
Everyday Creation
This show has to do with different kinds of creation: human, divine, and a third kind that connects the two. Our human creativity is easy to talk about because clearly we're prolific creators. We make music, we write, we cook; we establish businesses, we design gardens, we invent things. The list goes on and on. Another kind of creation is divine. We feel its presence when, for example, we contemplate birth, death, our life purpose, or have a quiet realization that there's something bigger than us. The third kind is perhaps a little more difficult to grasp and yet, with a little practice, it's easy to put into action. This is the personal power each of us has to direct our thoughts, words and actions every day toward what we want in our life and world, rather than what we don't want.
This sounds heavier than it is. For me, this show is an acknowledgment that while we're all here to learn and grow and do our best, there's still plenty of opportunity to relax, laugh, love, and enjoy this playground we call life. So my hope is that you'll get some enjoyment and illumination out of these episodes. Here you'll find interviews with delightfully creative individuals; short stories about some who have passed away; and essays about personal power.
I'm Kate Jones, host and creator of Everyday Creation. Thank you for following my show.
Everyday Creation
The Story of this New York City Performer Begins with a Role Model in a Leopard Skin
Anita Hollander, a multi-talented performer and advocate, says she was born to be a performer, following in the footsteps (and footlights) of her grandmother. In this excerpt from a longer conversation, Anita talks about her performing career, which began when she was 8 years old.
Anita also is a passionate advocate for performers with disabilities, and she is one herself. While still in college, she was diagnosed with cancer in her leg and eventually had to have the leg amputated. That didn't stop her from returning to the stage, however. This month, Anita will receive the Harold Russell Award as part of the Media Access Awards in Hollywood. To learn more about Anita, please visit her website. Also, you can go to YouTube to watch "Still Standing," her first one-woman cabaret show, and her second one, "Spectacular Falls." Anita also mentions "From Where I Sit," and you'll find that video on YouTube as well.
This episode is the second excerpt from an extraordinarily candid conversation with Anita's mother, philanthropist and author Iris November and one of Anita's sisters, the Rev. Rachel Hollander, also a performer and an author. All three are accomplished and delightful.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.060
Hello, I'm Kate Jones here with another excerpt
00:00:03.360 --> 00:00:05.840
from a recent interview that I did with
00:00:05.840 --> 00:00:06.340
philanthropist
00:00:06.640 --> 00:00:08.420
and author Iris November,
00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:10.960
and two of her four daughters, the Rev.
00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:11.860
Rachel Hollander,
00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:13.380
also an author,
00:00:13.685 --> 00:00:14.825
and Anita Hollander,
00:00:15.285 --> 00:00:16.985
an actress, composer,
00:00:17.445 --> 00:00:17.945
director,
00:00:18.405 --> 00:00:20.725
and teacher who lives in New York City
00:00:20.725 --> 00:00:23.765
and has worked throughout Europe, Asia, Russia and
00:00:23.765 --> 00:00:24.265
America.
00:00:25.045 --> 00:00:26.025
In this episode,
00:00:26.405 --> 00:00:28.025
we're focusing on Anita,
00:00:28.405 --> 00:00:29.225
her career,
00:00:29.660 --> 00:00:32.860
her advocacy work and the challenges of being
00:00:32.860 --> 00:00:34.640
a performer with a disability.
00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:38.460
So, Anita, how did you make it to
00:00:38.460 --> 00:00:41.900
New York City, and what inspired you to
00:00:41.900 --> 00:00:43.520
become a multi-talented
00:00:44.060 --> 00:00:47.145
performer and an advocate too? I want to make
00:00:47.145 --> 00:00:48.285
sure we cover that.
Anita:
00:00:49.145 --> 00:00:51.225
Well, that seems to go right along with
00:00:51.225 --> 00:00:53.785
my life, but I was born into this.
00:00:53.785 --> 00:00:56.685
I was born with the performing gene because
00:00:56.905 --> 00:00:58.685
my grandmother, Mom's mom,
00:00:59.270 --> 00:01:00.890
Celeste Corrine Flaxman,
00:01:01.430 --> 00:01:02.410
was a vaudeville
00:01:02.950 --> 00:01:03.450
dancer.
00:01:03.830 --> 00:01:05.690
She danced on the vaudeville circuits,
00:01:06.310 --> 00:01:09.190
toured around, and we have great pictures. There's
00:01:09.190 --> 00:01:11.850
one of her leaning against the proscenium wearing
00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:14.515
a leopard skin and nothing else.
Iris:
00:01:14.515 --> 00:01:15.975
That was a long time ago.
Anita:
00:01:16.995 --> 00:01:19.335
Way, long ago!
Kate:
00:01:20.035 --> 00:01:22.055
I would like to see that. We need a picture of that.
Anita:
00:01:22.755 --> 00:01:25.395
A word description: She was amazing. And she
00:01:25.395 --> 00:01:26.775
died of cancer
00:01:27.315 --> 00:01:28.935
six years before I was born.
