Jim joined the cast of The Scarlet Pimpernel in January, `99 when he replaced Ken Land as Ben. In addition to his on-stage duties, Jim's quite a writer on the side. He's written the books for a few small-scale musicals, and a cabaret show that was produced in the summer of `98. We talked a bit about his writing, and of course, his experiences with SP.

NR: Where did you grow up?

JH: In Mount Clemens, Michigan, which is a suburb of Detroit. It's a little tiny town. There were about 300 or so in my graduating class in high school.

NR: That's not that tiny.

JH: No, I guess it isn't really, but the town was really small and a lot of people from different towns went to the high school. I always wanted to act. One day I missed the bus to go home, and I tried to call my mom but she couldn't pick me up. This girl said, "I have to paint some sets for the school play. If you'll wait for me, my mom's going to pick me up." I said, "How long?" and she said, "About an hour." So, I went down where they were painting the sets and the drama teacher asked me if I wanted to help. I said, "Sure" and started painting. It was some melodrama - I think I was painting a tombstone. She said, "Would you help backstage to hold up the tombstone?" and I said, "OK" and did that. Then she said, "A toy soldier just quit from the Christmas pageant. Would you be a toy soldier?" I said, "OK" and that's how I got my start.

NR: Did you go to college for theater?

JH: Um hmm. For one year I went to Eastern Michigan University. Then a casting director came from New York to my college and did a master class. I asked him about schools in New York and he hooked me up with the Neighborhood Playhouse. The next year I went to the Neighborhood Playhouse and studied.

NR: And you've been here ever since?

JH: Yeah.

NR: That's terrific. How long did it take to get what you considered a "real job?"

JH: You know, I was really lucky at first. I was getting soap operas and I got this little Off Broadway show, but you weren't allowed to be in a play while you were in school. I just kept my mouth shut while I was doing it. It was only a couple of weeks because it was mostly in the summer. Then it was about three or four years where I was not doing a lot. I finally got my Equity Card and I thought when I got my first summer stock job at Kansas City Starlight, "Oh, this is it. I've made it. I'll never have to wait tables again." Haha! Six weeks later I was saying, "What will you have with the Chardonnay?"

NR: That's hard. It's a tough life.

JH: I still have my waiter's vest and the tie. It's sort of like good luck. I'm afraid that if I throw them out, then I'll have to do it again.

NR: I remember when I asked Doug Storm what he wanted to do in the future and he said, "Not ask someone how they want their fish."

JH: Well, luckily, I don't have to worry about that anymore.

NR: You have your writing too. Which came first, the writing or the acting?

JH: I started writing before I was acting in high school. I started writing and I was such a bad speller. Of course, they didn't have computers back then with spell check. I was such a bad speller that I was too afraid to write - I was too intimidated. I would get As on the ideas, but I was such a bad speller. Then I later found out that a lot of great writers are awful spellers and nobody cares. Isn't that funny? It really stifled me for so long. When I was doing the revival of Merrily We Roll Along, I was working with Cass Morgan and she was writing. Between scenes we would write and encourage each other. Her play is getting produced now. That's what got me started.

NR: Let's talk about Pimpernel a bit. Has Ben changed with the new version?

JH: Yeah.

NR: How did the downsizing affect you?

JH: The energy...we are a group of friends - the six guys, or nine that there were. In any group, there's always someone who's the funny one, or someone who always figures out the check when the bill comes when you're all out having dinner, and somebody else always makes the plane reservations or the dinner reservations. Then if that person isn't there, somebody else is the funny person, or is the person that's always late. So it changed in that way. The dynamic of the people had to change. I used to feel as Ben in the old one (SP2), I was much more happy-go-lucky. I think all these people have a character flaw that they overcome, and as an actor you have to find what your character flaw is. I think in SP2, Ben was happy-go-lucky. Everything was a joke. He never took anything seriously and for the first time in his life, he has to take something seriously. Otherwise he would make jokes about it and say, "Let's not think about it" and just go on. In this one, I wanted to make him more like Felix Unger in The Odd Couple in that he's more "anal" and doesn't like change. That's his character flaw - he doesn't want anything to change. So, when anything changes or doesn't go as planned, he gets upset and it makes him nervous. So that makes me jumpier now. I guess that's it. Doing all of this is so out of his realm of reality.

NR: How often do you get to step in to understudy the other Bounders?

JH: Hardly ever.

