Reminiscence of Samantha
Published in the Victoria Times Colonist, October, 2003
By Ian Lidster
Sometimes these days I feel like sending Kim Cattrall to her room to thinkabout her transgressions against both propriety and good, clean familywholesomeness.Then I remember she is an actress playing a part, and I'm not her father,in any case. So, what am I doing being all paternal and stuffy? Especiallywhen I think that Kim is the same age as my wife. And, I don't actuallymind improprieties on the part of my wife. But, those improprieties have tobe just with me, not in front of half the population of North America viathe wonders of frank and forthright cable TV.I must remind myself that the sexual hi-jinx of Samantha on Sex In The Cityare not Kim at all, but just Kim doing a job of work in the context of:"I'm not really a doctor, but just an actor playing one." But, it's hard,because Kim and I go back a long time. Back to the days when she was apicture of pristine and innocent young girlhood.In that context, she probably says to herself with much regularity, "I'mnot really a hypersexualized, middle-aged, albeit immensely glamorouswoman, but just an actress pretending to be one." This would be the samething as if Sharon Stone didn't forget to wear her underpants as SharonStone, but as her character in a movie forgot her underpants whilst in themovie.So, as Kim Cattrall exhibits tendencies towards carnality in the role ofSamantha, it's really only Samantha doing it. Kim, the real Kim, is at homedoing needlepoint homilies for the wall.Getting that all sorted out in my mind makes me feel a little better aboutKim, but maybe no less paternal. I have a hard time letting go.Intellectually I know that Kim, my former student (hence the paternalimpulse) is an actress, and a good one. But just maybe she'll think aboutplaying a nun sometime. Such a role would improve my emotional acceptanceof the situation. After all, Audrey Hepburn played a nun once. She alsoplayed girl-about-New York (read 'high class call-girl), Holly Golightlyand was very believable as both Holly and the nun. So maybe Kim could playa nun, too, after she finishes with Samantha at the end of this TV season.When sweet and young Kim Cattrall was my student back in the early 1970's,I regarded her with exactly the correct pedagogical attitude as prescribedby my role as teacher. But, I was also very fond of her as an immenselytalented and hugely likable young woman. She sat there in my English andcreative writing classes, and was just like any other student of mine. Shewas cute, attentive, polite, and very pleasant.Where she was different is that she was Kim, the future actress! Inconversation, when life plans came up, her eyes would assume an intensityas she told of her quest in life. She was, even at age 14, when I firstknew her, possessed of a fierce, burning, unwavering ambition, and that wasto act. In those days, before thegender-neutrality-political-rectitude-brigade took command and ordered allthespians to be 'actors', Kim was going to be an "actress" -- a noted one-- a star. There was no "want to be" about this ambition, it was what wasgoing to be!She had her career mapped out in her mind and her determination not only toget there, but to succeed beyond the anybody's expectations was her drivingforce. Vanier Secondary in Courtenay was merely a stop along the way;something to be endured until she could seek out her serious training thatwould lead her in the direction of her chosen vocation.Other high school kids have ambitions, too. They want to be doctors,lawyers, teachers or electricians, and some even make it. Others bask inthe realm of fantasy, as in: "Wouldn't it be way cool to be a rock-star?"Indeed, some even want to act -- maybe -- someday. Kim was different. Kimwas going to act. And she was going to act big-time, on Broadway, inLondon's West End, before the bright lights of Hollywood -- not in somerinky-dink local theatre society. Nothing was going to stand in her way.By the second half of her grade 12 year, things were falling into place forher. It was then, in 1973, when she was notified that she had been acceptedas a scholarship student in the prestigious American Academny of DramaticArts in New York -- the youngest student ever to receive such aninvitation. She was on her way at the tender age of 16.The rest, as they say, is history. She was in good films, and bad. She hadgood live theatre runs, like her personally cherished stint in the RockyHorror Show in Toronto. She got fine reviews for the Canadian flick Daysof Heaven, in which she played a downright scary, hyper-adrenalinecheerleader for a religious cult.She was in the raunchy teen-pic Porky's in 1981 and, Shades of Samantha,she bared her bottom as the nymphomaniacal gym teacher in thiscritically-slammed but box-office boffo flick. As an aside, she once toldme the bum in question belonged to a stand-in, and was not her own. I hadno way of knowing one way or the other.With all her choices, good and bad, Kim has had a long and, by anystandards, extremely successful career in a ruthless business. I don't knowwhat she has in mind post-Samantha, since this is Sex in the City's finalseason, but I am certain she'll be a success at it. I'm sure she has lostnone of her determination, nor her ability to stay newsworthy. She's verygood at that, making sure she is 'glamming' it up a la Samantha at eventsboth high-impact and trivial. Of course, there is nothing new to Kimgetting her name out there in the media. She even once dated PierreTrudeau. You might be driven to say, "Who didn't?", but that's not thepoint. Kim has always known how to court publicity, even co-writing a