00:01:29.890 --> 00:01:32.690
And I came into the world screaming and
00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:34.790
screamed for one year solid.
00:01:35.490 --> 00:01:36.850
At the end of which I jumped out
00:01:36.850 --> 00:01:38.150
of my crib and
00:01:38.610 --> 00:01:40.610
a little concussion, which of course made me
00:01:40.610 --> 00:01:43.010
go into show business because you have to
00:01:43.010 --> 00:01:45.585
have definitely a problem with your brain to
00:01:45.585 --> 00:01:48.005
go into show business. I was born with
00:01:48.385 --> 00:01:50.725
a lot of her qualities and her face.
00:01:50.945 --> 00:01:53.025
I turned 40 and my mom was looking
00:01:53.025 --> 00:01:55.425
at me going, "You look exactly like my
00:01:55.425 --> 00:01:58.540
mom. You look exactly like my mom." I
00:01:58.540 --> 00:02:00.000
definitely am her.
00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:02.540
So I have no choice. I'm going into
00:02:02.540 --> 00:02:03.360
show business.
00:02:03.660 --> 00:02:04.160
And, fortunately,
00:02:04.620 --> 00:02:05.120
Mom
00:02:05.500 --> 00:02:08.380
supported that. Dad supported that with taking me
00:02:08.380 --> 00:02:10.060
to an audition when I was 8 years
00:02:10.060 --> 00:02:12.605
old, and I got my first professional job
00:02:12.605 --> 00:02:14.925
in "The Sound of Music" in Cleveland at
00:02:14.925 --> 00:02:18.045
Musicarnival. It was a professional theater. Wally
00:02:18.045 --> 00:02:20.285
Harper was conducting the orchestra who went on
00:02:20.285 --> 00:02:22.525
to be Barbara Cook's musical director. I mean,
00:02:22.525 --> 00:02:25.250
these were people whose names were from Broadway,
00:02:25.390 --> 00:02:27.310
and I was 8 years old. And I
00:02:27.310 --> 00:02:29.090
was understudying the part of Gretl,
00:02:29.390 --> 00:02:32.270
the youngest of the von Trapp children in
00:02:32.270 --> 00:02:33.250
"The Sound of Music."
00:02:33.710 --> 00:02:36.670
And the actress who played Gretl was generous
00:02:36.670 --> 00:02:39.325
enough to get German measles for three nights,
00:02:39.325 --> 00:02:41.165
and I got to go on. She was
00:02:41.165 --> 00:02:43.645
a very generous girl. And the show was
00:02:43.645 --> 00:02:45.245
so successful, they brought it back the next
00:02:45.245 --> 00:02:46.845
year, and I got my own role, which
00:02:46.845 --> 00:02:48.925
was Marta. I grew two inches and got
00:02:48.925 --> 00:02:51.405
to be the second daughter. Anyways, from then
00:02:51.405 --> 00:02:51.905
on,
00:02:52.285 --> 00:02:53.665
it was all theater,
00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:55.480
all music, all dance,
00:02:55.780 --> 00:02:57.300
all the time. My sisters and I all
00:02:57.300 --> 00:03:00.100
sang together at shopping malls and events and
00:03:00.100 --> 00:03:02.760
television. And growing up, we sang
00:03:03.300 --> 00:03:04.680
all the time. And
00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:07.860
Dad being a cantor at the synagogue and
00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:09.825
a big Broadway enthusiast and a performer at
00:03:10.065 --> 00:03:12.705
City Club shows, he was a ham. So
00:03:12.705 --> 00:03:13.845
we were all, we all
00:03:14.225 --> 00:03:16.485
were born into this, but I was definitely
00:03:16.545 --> 00:03:18.225
going to go into this as a career.
00:03:18.225 --> 00:03:20.405
I knew this, so I gained a resume
00:03:20.625 --> 00:03:22.005
over the years in Cleveland
00:03:22.960 --> 00:03:25.120
performing at all the theaters and, like, playing
00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:27.040
Martha Jefferson in "1776"
00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:29.200
when I was 16 years old. Anyways, at
00:03:29.200 --> 00:03:30.100
21
00:03:30.240 --> 00:03:32.960
at Carnegie Mellon University, I'm working on getting
00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.200
a degree in acting because I'd been singing
00:03:35.200 --> 00:03:37.300
all along, but I wanted more acting training.
00:03:37.440 --> 00:03:39.515
I was diagnosed with cancer
00:03:39.975 --> 00:03:41.035
in my leg.
