Mark and his entire family had a profound influence on me as a teenager struggling to find my way. So many things that I still cherish to this day like theatre and Shakespeare, film and classical music, which I have passed on to my children, all began with or were nurtured by Mark. Even as a young man, his epic memory was somewhat daunting as he rattled off information about composers and directors at light speed. His knowledge of film making was what made our youthful 8mm art film endeavors possible as we attempted our own re-telling of the Faust legend.
How strange that Mark died on a day when I was in New York City. It was in December of 1982, that I visited NYC for the first time with Mark and his family.
I will miss his great sense of humor, caustic wit and strong political beliefs. I will never forget the first time I saw him shoot a suction-cup-headed dart at the TV when a news commentator or public official had said something that didn’t jive with Mark’s point of view.
This may be the first of a couple of offerings to this memorial endeavor as I continue to cull from my nearly 30 years of photos I took of Mark. I will look for those that may reveal something special about the man who meant so much to us.
And so it is….and to paraphrase a bit….
“Alas, poor Marky ! I knew him well. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Where be your gibes now? your
gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?” (with apologies to Wm. Shakespeare)
He will be missed, but I shall remain thankful for that best of him which he shared and passed on to all of us.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow……”
Dread
(that funny nickname that Mark coined for me in High School while coming up with our own unique stage names for various drama festivals. Somehow “D.Randolph Read” was distilled to “Dread” along the way.)(David Read)
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