California Dreaming

Chapter 25

Henry and I decided it was time to tell both of our families about our relationship. Henry already had his own apartment, he just told his parents he was moving to a better place. I had been staying with my parents since I had moved back to New York and told my parents that I was getting a place of my own. We had been in our new apartment for a few weeks and were going to invite each of them over for dinner, then tell them everything. I assumed my father would be the one to react the most negatively, so I invited my parents first, figuring we should get the worst out of the way.

Henry and I were in the kitchen putting the final touches on our meal when my parents arrived. I gave Henry a quick kiss, took a deep breath and let my parents in.

Mother smiled as she said, “something smells good.”

I smiled, “thank you, we will eat soon, first I have something I want to tell you. Please have a seat.”

They gave me a concerned look as they sat down, and Henry walked in from the kitchen.

I took a deep breath, “Mother, father, this is my friend Henry, He lives here with me.”

Mother looks at me, then at Henry and smiled, “nice to meet you, Henry.”

Henry smiled and returned the greeting.

Father furrowed his brow, “you asked us over to tell us you have a roommate?”

I chuckled, “no father, Henry is more than a roommate, he is a very good friend.”

Mother was looking between me, father, and Henry trying to understand what I was saying.

Father shrugged, “fine, so you are sharing an apartment with your very good friend, that’s nothing unusual.”

I sighed, “Father, this is a one-bedroom apartment, that bedroom has one bed. Henry and I are sharing more than an apartment, we are sharing our life together.”

I saw that mother understood what I was saying. Slowly realization came over father’s face, he looked at me than at Henry. He shrugged, “so, you are telling us that you are dandies?”

I chucked, “yes father, you could say it that way.”

He looked Henry, up and down, then at my mother, then back to me. He shrugged, “you could do worse, he seems like a nice boy.”

I was stunned, I said, “pardon me father?”

He held his hands up and said, “what?”

I asked, “you aren’t upset with me?”

He shook his head, “well, I would prefer you to be normal, but you are my son. I have already lost one son, and I am still worried about losing Nikoli, I don’t want you to go away again.”

Tears started to roll down my cheeks as I went to my father and wrapped him in a big hug. As we broke our hug, I turned to my mother, she was hugging Henry, tears were also running down her cheeks. I gave her a hug as Henry and my father shook hands. Relieved, I gave Henry a quick hug as Mother and father both sat back down.

Father said, “well, what’s for dinner? I’m starving.”

I laughed, “please, take a seat at the table and we’ll bring out the food.”

As we began to eat, I said, “thank you father, for being so accepting.”

He said, “look Ivan, I am not stupid, your mother and I have known you were, well I guess we should say, special, since you were young. Even though George Hampton is a horrible gossip, I heard what he said, and it made sense. I have had a lot of time to accept things.”

I smiled, “thank you father.”

We had an evening of pleasant conversation, my parents seemed to really like Henry, I was so happy. As they were leaving my father shook Henry’s hand, he said, “it was nice to meet you and I meant it when I said Ivan could have done worse.”

My mother hit him, “Peter, Henry is a very nice young man, why must you say such things?”

He scuffed, “I know he’s a nice young man, certainly a much better man than that clown Sasha brought home last month.”

Mother shook her head as she pushed father out the door, Henry and I were laughing as we closed the door behind them.

Henry smiled at me, “that went well.”

I grinned, “yes, it did. So much better than I expected.”

I pulled him in for a kiss, we hurried to our bedroom and stripped out of our clothes. We fell on the bed in a sixty-nine and feasted on each other’s cocks. Once we had each other thoroughly worked up, Henry rolled me onto my back and pushed my legs up into the air. He went to work on my hole, first with tongue, then with his rock-hard manhood. He leaned down and we kissed as Henry pumped in and out of my love tunnel. We stayed locked together in that position until we could take it no longer. Both of our cocks began to shoot at the same time, Henry’s in my ass, and mine trapped between our sweaty stomachs. Once we caught our breath, we cleaned up and held each other as we drifted off to sleep.

The following week, Henry invited his parents to our apartment, we were hoping it would go as smoothly as the previous week with my parents. It did not. When Henry’s mother heard him explain our relationship, she immediately stood up, telling Henry that he was dead to her and that we would both be going to hell. His father tried to calm her down, but he was not exactly pleased with the news either, they left without eating.

Henry was clearly upset, I did my best to comfort him. He told me that it didn’t matter, as long as we were together, he would be fine. I could tell he was trying to be strong for me.

I asked, “what are you going to do about work tomorrow?”

He shrugged, “I guess I will just go in and take my things and leave, I am sure my father will no longer want me to work with him.”

We tried to sleep, but I felt Henry toss and turn all night. The next morning, I kissed him goodbye and told him to let me know if he needed me for anything. I had received my next script and tried to busy myself with learning my lines, as the day went on and Henry didn't come home, I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign. Henry finally came home at his regular time, I met him at the door as he walked in.

I asked, “so, how did it go?”

He gave me a slight smile, “I will still be working with my father.”

I sighed, “ok, that’s good, right?”

He nodded, “yes, when I got to the shop, I asked him if he wanted me to gather my things and leave. He said that he didn’t, he told me he was sorry about the way mother had reacted. While he wasn’t pleased with the news, he still wants me to be in his life and work with him. He would try to understand my feelings and respect my choices.”

I asked, “what did say to him?”

Henry continued, “I told him that I was going to stay with you and if he wanted to see me, he had to live with that. He told me that he would and that he would continue to talk to my mother. He still wants me to take over the shop when he retires in a few years.”

I gave him a hug and a kiss, “I’m sorry I caused you to have to go through this.”