00:03:41.415 --> 00:03:44.535
And six weeks after that surgery, I went
00:03:44.535 --> 00:03:46.615
back to school because I was not having
00:03:46.615 --> 00:03:48.535
it as far as not graduating with my
00:03:48.535 --> 00:03:50.615
class. So I graduated with my class the
00:03:50.615 --> 00:03:51.355
next year
00:03:51.815 --> 00:03:54.155
and went on summer stock and
00:03:54.670 --> 00:03:57.150
then went to Europe and studied at LAMDA,
00:03:57.150 --> 00:03:59.710
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and
00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:01.570
toured Europe with a company,
00:04:02.030 --> 00:04:02.770
came back
00:04:03.070 --> 00:04:04.130
and got a recurrence
00:04:04.510 --> 00:04:06.510
of the cancer in my leg while I
00:04:06.510 --> 00:04:07.330
was directing
00:04:07.630 --> 00:04:09.765
"Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living
00:04:09.765 --> 00:04:10.425
in Paris"
00:04:10.725 --> 00:04:13.125
in Boston. I came back from Europe,
00:04:13.125 --> 00:04:14.965
and I was living in Boston, getting a
00:04:14.965 --> 00:04:15.705
show up,
00:04:16.485 --> 00:04:18.645
directing it and performing in it, and my
00:04:18.645 --> 00:04:20.565
leg was hurting, and it was terrible. And
00:04:20.565 --> 00:04:21.065
then
00:04:21.410 --> 00:04:22.690
I found out I had to have my
00:04:22.690 --> 00:04:23.510
leg amputated.
00:04:24.130 --> 00:04:25.590
So I had my leg amputated,
00:04:25.970 --> 00:04:28.050
Mass General, went back to rehearsals two weeks
00:04:28.050 --> 00:04:28.550
later,
00:04:29.170 --> 00:04:30.690
staged the rest of the show on one
00:04:30.690 --> 00:04:32.770
leg and opened in the show four weeks
00:04:32.770 --> 00:04:35.730
after the amputation. My favorite story to tell,
00:04:35.730 --> 00:04:36.790
it's really
00:04:37.365 --> 00:04:40.085
amazing because I was lucky enough to have
00:04:40.085 --> 00:04:42.805
Grandma Celeste and Mom and Dad and all
00:04:42.805 --> 00:04:44.665
the people along the way in my life
00:04:44.885 --> 00:04:45.785
who believed
00:04:46.965 --> 00:04:49.020
that there was nothing that was ever gonna
00:04:49.020 --> 00:04:51.100
stop me. So I did open the show,
00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:52.940
did run the show, and there were a
00:04:52.940 --> 00:04:55.580
couple of features that came out about me
00:04:55.580 --> 00:04:58.000
doing that. And it helped me,
00:04:58.460 --> 00:05:00.480
and a few years later, I got a
00:05:00.780 --> 00:05:02.860
job teaching at NYU, which got me down
00:05:02.860 --> 00:05:05.165
to New York City, which was my endgame
00:05:05.545 --> 00:05:07.225
goal all my life. And I've been there
00:05:07.225 --> 00:05:08.665
since 1983,
00:05:08.665 --> 00:05:10.445
a year after the amputation.
00:05:10.905 --> 00:05:12.765
And what comes along with
00:05:13.305 --> 00:05:16.105
having cancer and first having a brace on
00:05:16.105 --> 00:05:18.985
my leg and touring Europe and then losing
00:05:18.985 --> 00:05:20.800
my leg and going on stage, What comes
00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.580
along with that is advocating
00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.520
because you are already an advocate when you
00:05:25.520 --> 00:05:27.440
walk on the stage on one leg or
00:05:27.440 --> 00:05:29.360
on an artificial leg or with a brace
00:05:29.360 --> 00:05:30.740
on you. You're automatically
00:05:31.200 --> 00:05:32.980
an advocate because you're saying,
00:05:33.405 --> 00:05:35.165
"If I could do this, you can do
00:05:35.165 --> 00:05:37.645
this." And, fortunately, the "Today" show did a
00:05:37.645 --> 00:05:38.145
nice
00:05:38.765 --> 00:05:40.925
piece about it in 1991
00:05:40.925 --> 00:05:43.265
after I'd gotten married, had a child,
00:05:43.725 --> 00:05:45.825
and doing this on one leg. And
00:05:46.220 --> 00:05:47.580
they were like, "We have to tell this
00:05:47.580 --> 00:05:48.080
story."
