Thursday, December 1, 2005

THE HAT SQUAD: "KIETH" BELLI

It's December 1st - the Day Without Art.

I don't kid myself that what I do here is art. In fact, the medium I celebrate hardly ever gets considered as art. I've got a sweater here somewhere that reads: "Theater is Real Life. Film is Art. Television is Furniture."

Nevertheless, I'm taking the day "off" to mark my small observance of World Aids Day. (That late night posting doesn't count - I was still in end of November mode.) I'll be back tomorrow with the December Crossover Hall of Fame and the usual blathering.......

Today, I just wanted to tip my hat to a friend I lost to this killer: Keith Belli.

Keith and I met at UConn, although his family did have its homebase in my hometown. We worked together at the Thomaston Opera House for a summer, and then I moved to NYC and he went off to make his mark in regional theatre with stage design.

Keith was one of those friends you got to see only once a year sometimes, but that yawning space between visits never existed.

It always pissed him off that I would write his name "Kieth" rather than "Keith".

I just wish I could still piss him off today.

And if he knows that I'm writing this, I've probably succeeded.

I miss you, Kieth.

BCnU.....
Toby

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Toby,
I can no longer e-mail you at any AOL address - I'm mysteriously blocked as if I'm a spammer.

I have a question for you:

I'm writing up a seminar I went to at the Museum of TV & Radio and there was reference made to an old commercial that folks remembered as being something like:
Rybitol (sp?) “to put pep in your marriage, fun in the bottle and back in your marriage.” But I've searched the web and I can't find references, so I'm probably way spelling it wrong.

Do you know of sites for old TV ads? Evidently this was the Johnny Carson kind of ad where the stars would promote the product at breaks in the show.

I can receive e-mail from AOL and you know my address.