Thursday, August 14, 2008

Manni Peddis with Marcia

Absolutely True Story You Couldn't Possibly Live Without!
Suburban readers may laugh but it's not uncommon for men to get manicures and pedicures in the big city. You'd be surprised at how filthy your nails get in the urban jungle.

So last week before moving to DC for a month (? not sure how long I'm staying?) I was feeling extra gross and got one. Location: Upper West Side. No sooner do I plop down in the raised chair for my pedicure than I spot a mini-shrine to one Marcia Gay Harden (happy 49th birthday diva!) next to me. There overlooking me on the wall are multiple pictures of the Oscar winner torn from magazines. As my feet soak, I point to the pictures and say incredulously "Marcia Gay Harden is your client?" she looks at me, points, nods her head "yes yes" with big smile (I don't think she speaks English) and then continues to work on my unclean toes, god bless her.

She works in silence and I am left to ponder how these pictures possibly made it to the wall. Marcia Gay Harden is not Angelina Jolie or Madonna or Britney Spears. You actually have to work to know who she is. She is not an unavoidable celebrity force. So did Marcia herself, sitting in this very chair, explain to this pedicurist Who She Was... ? Did she pull an Oscar from her purse to underline her point in something of a more universal language? Did Ms. Harden herself return with the magazine photos as mementos of her fame for this unsuspecting woman new fan who hadn't even asked for an autograph or told her how great she was in Pollock, Mystic River, Millers Crossing or The Mist?

It was all I could think about as I tipped the woman for her troubles and left the salon with my newly presentable fingers and toes.
*

7 comments:

Hayden said...

If your pedicure were a scene, would you say she stole it? She has a tendency to do that.

par3182 said...

you know a good way to keep your feet clean in the big city? wear shoes!

(sorry to be harsh, nate, but you've exposed one of my phobias - naked feet)

Glenn Dunks said...

I imagine the people at the salon haven't seen American Dreamz, American Gun, Mona Lisa Smile or any of the other movies in which she is the polar opposite quality-wise to her roles in Pollock, Mystic River and the like.

Anonymous said...

marcia would have said when confromted with not being recognised

"i am actor jackson,we don't live we survive,but you,you need you need you need

Anonymous said...

marcia would have said when confromted with not being recognised

"i am actor jackson,we don't live we survive,but you,you need you need you need

NicksFlickPicks said...

Or, quoting herself from The Mist, she could have said, "When I need a pedicurist like you, I'll pop a squat and sh*t one out."

This actually is an amazing story. N, you have to get a pedicure all day every day when you get back, till you meet MGH and ask where her mind went while she was filming Gaudi Afternoon and Mona Lisa Smile.

Anonymous said...

I'm resisting the temptation right now to fly there and get my feet pedicured until she shows up.

in no understatement... i love her.

"I NEED! I NEED!"

*in best Mrs Pollock impression*