00:05:48.460 --> 00:05:50.620
So that helped a lot. I was opening
00:05:50.620 --> 00:05:52.240
for comics at the Improvisation
00:05:52.620 --> 00:05:55.260
Comedy Club on 44th Street by Times
00:05:55.260 --> 00:05:58.240
Square around the corner, opening for Robin Williams,
00:05:58.300 --> 00:05:59.040
Larry David,
00:05:59.580 --> 00:06:03.105
Ray Romano, all those great folks. And
00:06:03.645 --> 00:06:05.805
they put this out there on the "Today"
00:06:05.805 --> 00:06:07.425
show, which was great. So
00:06:08.045 --> 00:06:10.765
my way of giving back was that I
00:06:10.765 --> 00:06:11.985
could help others
00:06:12.540 --> 00:06:14.860
to get work in this industry. And there's
00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:16.540
no easy way to get work in this
00:06:16.540 --> 00:06:18.780
industry no matter what you are, no matter
00:06:18.780 --> 00:06:20.880
how many legs you have, no matter how
00:06:21.020 --> 00:06:23.900
absolutely gorgeous or talented or whatever you might
00:06:23.900 --> 00:06:26.060
be. It's still hard to get a job,
00:06:26.060 --> 00:06:28.185
but it's even harder if you have a
00:06:28.185 --> 00:06:30.265
disability. It's harder even to get into an
00:06:30.265 --> 00:06:30.765
audition.
00:06:31.305 --> 00:06:33.465
So I became the National Chair of Performers
00:06:33.465 --> 00:06:36.185
with Disabilities at SAG-AFTRA, which is Screen
00:06:36.185 --> 00:06:38.985
Actors Guild. And also I've served as a
00:06:38.985 --> 00:06:41.210
council member at Actors' Equity, which is the
00:06:41.210 --> 00:06:43.290
stage version of the union. And in each
00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:43.790
case,
00:06:44.570 --> 00:06:46.190
charting where we are
00:06:46.810 --> 00:06:47.470
in television,
00:06:48.090 --> 00:06:48.590
radio,
00:06:49.130 --> 00:06:49.630
theater,
00:06:50.570 --> 00:06:53.610
movies, all those things, and showing the industry
00:06:53.610 --> 00:06:55.395
that there's not enough about us out there.
00:06:55.395 --> 00:06:57.655
And there's not enough authentic representation.
00:06:58.195 --> 00:07:01.015
And now we've tripled our employment on TV.
00:07:01.395 --> 00:07:03.395
And some of us have gotten Oscars now
00:07:03.395 --> 00:07:05.875
and Tony Awards. And I mean, it's so
00:07:05.875 --> 00:07:08.115
much different than it was in 1980 when
00:07:08.115 --> 00:07:09.895
I started to, like, be this
00:07:10.710 --> 00:07:11.210
loud
00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:14.070
pioneer. I never hit anybody over the head.
00:07:14.070 --> 00:07:15.130
I do things gently.
00:07:15.910 --> 00:07:17.510
I always have a smile on my face.
00:07:17.510 --> 00:07:19.290
I'm not angry. I'm just saying
00:07:20.150 --> 00:07:22.630
to Hollywood producers, we can benefit from
00:07:22.630 --> 00:07:23.895
this both. So
00:07:24.275 --> 00:07:25.715
I'm not here to yell at you. I'm
00:07:25.715 --> 00:07:26.695
here to tell you,
00:07:27.075 --> 00:07:29.635
if you get more of us on TV
00:07:29.635 --> 00:07:31.555
or in a film, you're gonna have more
00:07:31.555 --> 00:07:34.355
sponsors, you're gonna have more backers, you're gonna
00:07:34.355 --> 00:07:35.415
have more audience.
00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:37.380
It's a win-win.
00:07:37.840 --> 00:07:39.600
And I do think I've learned all this
00:07:39.600 --> 00:07:42.160
from my mother, actually, because she's so good
00:07:42.160 --> 00:07:44.420
at letting people know that if you give
00:07:44.880 --> 00:07:46.800
to this hospital wing, this is a win-
00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:48.640
win because you may have a grandchild with
00:07:48.640 --> 00:07:50.715
autism and you're gonna need that. Or you
00:07:50.715 --> 00:07:52.875
may have a mom who has cancer, and
00:07:52.875 --> 00:07:55.035
you're gonna need that breast cancer wing, and
00:07:55.035 --> 00:07:57.355
you're gonna need this library and this nature
00:07:57.355 --> 00:07:59.995
center and this, you know, it totally goes
00:07:59.995 --> 00:08:01.615
through the family. It's not
00:08:01.995 --> 00:08:05.030
me being anything new. The only thing new
00:08:05.030 --> 00:08:08.330
about me was that — and critics have said,
00:08:08.630 --> 00:08:09.530
"She was obviously
00:08:10.070 --> 00:08:12.310
ahead of her time" — was nobody was going
00:08:12.310 --> 00:08:14.950
out on stage writing shows, writing musicals about
00:08:14.950 --> 00:08:17.450
having one leg. That was a new thing.
00:08:17.905 --> 00:08:20.805
And when I first introduced my first original show...
Kate:
00:08:20.865 --> 00:08:22.645
Was that "Still Standing"?
Anita:
00:08:23.185 --> 00:08:25.345
That was "Still Standing." Boy, you've done your
00:08:25.345 --> 00:08:25.845
research.
