The Light in Carol's Kitchen - Page 3
...including his wife
who also called twice
wanting to know where he’s been
and what he’s done
with their throw-away children who
left to their own devices
in a beach house in Malibu
grew up and dropped out into Nothing
in a Jungian search
for lost parents
their own age
CtM was a world-class cook; she wrote a cookbook, started a restaurant business and took classes with Julia Child. Her kitchen was the 'Diamond Head' of the East Colony beach - overlooking everything and seeing all. The sun gleaming through the kitchen of this beautiful seaside house illuminated a personal California aquarium view of the Pacific; the rising and falling tides, dolphin, whales seabirds and salt spray in her own backyard. I saw the light in Carol’s Kitchen. In Hebrew, the word is Hamakom (realization of divinity in place).
This presence inspired me in the creative arts, the sounds of music, the lyricism of a great poem, modern art and museum galleries, the plays we would attend, great movies from around the world, the silliness of the ‘entertainment biz.'
Here's one story. In the early '70s I took my guitar and sat on the sand next to CtW’s Colony home. I was fingerpicking Freight Train (Libba Cotton), John Fahey and Doc Watson tunes. An elderly couple in beach chairs sat behind me, talking and listening while I played. When the concert ended I wiped the sand off my feet and returned to her kitchen where CtM stood smiling. Her eyes showed the glint of a mother’s intuition –
"You must have been playing well today dear."
"Same stuff as I always play Mom, you know: Tidepool Rock".
"Well darling, the couple behind you enjoying the show were the great violinist Jascha Heifetz and his wife. Congratulations. They didn’t get up and walk away".
A love of the arts defines my mother’s gift to me. From a box of early photos, there is a picture of CtM, young society hostess, coiffed blond hair, white kid gloves and black satin dress. CtM is escorting Israeli diplomats through a museum portrait gallery and I’m on the inside, looking out, not quite born into this world to be. Over the years CtM shared with TtS a life immersed in art – Annie Get Your Gun (play), Hair (musical), Gigi / Romeo and Juliet (films), classical music concerts, London theater shows and the intense silliness of the movie and TV business. After all, It was MtSF’s career as a producer that brought the Ben Casey (doctor series) and Kojak (police series) to the television screen. When the house building and family circus settled down, CtM brought her talents to the restaurant business. A college drop-out at the time, I tagged along for the ride.