"NOBODY REALIZES that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal," said Albert Camus.
IT'S NOT often one gets to chat on the phone with a truly creative genius. But I did. I had a talk with my longtime friend, the mighty writer Jane Wagner, who is the intellectual, comic and innovative mind behind the phenomenon we call Lily Tomlin. (Lily is one of the most beloved persons in show business. And she herself is vastly talented.)
I have known friend Jane since Hector was feeding that pup. I will never forget the young blonde Southern girl who manufactured her own brand of cowboy chaps by using ship's grommets to thread her leather thongs through the loops. Jane was propelled into show business via a book about a cat, titled "J.T." I recall that Jane wanted the on-air version of what became a big TV hit, not to be cut one whit and she implored the producer, "Can't you cut some of the advertising instead?!" Jane says, "I was pretty naive in those days."
When Lily and Jane finally met way back when, that was all she wrote. They became partners from that moment on and their love and friendship and their work culminated in a "little" Broadway show called "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe." (I have said over and over that this great comic opus should have won the Pulitzer Prize in 1986.) It was appealing to me that when Lily Tomlin was given the Mark Twain Award for Humor, one of Washington's most cherished prizes, Jane was fully acknowledged as the behind-the-scenes person in this fruitful collaboration. So she remains.
All this is prelude to my talk with Jane, who found herself this week at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, helping Lily kick off her latest show -- "Not Playing With a Full Deck." This opened on Nov. 10.
LIZ: So tell me about Lily's latest?
JANE: This came about because of Lily's new manager, Jerry Hamza, whom she kind of inherited when George Carlin died. And he talked us into coming here and we simply adore and love Las Vegas. We had time here before Lily opened to try all kinds of production additions and do major things we couldn't do on the road. You know, the truth is that Lily just loves it here. She just loves what she does. She has developed new characters, although the audience still demands some of the old tried and true material. That's what a lot of audiences want, their favorites! So Lily is doing Edith Ann in the big chair but there are many other perks and surprises (special visuals and sound stuff).
We are developing new characters and although I won't say we are aiming for Broadway again, maybe we will make it!
LIZ: Where are you exactly?
JANE: We are in MGM's "Hollywood Theater," which seats about 2,000 people at each performance and we'll be here two more weeks.
LIZ: Does Lily perform before a crowd that is drinking?
JANE: I think that people probably can drink and find Lily even funnier as she goes along. This has been a wonderful way to break in new stuff. But it is a "finished" show; I have to say, Liz, it's really wonderful. Lily is so happy.
LIZ: The truth is, Jane, that you don't know whether Lily's audience is being served booze or not, do you? You are such a dreamer, Jane, your head is always in the clouds. You wouldn't know if they were taking amphetamines.
JANE: I guess you're right, Liz. I'm still just that little dumb blonde from Kentucky.
LIZ: Not dumb, Jane, not dumb. Just innocent!
WOULD YOU want to read a book described by its author like this: "You've got this great lecherous brute who won't accept that he's aging. You've got a first wife who is saintly but obstinate -- we've all known people who hang on to a dead marriage. And who hasn't known the mistress on the make? It's so recognizable in terms of modern family dynamics, and yet it's all so much nearer the bone because the stakes are so high."
Well, this is Hilary Mantel, discussing her latest work "Wolf Hall," which won the Booker Prize. It was also number seven on last week's N.Y. Times' best-sellers list. This Holt book tells the story of Henry VIII, his Queen Catherine, his mistress Anne Boleyn, and the struggle of his adviser Thomas Cromwell to sort out their problems.
Writer Mantel had just finished a first novel about the French Revolution when she decided to write about Cromwell and the court of Henry VIII. She says, "There was just that thought at the back of my mind: once you've tackled Robespierre, Thomas Cromwell seems almost cozy."
(E-mail Liz Smith at MES3838@aol.com, or write to her c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207.)
