Mercedes Shirley

            On Wednesday morning I memorized the sixth verse of “Au revoir mon enfance” (Goodbye My Childhood) by Boris Vian. There are three verses left to learn. 

            I finished memorizing “À poil ou à plumes” (Naked or in Feathers) by Serge Gainsbourg. I searched for the chords out of habit but of course no one has posted them so I worked them out for half of the instrumental intro. 

            I weighed 87.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            At 13:00 I headed up to Dufferin and Eglinton to Cad’s and Goldie’s place to act in the movie he and Bruce March are making. I passed two streets with guitar names: Martin and Gibson. I got a little lost looking for Ridelle because it’s been several years since I’ve ridden up there. I thought that it was closer to Eglinton and that I’d overshot it and so I headed east on another street then went south but Ridelle wasn’t there and so I realized I hadn’t overshot it but undershot it. I rode north until I found it. We set up in the library of Cad’s condo building. Also there was an actor named Wayne and Bruce’s co-cameraman and co-director Nick. Nick has worked in the film industry and seemed to know what he was doing. He also knows Nick Cushing from the film industry. I sat at a table that they made to look like a desk in the shots and played the police chief of a precinct in Canarsie, New York. Cad and Wayne played my detectives and Cad of course played the corrupt one. We did a lot of improvising in front of the camera and it was kind of fun. We were there for a couple of hours before we were told by the superintendent that we didn’t have permission. I’d thought that Cad had booked the room but he hadn’t. He says it’s a new building manager who doesn’t like him. The old one wouldn’t have minded us using the room. A woman named Dania was supposed to be in some scenes and when I heard that she was black her name rang a bell. It turns out it was the person I‘d been thinking of. She used to come to my open stage at the Gladstone. I hadn’t seen her for about ten years. We went to the Ping pong room after 17:00 when the super was gone and shot one more scene between me and Cad. There are other scenes I was supposed to be in but they’ll have to find another place to shoot them. I had a good time improvising. 

            On the way home my gearshift failed on me and I was stuck in a downhill gear but fortunately only after I’d gone up most of the steepest hills. I stopped at Metro Cycle when I got home and the guy found the gear shift was just loose. He also fixed a humming problem in my brakes. 

            I weighed 88.75 kilos at 18:25. That seems like a lot after having cycled up to Dufferin and Eglinton and back and having only eaten some grapes since breakfast. 

            I was caught up in my journal at 19:55. 

            I reviewed my re-digitization of the August 4, 1994 cassette copy of the recording I did at Cherry Beach Studios for Rocky Capato. Some of the copies don’t have the skipping. 

            I made pizza on a slice of Bavarian sandwich bread with marinara sauce, tomato pesto, black olive paste and five-year-old cheddar. I had it with a Creemore while watching episode 7 of Cain’s Hundred. 

            Louis Strode seems to have given up his high volume drug dealing ever since his son died of an overdose. His wife Katherine is in a sanitarium in a catatonic state ever since their child’s death. Nicholas Cain doesn’t believe that Strode has gone straight and keeps raiding his nightclub. Strode has gone so far as to confiscate and flush drugs from his own customers in order to avoid the feds finding anything. Strode’s brother in law is trying to help Cain find evidence against him. Whether or not Strode is involved in the drug shipping anymore it is still going on by his associates who are all around him. They know that Cain is after Strode and want to get him out of town so Cain will follow and leave them free to do business. Strode sends them the message that planes scare him, trains and cars make him sick and he’s too old to get far walking and so he’s not going anywhere. Strode’s lawyer Gilbert Caxley, who knows Cain from when they defended Strode together, shows Cain evidence that he’s gone straight. He anonymously finances the rehab wing of a children’s hospital. Cain’s brother in law thinks he’s got a lead on something big and calls Cain, but he is shot before Cain can meet him. Meanwhile one of the detectives working with Cain turns out to be involved with the drug trade. Cain is starting to believe Strode but Strode doesn’t care what he believes and says Cain has more to be guilty of than he does. He calls Cain a crummy little plaster saint who should stop playing god. Strode goes to see his wife and begs her to respond. She comes back briefly but goes back in her catatonia. Strode calls his old associates and tells them he’s coming back in. He organizes a big shipment for Benny Barber to distribute but then he tips Cain off so he and the feds can intercept it and make arrests. Lieutenant Cahurn is arrested. Benny kills Strode. Cain tells Katherine that it’s all over and that her husband helped them and she comes out of her stupor. 

            Katherine was played by Mercedes Shirley, who had a recurring role on the Cara Williams Show. She co-starred in Human Experiments. She won Drama-Logue awards for her performances in The Dresser and Death Trap. She taught at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York and the Stella Adler Academy in LA.