00:08:26.385 --> 00:08:29.425
I premiered it at a cabaret called Don't
00:08:29.425 --> 00:08:31.185
Tell Mama. It's on Theater Row on
00:08:31.185 --> 00:08:32.250
46th Street. And
00:08:33.530 --> 00:08:36.090
everybody was like, "I don't know if this
00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:37.610
is the kind of show you wanna do
00:08:37.610 --> 00:08:39.550
in a cabaret." I had been showcasing
00:08:40.090 --> 00:08:41.850
the work of many writers because I was
00:08:41.850 --> 00:08:44.570
in the BMI workshop and the ASCAP workshop
00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:46.750
for writers because I write my own music.
00:08:47.205 --> 00:08:48.805
And they were like, "Hey, this is like
00:08:48.805 --> 00:08:50.965
a bridge too far. Who's gonna wanna come
00:08:50.965 --> 00:08:53.045
and see a show about cancer and losing
00:08:53.045 --> 00:08:54.745
a leg?" But, but it's very funny.
00:08:55.125 --> 00:08:56.745
At any rate, I had a following.
00:08:57.125 --> 00:08:59.225
And Sidney Myer, who was running
00:08:59.650 --> 00:09:02.050
Don't Tell Mama, said, "Hey, if it's you,
00:09:02.050 --> 00:09:04.150
I know we're gonna get an audience, and
00:09:04.290 --> 00:09:05.730
I don't know if it's gonna go well
00:09:05.730 --> 00:09:07.990
or not, but give it a try." Nowadays,
00:09:08.530 --> 00:09:10.790
every cabaret show you see
00:09:11.170 --> 00:09:12.770
has to do with the thing they went
00:09:12.770 --> 00:09:15.265
through, you know, the difficult thing they went
00:09:15.265 --> 00:09:16.165
through in life.
00:09:16.545 --> 00:09:18.885
And either they write it themselves or they're
00:09:19.185 --> 00:09:21.905
picking Broadway show tunes or show tunes that
00:09:21.905 --> 00:09:23.925
talk about going through something difficult.
00:09:24.625 --> 00:09:27.125
So when I've been reviewed more recently,
00:09:27.870 --> 00:09:31.150
the Boston Globe said, "Well, she obviously was
00:09:31.150 --> 00:09:33.070
ahead of her time. She's been doing this
00:09:33.070 --> 00:09:35.550
for a while." And it is true. It's
00:09:35.550 --> 00:09:37.630
hard to be a pioneer because by the
00:09:37.630 --> 00:09:40.210
time people notice that you were a pioneer,
00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:41.490
you're a lot older.
00:09:42.830 --> 00:09:43.330
But, fortunately,
00:09:43.705 --> 00:09:46.745
I'm still getting TV work and theater
00:09:46.745 --> 00:09:49.085
work, and I just came back from Alabama
00:09:49.145 --> 00:09:51.225
where I set the music of all of
00:09:51.225 --> 00:09:52.765
these writers with disabilities.
00:09:53.465 --> 00:09:55.705
I set them to music in a theater
00:09:55.705 --> 00:09:57.485
piece called "From Where I Sit."
00:09:57.945 --> 00:09:58.445
And
00:09:58.870 --> 00:10:01.750
these writers had never performed before, and I
00:10:01.750 --> 00:10:04.070
got them singing in three-part harmony. And
00:10:04.070 --> 00:10:05.930
I just had the best
00:10:06.470 --> 00:10:07.450
best time.
Kate:
00:10:07.910 --> 00:10:10.150
Is is that going to be stage show,
00:10:10.150 --> 00:10:11.990
or is that going to be a recorded
00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:13.875
show? What is that?
Anita:
00:10:13.875 --> 00:10:16.375
A stage show that can be seen online if you look for,
00:10:16.755 --> 00:10:18.775
I think if you look at "From Where
00:10:18.915 --> 00:10:21.955
I Sit" and you just write Alabama. They
00:10:21.955 --> 00:10:24.675
did a video, two versions, so my mom
00:10:24.675 --> 00:10:26.515
could see it because she was in Cleveland.
Iris:
00:10:26.515 --> 00:10:28.675
I watched both of them, honey, and they
00:10:28.675 --> 00:10:29.160
were
00:10:29.480 --> 00:10:32.380
amazing. And I loved the participation
00:10:32.760 --> 00:10:35.740
of all the performers who had never performed
00:10:36.280 --> 00:10:36.780
before
00:10:37.400 --> 00:10:39.720
and suddenly found a weight lifted off of
00:10:39.720 --> 00:10:42.060
their shoulders. Some were in wheelchairs,
00:10:42.520 --> 00:10:43.500
some on crutches,
00:10:44.175 --> 00:10:46.915
and they were performing with such joy.
00:10:47.215 --> 00:10:49.635
That was the basic line of the show,
00:10:49.855 --> 00:10:52.195
Anita. There was so much joy
00:10:52.735 --> 00:10:53.635
in the performance,
00:10:54.495 --> 00:10:56.655
truly. I have to add one thing to
00:10:56.655 --> 00:10:57.875
my darling daughter's
00:10:58.800 --> 00:11:00.100
conversation here.
