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SGN Exclusive Interview: The incomparable Lily Tomlin |
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| SGN Exclusive Interview: The incomparable Lily Tomlin | ||
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by Miryam Gordon -
SGN A&E Writer Lily Tomlin April 26, 3 PM Pantages Theater, Tacoma The incomparable Lily Tomlin is coming to the Pantages Theater in Tacoma for one day only, April 26th at 3:00 p.m. SGN was given the honor of an exclusive interview, ranging far and wide over Lily's background, politics, Gay communities for elders, Prop 8, and more. Normal quotes usually use a person's last name, but "Ms. Tomlin" is so formal, that it seems more appropriate to refer to the warm, friendly "Lily." A primer in Lily's extensive career includes: six Emmys; a Tony for her one-woman Broadway show, Appearing Nitely; a Tony, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics' Circle Award for her one-woman performance in Jane Wagner's The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe; a CableAce Award; a Grammy; and two Peabody Awards for television. Made famous by Laugh-In in 1969, Lily's characters, such as Ernestine and Edith Ann, have become fixtures in gags of all kinds. Her support of Gay issues, and her comfort with her own sexuality are of long standing, reaching back to the 1960s. She says of herself, "I was never secretive, but I never held a press conference." What might the audience expect at this performance? "It's like my version of standup; it's informal. Lots of characters, but it's more directed to the audience." Lily's characters are directly tied to her interest in current politics, so when asked if she might develop a character unique to the Obama era, she opines, "I might. I am always open to something new to do like that. Some culture type that's present and current. It seems like if it's something of the era, it would be like & to me, one of the biggest puzzle is, everyone's saying 'the surge' worked, and it seems to me that the surge really began to work because we began paying them [Iraqis] not to fight. Like the Mafia, the Godfather, taking care of the neighborhood. It's astonishing the level of corruption and who really pays the price. Nobody at the top. They have their own rules. The next tier down, people who are really investigating fraud and corruption, they can only go so far, because as they get closer and closer to the truth, the government can call off the investigation." Other current political subjects include Lily's support for the decriminalization of marijuana. "It's like pulling teeth. Why do you have to struggle for justice to do anything that half way makes sense? I would get behind it, sure. There are a lot of places in the country where people are covertly growing hemp. It's a big cash crop." Lily was a big supporter of the "No on Prop 8" movement in California, "Just raising money, you know. Have you seen the new commercial by the religious right for Prop 8? It's really eerie, it's sort of heaven-like, and people say, 'I'm scared. I'm frightened.'" [see video here: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/capitolalertlatest/021363.html] Would Jane Wagner and Lily go to another state, like Iowa, to get married (after 35 years of partnering)? "Probably not," she laughs. "First of all, I'd have to postpone the appointment several times because Jane wouldn't be ready. She'd still be upstairs. She has no sense of time at all. Changing her clothes and trying to decide what to wear. If we had children, I think we'd probably get married. I have friends who have children. My friends have two boys and the boys want them to get married. It means something to the kids." And if California finally allows marriage, maybe then? "Maybe symbolically. & Jane does not like the spotlight, period. She doesn't like to do an interview for a new play or anything. She wants to be acknowledged, but not show up for the award." Lily likes the idea of Gay retirement communities and relates a story about one of them. "I'm kind of associated with a group of women down in Florida. I don't know if they're really in Carefree, like Carefree is the name of the town, or if they named their place 'Carefree.' They came to a concert and brought me one of their shirts. They made a 'Lily' award [for films]. This was the way they could reel you in. I made two or three videos for them. They all live in trailers, like big triple-wides, and the streets are all named, like, Martina Navratilova Boulevard. They have so damn much fun. I did a video of Ernestine like she was the activity director at Carefree. I'd get a whole bunch of information about everybody, use that, and I think I was on the road with my crew, so we'd just get in the theater after the show and start shooting and making up something." She points at other communities, too, but has concerns for a different community in crisis. "There are Gay enclaves all over the place. Palm Springs has a huge Gay community. And San Diego." Then Lily says, "We're fighting against it, but we're losing the motion picture long-term care at the Motion Picture