He gave me a kiss, “it is not your fault, I’m not sorry at all. I know what you meant now when you said you felt so free after you told your studio about us. I still have things to work out with my family, but I do feel like a weight has been lifted of my shoulders.”

Over the next few months, Henry and his father’s relationship returned to what it was before our announcement. His mother did start talking to him again, but we agreed I would keep my distance until she was ready to see me.

I made the two movies to fulfill my contract and Henry was able to come with me to California on my last trip. Woodrow O’Neill’s prediction on the direction of the industry came true. The Supreme Court, in May of 1948 ruled that the studios had a monopoly on the film industry. For nearly twenty years, they owned the studios, the distribution, and the theaters. They also controlled all the talent with their restrictive contracts. All the studios were ordered to sell off the theaters, over the next few years they did just that. Mr. O’Neill decided he had had enough, he sold his studio to MGM.

The way the studios handled the actors also changed significantly. Actors were no longer tied to one studio, they were free to work for any studio. They were now being paid by the movie and many were starting to negotiate a portion of the profits of the film. Although the studios didn’t like the changes, they actually benefited everyone. The actors were getting paid better, the studios were producing better movies resulting in better ticket sales. There were more smaller studios starting up to give the big guys some competition and they could all choose from a large pool of talent, not just the ones they had under contract. Through the early fifties, I was still doing a couple movies a year and had worked for several of the major studios.

Henry’s father decided it was time to retire and as promised, Henry took over the shop. He hired a young barber to help him, and his business was doing well. After my last movie, I took a short break and directed a play in one of the larger theatres. It was well received, and I enjoyed the experience, but I did miss being on the stage myself.

Doing movies in California was a little easier now that commercial air travel was in place. Instead of spending three or four days on a train, I was now able to be back in New York in a day. As I was deciding on my next movie, I got a call from Carl.

He asked, “Ivan, what are you working on right now?”

I said, “I just finished a project, I am looking for my next one, why?”

He said, “Roger and I just finished a script, I want to send it you and see if you would be interested in working with us.”

I replied, “of course I would love to look at it, what is it about?”

He chuckled, “it’s called "California Dreaming", it's about two young guys that want to be actors, one is from New York, and one is from Detroit. They meet when they audition for the same play.”

I laughed, “are you serious?”

He said, “yes, I am. I have a couple of young actors to play the lead characters for the first part of the movie, but I need a more mature actor for the last portion of the story.”

I was still laughing, “thank you for saying mature instead of old.”

He said, “your welcome, so what do you think?”

I asked, “how accurate is the story?”

He chuckled, “well, I left out the intimate stuff if that is what you mean. I don’t think the world is ready for a movie about two queers. It mostly follows our friendship and our careers.”

I said, “of course, I’m in. When do we start?”

The movie wasn’t a big block buster, but it did well, and the studio made some money.

The next year my career once again took another turn, television became the next big thing. My first tv appearance was a guest spot on “Perry Mason”, I played a businessman that was accused of murder. Mason was my lawyer, so spoiler alert, I was found not guilty. I liked doing tv appearances, I was only required to spend about week away from Henry. I did do a Movie every couple of years, with all the new young actors coming up, I was now mostly playing supporting roles. Now that I was in my forties, I was playing the boss of the rouge detective, or the father of one of the main characters. As we got into the 1960s, I was doing more guest spots on tv series. I was on “Perry Mason” two more times, I also did two spots on “Gunsmoke”, as well as appearances on “Hogan’s Heros”, “Green Acres” and “The Beverly Hillbillies”. I was also asked to be a guest panelist on the game shows “What’s My Line” and “I’ve got a Secret”. They were filmed in New York, so I was able to stay home when I did those, and Henry was able to come watch the shows live.

As we made it to the end of the 60s and the 70s started, the gay community was seeing some progress. It was still a struggle, but it was working its way out of the closet, and many were proudly not hiding any more. Henry and I quietly supported these warriors from behind the scenes.

By 1974, I had slowed down both my movie and tv appearances, some by my own choice and some because there were younger, talented actors showing up every day. I turned 60 years-old that summer and so had Henry. He was starting to turn his shop over to his assistant and taking off a few days each week. As fall rolled around, I stopped into the shop about a week before Thanksgiving. Henry was giving a customer a haircut, I sat in a chair to wait for him to finish.

I heard him ask his customer, “so, what’s your next project Frank?”

Frank said, “we have our Christmas show next, I have most of the cast filled, but am still looking for the lead.”

Henry asked, “what play are you doing?”

Frank answered, “we are doing Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol”. I just haven’t found the right Scrooge.”

I laughed to myself as I heard Henry chuckle. Henry said, “well, I have a friend who might be perfect for that part.”

He asked, “really? Has he acted before?”

Henry laughed again, “yes, he’s done a bit of acting.”

Frank said, “well, ask him if he wants to play Scrooge.”

Henry spun the chair to face me and said, “why don’t you ask him yourself?”

I smiled at Frank as his eyes went wide and he stammered, “you’re Van Roman.”

I said, “yes sir, I would love to do your play, it would be fun.”

I couldn’t help but think about my career coming full circle. Not only was this the play that inspired me to become an actor, but it was also the play that gave me my start in the theatre. We began rehearsals the next week.

After rehearsal one day, the director called me into his office, and he unrolled the sample playbill out on his desk.

He said, “before we print these, I wanted you to give final approval, since you are our big star.”

I smiled as I looked over the poster, I said, “this looks really good, there is only one thing that I would like changed though. My 84-year-old father will be attending this play, he is getting very frail, and this may be the last time he gets to see me on the stage. If you don’t mind, for him, I would like my name listed as Ivan Romanov.”

 

The End.