Finger Puppet

I don't know if this is actually true, but when I was a kid, my grandfather wanted to take me to audition for the part of Danny Torrance in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining." I guess there was an open casting call in Chicago and he really wanted me to be in the movie. My parents didn't agree. Maybe they knew the background on the movie and didn't want to further warp my mind (let's not forget the http://ayeartill40.blogspot.com/2009/03/childhood-movie-memories.html incident). The boy who eventually got the part, Danny Lloyd, is three years--almost to the day--younger than me. He was chosen by Kubrick because of his ability to concentrate for extended periods of time. One would think that because of the graphic nature of the film that Lloyd would have possibly grown up with many troubles. Just the opposite. He made one more movie, "Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy," and left acting. He became a science professor in the Midwest.

Who knows what my life would have turned out to be had I auditioned and received the role. Maybe, instead of sitting in my hotel room, alone, with the TV on as company, I would be standing in front of a mirror with my index finger raised, saying, "Redrum! Redrum!"