There is nothing plain about this Jane…more about her later.
The story starts with Henry Fonda.He was an amazing actor. I remember watching the Grapes of Wrath. It was about a family in the Great Depression. It was a sad movie. He was nominated for an Oscar but didn’t get it.
He later won an Oscar for On Golden Pond that he starred in with Katherine Hepburn. It was a very emotional movie. Mr Fonda fell in love with a socialite named Frances Ford Seymour. They had two children together Peter and Jane. Peter was known for the movie Easy Rider. Ms Jane Fonda has done over 60 films and won two Oscars. One for Coming home and the other was Klute.
My favorite movie that she did was called They Shoot Horses Don’t They. I was exhausted when I saw this one. The first movie that I saw was called Circle of Love in 1964. I knew from that movie that she was going to be a huge movie star.
Then there was Barberella. How beautiful did she look. I don’t know if you saw the movie Youth. She had a long dialogue. One of the longest dialogues that I have ever seen in a movie. Then I knew she had an incredible talent for reading her lines. I remember when I was on General Hospital and memorizing was hard for me.
Who could forget her in 9 to 5. Can you sing that song?….I can…I can. I am sure that Ms Jane gets offered to do so many films. But she is very choosy. She can do comedy like the Book Club and serious roles like Julia. Many actresses looked at her films to get ready for an audition.
When I opened my exercise studio, she opened Jane Fonda Workout which was about three miles from my studio. I had to see her teach personally. I put on a chocolate brown straight wig, parted on the left side I wore glasses and a mustache. I had on a gray sweatshirt and a pair of heather gray baggie jogging pants. I stood in the back of the room. I have to tell you she was an amazing teacher and never found out that it was me.
Ms F put out a workout album and so did I. I wanted mine to be different. I met songwriters Bruce Roberts and Allie Willis. They both had high pitched voices and put out several albums. Bruce wrote songs for the Pointer Sisters. Donna Summer, Barbra Streisand and Whitney Houston.
Allie wrote several songs for Earth Wind and. Fire and The Color Purple. Did you watch the sitcom Friends? She won an Emmy for the song I’ll Be There for You. How talented were these two!
We sat down and discussed the concept and the songs. The album was called Reach. The album came with a manuel showing all the exercises that you would be doing. It did very well. And two of the songs were on the Billboard charts.
Anne Murray invited me to sing with her on a special that she was doing. There I was standing and singing with Anne Murray. I can still remember Bruce sitting down at the piano and singing songs he wrote. Allie Willis was one of the most colorful women that I ever met.
To be continued…
Love,
Richard