00:11:00.400 --> 00:11:02.240
Before she was in her teens, Dad and
00:11:02.240 --> 00:11:04.820
I took the four girls to New York
00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:08.480
mainly to show them well, we saw plays.
00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:10.720
We saw five plays in what four days?
Rachel and Anita:
00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:13.165
Four days. Two days.
Iris:
00:11:13.165 --> 00:11:15.645
Oh, my God, we were crazy. And prices were a lot better,
00:11:15.645 --> 00:11:17.505
but at that time, it was still high
00:11:17.645 --> 00:11:20.305
priced. But we kept driving Anita
00:11:21.085 --> 00:11:23.105
down to the lower village
00:11:23.645 --> 00:11:27.450
where the laundry was hanging from the windows,
00:11:27.510 --> 00:11:30.150
from window to window, where there was garbage
00:11:30.150 --> 00:11:32.070
all over the streets, and we kept saying
00:11:32.070 --> 00:11:33.850
to each other, your dad and I,
00:11:34.230 --> 00:11:36.410
maybe we can talk her out of this.
00:11:37.110 --> 00:11:39.350
And by God, she kept saying, "Oh, this
00:11:39.350 --> 00:11:41.830
is so beautiful. Oh, my God, I love
00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:44.675
it here." We lost the battle totally.
Kate and Iris:
00:11:45.455 --> 00:11:46.755
Clearly. Clearly.
Anita:
00:11:48.175 --> 00:11:50.895
That's true, Mom. It was weird. The dirtiest
00:11:50.895 --> 00:11:53.055
city in the whole world, and I couldn't
00:11:53.055 --> 00:11:56.415
get enough of it.
Kate:
00:11:56.415 --> 00:11:57.795
Is "Still Standing" also in recorded form?
Anita:
00:11:58.990 --> 00:12:01.390
Actually, there is a performance of it on
00:12:01.390 --> 00:12:03.150
YouTube. If you go on YouTube and you
00:12:03.150 --> 00:12:04.450
look up Anita Hollander,
00:12:04.990 --> 00:12:06.830
you can find a lot of those things.
00:12:06.830 --> 00:12:07.730
Also "Spectacular
00:12:08.110 --> 00:12:09.570
Falls," which is the second
00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:12.445
show I wrote. The first one, "Still Standing."
00:12:12.445 --> 00:12:13.025
Second show,
00:12:13.885 --> 00:12:16.445
"Spectacular Falls." The third one is going to
00:12:16.445 --> 00:12:17.805
be, and I'm working on it now, it's
00:12:17.805 --> 00:12:19.665
called "Balance: A Footnote."
00:12:20.285 --> 00:12:22.685
Balance-colon-a-footnote, which will be the
00:12:22.685 --> 00:12:25.170
end of the trilogy. But Rachel is such
00:12:25.170 --> 00:12:26.930
a big part of this. Not only
00:12:26.930 --> 00:12:29.570
is she mentioned in both of these shows
00:12:29.570 --> 00:12:30.710
and sung about,
00:12:31.090 --> 00:12:33.490
she's gone with me to perform this in
00:12:33.490 --> 00:12:34.630
many different cities
00:12:35.250 --> 00:12:37.670
because she does the sign language.
00:12:38.165 --> 00:12:40.325
And not just over on the side, she's
00:12:40.325 --> 00:12:42.965
with me. And on the song in "Still
00:12:42.965 --> 00:12:44.965
Standing called "Lazy Day," which is all about
00:12:44.965 --> 00:12:46.485
her coming to visit me while I was
00:12:46.485 --> 00:12:48.745
on chemo and radiation and everything,
00:12:49.285 --> 00:12:50.185
we switch
00:12:50.730 --> 00:12:53.370
parts. It's really very funny.
Rachel:
It's very meta.
Anita:
00:12:53.890 --> 00:12:56.010
It's very meta because my voice is coming
00:12:56.010 --> 00:12:58.890
through on the soundtrack, but I'm being Rachel
00:12:58.890 --> 00:13:00.030
because Rachel was
00:13:00.490 --> 00:13:02.410
a goof burger. I mean, she was so
00:13:02.410 --> 00:13:04.185
great. She would come into town and I
00:13:04.185 --> 00:13:06.025
was like, aargh, she's got, "We're going to
00:13:06.025 --> 00:13:07.625
go to the movies. We're gonna have pizza."
