentioned that he was going to stop in Provo to see Lola on the way back to New York. They had been going together during the summer, and he missed her! They made a really good couple, but none of us knew if they would stay together. Bob loved mountain climbing. When he visited Lola, the two of them went climbing. Instinctively, not intentionally, he just kept pushing, higher and higher. I think he was trying to distance himself from her. Trying to find a reason to say: “Well, she’s a wonderful girl, but I don’t want to get too serious”. I believe he was trying to make her fail climbing that mountain. He climbed hard and fast, and she stayed with him every step of the way. They went so far, that they got stranded on top of a mountain, and had to be rescued! I think it settled in his mind, that there was no leaving her behind; he had to take her with him. They got married, and went to New York City together. He would study acting days, and go to the Pratt Art Institute nights. They rented a small apartment, and Lola got a job in a bank to help make ends meet. It’s kind of interesting, because, here was this arrogant, cocky, self-assured young guy; about the last thing he needed at this point in his life was settling down. Yet, he met this one special girl who simply deserved that kind of consideration, and got it!

As the years went by, we sort of lost track of each other, he in New York, me in the Army. Around 1961, I’d occasionally see him in a role on “ Perry Mason”, or “Night Gallery”. I read in the paper that he’d been cast co-staring with Pat Stanley in a play called “Sunday In New York”. This was phenomenal! Just a few years after deciding to become an actor, he was staring on Broadway. It is not an easy thing to do! Shortly thereafter, he did a Neil Simon comedy called “Barefoot In The Park”, with Jane Fonda. It was later reprised as a film in which he did really excellent work. He showed a lot of wit, cleverness, intelligence, and skill; and of course, he was this handsome guy. His career was pretty much launched. He went on to star in “The Chase”, and “Inside Daisy Clover”. Later on he hit a few bumpy times, and did have trouble convincing the studios that he was bankable. He finally overcame that, and made them believers with “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.” The rest as they say is history!

Looking back on that summer, I remember the good times, the laughs, Cardinal Puff says “Shut up”! How serious we all were. I never made it as an actor. I spent all those years working as a film technician and film editor at the major studios. I raised a nice family, and I have what many would call “the good life”. Still, I think back to the summer of “57”, when Hollywood was our stage, and we were merely players. We had our exits and our entrances, and of course, we, in our time have played many parts!

In 1959, I was cast in a small speaking part in “Cry Tough” at Universal Studios, and got my S.A.G., or Screen Actors Guild card. I had done some local live Court shows, and bits on “Playhouse 90”, so I also got into A.F.T.R.A., the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. I was having a wonderful time working, and pursuing my acting career.

When I was sixteen, I tried to join the Merchant Marines in order to travel around the world during the summer as a steward on a tramp steamer. A maritime strike thwarted my plan, so a year later, I joined the Navel Reserve. I trained, and cruised to Hawaii, and other places, and attended meetings for five years. I had an eight-year military obligation, which included two years active duty. I started missing meetings because of my acting, so I was drafted into the U.S. Army. Here I go on another adventure! I was trained as a light weapons infantryman, but because I could type, I was requisitioned to Aircraft Battalion Headquarters, at Fort Riley Kansas, as assistant to the base Commander. It was great duty, flying everywhere in an assortment of aircraft. Bell, and H-21 helicopters, and other light aircraft, I just had to do the paper work. During this time I lived off base in Manhattan Kansas, and studied economics, business law, and accounting at Kansas State College. I was actually awarded a commendation by the Governor, as an “Admiral in the Great Navy of Nebraska”, after we flew in with our big H-21 Helicopters and pulled people and animals off their rooftops during the great flood of 1960. Go figure!

I missed the girl I had been going with in Los Angeles, so while I was on furlough, we got married. Big mistake! In spite of good intentions, it didn’t last, however I did have my first son, Marc Allyn as the result of that union. He was to be one of the great joys of my life!

Returning to Los Angeles, I worked as a bail bondsman, court clerk, and real estate salesman, while acting in plays, and trying to re-ignite my acting career. I’d get an occasional part in things like “They Saved Hitler’s Brain”, but it wasn’t much of a blaze. I had lunch with a girl I was dating at one of the studios. I was well dressed in slacks, shirt, tie, and Alpaca sweater. Her boss and I hit it off, and he offered me a job as a film technician. I had been studying cinematography, editing and film making, so I saw this as a good move. The money was also good, and I joined A.S.M.P.T.E. (American Society of Motion Picture and Television Employees), and I.A.T.S.E, (International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees). I felt that here, I could make the kind of contacts that might further my film making ambitions.

