Uncle Fridster

After I moved to New York City in 1986 to pursue work as a writer and actor, I started what would be a succession of "odd jobs" to support myself. Some of them were in my field, some were not. I was paid to open and screen for "threatening" email for one music superstar, I assisted casting directors in various ways, assisted the artistic director for a major off-Broadway theater company, and worked for a company called Clunes Associates. My gig there was to write original copy, promote the shows produced by the company founders, and that association grew into being a personal assistant to the featured actor - Jonathan Frid.

The first two years after I was hired to work for this company, there was constant work in marketing the show and writing copy. After that, the work came and went here and there. I never realized I was doing personal assistant type work until much later. Call me slow on the uptake. It's not work I would have ordinarily pursued (even though I had been asked by others) but when it came to Jonathan, I didn't mind. He was the only other person I'd ever met who could talk about anything and everything and easily go from one subject to another. In my experience, when I did that it drove my friends crazy. With him, it was business as usual. We also shared the same sense of humor and as an employer, he was fair and more than generous. What was not to like?

So here we are following a charity event in which Jonathan did one of his one-man show reader's theater programs.

Again, as I mentioned before in this blog, I have a natural affinity for having friends much older than myself and I realized this came to include Jonathan after he moved from New York. He stayed in touch and the friendship survived the move.

I love his home. It's very comfortable and tastefully decorated. It's a bit of vacation to go visit him. He retired from acting years ago but stays active and I can only wish I have his constitution when I hit 80. Check out his website. http://www.jonathanfrid.com