00:13:07.625 --> 00:13:09.465
No. I can't eat pizza. "Yes, we're gonna
00:13:09.465 --> 00:13:11.965
eat." I mean, she was like my cheerleader,
00:13:12.665 --> 00:13:13.325
and we'd
00:13:13.705 --> 00:13:17.160
bop around Pittsburgh, and she would just really
00:13:17.160 --> 00:13:19.500
cheer me up. So I wrote this jazzy
00:13:19.560 --> 00:13:21.400
song about her. So the two of us
00:13:21.400 --> 00:13:22.300
are on stage
00:13:22.920 --> 00:13:23.360
being
00:13:23.800 --> 00:13:26.380
it's just totally crazy. I've had a children's
00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:28.440
choir for 28 years with whom I
00:13:28.440 --> 00:13:31.705
write songs. And at one point in "Spectacular
00:13:31.845 --> 00:13:34.005
Falls," we talk about people who fall through
00:13:34.005 --> 00:13:34.665
the cracks,
00:13:35.125 --> 00:13:38.325
and that's the immigrant people right now more
00:13:38.325 --> 00:13:40.965
than ever. But this was back in 2020
00:13:40.965 --> 00:13:43.270
or something, and it was the kids' idea
00:13:43.270 --> 00:13:46.070
to say "welcome" in 20 different languages. So
00:13:46.070 --> 00:13:47.830
everyone went home and found out where they
00:13:47.830 --> 00:13:50.010
come from. And we used all the languages.
00:13:50.150 --> 00:13:50.650
But
00:13:51.270 --> 00:13:53.110
I told Rachel at this point in the
00:13:53.110 --> 00:13:55.110
show, you sit down and relax. This is
00:13:55.110 --> 00:13:57.770
your little intermission and I will
00:13:58.375 --> 00:14:01.275
sign the show or interpret the show
00:14:02.215 --> 00:14:04.855
to the voices of my children's choir singing
00:14:04.855 --> 00:14:06.235
this song about immigrants.
00:14:06.695 --> 00:14:08.935
So I worked my butt off to learn
00:14:08.935 --> 00:14:10.795
from Rachel. I am studying
00:14:11.175 --> 00:14:13.175
ASL, but I'm never gonna be as good
00:14:13.175 --> 00:14:14.910
as she is. But I worked it out,
00:14:14.910 --> 00:14:16.590
and she corrected me when I had it
00:14:16.590 --> 00:14:17.970
wrong. And she made sure
00:14:18.350 --> 00:14:20.590
that I could just stop singing for a
00:14:20.590 --> 00:14:23.390
minute and sign and have the voices of
00:14:23.390 --> 00:14:26.050
the children. So Rachel's really such an integral
00:14:26.110 --> 00:14:27.570
part of all this stuff.
Rachel:
00:14:27.975 --> 00:14:29.975
I think it was when you were on
00:14:29.975 --> 00:14:31.355
Sally Jesse Rafael.
Anita and Rachel:
00:14:32.135 --> 00:14:33.835
Yeah. They dubbed her
00:14:34.455 --> 00:14:36.855
a "Woman of Courage."
Anita:
00:14:36.855 --> 00:14:39.015
Oh, no, that was "Evening Magazine" in Boston.
Rachel:
00:14:39.015 --> 00:14:41.450
And can I tell you what it's like to be not only
00:14:41.450 --> 00:14:43.930
in the family of, but the younger sibling
00:14:43.930 --> 00:14:44.430
of
00:14:44.890 --> 00:14:46.110
a "Woman of Courage?
Kate:
00:14:46.570 --> 00:14:47.710
Oh, do tell.
Rachel:
00:14:48.410 --> 00:14:50.650
Anita, you wanna talk about being a "Woman
00:14:50.650 --> 00:14:51.310
of Courage"?
Anita:
00:14:52.625 --> 00:14:54.885
Yeah. I never really loved that. I think
00:14:55.265 --> 00:14:57.265
maybe it actually was the "Today" show in
00:14:57.265 --> 00:14:58.405
1991,
00:14:58.465 --> 00:15:00.165
the day that we went into
00:15:00.945 --> 00:15:03.605
Iraq. There was an hour and 50 minutes
00:15:03.985 --> 00:15:06.220
of war stuff, and then they put me
00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:08.700
on the last 10 minutes. It was called
00:15:08.700 --> 00:15:11.340
People You Should Know, but they labeled the
00:15:11.340 --> 00:15:13.040
piece about me "Woman
00:15:13.420 --> 00:15:14.160
of Courage."
00:15:14.540 --> 00:15:15.440
And, honestly,
00:15:16.300 --> 00:15:18.620
that really didn't feel good to me. The
00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:18.684
old brave thing, inspiration, courage, all that stuff
00:15:18.684 --> 00:15:19.760
was a little much.
00:15:22.025 --> 00:15:24.425
Courage, all that stuff was a little much.
00:15:24.425 --> 00:15:26.665
But at any rate, at the end of
00:15:26.665 --> 00:15:28.745
the "Today" show story, they go back to
00:15:28.745 --> 00:15:32.365
Betty Friedan and Deborah Norville. And Betty
00:15:32.665 --> 00:15:34.640
says, "Yeah. She's wonderful. There there are things
00:15:34.640 --> 00:15:37.440
she can't do. She can't dance, but there
00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:38.960
are so many other things she can do."
