"Dave's Place"
There are no home movies of David, and very few photographs of him after age ten or twelve. It's been so long since he died, it's easy to forget how his voice sounded, how he gestured when he talked, how he moved through a room. A film was made of the conference that took David to Jerusalem in 1988, and for a long time I held out hope that David was in the outtakes. But I waited too long to contact the filmmaker, and there are just one or two brief shots of David in the finished piece.
During the course of my research for the book, I ran across a woman who cast David in a student film at Brown, but David appears only briefly, here and there, and he never speaks (he stares into a mirror, he picks up a dead mouse and glowers at it).
Stills from "Dave's Place," the only photos of David in his NYC apartment
This brings me to "Dave's Place." It's a short film that some friends of his made the year before David died. Amazingly, it's shot in David's own apartment on E. 23rd St in NYC--a place that I had a lot of memories of, but no photographs. As far as i can tell, this film is all there is of David walking and talking. Unfortunatley, he's not really walking and talking like himself so much as he's being a Dave Character for the camera. I found this disappointing--I so wanted to see David as I remembered him--and thought I shouldn't post the video on this site for fear that people would find David annoying. But when wrote this to one of the filmmakers, she wrote back:
"Anyone whose memory of David is dear would be overwhelmed to be able to see him moving, talking, and even "being annoying"! For that matter, for people to whom Dave is a stranger, who read the book and are just a bit curious as to who David was--who is the guy you're describing? what was he like? ... This is something interesting."
Maybe she's right. Maybe I should post "Dave's Place" and let you decide what you think of it. While I'm figuring out how to do this technically, I"m posting some stills from the film along with this description of "Dave's Place" that I cut in a late draft of the book. If America wants "Dave's Place," I will do my best to give it to them. Let me know. Here's the description:
"Not long after David moved in to his apartment on 23rd St, some friends shot a short film there they called "Dave's Place." The film teased you with bits of narrative, but was mainly a series of moments of Dave in his apartment, answering the phone, rummaging his shelves for books, addressing himself to imaginary listeners ("Yeah it's a nice apartment. I just moved in. What? Well how does anyone get a good apartment in New York?"). Long pans around Dave's Place show the sparse food in the pantry, the books and clothes all over, an oscillating fan. Then a jump cut to David speaking directly into the camera: "For some time now, the impression has been forming in my mind that everyone I know is dead." Then a woman appears to save the day. It seems they're a couple.
"The woman and David watch TV in bed; he calls her "Honey" and, at the end, he arrives at the realization, "I guess I really love you." The Dave at the beginning of "Dave's Place" seems incapable of this kind of relatedness. He self-consciously rattles on, repeating nonsense phrases like "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." He seems to enjoy nothing more than the sound of his own voice and its different inflections as he turns increasingly inward. The Dave at the end is in a deep serious romance with (of all things) another person. I don't know how to reconcile these two Daves."
posted by Ken Dornstein on March 27, 2006 07:42 AM
Comments
I say post it. No matter how annoying or possibly boring, take the risk. One can always turn it off. Remember, now being parents,we know there are always a select group of people who can sit through hours of video of our children. I am sure there is a large group of people who would find clips of david fascinating. And quite frankly, he was always nice to look at and full of personality. You often did not hear what he was saying.
Posted by: susan dornstein | April 3, 2006 05:09 AM
So, i was the other half of the film making team. The whole movie really started from me and Dave and the writer cracking up over the line, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." So exquisitely trite we were sort of humbled by its wisdom. I loved that David could embrace the absolutely absurd with a fervor bordering on the pathological. There was an earnest quality that was married to an absolutely thrilling sense of the absurd. I loved it. I miss it still. I remember having a fight in a Citibank: i was trying to open an account and they said i needed more identification than i had, that a gun permit would suffice. I seized on this and raised my voice a little. A GUN PERMIT! From the other end of the bank I hear YEAH PHELIM, TELL 'EM! It was Dave, in the bank probably to cash his paycheck from his proofreading job upstairs. All I could do was laugh. I still have the Chase account I opened shortly thereafter.
Posted by: Phelim Dolan | April 5, 2006 01:30 PM
David was not as alone as he thought. As a former neighbor to the Dornstein Family, and a fellow VICTIM OF "DONAGHUE's" (I wonder how many old neighborhood readers have figured out his REAL IDENTITY), I can relate to a lot of who David was, and to much of what drove his emotions. Little did I know all of these years that I was NOT ALONE! I feel a bond here that I never knew existed.
How many others did "Donaghue" abuse? David's memory lives on through Ken's book and through the videos that remain. I remember David, Susan and Kenny as the nice younger kids down the street, who were friends with my younger siblings. I never really knew them as adults, but I'd love to meet them all again - including David.
I would appreciate seeing whatever photos or video that might be available. Even if David was in character, it would be worth seeing. It can only enhance the remarkable work that Ken has produced.
Posted by: Terry McDonnell | April 22, 2006 11:16 AM
I want to see "Dave's Place," but I don't entirely trust my reasons, whatever they are, because they're probably about personal greed. Certainly loved hearing the tapes. But a little walking and talking by Dave -- even in "annoying character" mode -- might well take the edge off reading reviews of the book that somehow intuit that Dave was set for auto-destruct before he even got on the plane. Oh well.
Posted by: Mark Bradford | April 28, 2006 04:24 AM
I know EXACTLY who "Donaghue" is, but due to our fine state's insane statute of limitation laws, he's protected. David was not, but he is--how sick is that? There is a bill in the state Congress to overturn the law, and to make all these old abusers accountable for their crimes, but many powerful lobbyists stand against it. Maybe someday...
Until then, I know that Ken's book has given Dave a voice aginst this monster, and that is a small bit of justice.
P.S. "Donaghue" tried his crap on me, too, but I shut him down before it ever went anywhere, and I never told anyone. If I had only known what he was going to turn out to be...
Posted by: Anon | April 29, 2006 10:02 AM
I met David when we both worked at Gullifty's Restaurant in Elkins Park. I was working my way through undergraduate school. David was a busboy and still in High School. I adored him.
When he was a freshman at Brown, my fifth graders from North Philly wrote to David. David asked his friends to help him respond to every letter. Every fifth grader received a letter from David or his friends. Later, David showed up at my school. He told the principal he was my little brother so she let him come up to the third floor to visit. He talked to the kids, and as he leaned on the chalkboard ledge, it broke and fell off. The kids went nuts. They wanted to know when we were going to get married. That's the last time I saw David. He hugged me good-bye in the hallway. We wrote to each other a few more times. I don't know why we stopped.
Then I saw his picture in a newspaper as I sat in a laundry-mat one Saturday morning. I froze, I couldn't move, I didn't let myself think. I called a mutual friend from Gullifty's on a pay-phone. I have never forgotten how important he was to me, I have never forgotten his talent for making everyone laugh.
Ken, your book has taken me back to a very happy "spot of time." Your book has also taken me to my darkest place. I never let myself really grieve for David, or for the other friends I have lost over the past 35 years. You have helped me to go there, the place I keep closed-- my soul.
Because of my love for your big brother, and my highest respect for your ability and generosity to share your heartbreak with the world, David has returned. His spirit is alive and smiling. His rosy cheeks and curly black hair are no longer a blur-- I do not have to forget anymore. Thank you.
Posted by: Cecilia Korman | May 3, 2006 12:00 PM