Wear and Tear by Tracy Tynan

Author:Tracy Tynan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scribner

CHAPTER 19

The Leisure Suit and “Guayabera” Years

With his increasing frailty, my father’s taste in clothing seemed to take a bizarre turn, or maybe it was his idea of stylish attire for the Mediterranean climate of L.A. I remember the look of surprise on Jim’s face when I introduced him to the man he had so admired. We were at my parents’ rented house on Stone Canyon Road, where we had gone to swim.

“Is your dad wearing a leisure suit?” he whispered.

“Yup,” I said, followed by a groan.

“Wow!”

This one was bright yellow, but my father also had a pale blue one, both made of polyester. This from a man who once wore bespoke suits made of the finest wool and silk, and custom-made shirts from the best haberdashers on Jermyn Street.

Due to his long, lean physique, he was able to carry off the leisure suits with some aplomb; I imagined that he associated the jacket with the safari jackets worn in the tropics by characters in Graham Greene novels. Besides, at the time—though it’s hard to believe—leisure suits were quite fashionable. Since he worked from home and never had to go to an office, he must have thought they suited his new, casual California lifestyle.

His other adopted uniform was guayabera shirts in assorted pastel colors. Guayaberas were popular in Cuba in the ’50s and ’60s; I figured my father had seen them there when he visited after the revolution. Short-sleeved, the shirts have either two or four patch pockets and two vertical rows of alforzas (fine tiny pleats sewn closely together, running up and down the front and back of the shirt). The stylish ones are made out of cotton and can be quite elegant. But in Los Angeles in the ’70s, polyester versions were worn primarily by working-class Latinos and waiters—not exactly the sophisticated set my father liked to be associated with.

Inevitably, the deterioration of his health put a great deal of emotional and financial strain on Kathleen and him. Kathleen continued to write articles for magazines and newspapers—interviews with actors like Dirk Bogarde and an article about the women of Cuba—to help bring in some cash. She also wrote a screenplay based on an idea of my father’s that became a film called Agatha, starring Dustin Hoffman and Vanessa Redgrave. Although my father was proud of Kathleen, he also seemed to be jealous of her having gotten a movie made while he struggled to find funding for his own project, Alex and Sophia.

There were other pressures on their marriage. The affair my father was having with Nicole had intensified, and he spoke of leaving Kathleen. Partially in response to this liaison and as a result of the widening gap between them, Kathleen also started having affairs, though hers were more discreet: I learned of them only when my father decided to tell me about them.

My father’s sexual escapades became more extreme the sicker he got. He hooked up with prostitutes who urinated and defecated on him, and he also engaged in other sadomasochistic activities.

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