A CRITIC, AN ACTOR AND A CIVILIAN - Alan North

A CRITIC, AN ACTOR AND A CIVILIAN
WALK INTO A BAR.......

ALAN NORTH

“Clive Barnes (1927-2008) ….A longtime drama and dance critic - at the New York Post for 30 years and The New York Times for 13 more before that – died yesterday at the age of 81. Playbill.com referred to him as the most powerful theater critic in the city. Bloomberg.com stretched that to the entire country.” New York Post, Nov. 20, 2008

Years past, when the theater was grander, the print media more relevant and Broadway the metaphor for barely reachable dreams, opening nights were the things of which those dreams were sometimes made. After the curtain came down on the final scene, the first-nighters, mostly friends of the producers, fellow-actors and other kindred souls, loudly voiced their huzzahs and clapped their hands until bloody while demanding just one more curtain call, all the time telling everyone within hearing how marvelous the evening had been. But those on the other side of the curtain, the working actors who long ago realized that they were in a profession where all jobs were temporary and that fame was a fickle mistress, knew that the opening night crowd out front was not the final arbiter. There was another audience whose voice would determine just how temporary their current employment might be - the Drama Critics from New York’s daily newspapers.

The drama critics, from Brooks Atkinson to Bosley Crowther to Walter Kerr to Clive Barnes, and all those in between, held the power of life and death and wielded it mercilessly but fairly. Their reviews were usually available within and hour or two after the opening night’s final curtain and all that the producers, players and other perspiring parties could do was wait. They mostly chose to wait at one of the theatrical district’s watering holes, particularly Sardi’s Bar and Restaurant, located next door to The New York Times, home of the most influential (read ‘powerful’) critic, who, for a significant period of time was Clive Barnes. When his review finally descended, shortly after midnight, from the Time’s premises above to the crowded oasis below, careers were enhanced or retarded, investments multiplied or erased, egos inflated or destroyed and, most importantly for the creative person, professional self worth was quantified and qualified, for better or for worse.

All of this occurred to me as I read Clive Barnes’ death notice and recalled one time when I was witness to one of his reviews, albeit not a formal one and not delivered after midnight to a waiting crowd at Sardi’s. While it was delivered in Sardi’s and it was a review from Clive Barnes, what was special was that it was delivered in the middle of the day, verbally and in person by Clive Barnes to an actor not expecting it.

The story is simple and I tell it only as a tribute to a dear old friend who died in January 2000. Alan North was a character actor (he hated to be called that) who had a long and busy career on stage and in the movies and television. He was one of those working actors whose name might not be particularly well known, but you know you’ve seen him before. Movies like Plaza Suite, Highlander, The Fourth Protocol, Lean On Me, Glory, See No Evil-Hear No Evil, Serpico, The Formula are examples of an impressive string of high profile films in which Alan would portray important featured characters and do it extremely well. He also did a lot of work on stage and television, with his most noticeable TV role in the early-'80s police spoof Police Squad, as Leslie Nielsen’s boss, Captain Ed Hocken. This show developed a cult-like following, especially on college campuses, and was the forerunner of The Naked Gun movies.

He was so well regarded that during the last decade plus of his career, as macular degeneration rendered him legally blind, he was still in demand. His wife June, an actress herself, would work with him on his scripts and accompany him on location, including Finland where they shot the opening scene of The Fourth Protocol and where she kept threatening to run off with Pierce Brosnan. On his death, the New York Times thought enough of him to run a very large obituary in the lead position of the obituary section. But, I do not think that he would have been completely pleased with obituary's heading, "Alan North, 79, Character Actor..."

At any rate, shortly after noon on a warm and sunny late Spring Wednesday, 20 or so years ago, Alan and I were standing on the outer edge of the Matinee day crowd packed in at Sardi’s Little Bar, trying to figure out where to enjoy a quiet lunch. We had just decided to flee the crowd and walk through Shubert Alley over to Patsy & Carl’s Theater Bar on 45th Street when a short, middle-aged man with a wispy sweep of hair reaching across one side of a high forehead and a wry, almost lopsided smile on his face, approached. He stopped in front of us and, as I looked on, addressed Alan as ‘Mr. North’ and politely asked to be excused for his intrusion, with more than a hint of Britain in his voice. It took me a moment to realize it was Clive Barnes, but Alan knew immediately, and as Mr. Barnes proceeded to explain his ‘intrusion’, my surprise turned to astonishment, as did Alan’s.

As a private, theater-going citizen, not in his official role as Drama Critic, he had recently seen Alan in a revival of a play that had always been a particular favorite of his, John Osborne’s The Entertainer. Alan starred as Archie Rice, the entertainer of the title, a music-hall performer in an age when the music halls had all but disappeared. Now shabby in middle age, Archie produces and performs in variety shows that could best be described as tawdry and desperate, as he hangs on and perseveres, a kind of heroic failure, a sympathetic figure. Both the play (1957) and the movie (1960) had Lawrence Olivier as Archie Rice and received many nominations and won many awards.

Clive Barnes was more than enthusiastic in his praise of Alan’s portrayal of Archie Rice, and indicated that he was pleased to have this opportunity to tell him in person. Then came the bolt from the blue. He went on to tell Alan that he rated his performance of the role superior to Olivier’s. Clive Barnes honestly thought that Alan North had been a better actor than Lawrence Olivier, at least in this one particular role. I could only imagine what was going through my friend’s mind as this bombshell dropped. Here was a working actor who had enough talent and perseverance to sustain a career throughout his adult life, enabling him to support his family while doing what he loved to do. He was now being compared by a legendary theater critic to the legendary actor, and more than favorably. It was enough to put an exclamation point to a career, to justify any actor’s entire existence.

Clive Barnes said his goodbyes, repeating his apologies for intruding, and continued on his way. Alan and I just stood speechless, looking at each other. I assume I had a look of shock on my face, but his was beginning to move from an expression of disbelief to unspeakable jubilation. He laughed out loud, attracting some puzzled stares from the bar crowd, then grabbed my arm and led me outside onto 44th Street.

We never did have lunch that day. He just wanted to be able to savor the experience. The two of us just walked around the theater district aimlessly for about an hour, Alan seeming to float at least 12 inches off the ground, myself just quietly riding shotgun.

In the years following, there were only occasional mentions of the incident between us and I was never sure how many people he might have told about it. After he died in January 2000, his wife June asked me if I would make a few remarks at a memorial gathering she had arranged upstairs at Sardi’s in the Belasco Room. I felt privileged to and concluded my remembrances that evening with this story. From the reactions afterwards, I could only conclude that Alan had considered that meeting with Clive Barnes so special and personal that he’d shared it with no one but June. And she was pleased that night that, finally, all of his friends would now know in what high esteem Alan North was held by Clive Barnes.

Now that these two professionals are both gone, it’s possible that they’re in close enough proximity to continue that conversation from years ago without having to concern themselves with being overheard by this amateur, this civilian.

JACK DEENEY
November 23, 2008