Profiles in Greatness: Corky St. Clair

CORKY ST. CLAIR
in
WAITING FOR GUFFMAN (1996)

"Corky, without you there's no show. Without the show there's no celebration. Without celebration there's no Blaine. So you see how it's a domino effect... Y'know how dominoes do that? Without Blaine - I got news for ya - there's no Missouri! Blaine is the heart of Missouri. What happens if Missouri goes down? You tell me..."

On getting his start...

"I had been living in New York and working there as an actor, and I really felt I needed a change. I imagined, in my fantasy I suppose, that when I came here I would have a completely different life. Perhaps a construction worker or one of those guys that works on those high wire things that-- With the hard hat. Y'know, with that sweeping sort of hat. And, uhh... with the chaps. But that didn't really work out. I began to realize, I guess, that the theatre was still in my blood. And what I had to do was make use of that so... I offered my services to the high school here and they accepted. And I began to teach DRAMA. And within about six months I had formed the Blaine Community Players."

On his career highlight...

"My production on the stage of "Backdraft" was what really got them excited. This whole idea of "in your face" theatre really affected them. The conceptualization, the whole abstraction, the obtuseness of this production... To me was what was interesting. I wanted the audience to feel the heat from the fire, the fear -- because people don't like fire poked -- POKED in their noses. You know when you get a cinder from a barbecue right on the end of your nose and you kinda make that little face...? That's not a good thing. I wanted to have them -- The sense memory of that. So during the show I had someone burn newspapers and send it through the vents in the theatre. Well... they freaked out. Of course the fire marshal came over and they shut us down for a couple of days."

On rejection...

"Well, then, I just hate you... and I hate your... ass FACE!"

On being a struggling artist...

"So what I'm understanding here - correct me if I'm wrong - is that you're not givin' me any money. So now I'm left basically with nothin', I'm... left with ZERO, in which, in which -- What can I do with zero, y'know? What can I -- I can't do anythin' with it! This is my life here we're talkin' about here, all right? We're not just talkin' about... somethin' else. We're talkin' about my life, you know? It's forcing me to do somethin' I don't want to do. To leave. To go out and just leave and go home and say - make a clean cut here - and say, "No way, Corky! You're not puttin' up with these people!" And I'll tell you why I can't put up with you people. Because you're BASTARD people. That's what you are. You're just bastard people. And I'm goin' home and I'm gonna bite my pillow, is what I'm gonna do!"

On casting...

"I was shopping for my wife Bonnie. I buy most of her clothes. And Mrs. Pearl was in the same shop. And it was just an accident. We started talking... about pantyhose. She was saying -- Whatever... That's not the point of the story. But what the point is was that through this accidental meeting -- It's like, y'know... It's like a Hitchcock movie where, y'know, you're thrown into a rubber bag and put in the trunk of a car... You find people. You find them. Something... Is it karma? Maybe... But we found him, that's the important thing. And I got Bonnie a wonderful pantsuit."

On accepting a challenge...

"In a funny way, what the City Council did really gave me a challenge. And it's a challenge that I am going to accept. It's like in the olden days, when the... The days in France when the men would slap each other with their gloves and say, y'know, "D'Artagnan!" ... Y'know, "How do you talk to me like that, you?" And SMACK him."

On directing...

"Casting a show is really only the beginning of the process. There's also the whole design concept. What fabrics will work for the costumes. The lighting. And it really becomes a rasslin' match, I guess, between me and the muse of theatre. And most of all dance."

On preparation...

"I'd like you to close your eyes now and try something, all right? What are you thinking? What are you feeling right now with your eyes closed? ...Your first feeling was not that I was blowing on you, it was more like... Virgin Isles or Baha-manian. Or Arubian."

On remembering lines...

"What I'm saying is, if they're gonna forget it anyway, then what difference does it make? I mean -- You see what I mean? It's like one of those... It's like a... It's like a... a zen... thing! It's like, y'know... Y'know, how many babies fit in the, in the... tire... thing. That whole joke, y'know."

On nerves...

"This is like when you're getting your legs waxed and they rip that thing off real fast. That's what this is like."

On the future...

"'The Guffman News' is really big and I don't, truthfully, think that the cast understands how big. They don't know the New York thing. They haven't been through it and I have. Y'know, so it's kind of on my shoulders. And going to the Big Apple for the first time, y'know, is... such an experience. You never forget it. It stays with you for your whole life. Me, y'know, right out of the Navy. Fresh off a destroyer. With a dance belt and a tube of chapstick, basically. Y'know, not really much to call my own, and then basically being slammed down for ten or so years, y'know... Off off off off Broadway. And then enough is enough, okay? I get the joke. And... is that going to happen again? I don't know. And, I mean, I don't want it to happen again. In my deepest, deepest of hearts, I do not want it to happen again. Mr. Guffman brings with him a reputation. Something bigger than anyone in this town has ever known. And if I am to get back to New York City on my terms, I cannot deliver him a stinky product. I really have to be presenting him a package. A beautifully wrapped, glossy, sweet smelling show."