Immortal Bird by Doron Weber

Author:Doron Weber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Chapter 37

“It’s my life! And I don’t want to live forever . . . I just want to live my life!”

—Some song I can’t remember at the moment

—From Damon’s blog, August 2004

We return to the Deadwood set and it’s still unclear whether Damon will get his part. Time is running out—Damon has to get back for school—but we still face several obstacles.

“You need a work permit,” I explain to Damon. “An actor under eighteen must be an enrolled student with a C average but you had home tutoring the previous semester, so we don’t have your report card.”

“Maybe my tutor could send in my grades?” Damon says.

David Milch is also concerned about Damon’s health. Like many people on the set, David has developed a real fondness for Damon. Unlike them, he knows about his illness.

“You sure he’s up to this? We’re in a record-setting, ball-shriveling heat wave and Damon’s been looking a little pale to me. I don’t want to push him—”

“Damon always looks pale,” I counter, smiling. “And despite the heat, he can’t wait to show his stuff. He really wants to do this, David!”

Finally, there is the business of a major studio production with a tight schedule and money riding on every shot. David has power, but it’s not unlimited.

There’s a day when it seems we won’t make it. The production is behind schedule, and David isn’t even on the lot. Our return flight is booked, and it feels like our window may have closed. Paula has no scenes today, so she’s away, and Gary also has a day off.

“It’s a hundred and one degrees!” the PA informs us at noon. Even the Gem Saloon, where “action” and “going again” echo all day, feels depleted. The snow-cone maker has melted.

At lunch we sit in the wilting mess hall with A. C. Lyles, a dapper eighty-six-year-old man who comes to the set every day dressed in a dark suit and tie, no matter how hot it is. Lyles, who’s worked at Paramount for over sixty years and knew everyone, from John Barrymore and James Cagney to Ronald Reagan, is a living link with old Hollywood.

“Don’t worry about your part; you’re special, I can always tell!” Lyles says to Damon. “And David’s a genius. He’ll make it happen!”

Sure enough, by evening word comes that David has returned and he and his staff are working on Damon’s lines. We know it’s real because there’s a ripple of excitement from wardrobe and makeup, big fans of Damon. We also hear from production and writing with more precise instructions.

Damon’s status changes instantly. He becomes someone to watch.

His actor friends drag him to the popular Friday lottery, held under a big tree with all the cast and crew, from star to gofer, assembled.

The lottery is a weekly tradition, in which David hands out thousands of dollars from his own pocket in cash prizes, ranging from $100 to $500. It’s a big, fun morale builder and a welcome weekend bonus to support staff and crew who earn modest scale wages.

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