NR: I was wondering about that, since like you said, there are so many personalities. That must be tricky to do.

JH: I find Dewhurst to be the hardest. Not the hardest to play, because actually, he can be a lot of fun. But, it's hard because (I shouldn't say this - poor Ken), but I find it harder to find a character flaw. He's already overcome his character flaw. He's already "on the boat" with Percy. He's already ready to go. The other ones...so I can't imitate them. I have to do what I think if I were them, what would my character flaw be.

NR: You know what James Judy told me? Dewhurst feels guilty because he's the one who brought Percy the news. So, that's the thing over his head. He feels like he started this whole thing.

JH: Oh. Well, you know what? Then I just learned something. Now I know what to play. I'm going to use that. Thank you.

NR: (laughing) Well, thank James. Do you have a favorite part of the show to do?

JH: I think "Into the Fire." The whole "Into the Fire" bit, but especially the new part when we're fighting and pretending with the swords. Up until the boat ...that whole part. I think that's the most fun because that's the most heartfelt with all of us. Then the boat becomes a little bit more about changing your costume.

NR: You must look out and see faces of people who are just amazed by the way this boat appears.

JH: Yeah, and that's fun, knowing that you're doing that to people.

NR: Now, is there anything that you just really have "had it" - you've done it too many times and you just have to get through it?

JH: Yeah. I think the seascape is probably the hardest - standing there so long. That's a tough one.

NR: Tell me about your other shows now. I know about I Love New York which, I have to tell you, is one of my favorite CDs. I've worn it out. I would buy one for everyone I know if I could afford it. I really love it.

JH: Thank you.

NR: It's great voices and a great collection of songs. There are some beautiful ballads, and then there are several songs that are very funny. I wish you could do it again so I could see it live.

JH: They may tour it. I can't remember what it's called, but they're going to be doing a tour of it, hopefully in the fall, across the country. They're going to be doing the I Love New York show, plus a little section about Broadway. That was such a highlight of my life.

NR: It must be. Bryan Batt told me about the CD and he talked me into getting it. Now I play it constantly.

JH: I looked all over for those songs, every day, all night because we had two weeks to put it together - my collaborator, Ray (Roderick) and John Glaudini. Then a friend of mine said, "Do you know the song (singing) `Goodbye My Coney Island Baby'?" I said, "What's it called?" and she said, "I don't know. I guess `Goodbye My Coney Island Baby'" and that's all she knew. And she's a New Yorker! So, we went to the library and found it. It was so small, just sixteen bars. That's all that was written. It was nothing. I was standing by in 1776 at the time. I would run backstage...the Gershwin is huge so I had my own private work place, and I said, "A roller coaster. They're on a roller coaster ride." I gave it to John Glaudini and he arranged it. Ray Roderick directed it and had them on stools doing all this great stuff.

NR: You know, I didn't see it, but I can picture what he probably did through a lot of it. Did you have a video projection or something behind them?

JH: No. What was behind us at Rainbow and Stars is ...(oh boy, that's a great idea!) At Rainbow and Stars you have the city as the backdrop. It's huge panes of glass so you see the skyline of the city. It's a cabaret space.

NR: I thought maybe you had a video behind them because you really could do that as if they were on the ride. You can picture it as you listen to the song.

JH: It got great reviews.

NR: I'm wondering how the rest of the country will receive all of this "I Love New York" stuff. Maybe they don't love New York as much as we do.

JH: Right, but I think they're going to love it because we're going to make it I Love New York and the Lights of Broadway. It will be about a lot more. We may take out a couple of the numbers that got too specific. And we are looking for a place in New York to reopen it. It was supposed to a couple of times, but we're waiting.

NR: Pete 'n' Keely. I didn't see that either but I've heard it's terrific. Rumor has it that you might be doing it.

JH: We're doing a little private reading next week. It's going to be done at Penn State College for a fund-raiser next weekend. Then, this theater called Cap 21...it got chosen to be part of their new theater group. We start rehearsals in January and we open in February for three weeks. It will perform there as a showcase and then hopefully we're going to move it.

NR: Is that in New York?

JH: Yeah. It's at 15 West 28th Street.

NR: That's excellent. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about it.

JH: It's really great. It's so adorable. It just needs some more work. We did the readings with George Dvorsky and Sally Mayes and we're still trying to finalize the cast for this run.

NR: Do you have anything else coming up?