bookon the joys of orgasm with her most recent husband. It kept her current,and just a teeny bit controversial.I followed Kim's career closely in her early days, and was thrilled for hersuccesses and, I must confess, slightly dazzled at times. This was headystuff. Indeed, I am still thrilled for her success in a ruthless business,albeit the pipeline of our connection has now become quite lengthy.I went to see her in a little play in Vancouver after she had been in herfirst film, the underwhelming Rosebud, in 1975. She was still getting herchops, and any time she was given a chance to perform, she would take it.So, she was happy to do a stint on the Vancouver stage. She once told meshe invariably preferred live performing to film or television, but thebucks and the notability are in the latter. Anyway, she was delighted I took the pains to come to the play, and I wasthrilled to see her. She was still very much the kid who had been given agood break, and she was still wide-eyed about how her romance with stageand screen was playing out.I didn't see Kim again for quite a few years, by which time I had leftteaching and had become a newspaper reporter. At some point in thisjuncture Kim paid an "official" visit to her hometown (she makes a fairnumber of unofficial visits to see friends and family, but normally doesn'tlet it be known), and I set it up so I could interview her for the oldComox District Free Press. It was a pleasing meeting with an old friendShe was still unspoiled by success, and very much the same person I hadtaught. We had a lingering lunch, and after lunch she wanted to go and paya visit to some old haunts, like her high school. I escorted her on hercalls, and was charmed to do so. This would have been in about 1980.We corresponded for a few years after that, and she would often call whenshe was in town. A few times we met fleetingly, but her career was reallystarting to take off and she, understandably, had some very big fish to fryin her life.Losing touch again, I didn't see Kim again until 1993, when she decided toattend her 20-year high school reunion. She was a bit trepidatious aboutthe event, and was hoping nobody would jealously demean her, as in "Who thehell do you think you are?" To my knowledge no such thing happened at thereunion. I attended the event and, as far as I could see, she was treatedlike any other Vanier alum. People who had known her in student days weredelighted to see her, and she chatted with assorted groups as just anotherformer student. I was impressed both with the alumni and by the way shecarried it off.Much has happened in Kim's life since that time, but I am content to assumeshe is not Samantha, but merely the slightly hyperkinetic but fun kid wholoved hockey (as she reportedly still does) and was planning to go off andbecome a star.And that she did. Good on her.
By Ian Lidster
Sometimes these days I feel like sending Kim Cattrall to her room to thinkabout her transgressions against both propriety and good, clean familywholesomeness.Then I remember she is an actress playing a part, and I'm not her father,in any case. So, what am I doing being all paternal and stuffy? Especiallywhen I think that Kim is the same age as my wife. And, I don't actuallymind improprieties on the part of my wife. But, those improprieties have tobe just with me, not in front of half the population of North America viathe wonders of frank and forthright cable TV.I must remind myself that the sexual hi-jinx of Samantha on Sex In The Cityare not Kim at all, but just Kim doing a job of work in the context of:"I'm not really a doctor, but just an actor playing one." But, it's hard,because Kim and I go back a long time. Back to the days when she was apicture of pristine and innocent young girlhood.In that context, she probably says to herself with much regularity, "I'mnot really a hypersexualized, middle-aged, albeit immensely glamorouswoman, but just an actress pretending to be one." This would be the samething as if Sharon Stone didn't forget to wear her underpants as SharonStone, but as her character in a movie forgot her underpants whilst in themovie.So, as Kim Cattrall exhibits tendencies towards carnality in the role ofSamantha, it's really only Samantha doing it. Kim, the real Kim, is at homedoing needlepoint homilies for the wall.Getting that all sorted out in my mind makes me feel a little better aboutKim, but maybe no less paternal. I have a hard time letting go.Intellectually I know that Kim, my former student (hence the paternalimpulse) is an actress, and a good one. But just maybe she'll think aboutplaying a nun sometime. Such a role would improve my emotional acceptanceof the situation. After all, Audrey Hepburn played a nun once. She alsoplayed girl-about-New York (read 'high class call-girl), Holly Golightlyand was very believable as both Holly and the nun. So maybe Kim could playa nun, too, after she finishes with Samantha at the end of this TV season.When sweet and young Kim Cattrall was my student back in the early 1970's,I regarded her with exactly the correct pedagogical attitude as prescribedby my role as teacher. But, I was also very fond of her as an immenselytalented and hugely likable young woman. She sat there in my English andcreative writing classes, and was just like any other student of mine. Shewas cute, attentive, polite, and very pleasant.Where she was different is that she was Kim, the future actress! Inconversation, when life plans came up, her eyes would assume an intensityas she told of her quest in life. She was, even at age 14, when I firstknew her, possessed of a fierce, burning, unwavering ambition, and that wasto act. In those