Well, thank you for the offer to be my therapist! I'll take you up on it, but just a brief version in this public format. Who knows? My "ex" could be reading this site.
I was happily married for 10 years to a man who was 23 years younger than me, although nobody ever guesed out age difference--truly, and I am not exaggerating. We had a charmed life together. We went on two big tours with a Vaudeville musical show we developed. It was a riot.
Then, somewhere in the seventh year of our marriage, something very weird and wonderful happened that had NEVER happened to me before.
I would wake up in the middle of the night and ENTIRE SONGS and their lyrics would be playing in my head! All I had to do is pick up a pen, turn on the light, and write it all down. It was crazy! This went on, night after night, for about a year! About 100 songs poured out of me during this time period.
My husband very much believed in me and he was a very multi-talented guy. So, he bought recording software and we started recording the original songs. Thirty-two of the songs were about an amusement park I had grown up in, Idora Park, Youngstown, Ohio. Songs were "given" to me about every aspect of the park--the vinegar-flavored greasy French fries, the carosel, ballroom dancing, sock hop dancing, the Wild Cat roller coaster ride, etc., etc.
Well, my ex was a mailman. When he would come home from work, we would start working on this Idora Park project. It took us 2 1/2 years, approximately, to put together two CDs, but in the end, we had something we really believed in. I also wrote comedy vignettes to go inbetween the song and dance numbers that would lead the listener in transitions from one location to the next in the park. I considered this undertaking a masterpiece. My husband worked so very, very hard as the sound engineer and musician putting all of this together. We also spent literally thousands of dollars hiring outsiders to sing and speak. He even created midway ambience, so that when the listener hears the CD, the effect is that of walking down the midway, hearing the sound of the roller coaster plummeting, the carosel, etc.
Well, after all that hard work, I knew we had a hit show. Youngstown, Ohio, my hometown, lost its dearly beloved Idora amusement park in 1984. It was kinda like a "9/11" day for my hometown. There are still websites dedicated to Idora Park and people in Youngstown still wish it would come back. Well, here was Idora Park ready to come back through theatrical illusion!
I called the Youngstown Playhouse in Youngstown, Ohio and spoke with the managing director, BV, who sounded very excited about obtaining the CDs and script.
I'll now skip 600 pages of the story. To make a long story short, The Youngstown Playhouse took my script and songs and used it to create a derivative show, erasing my name off the script and parading it in my hometown as an original Idora musical written by BV.
I cannot tell you how DEVASTATED I WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Instead of suing, I next did something quite unusual.
Armed with literally thousands of copies of my CDs and script, I decided to go back to Youngstown, Ohio and stage my play myself.
Again, to abbreviate, it took a year of my life. I started off with nobody and nothing. But by accosting complete strangers on the streets of Youngstown and surrounding areas, I held weekly meetings, got people enthused, and within three months 186 voluteers had come on board to help me stage "Remember Idora!" Even the Judy Conti dance studio came on board, proving me with 50 beautiful dancers and two choreographers! I then found a recent graduate of the Dana School of Music at Youngstown State University to score all of my songs for a 12 piece orchestra. I found companies to make all the backdrops and seamstresses to sew all the costumes, includings cups of tap dancing French fries and bumping cars for the girls to dance in for the auto scooter number.
Meanwhile, a group from the Playhouse, as my project picked up momentum, did everything possible to drive me out of town and send me back to Florida. They spray painted my SUV twice, put false cast members in my show who tried to sabotage and withdraw from the cast at last moment. They spread rumors that I had run out of $$$$$ and gone back to Florida. THIS WAS STRESSFUL, TO SAY THE LEAST!
Three months before opening night, Jud, my husband, came up to Youngstown, taking a three month leave of absence from the post office to almost single-handedly rebuild parts of Idora Park for the stage at Powers Auditorium.
Then there was Anita, a "god-send" who became my "best friend." I had met her at the health spa where we exercised every day. She said, "I'll help in any way I can! I so admire what you are doing!" She started going to the warehouse and helping Jud build all the props.
Finally, Memorial weekend, 2003, "Remember Idora" opened and approximately 6,000 people in my hometown saw my original musical on the big stage! It was quite an overwhelming experience for me! I was down in the orchestra pit with the 12 guys; I had them all decked out in silver sequin tuxedo tail jackets. And when the curtains opened, there was Idora Park! Some people literally fell off their seats! People got out their handkerchiefs and were crying! Idora Park was back--our beloved amusement park!!!
Meanwhile, the Playhouse had staged their pirated, derivative version of my show, which they called "Idora Forever." It was a flop. But after BV saw how much $$$ we had brought in for "Remember Idora," he decided to RESTAGE HIS COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT VERSION OF MY SHOW -- THIS TIME USING THE GRAPHICS JUD HAD CREATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Okay, that's when I hit the roof! This time, I hired an attorney from Akron who sued the PLayhouse. We won $16,000.00 in an out of court settle, which I had to split 50/50 with my attorney. But at least I got some vindication.
THEN I discovered that my husband and my "best girlfriend" had been sleeping with each other for nine months! I flew back to Florida to confront them at La Quinta hotel January 3, 2004 (I was still in Youngstown and Jud had flown her down to Gainesville). Well, let me tell you: it was a BAD CRAZY DAY when the two of them thought I was in Ohio and here I was confronting them at their Florida hotel room.
That was the end of my enchanted 10 years with King Ira. This was like the breakup of Sonny and Cher on the polka level. We had been on national TV several times, including the Howard Stern show. And after producing a Broadway-style musical, we were well on our way. Now suddenly, it was all over.
On February 7, 2004, shortly after finding out about Jud and Anita, I was travelling back to Florida in my SUV with a 5 X 10 U-haul behind my car in tow. Suddenly, I entered an accident scene. My brakes did not engage (black ice) and I hit car #6, that had just hit car #5, etc., etc. No one was charged except for car #1. I broke my right leg in eight places and was helicoptered back to Columbus where six hours of emergency surgery was performed on my right leg.
I asked the doctor before the surgery, "Will I be able to roller skate again?" He looked at me agahst, "Ma'am, you have been seriously injured! You may never walk again!"
Today, I can dance the polka again, and yes, roller skate and bike ride, and the limp in completely gone, and I just bought a pair of spike high heels, my favorites, and a pair of wedgies!
Anita broke up with Jud during this time period. About two weeks later, he accidentally impregnanted some boring librarian who lives in BFE and there is no more show biz for Jud. Now he just delivers the mail and goes home to his little life.
At the moment my leg broke, I made a resolve to stay in show biz. At first, I was going to quit because I thought I would never recover from the loss of Jud. I thought, while I was waiting for the helicopter to take me back to Columbus, "Break a leg! This is a good luck omen!" So, that's when I decided to start my own television production company and produce a children's literacy TV show and then have a touring band, The Learning Castle, after the show goes national, which, I am certain, it will do.
The biggest challenge has been finding a stable, reliable affordable video editor. As soon as 30 episodes are complete, I will submit them to PBS.
I have always succeeded in show biz and the music business. And my songs are superb, I must say.
And I just broke up with the alcoholic boyfriend after hearing for the past two years, "But I love you and I can change." After him, I think I've had enough of the relationship thing, and since I have no lesbian tendencies, I'll just have to be Mother Theresa with a Vibrator from now on!
Well, thanks for being my therapist and say hello to MJ for me.
Cha! Cha! Cha!
) which satisfied us and that one was over.