Jerry Lewis, yes, the great comic, was also an innovative film director. He had it all going on! He conducted filmmaking classes on a sound stage of Paramount Studios. He would drive up in his white Rolls Royce, get out of the car with his long cigarette holder, and walk into the class to big applause! It was a hard ticket to get into his classes, but of course, I did! One night he introduced a new young director as the wunderkind who was just signed to Universal Studios. Twenty one year old Stephen Spielberg. Steven recounted his life story up to that point. How he had shot film as a teenager with toys and created his own special effects, and explosions. He had sneaked into the studio at seventeen, and hung around, until as much as they liked him, they told him to go to film school. He finally got some one to finance a short film called,”Amblyn”, about a couple of young people hitch hiking west to see the ocean. Based on the quality of the work, the studio sighed him, to develop him as a director. He told us: “Talk to every one, bug every one. Don’t take no for an answer”! After class I approached him, and told him that I was at the studio on graveyard shift, and that I was his new day assistant, at no cost! He laughed, and told me that I was the only one that got it, and to meet him on stage 28 Monday morning at 8:00 A.M

Monday morning at 8:00 A.M., I was there! He hung his viewer around my neck, and we went to work! Everyone was anxiously waiting to see how he would do. He had story boarded every shot, and he climbed onto a large crane. The show was an episode of Rod Serling’s “Night Gallery”, staring Joan Crawford, and Barry Sullivan. Joan swept in through the door of the set, as Steven did a reverse crane shot, and then went up high to capture her entrance. Perfect! Everyone broke into applause and he was on his way. Could he handle it? Are you kidding? He was used to working with a minimal crew in harsh conditions. Here he had the best actors, cinematographers, cameraman, lighting and sound crews, and make-up people available. He was thoroughly prepared, and he was in dog heaven! He kept me at his side, and showed me every set up, explaining exactly how he would shoot every scene, and he let everyone do his or her job! I had dinner that evening with him and Rod Serling in the commissary. It was an exciting time!

After that, I would often run into Steven on the lot, and we’d share lunch, and talk movies. I asked him for help on a script I was working on about a little run-away boy. He begged off because he was busy working on an idea about a little space alien. We all know what that became, “E.T.”! He was the most down to earth, genuine kid you could ever meet, and smart as a whip! The studio wanted him to be patient and do television projects, but he was anxious to do films. In time, he got his way, and the rest also is history! I wanted to be a film editor, and I finally got my chance. It was with a small post-production company. It meant that I had to leave the studio, so I eventually lost track of Steven. Big mistake!

I became an actor so that I could experience life more fully. One summer, I packed a small bag, and traveled all over Europe. I haunted the major art galleries, and traveled by train from London to Amsterdam, Copenhagen, then down the Rhine river to Frankfort, Munich, Vienna, Florence, Rome, Switzerland, Barcelona, Paris, then Home. It was an adventure I shall never forget!

The plane landed outside London at Stan stead Airport. I went through customs and boarded a bus. Everything is so green. The drive from Stan stead is a groove. All these quaint, delightful old houses, green fields, trees, trees, trees!

London: Well let me tell you! The cabs are I’m sure the worlds best Grand-Prix drivers, fast and furious. The city is old and interesting. The Queens Palace, Tousaud Wax Museum, Piccadilly Circus, Chelsea, Carnaby Street, Glouster.

I met a girl, Peggy and a guy Bernard on the flight over. We all stayed at her hotel where Peggy had reservations. We roamed the city together. In one restaurant, “Pergolas”, we met this mad Italian who was an absolute riot! He was all over the restaurant, yelling, laughing, and generally hell-raising! Peggy is cute, sexy, and generally, lots of fun. Bernard: Well, here is a classic! French, handsome, and incurably presumptuous! A hustler in human souls! He could charm the Statue of Liberty out of her torch!

I met Julia in the underground, (subway). She was, she said, on her way to work, so she could save a few quid, in order to get her to Spain and Majorca, to meet her friends. She came with us instead. She showed us Chelsea, and Holland Park, where we spent the day relaxing, laughing, and playing. There, I met Pasquel. She is a student from Switzerland; pretty, slim, fine-featured. It seemed that this duck made a three-point take off, and crapped all over Pasquel and another girl, so naturally I had to help!