days, before thegender-neutrality-political-rectitude-brigade took command and ordered allthespians to be 'actors', Kim was going to be an "actress" -- a noted one-- a star. There was no "want to be" about this ambition, it was what wasgoing to be!She had her career mapped out in her mind and her determination not only toget there, but to succeed beyond the anybody's expectations was her drivingforce. Vanier Secondary in Courtenay was merely a stop along the way;something to be endured until she could seek out her serious training thatwould lead her in the direction of her chosen vocation.Other high school kids have ambitions, too. They want to be doctors,lawyers, teachers or electricians, and some even make it. Others bask inthe realm of fantasy, as in: "Wouldn't it be way cool to be a rock-star?"Indeed, some even want to act -- maybe -- someday. Kim was different. Kimwas going to act. And she was going to act big-time, on Broadway, inLondon's West End, before the bright lights of Hollywood -- not in somerinky-dink local theatre society. Nothing was going to stand in her way.By the second half of her grade 12 year, things were falling into place forher. It was then, in 1973, when she was notified that she had been acceptedas a scholarship student in the prestigious American Academny of DramaticArts in New York -- the youngest student ever to receive such aninvitation. She was on her way at the tender age of 16.The rest, as they say, is history. She was in good films, and bad. She hadgood live theatre runs, like her personally cherished stint in the RockyHorror Show in Toronto. She got fine reviews for the Canadian flick Daysof Heaven, in which she played a downright scary, hyper-adrenalinecheerleader for a religious cult.She was in the raunchy teen-pic Porky's in 1981 and, Shades of Samantha,she bared her bottom as the nymphomaniacal gym teacher in thiscritically-slammed but box-office boffo flick. As an aside, she once toldme the bum in question belonged to a stand-in, and was not her own. I hadno way of knowing one way or the other.With all her choices, good and bad, Kim has had a long and, by anystandards, extremely successful career in a ruthless business. I don't knowwhat she has in mind post-Samantha, since this is Sex in the City's finalseason, but I am certain she'll be a success at it. I'm sure she has lostnone of her determination, nor her ability to stay newsworthy. She's verygood at that, making sure she is 'glamming' it up a la Samantha at eventsboth high-impact and trivial. Of course, there is nothing new to Kimgetting her name out there in the media. She even once dated PierreTrudeau. You might be driven to say, "Who didn't?", but that's not thepoint. Kim has always known how to court publicity, even co-writing a bookon the joys of orgasm with her most recent husband. It kept her current,and just a teeny bit controversial.I followed Kim's career closely in her early days, and was thrilled for hersuccesses and, I must confess, slightly dazzled at times. This was headystuff. Indeed, I am still thrilled for her success in a ruthless business,albeit the pipeline of our connection has now become quite lengthy.I went to see her in a little play in Vancouver after she had been in herfirst film, the underwhelming Rosebud, in 1975. She was still getting herchops, and any time she was given a chance to perform, she would take it.So, she was happy to do a stint on the Vancouver stage. She once told meshe invariably preferred live performing to film or television, but thebucks and the notability are in the latter. Anyway, she was delighted I took the pains to come to the play, and I wasthrilled to see her. She was still very much the kid who had been given agood break, and she was still wide-eyed about how her romance with stageand screen was playing out.I didn't see Kim again for quite a few years, by which time I had leftteaching and had become a newspaper reporter. At some point in thisjuncture Kim paid an "official" visit to her hometown (she makes a fairnumber of unofficial visits to see friends and family, but normally doesn'tlet it be known), and I set it up so I could interview her for the oldComox District Free Press. It was a pleasing meeting with an old friendShe was still unspoiled by success, and very much the same person I hadtaught. We had a lingering lunch, and after lunch she wanted to go and paya visit to some old haunts, like her high school. I escorted her on hercalls, and was charmed to do so. This would have been in about 1980.We corresponded for a few years after that, and she would often call whenshe was in town. A few times we met fleetingly, but her career was reallystarting to take off and she, understandably, had some very big fish to fryin her life.Losing touch again, I didn't see Kim again until 1993, when she decided toattend her 20-year high school reunion. She was a bit trepidatious aboutthe event, and was hoping nobody would jealously demean her, as in "Who thehell do you think you are?" To my knowledge no such thing happened at thereunion. I attended the event and, as far as I could see, she was treatedlike any other Vanier alum. People who had known her in student days weredelighted to see her, and she chatted with assorted groups as just anotherformer student. I was impressed both with the alumni and by the way shecarried it off.Much has happened in Kim's life since that time, but I am content to assumeshe is not Samantha, but merely the slightly hyperkinetic but fun kid wholoved hockey (as she reportedly still does) and was planning to go off andbecome a star.And that she did. Good on her.
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