JH: Yes. If you like the first CD, I have an even better one. This one is called A Christmas Survival Guide. It's using a lot of Christmas songs that you know, and some that you don't know. Oh, by the way, I Love New York won the 1999 Bistro Award and one of the songs won us a MAC Award.

NR: Which song?

JH: It's called "Goodnight New York" that Heather Mac Rae sang. It's a beautiful song. It won the award for Julie Gold. She wrote "From a Distance" - that song that Bette Midler sang and won a Grammy for. She wrote us a song for our Christmas show that Marin Mazzie is singing on our new CD. Instead of my voice being the book narrator, it's going to be Marc Kudisch. Danny Gurwin's one of the singers on it, and Bryan Batt. It has Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner on it, Tim Shew, Heather Mac Rae and Janet Metz, Christiane Noll, and it's really going to be great. We're doing the same thing - taking songs you may or may not know but putting them into a context. Like, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but it's called "The Twelve Steps of Christmas" and it's about a woman having a little breakdown in the pageant. It's very funny.

NR: It sounds great. When is it coming out?

JH: We're mixing it now. Sometime in the middle of November.

NR: Where will it be? At Colony, or anywhere else?

JH: Yeah, and then it will be on the web at www.ChristmasSurvival.com. It's going to be amazing. "Silver Bells" is a song that we know and Ross Lehman from Epic Proportions is singing "Silver Bells" but it's kind of driving him crazy in the city. It's really fun. Some of them are just straight.

NR: Do you ever think of writing something full scale with a big cast?

JH: Yeah. That's going to be next I think. I'm still with my collaborators. We have different ideas but we have to figure out which road to go down.

NR: Would it be something totally original or an adaptation?

JH: I don't know. I have ideas for both. I'm not sure what it will be. After the Christmas one, and after Pete 'n' Keely, I feel like I'll have enough of a track record to do something big. I also have another show called Mercada and the Talking Stars which is a one-woman show for an African American woman. Phylicia Rashad's agent loved it and gave it for her to do, so I'm hoping that she'll like it and want to do it, or have the time to do it. It's totally different than these silly musical things, but my musical stuff is still never silly. I think that's why I Love New York is so great. It's isn't just people in tuxedos singing "East Side, West Side."

NR: Do you write music also?

JH: No. Just the book really. Some lyrics.

NR: Do you see yourself switching to writing, or will you continue on the stage also?

JH: As long as I feel fulfilled somehow, it doesn't really matter. As long as I feel like I'm being creative. And Pimpernel of course, being in it awhile, it doesn't feed me as much, so it's great that I have these other things. This is what I call my "day job."

NR: How have you reacted to the support of the League?

JH: I was actually thinking about it during the seascape today - I swear to you. I was thinking about the League and I thought that the Internet has really helped the League form. It's sort of like...I have cousins from Buffalo and they follow the Bills all around the country. They go to the games, but the games are on TV. They have their group and they can say, "Did you see the game?..." Ours is live theater, so you have much less people who can say, "Hey, did you see Scarlet Pimpernel or did you see Death of a Salesman?" So, I think it's great that people have a place to go and get a communication going, and support.

NR: It's nice to find out you're not alone.

JH: Yes. I wish it was around when I was young. You learn so much and you feel so much more a part of it. From a little town in Michigan - whoever is "me" now in Michigan - can feel much more connected with the show.

NR: Douglas (Sills) lived pretty close to you probably.

JH: Yes, he did. We used to play him in lacrosse. I used to go to his school to play lacrosse. They usually won - they were better.

NR: The League is over 600 people now, and I would say that the last 100 or 150 that have joined did so with SP3. They never saw the other versions so they don't even have ghosts of old performers in their mind.

JH: I think it's wonderful. Everybody is so nice and has been so supportive. I think it's the best thing that happened to theater, especially this show. I hope that Pete 'n' Keely gets something like it.

NR: It will, because you already have this group.

JH: You know what? That makes me feel great. I have to tell you that. It makes me feel so supported and I don't feel like I'm doing it alone.

NR: That's wonderful. Well, good luck with all of them.

JH: Thanks.

I wish Jim the best of luck with all of his projects. His I Love New York really is a very enjoyable CD, and I'm sure his Christmas Survival Guide will be just as much fun. He has a wonderful ability to gather talented individuals and bring out the best in them. I can't wait to see his efforts brought to life on the stage.

Questions suggested by:

Jan Combopiano, Renee Girard, Kelly Honig, Colleen Rosati, Jan Kolb