That night, we took the boat train from Liverpool station, for the Hoek of Holland. That’s where I met Christina Heinrich. Tall, beautiful, blonde, and absolutely delightful! She was headed for Hamburg to visit her parents. She is German, although she is working as a Governess in Liverpool England. She is also intelligent, independent, and wow! We talked on the train, and then boarded our ship for the over-night sail to Holland. We had dinner, beer, and stimulating conversation, and then walked on deck with the wind and ocean spray in our faces. We spent most of the night in the lounge, communicating! It was very amusing, because Peggy and Bernard couldn’t cope with the little old ladies in her cabin, and were all wrapped up in several blankets on a lounge couch attempting to “communicate”! Giggling, laughing, falling on the floor. The lights were dim. Christina and I were very close. I almost talked her into coming to Amsterdam with me, and then with the dawn, we docked and said good-by. I will miss her. A very special person!

Amsterdam! An unbelievable city! It is old, clean, and beautiful. We were hustled into a nearby student hotel appropriately called “Fly Inn”. It should be called “Fly Out”, because, you walk in, but you do very literally fly out! It is at Number 6 Doorbak Street, and absolutely wide open. The stairs are like ladders, and the operator is a first class hustler. The clientele are mostly students, hippies, and other young travelers. At night I roamed the city. I had been told about a Discotek called “The Paradisio”, just off Liedse Plein, which is a square with tables and chairs, from which all the restaurants and bars peddle their wares. The Paradisio is not to be believed! It is in a huge old Gothic church, which has been colorfully painted and transformed into a Discotek! For three gulden, less than one-dollar American, you are given entry into the wild nightlife of Amsterdam! There is a huge main ballroom where a band is blaring. Everyone is totally stoned on hash, which is peddled openly on the staircases, which lead to other rooms. People are dancing together or alone, with complete abandon! They are mostly young hippie types, although you will find every sort of person represented. There was a very straight middle-aged Dutch lady dancing with her little dog, and having a ball! Other people were lying all over the floor clapping, swaying to the music, or completely crashed out cold! In other rooms, you could buy bier or other light drinks, Swedish pancakes with jam, play chess, or just rap! It was an unusual experience! I walked to Van Damn Square, and rapped with other fellow travelers, then we slept in Vondell Park with hundreds of other students. It was a lot of fun!

A girl, Andie, asked me to go with her to the beach at Sanvoort, Holland by the North Sea. It was a warm sunny day, and the beach which had chairs and half-enclosures, was full of laughing Dutch! The water is yellowish and not too clean, but it felt great on a hot day. We noticed our legs were stinging. I had noticed a couple of jellyfish, but thought nothing of it. It turned out that thousands complained of stings, and you weren’t supposed to go in the water. Andie was a typical pushy New York Jewish girl, just out of college, traveling alone in Europe. We hitchhiked to Amsterdam, and got a ride from a young Dutch racecar driver named Fred in his sport roadster. He was terrific! He invited us to his home, where we showered, had a drink and visited. A lovely girl, Trish, came by with two dozen roses for Fred. This is common in Holland. She was tall with light brown hair, and a stunning beauty! We asked Fred to visit us in America. He informed us that since Dutch money was worth only one third of American, It made it virtually impossible. Fred gave us a beautiful mad ride to our hotel in his Austin Healy Sprite, traveling at speeds of up to one hundred miles per hour, along beautiful country roads, past canals, and tree covered lanes. A genuine thrill! Andie and I spent the next two days together, sightseeing, and becoming good friends. The canal ride in Amsterdam is still the best way to see it.

Finally left Amsterdam on Saturday night, headed for Copenhagen, Denmark! When I arrived, I got a good room, and roamed the city alone, which was my desire. I met two Dutch girls who were vacationing and living with some hippies in some old abandoned houses on the edge of the city. It was all they could afford. They spoke of constant fights, young people over dosing on morphine and dying, the stealing of clothes, and generally getting ripped off. I decided to pass on visiting the hippies, except in the city parks in daylight I was sitting on a walking street drinking a coke, when I ran into two girls I had met in Amsterdam. We talked, laughed, and spent the next several days together. Melanie and Maureen were fun! We went to Tivoli Gardens, which is charming, though much like any amusement park. We sat and sang American songs and got applause. The Danes love American music!