00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:40.800
And Deborah, who was pregnant at the time,
00:15:40.800 --> 00:15:44.160
goes, "And I'm sure she'll do every one
00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:46.320
of those things." And that's how they ended
00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:48.100
the "Today" show with me. It's like,
00:15:49.085 --> 00:15:50.765
first of all, I could dance, and I
00:15:50.765 --> 00:15:52.845
was dancing. And Rachel will tell you. Rachel
00:15:52.845 --> 00:15:54.625
and I were in "Pump Boys and Dinettes" together.
Rachel:
00:15:54.685 --> 00:15:57.485
She tap dances better than me. On
00:15:57.485 --> 00:16:00.125
the artificial leg, she tap dances better than
00:16:00.125 --> 00:16:00.625
me.
Anita:
00:16:01.085 --> 00:16:02.605
And she was like, I can't do this.
00:16:02.605 --> 00:16:04.460
I'm going, I can do this. We're gonna
00:16:04.460 --> 00:16:06.460
both do this. And we did a little
00:16:06.460 --> 00:16:08.460
soft shoe. I mean, thanks to Mom, I
00:16:08.460 --> 00:16:10.000
was trained in tap, ballet,
00:16:10.380 --> 00:16:13.200
modern, jazz. I had all that training.
00:16:13.580 --> 00:16:16.060
So when the artificial leg came into the
00:16:16.060 --> 00:16:18.295
picture, I just used that. And then I
00:16:18.295 --> 00:16:20.615
also have danced with companies just on one
00:16:20.615 --> 00:16:22.555
leg. The big something-a-tron
00:16:23.175 --> 00:16:24.555
in Times Square,
00:16:25.415 --> 00:16:27.355
those big screens once had
00:16:27.815 --> 00:16:30.075
me from the waist down in this white,
00:16:30.215 --> 00:16:30.715
flowy
00:16:31.175 --> 00:16:33.690
skirt and my leg, just me on a
00:16:33.690 --> 00:16:35.850
pedestal for an hour dancing on one leg.
00:16:35.850 --> 00:16:36.910
And there I was,
00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:38.910
the Jumbotron
00:16:39.530 --> 00:16:40.750
in Times Square,
00:16:41.370 --> 00:16:44.110
my leg and my skirt and my foot.
00:16:44.330 --> 00:16:46.255
Like, that's me. That's me.
Rachel:
00:16:46.715 --> 00:16:48.335
It was the "Leg of Courage."
Anita and Rachel:
00:16:48.795 --> 00:16:50.815
The "Leg of Courage." "Leg of Courage."
Anita:
00:16:51.835 --> 00:16:54.075
So true. So true. Just one last thing,
00:16:54.075 --> 00:16:56.155
and I want Rachel to talk because she's
00:16:56.155 --> 00:16:58.795
incredibly extraordinary. Just that if you wanted to
00:16:58.795 --> 00:17:00.155
know any more about me, it would be
00:17:00.155 --> 00:17:01.890
anitahollander.com.
00:17:01.890 --> 00:17:03.970
And all of this stuff is in there.
00:17:03.970 --> 00:17:05.970
You can see anything you want, plus a
00:17:05.970 --> 00:17:06.870
great photo
00:17:07.490 --> 00:17:10.770
that Susan Rosenberg Jones, the photographer, took of
00:17:10.770 --> 00:17:11.910
me with my,
00:17:12.210 --> 00:17:15.170
with my biceps out and just standing on
00:17:15.170 --> 00:17:16.770
one leg on the pier of the Hudson
00:17:16.770 --> 00:17:19.305
River. I love the picture. That's the cover
00:17:19.305 --> 00:17:21.865
of the website. So anitahollander.com.
Kate:
00:17:21.865 --> 00:17:25.485
Okay. Well, what the website doesn't capture
00:17:25.785 --> 00:17:28.665
so much is your sense of humor and
00:17:28.665 --> 00:17:31.790
the lightness that comes with this, and the
00:17:31.790 --> 00:17:34.530
passion that you have for performing and advocacy
00:17:34.670 --> 00:17:37.410
and everything that you do, directing, etcetera.
00:17:37.870 --> 00:17:40.670
And that is what's so wonderful about hearing
00:17:40.670 --> 00:17:41.410
you speak.
00:17:42.315 --> 00:17:44.015
Thank you. Thank you.
Kate:
00:17:44.875 --> 00:17:47.115
For more, please check out the other five
00:17:47.115 --> 00:17:49.515
excerpts, or if you have the time, the
00:17:49.515 --> 00:17:50.415
full episode.
00:17:51.035 --> 00:17:53.775
It's quite an extraordinary conversation.
00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:57.769
Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation.