One of the now-forgotten giants of twentieth century
Broadway and film, celebrated Pulitzer Prize winning
writer John Patrick (Teahouse of the August Moon, The
Hasty Heart, Suzy Wong, Three Coins In The Fountain,
Love Is A Many Splendored Thing, Some Came Running,
High Society, etc.) and his life partner Bill Myers
(of the Myers rum family) met in Hollywood after World
War II and lived together for over forty years. In their eighties they broke up their relationship and each died tragically alone.
Now a new play - True Love - explores their funny, contentious and frequently brutal relationship, their glittering circle of intimates and their eventual painful estrangement. Set at Fortuna Mill Estate in the Virgin Islands, Patrick’s palatial hilltop estate, the two-man “dramady” is the work of writer/actor Walter Williamson who plays Patrick with Larry Thomlinson who plays Myers.
“Larry and I had been talking for several years about
finding a two-man show we could do. Over lunch one day
I started telling Larry about some of my experiences with
Pat and Bill. Suddenly he said, ‘Walter, that’s our play.’”
Thomlinson adds, “Walter looked like a deer in the
headlights. I don’t think he’d ever been more shocked.”
But three weeks later they had a first draft.
Thomlinson adds, “From the beginning the whole thing just fell into place. I mentioned I had a director friend who was retired in Long Beach, Bob Telford. To our surprise, Walter had worked with Telford many years ago in Richmond, Virginia. It’s as though all the pieces were just waiting to come together.”
True Love is about a relationship. The two men happen
to be gay but the play is not about their sexuality.
Rather, it’s about age and habit and the strains that time
and change put on any two people trying to co-exist.
“I don’t claim to have been an intimate,” continues Williamson, best known as an actor in some of Adam Sandler’s movies and the author of five books and various
plays and screenplays. “But I did four John Patrick premieres and lived at Fortuna Mill during one of those productions.” The fact that this particular couple moves in a circle that includes Marlon Brando, Princess Grace, legendary director Josh Logan, Cole Porter, Vivian Vance and other luminaries, doesn’t make them that different from any aging couple trying to survive the ravages of time and experience.