Then we took off for Cologne, where we boarded a steamer down the Rhine River. It is a beautiful cruise! In Frankfort, we stayed with Melanie’s cousin Shlomo, who gave us a tour of the red light district. Next day, we spent a day at a nude beach at a nearby lake, and then we parted company. They were headed to Munich; I was going to Vienna, Austria.

I arrived in Vienna, by train early the next morning. I checked into a nice hotel near Nordbonhoussen, (North Train Depot), where I had my bath drawn for me by a nice old lady, and slept in a feather bed, which was terrific! I hadn’t slept much on the train, so every couple of days you need a good bath and bed in that order. I slept for four hours, and then went to the train depot to connect with a nice girl I had met on the train. I missed her, but I met two beautiful young teachers from New Jersey, Marie and Toni. I got together later with then, and a young Hungarian guy I met named Ferenz. He spoke German, and was a great help. I couldn’t even dial a phone in German. We walked around Vienna, and ended up at “The Prater”; which is a huge amusement park. We rode the rides, and went into a big Austrian Beer Garden, where we proceeded to get everyone singing, dancing to “Zorba The Greek”, which the band was playing, and everyone had a ball! They were nice girls.

Next morning, I met two other girls, and a group who invited me to go to Michl by train, and then back to Vienna on a “Danube Steamer”. I did! One of the girls, Fran and I got along very well. Call it chemistry. We walked through the small village of Michl. We saw the monastery with its awe inspiring Frescos, gold leaf statues, and lovely gardens. We sat beneath the trees, and Fran shared her huge homemade sandwich with me. We walked to the river Danube and boarded the steamer to Vienna. The Danube is beautiful, and so was Fran, both inwardly, and outwardly! Blonde green eyed American girl with heart. We said good-by at Nordbonhoussan. She and her friend Debbie were headed to Munich, then north to Copenhagen, Sweden and Norway. I was going south to Venice, Florence, and Rome Italy. I went to Soudbonhoussen, (South Train Depot), and my night train to Venice. I shall miss Fran!

I arrived in Venice early in the morning. I spent the day walking narrow streets over its one hundred islands, bridge-to-bridge, canal-to-canal. It is quaint, charming, and quite delightful in its own way. The old walls, the cobblestone streets, and red tiled roofs luminescent in the sunlight! I had a lunch of Spaghetti with clam sauce, followed by fresh fruit in wine, drank a beer, and felt great! On the canal ride, I met Lucette Partier, a Swiss girl with a fresh bright smile, and a lovely figure. We had dinner at St. Marks Square, visited the Palace, and walked a bit. I felt the need to continue my journey. It was warm, and the humidity was high. I rode the canal boat to the main train depot, and I was off to Florence, city of Renaissance glory, and Michelangelo!

I spent the night and today walking through Florence. I found a nice room in an ancient building with a sweet old lady manager. “Saggiorno La Romaganola”, on the Via Della Scala, for only eleven hundred and fifty lira, or under two dollars American. I had a good dinner in a nearby restaurant, with a half-liter of red Chianti wine, authentic Osseo Bocco, hot Minestrone soup, and a large slice of watermelon. I walked along the Fume Arno River with its many bridges, especially the Ponte Vecchio, with its many shops.

Today I have bathed in wave after wave of antiquity. The National Gallery with its fresco’s, statues, and seemingly unlimited quantity of quality Renaissance Art. The glory of the Medici Palace and grounds, the Plaza Della Signoria with the statues of Bacchus and Percius slaying the Medusa, and the rape of The Sabine Women. I am sitting at the foot of Michelangelo’s David, and it is magnificent! Though not my favorite period, I have an appreciation of Renaissance art. Now I will relegate it to its proper place in history. Say good-by to antiquity. I want the here and now, the problems of the present. I am the New Renaissance Man, a man of my time; and now I want a beer!

I hitched a ride to Rome with this nice Italian family. We couldn’t communicate too well, but it was fun. It is hot and humid. I prefer the north countries, now on to Rome!

