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There’s
no doubt that after 42 years of marriage, Renee Taylor and
Joseph Bologna are still a picture of blissful camaraderie.
Of course, it may be easier to understand Bologna’s
claim that Taylor’s the close-up while he’s the
wide shot if you focus on the fact that you’re looking
at a successful longtime personal union in which each feels
that the other has all the “write” stuff.
Having clicked from the day they met, Taylor and Bologna been
giving each other a line for almost four decades. Now you
can almost imagine one saying to one another, “If You
Ever Leave Me, I’m Going With You” – until
you get to the Suncoast September 7-9 where you will hear
it for real, when they appear in the show by that name that
they wrote together.
“So much of this show is autobiographical,” says
Bologna. “It’s really about our relationship and
it was a joy to write, an elegant process. We didn’t
slave over it. People are always asking us how we met, how
a show business marriage has lasted so long, and how we work
together. So we put this show together to answer those questions.
We take the audience through our 42-year relationship through
our work. When we write, Renee is the close-up shot; she’s
the one who provides the details. I’m the wide shot
– I provide the overall structure of the story.”
“We just celebrated out 42nd anniversary on August 11,”
relates Taylor. “We had our wedding reception on ‘The
Merv Griffin Show’ and here we are still madly in love.
We’ve renewed our vows because it makes you decide whether
you want to stay married. Either you fall in love or break
up. We don’t want to be boring.”
Once you see “If You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going
with You,” you realize that “boring” is
definitely not a word that can be associated with this couple,
who has one son and one grandson. Taylor says that what attracted
her to Bologna were his eyes – that they were “open,
loving and scared.”
“We had the same manager and he introduced us, wanting
us to work in a play together,” Bologna recalls. “We
were introduced as writers; Renee was working on a comedy
album and I was writing with my partner, Randy DeLuca, at
the time. Renee will tell you that when she looked into my
eyes, she knew I was the man she was going to marry. I thought
to myself, ‘This woman is looking at me very funny.’
But right away, there was an attraction. The first thing I
noticed about Renee was her lips. Then I saw the whole person.
She reminded me of family, like I knew her immediately. I
think that scared me. My M.O. was never to get married and
to have a lot of different women.”
“I think you know right away,” Taylor chimes in.
“We were engaged in three months and married in six.”
Right after they got married, Taylor became a regular on “The
Merv Griffin Show” and Bologna helped her write sketches.
They soon made a decision to write a play together because
Taylor wanted to act and Bologna wanted to direct. They didn’t
think about being successful back then -- they were simply
enjoying expressing something and sharing their observations
about life with people.
“Every time we write, it’s like the first time
we’ve written together for me,” Taylor claims.
“Joe comes up with the idea and a draft and I come up
with ideas and we rewrite it together. It’s a long,
long process. We usually start with a problem. For example,
one day we were talking about people who can’t be vulnerable
and can’t show each other that they love each other.
And we take from us, too -- every time Joe and I have a fight,
I say to him, ‘Remember that, that’s a good line.”
“You always take things from your life – people
you’ve met, things you’ve observed, something
you’ve overheard someone saying to another person at
a party,” adds Bologna. “The challenge is to find
a balance between the humor and the humanity of the characters
and the story that you’re telling. It takes work. Probably
the most important thing is the story – you can always
invent characters.”
The couple’s professional partnership has borne numerous
accolades and awards in theater, film and TV and they have
both garnered the same for individual endeavors as well. All
told, they have had four successful shows on Broadway –
“Lovers and Other Strangers,” “It Had to
Be You,” Bermuda Love Triangle,” and “ If
You Ever Leave Me, I’m Going with You.”
For as much as they jive both personally and career-wise,
Taylor says that she and Bologna are opposites as people.
She explains that while she is an optimist, if she has a disappointment,
she will dwell on it.
“Joe has kept me happy,” she exclaims,. “He’d
be happy about a sunset.”
Bologna notes that he’s as capable of being depressed
as the next person but that he figures out why he’s
depressed then moves on. He also says that the most fun he
and Taylor have is writing together.
On the other hand, Taylor says that they don’t spend
enough time writing because they love acting in their own
plays together, which takes time away from their writing.
When they do want to write, they rent a little cottage in
Vermont and work there.
So has it been all moonlight and roses or have there been
disappointments as well?
“My biggest disappointment was that I didn’t become
a sex symbol,” quips Taylor. “But it’s happening
for me now as a senior citizen.”
“I don’t swell on shoulda, woulds, coulda,”
remarks Bologna. “I’m happy-going and I don’t
dwell on disappointments.
“The biggest problem is that he’s happy no matter
what,” Taylor breaks in.
“If you get up in the morning, you have to be happy
for that,” Bologna responds.
“I’m happy when he cooks dinner,” sums up
Taylor. “I could have sex with Joe’s clam sauce.”
Enough said.
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ADDITIONAL
ARTICLES
BY
BOBBIE KATZ
HERE |
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He
Said: She Said