Home, which I think is kind of rotten. I thought [living there] would be pretty fun. They had really first-rate facilities. Independent living, and very high-end medical care, and long term care for people who are very elderly - there are people in their 90s, and I don't know if they have been moved out or not. It's a travesty, really." When told about the Seattle Women's Chorus performance, last spring, with guest Ann Bannon, Lily talked about her connection to a play based on the Beebo Brinker books. "It was an off-Broadway show. Jane and I used our names to get it into a bigger theater off Broadway, and it had a good run. And in the process we're wanting to make a TV series. We're hoping to develop it as a series for cable. A big cable network, let's say that." And will it be set in the '50s? "It would be true to the Bannon books." SWC's concert last spring focused on Ann Bannon's writing, Cris Williamson's singing, and how some women's lives were saved as women found emotional sustenance from their stories and songs. How did Lily find self-confidence in being "out," before there were openly Gay bars and community organizations to join? "I don't know. Maybe just being an actor, it's a different world. There's a kind of evolution about being a female in this culture. First you identify as a female because if you're at all politically conscious, you understand that there's a double standard for girls and boys. And I was very conscious of that, and I was also conscious about class and money. My family being blue collar, my mother and dad came up from the South, we lived in a black neighborhood. Blocks away there were very rich gentiles and rich Jews, they wanted to be separate. Us at the hub, basically working-class blue collar people. It was predominantly gentiles, black people and Jews in that neighborhood - low-income, inner-city Detroit. You become aware as you get to be 8, 10, 12 years old that a lot of people live in way bigger houses. They have a certain kind of pretense to it. And conversely there's an inherent shame on the other end of the continuum. I didn't buy that. I didn't have that sense." Gay activism took a huge leap as the AIDS epidemic politicized. How did AIDS affect Lily? She describes an odd silver lining. "Men and women were separated, earlier. Men made more money, women were much more downwardly mobile as women were in the culture, period. Gay women were a little bit more [downwardly mobile]. There was class division. Gay women with high-power jobs, they didn't have much to do with Gay women who didn't. I always had friends in both segments. During the AIDS epidemic, in my observations, the women united behind the men's community and started doing a lot of stuff for the men's community, and ultimately it made us a stronger collective. That's how it seemed to me. I certainly lost lots of friends in the men's community: journalists, dancers and directors, and other artistic people, tremendous [loss], but it seemed like the community came together." What did Lily think when Ellen DeGeneres came out on television? "They had been after her for a long time. Having a hit show and playing into the other end of it, the other stereotype. Trying to be girly. We just know in the business, it's not a secret. I think at that point, it was just the right time and she was the right person. And it just worked terrifically. She had a bad period after that, and [probably felt like] 'I kind of made a mistake.' She did really have a tough time. Ellen's nature is not political. It wasn't even social issues, she just was funny & I think she's wonderfully funny and very adorable, and charming. A terrific person for this to happen with. And after she got over that hump, then people were teasing her that her show was too Gay. It's just the way things ebb and flow!" And now, Iowa and Vermont have legalized Gay marriage! Lily's vision in 10 or 20 years is that Gay marriage will become, "not an issue. Legislation is what changes society. People don't do it out of their own good will. I think the Gay community has really done incredible stuff in a short time. Real determination and sense of self-worth!" Lily Tomlin's performance is at The Pantages Theater in Tacoma. The block at 9th and Broadway, now occupied by the Pantages Theater, was once the site of a saloon, Tacoma's first library, and Tacoma's first department store. In 1908, William Jones of Walla Walla bought the block and razed the buildings. Then Greek immigrant, Alexander Pantages, who had dreams of owning beautiful and successful vaudeville theaters across the country, built and opened it in January, 1918. Often regarded as the most beautiful of the Pantages family buildings, the Tacoma Pantages was designed by Seattle architect B. Marcus Priteca as an ornate theater in the Palace of Versailles. On February 12, 1983, the Pantages Theater officially reopened, making 2005 its 22nd anniversary season, and its 87th birthday. Today it is the oldest of the Pantages Theaters still in operation. For tickets or more information, go to www.broadwaycenter.org or call 253-591-5894 or 1-800-291-7593. |
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