“Veni, Vedi. Vinci”, I came, I saw, I conquered! I have walked through the Roman Forum, the Via Venito, to the Fountain of Treve, which was teeming with Americans. I am sitting in the Coliseum. The hot sticky weather makes it a chore to sightsee. It is interesting, but in essence, merely a pile of old rocks The tourists are out in force, and it seems a cross between a circus, and a bad joke, neither of which hold much appeal for me at the moment. I am quite alone amidst thousands! The locals continue to rip the tourists off at every opportunity. I must meet some nice people. I remember the beautiful weather of the north countries. Perhaps Nice, France would be better. I hopped on the night train heading north along the Mediterranean.

The night train speeds through Pizza, past Genoa, on to Torino. Since I am north of Nice, and close to Switzerland, I decide to go to Lake Geneva. It is a good decision, for I find my favorite city! Geneva is so clean, healthy and beautiful, that it is difficult to describe. Lush green fields, bright rivers, and gigantic mountains surrounding large valleys. The sky is clear and blue, and the air stimulating! It is on the western edge of what the locals call Lake Leman. It is modern with great buildings, lovely bridges and parks.

On my first day, I walk by the waterfront, and see a beautiful girl. We both take the steamer around the lake. Her name is Rosemary, and she is a young teacher from Marseille, France. We laugh, talk, she helps me with my French, I help her with her English. We walk, and have lunch at a sidewalk café. A long pier goes out into the lake. Near the end, a fountain shoots water four hundred feet into the air, only twenty feet away from where we are sitting. We lie back on the marble pier. I told her to look straight up at the sky and water shooting up in the middle of this beautiful lake. “Shut out the city, look at the montage of mist, clouds, and sky, and trip out to life”! It was fantastic! On another pier, you can swim, eat, and play in the crystal clear warm water of Lake Geneva. We walked around the lake, and said good-by. It was a beautiful experience! I missed the late train for Barcelona, so I stayed at the train depot till dawn, playing Frisbee with some other travelers, and exchanging stories. Early the next morning, I caught the TEE, (Trans Europe Express), to Spain.

Barcelona is something else again. Huge, dirty, poor, with Franco’s armed soldiers on every corner. It’s a bit frightening, but interesting! I met a brother and sister from a farm in New Hampshire. We walked the city, saw the art museums, and went swimming on the Costa Brava. The people were nice. As I walked the streets, I found myself thinking in Spanish! I wrote a postcard in Spanish to my Mom and Dad. I know they will get a kick out of it, from the country of our origin, especially since I never spoke Spanish at home!

I am now, on a train in France on my way to Cali, and Dunkirk, where I will board the boat train for London and my last days on the continent. It is very beautiful. Rolling green hillsides, lush with grass and trees. Quaint charming villages, in which I would like to live for a time, and ponds and rivers where I might swim, fish and play. The sky is azure blue, with Cumulus clouds speckling the montage! It is bright and sunny, and I hear happy birds!

I am filled with nostalgia for Paris, where I have spent the last week. It was warm, with a light rain mid day, every day to brighten its beauty. I have walked its streets from the Left Bank, to La Tour Eiffel, Arc De Triomphe, to Montmartre, Champs-Elise, to Place de la Concorde, Rodin Meseum, to The Louvre, to Las Invalids, where Napoleon is buried. I have traveled the underground, touched, felt, seen; and absorbed its people, smells, laughter and music. Paris, “C’est Magnifique”! It is truly one of the world’s most beautiful cities. In Rome the monuments were to antiquity, old and in bad condition. In Barcelona, it was obvious that the country had no money for self-adoration. But Paris! Their monuments are a tribute to past, present, future, and to the spirit of the French people. It is country proud of its history, contributions, and cultural superiority over any other in the world. It is very clean, and so well planned that you are humbled by the foresight of its founding fathers. Napoleon said: “ Where I have walked, or where my footsteps have fallen, the people are better for it”! He was right!

I’ll never be quite the same. I’m not sure how, or exactly why, but I’ve changed. I have finally experienced some of the adventures that I craved since I was a boy!

I had joint custody of my son Marc, and I always had him overnight on weekends. He was a bright, fun kid, and we always had a great time together. I tried for years to get him into a healthy environment. Eventually, his mom had some serious problems, and he came to live with me permanently. I rented a nice house, over looking Silver Lake Reservoir in the Hollywood hills, and we settled down to mimic the television show,

“Courtship of Eddie’s Father”. We had a ball! He had special art classes. I bought him drums and a twelve- string guitar, and we took a song writing class together at Los Angeles City College. He was as good for me as I was for him. I enjoyed the stability. I was driving a crème yellow 1965 Corvette Stingray convertible, and I also had a tear drop shaped red Sabb Sonette sports coupe, in which I taught him to drive when he was twelve! We looked like a couple of hippies in our seventies clothes, long hair, and my beard! We would often drive to Sonora California in the Sierra Gold country to visit my mom and dad.

I was an apprentice film editor, and later an assistant editor, and did post- production work for several years. I also resumed my stage-acting career. I was playing Colonel Grey In a comedy, “Roman Candle” at the Glendale Center Theater, when I met the love of my life, Cindy! She is a beautiful, down to earth girl from Utah, and we simply hit it off. From the day we met, no one else existed for either of us! I was performing on stage, she was backstage watching. As I rushed to make a quick change, I stopped and said to her, “I’m tired of these superfluous relationships, I want something meaningful”! She thought I was nuts, but we started seeing each other, and six months later we eloped, and got married on the beach in Monterey, California. My entire family met us there, and gave us a great reception at a beach side hotel.

Cindy was employed in the travel business, so it was natural that we began to travel a great deal. We also were on several television game shows, and won many trips, a car, furniture, and money. We were on a roll! I have always been an advocate of positive thinking, but now I also felt that I was lucky! A few years later, we had two beautiful kids. Shawn Albert, and Portia Nicole. We did the whole parenting thing, and enjoyed every bit of it! My older boy Marc, now a teenager, was precociously managing, and a chef at local restaurants. He was also racing his hot car on Mullholland Drive, and he had that energy and zest for life that have been a hallmark of my life. He also formed a rock and roll band “Perfect Stranger”, for which he was the manager, front man, lead singer, and wrote the music. They were good! Life is fun!

We would go to all the Hawaiian Islands, Mexico, Paris, and London for the theater.

The Mediterranean, Spain, Rome, Greece, Venice, Istanbul. The Caribbean, Australia, Fiji, and Tahiti. Skiing at Lake Tahoe, Utah, and Big Sky, Montana. Where ever our imagination would take us. We definitely know how to have fun!

I retired from my film work, and now I paint, write, and act in theater productions. I am still driven toward accomplishment, and I would like to see one of my plays produced, and some of my scripts filmed. I hope to direct and act in some of them.

What makes us different from other life forms? It is that we try to understand and define our lives. We have the brainpower and capacity to ask: “Who am I? Why am I here? Does it matter?” Thousands of books have probed the subject. Religion attempts to explain it through the theory of Creation, and Science through Evolution. Poets simply ask why? The world is filled with wonderful possibilities! Isn’t that what life is all about? I shall continue my journey!

JOURNEY

WHAT MAKES US DIFFERENT THAN OTHER LIFE FORMS? IT IS THAT WE TRY TO UNDERSTAND AND DEFINE OUR LIVES. WE HAVE THE BRAIN POWER AND THE CAPACITY TO ASK: "WHO AM I?
WHY AM i HERE? DOES IT MATTER"? THOUSANDS OF BOOKS HAVE PROBED THE SUBJECT. RELIGION ATTEMPTS TO EXPLAIN IT THROUGH THE THEORY OF CREATION, AND SCIENCE THROUGH EVOLUTION. POETS SIMPLY ASK WHY? THE WORLD IS FILLED WITH WONDERFUL POSSIBILITIES! ISN'T THAT WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT? I SHALL CONTINUE MY JOURNEY!

Excerpt from "journey" By AL MEDINA

My Interpretation of Blue Dog 2003

Flying 2003

Girl in The Woods 2003

Music Center 2003

Excerpt from "Mother" by Maxim Gorky

"There will come a time I know, when people will take delight in one another, when each will be a star to the other, and when each will listen to each other as to music.
The free men will walk upon the earth, men great in their freedom. They will walk with open hearts, and the heart of each will be pure of envy and greed, and therefore all mankind will be without malice, and there will be nothing to divorce the heart from reason.
Then life will be one great service to man. His figure will be raised to lofty heights. For to free men, all heights are attainable.
Then we shall live in truth and freedom and in beauty, and those will be accounted the best, who will the more widely embrace the world with their hearts, and whose love of it will be the profoundest. Those will be the best who are the freest, for in them is the greatest beauty.
Then will life be great, and the people will be great who live that life"!

Photo taken December 2004