Movie stars can probably be forgiven for forgetting where they’ve been, because they often jet here and there, for this or that reason. But the folks who meet them aren’t likely to forget the occasion.
So it’s not surprising that Randy Harrison of Norfolk was puzzled when she read veteran actress Ellen Burstyn’s quote on the cover of The Daily Break on March 24.
Burstyn, who would be in Norfolk that night to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the OnFilm film series, told staff writer Roberta T. Vowell in a telephone interview: “It’s odd, because I’ve traveled so much, but I’ve never been to Virginia. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Are we so very easy to forget?” Harrison asked, good naturedly.
Harrison, the arts coordinator for the Chesapeake Fine Arts Commission, thought Burstyn’s remark “odd, because I have hanging in my den her autograph and a nice message to me when I met her in Virginia Beach at a gathering some years ago.”
That was in February 1994, when Burstyn – perhaps best know for her role in the movie “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” – was in town in connection with a film series sponsored by the Virginia Beach Public Library.
“We chatted about her being a Sufi and such,” recalled Harrison, referring to a movement whose adherents seek to “remove the false self and discover God within.”
“I was interested at that time in lots of cultures and in meditation (never did master that!), and I knew she was a Sufi and I asked her if she was and we chatted about life’s journey and relaxation and the meaning of existence – you know, the typical LIGHT stuff.”
The actress’s autograph, which Harrison prizes, says: “To Randy, Blessings on your journey. Ellen Burstyn.”
Harrison said that Burstyn “impressed me, as she did a lot of women of the time who ‘got it’ when they saw ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.’ Many is the time I would do the scene of asking myself and answering myself to illustrate to my family how things seem at times.”
Burstyn won an Oscar for her role in “Alice” as a newly widowed woman seeking to create her own identity. She collected her local Lifetime Achievement Award during a recent gala at the Attucks Theatre, and held local book signings.
“I hope she had a great time and won’t forget us in the future,” Harrison said.
HOW MANY COPIES? Library services director Ann Kinken Johnson and Charles Apple, our graphics director, did a bang-up job on the full-page “The Magna Carta comes for a visit” informational graphic that was the cover of The Daily Break March 26. Lots of valuable info, tastefully presented. A perfect walk-up to a copy of the document now on display at the Contemporary Art Center of Virginia in Virginia Beach.
But Karen Degenhardt of Virginia Beach was left scratching her head over one point. She wanted to know how many copies exist. Which might seem strange, considering one of the questions the newspaper graphic asked – and supposedly answered – was “How many copies exist?”
It said that no one knows how many “original” copies were produced by the royal chancery, but that “only four have survived.” It then listed the whereabouts of those copies.
However, the graphic also said: “In 1984, Ross Perot purchased the only privately held Magna Carta, a 1297 copy, now on indefinite loan to the National Archives in Washington.
Asked Degenhardt: “How many copies are there, and do they mean there are just four in England and others around the world?” Is Perot’s copy “a 5th copy?” she asked.
The informational graphic didn’t say that the “originals,” including the one from Lincoln Cathedral in England that is on display at the Beach, survive from 1215. It’s been displayed at the cathedral since 1216, as the Bishop of Lincoln was one of the signatories of the Magna Carta, Johnson explained.
More history from Johnson – and this will answer Degenhardt’s question: Thirteen other versions of the Magna Carta, dating to 1297 or earlier, survive – including four from 1297. Durham Cathedral possesses the copies of 1216, 1217 and 1225. Perot secured the only 1297 copy that was then (1984) held in private hands.
ELDERLY? My column (“Exact ages preferable to indefinite terms”) addressing a reader’s query about what the paper considers “elderly” elicited a delightful response from Flora Goldman of Norfolk, with whom it’s always a joy to talk or correspond.
“I have always considered a person to be elderly who was frail, ill or infirm,” Goldman e-mailed. “Despite my 85 years, I do not feel elderly since I am in good health and have all my faculties. I am just an older person. You may dispute the latter statement.
“Because my friends know my age, I have been getting phone calls all day asking me how it feels to be elderly,” said Goldman.
