MICHELLE MARGETTS
Thank-you note from Carol Channing, 1962
Another secret about Jim and his poetic passions: He loved theater and musicals, seemingly the sappier, the better. It’s not something he broadcast much—I would hazard a guess that he didn’t go share just how much he loved Carol Channing or a great Cole Porter number or Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work with his mechanic or the guys he got his guns from. But if he thought you were receptive to the power of it all, he’d definitely bend your ear.
There was so much more to Jim than the rock ’n’ roll, hard-living lunatic genius. That’s one aspect of his life, and there’s ample evidence for it, but dig a little deeper and you’ll see a lovely sap willing to make a fool of himself at the drop of a hat, especially after he’d had a glass or two of whatever high-end whiskey or scotch he happened to favor that month.
Jim was never ashamed to wear his emotions on his sleeve, and he was hugely sentimental, almost comically so. Jim liked a great song, sure, but he also seemed to dig the poetry, catharsis, and pathos at the heart of most remarkable theater, musical and otherwise. And if, at its core, there was a love story full of betrayal, heartbreak, and redemption, hey, so much the better. I think it was as close to therapy as Jim would let himself get.
CAROL CHANNING in her dressing room for the Broadway show, Hello, Dolly!, New York City, 1964
