By Joyce Kryszak
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wbfo/local-wbfo-969492.mp3
Buffalo, NY –
Photos courtesy of Darleen Pickering Hummert
Playwright, actor and labor organizer Manny Fried died in February just shy of his 98th birthday. Next week a couple hundred of Fried's closest family and friends are expected to gather for "One More Monday For Manny."
The tribute continues - one last time - the tradition that started about six months before Fried died. Friends would get together with Manny on Monday afternoons for lunch at the assisted living facility where he lived in Kenmore.
It was a tradition started by his dear, old friend, fellow actor Keith Elkins. He had met with Fried for lunch, once a week for about 25 years. Then Elkins invited some other friends to join the weekly, lively conversations.
"We talked politics, we talked theatre, we talked current events, we made terrible jokes," said Elkins.
He remembers Fried always had something to say, even the week before he died.
"He was sitting there going like this...hmmmmm...And I said, what is he doing?" said Elkins. "And he finally ran out of breath, after quite a long time, and he said something to this effect, 'just checking to see if I can still do that.'"
The weekly, "Monday's with Manny" were coined as a twist on "Tuesdays with Morrie," the staged-version of the book Fried starred in when he was well into his 90's.
The story captured the import of a single life and its impact on others. In a 2006 WBFO interview, Fried offered what now seems like profound reflection on that question.
"In a way when one is terminally ill, it's an escape in a way, or can be," said Fried. "And do you go feeling you've had a wonderful life, or do you go feeling you had a very disappointing life."
On Monday night, his friends and family will tell their own stories of why Fried indeed had a wonderful life.
His oldest daughter Lorrie Rabin said her father, the union icon and prolific playwright, was larger than life. But to Rabin, the most important role Fried played was father. Rabin remembers special times with him, including their own much earlier twist on Mondays with Manny.
"Sunday morning breakfasts in Delaware Park. You know, this was a real '50's guy version of taking breakfast to the park. We'd take a bag and we'd put a box of cereal in it and a bottle of milk and go off to the park with a bowl," said Rabin. "But, it was just him and me and it was really sweet."
That tender, sweet side is not, however, what earned Fried the dubious title of the "Most Dangerous Man in Western New York."
That label came as a result of the penalty Fried paid for his persistent work on behalf of the labor movement. He was called twice before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
According to Elkins, Fried refused to testify, not by taking the fifth ammendment, but by challenging the authority of the committee to convene.
"It was thorough and it was ugly, people wouldn't talk to one another. They turned on their own friends, on their own family....that's what he went through," said Richard Lipsitz Jr., a trustee for the Western New York Area Labor Federation who knew Fried for nearly 30 years.
In fact, it cost Fried his own union organizing job. And it caused a life-time of strife in his marriage to Rhoda Lurie, the daughter of one of Buffalo's elite families.
Lipsitz said the McCarthy era ripped a hole in lives and weakened the entire labor movement. But Lipsitz Jr. said it never weakened Fried's commitment to the movement or his passion for protecting the rights of the working class - right up to the end of his life.
"He was still talking about what's going on in Wisconsin, what's going on in Indiana, and Ohio," said Lipsitz. "And telling people let's stop that governor in Wisconsin...two days before he died."
And Lipsitz Jr. said when Fried spoke, people listened.
"Manny added something and what he would add was, of course, experience from years and decades of going through a lot of things, but also thoughtfulness," said Lipsitz Jr. "And that's a powerful combination when it's put together."
Fried poured that influential voice into his other career, acting and writing. He wrote novels and critically acclaimed plays about the rights of the working class, such as "Drop Hammer" and "Dodo Bird."
Darleen Pickering Hummert is chair of the event and founder of the Theatre for Change, a troupe that promotes social issues. Fried was a member from its beginnings in the 1980's.
Pickering Hummert said, ironically, he usually played conservative businessmen. She said Fried looked the part in a suit and tie. And because of his experience as a union organizer, he knew businessmen very well.
"We were doing some scene or other and I said, 'Manny I think a little stronger there, you might raise your voice with this employee,'" said Pickering Hummert. "And he said, 'Oh, no Dar. Really powerful people don't raise their voice, because they don't have to.'"
Fried was a powerful person in his own right.
His works are still performed today all over the country. He was a teacher at Buffalo State College and a mentor to successful playwrights. A local playhouse bears his name as does an annual award and a playwrighting workshop.
Friends and family all say they will miss his experience, wisdom and opinions. No longer can they pick up a phone and ask "Manny what'do you think?"
His youngest daughter Mindy Fried said her father was her kindred spirit and she will carry their conversations inside her always. Fried said she and others were all very lucky to have had so many years with him.
"And in some ways to rehearse his leaving us," said Mindy Fried. "I used to joke with him about, when and if you decide to die, because he just had a thousand lives inside of him."
Following is an excerpt of a 2006 WBFO interview with Manny Fried.
"I keep saying, this is my last Harrah and then there's another Harrah, and another Harrah. And if I can, I'll keep on hurrahing until I die."
Next week, loved ones will remember all of Fried's Harrahs. And they said they will plan a few new ones to keep his legacy going.
The event is on Monday, May 23 in Asbury Hall at Babeville on Delaware Avenue in Buffalo. It begins at 6:00 PM with a silent auction of some of Fried's manuscripts and other personal momentos.
All proceeds from the event will benefit the Give for Greatnesscampaign for the arts.