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November 11, 2005
'TO DANCE ON SANDS' The magic of Marta BecketDEATH VALLEY JUNCTION LEGEND PERFORMS FOR LOVING AUDIENCE AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY RELEASED
By ROBIN FLINCHUM
And that was the signal for those in attendance to all but stampede down the long Spanish colonnade of the Amargosa Hotel in Death Valley Junction to the lobby where Becket's autobiography made its public debut. Although a few copies of the book, "To Dance on Sands; the Life and Art of Death Valley's Marta Becket," circulated among employees of the Stephens Press Publishing Company before the show, sale of the book was forbidden until Becket gave the OK at the end of her performance. Then the 125 fans in attendance converged on the small gift shop and bought up 130 books, all but cleaning out the supply on hand. For more than an hour that night fans stood in line, some hefting as many as five of the substantial hardbacks while they waited for Becket's autograph. Luminous in blue velvet and a Red Hat bestowed upon her by the Desert Flower Chapter of the Red Hat Society in Pahrump, Becket signed title page after title page, pleased "beyond my wildest expectations," she said of the overwhelming turnout. On this night of triumph, Becket's one regret was that the seat next to her, usually occupied by her longtime companion and partner in the performances, Tom Willett, was empty. Willett's unexpected death last spring is the subject of the final pages of Becket's book. For those who saw the finished product for the first time, the 328-page photo-packed volume was a chance to get to know more about the fascinating life of a Death Valley icon. For Kenneth Best, an actor and a Performing Arts instructor at the Einstein Academy in Hesperia, Calif., it was a chance to carry home a precious and tangible reminder of someone who changed his life. Back in 1969, two years after Becket's arrival, Death Valley Junction - a 30-minute drive west of Pahrump on the Bob Ruud Highway (Bell Vista Avenue) - still had a small population, a gas station and a café. Nine-year-old Best lived there with his parents and siblings and, out of curiosity, the family went to see the woman the locals called the "crazy dancer" perform. It was a defining moment for Best. Today, he still vividly remembers Becket and the talks he had with her while she painted the walls of her auditorium. Standing in line on Saturday night with his copy of "Dancing on Sands," Best was accompanied by his mother, Brenda Best, who hadn't seen Becket perform in 35 years. Off stage, Becket might struggle with a trick knee and the usual difficulties confronting an 81-year-old instrument, but on stage, Brenda Best said, Becket had not aged a day. "To see her come out with that same glisten in her eye was really something. That spirit in her has never changed." That spirit, so apparent in every page of Becket's new book, was also what led to its publication. Like Becket herself, the original manuscript traveled a long road to reach its final destination. She began writing it in the late 1980s and spent about eight years on and off putting it together, she said. When she was done, the story covered more than 1,000 typewritten pages and filled two loose-leaf binders. That's what it looked like the first time Charlotte Farr saw it about a year-and-a-half ago. Then a director of distance education at UNLV, Farr had been introduced to Becket through a mutual friend. So affected was she by her meeting with Becket that she woke up later that night nearly in tears wondering what she could do to help Becket in her struggles with chronic money and upkeep worries over the old adobe hotel and Amargosa Opera House complex. Farr was struck by Becket's spirit, and "overwhelmed by her need and fragility." So Farr asked a friend in the UNLV English department for advice on where Becket could submit her manuscript. He suggested Stephens Press, a regional publishing company out of Las Vegas, owned by Stephens Media, publishers of the Pahrump Valley Times, the Tonopah Times-Bonanza & Goldfield News in Nye County as well as several other publications in other states. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is its flagship publication. Back in 1969, the president of Stephens Press, Carolyn Hayes Uber, was living in Turkey. Starved for English language reading material, she got her hands on a copy of "National Geographic" magazine. In that issue was an article about a dancer living her life and doing her art on her own terms in the remote Death Valley desert. Hayes Uber read the article over and over and over again. More than 30 years later, when Becket's manuscript landed on her desk, it struck an instant chord of memory. Eventually, as she looked over the work and consulted with other editors, Hayes Uber came to believe that Becket's book could be the one Stephens Press has been looking for to catapult their regional publications into the national realm. "We are tremendously proud of this book," she said. Not only in the look and feel of the finished product, with its 16 pages of color photos and many other rare black and white images, but most especially in the story itself. "We couldn't make a beautiful book without a beautiful story." The story, of course, is what ultimately makes the book worthwhile. Even pared down from its original size by a dedicated and talented editor named Ginger Mikkelsen, who attempted to retype the entire document into a computer program before buying a special scanner, the story is panoramic in its scope. Set in part against the backdrop of the New York theater world of the 1930s and '40s, "To Dance on Sands" reveals the inner life of a creative child for whom art always mattered more than anything else - and dancing was the way to transform her very self into a work of art. Although Becket did not take her first ballet lessons until the age of 12, she had been enamored of the dance since the first time she saw a school friend in a tutu and ballet slippers. The beauty of it affected her in the extreme, and left her longing to be a part of the ballet where, she believed, even after the curtain fell the dancers "continued to live in this world of beauty while we, out front, continued our humdrum lives." If only she could find the way to the other side of the curtain, Becket was convinced she too could live in that world of eternal beauty. Now Becket has been living on the other side of that curtain for nearly 70 years, and "To Dance on Sands" narrates in part what she found there - that even in the world of eternal beauty there were still bills to pay, a father whose dour disapproval sometimes dampened her spirit, and a mother whose intense attachment sometimes cluttered the solitary place where Becket communed with her art. But most gratifying to the reader, Becket found that despite the occasional intrusion of reality, her commitment to the world of beauty remained unshaken. From the blocks she played with as a child to the props she painted as an adult, the world of her imagination was often as real to Becket as the flesh-and-blood people who populated the physical realm. Sometimes they were more real, and certainly more attractive. Becket writes: "I'm lonelier when I'm with someone. When I'm alone my mind is free for plans for projects. I'm not like other dancers. I don't need the parties, the boyfriends, or the social life. I like people out front, on the other side of the footlights. When the show is over they go home, leaving me alone with my best friend, myself. I may be a dancer but I have the temperament of a painter who must work alone for hours. Solitude is my fuel." In 1967, Becket found enough fuel to take her to the moon and back in the lonely desert outpost of Death Valley Junction. Although her performances in New York City and tours across the country gained her a certain amount of recognition, it wasn't until she opened the Amargosa Opera House that her quirky determination, incredible talent, and bold spirit garnered her international press and attention. About 18 months ago, that fame was enough to convince Stephens Press executives that Becket's unusual, engaging story could not only survive, but also thrive in the competitive world of books. Originally, Becket considered titling the manuscript "The Other Side of the Curtain," but its final title was the inspiration of Eric Kampmann, president of New York book distribution company Midpoint Trade Books. Kampmann became enamored first of Becket's story, and then of Death Valley Junction and Becket herself and traveled from the East Coast for Saturday night's debut, something he says he doesn't normally do for other books he works with. But Kampmann had visited Death Valley Junction on a whim early in the publication process and was deeply affected by meeting Becket. "I consider her a heroine," Kampmann said, "because even if nobody came she would dance. That's what mattered." It was Kampmann who suggested the title - a line taken from Shakespeare's "Two Gentlemen of Verona," which he memorized to impress a woman in 1967. Kampmann said a national launch of the book was scheduled for next spring and he, too, had high hopes for its success. "This is a breathtakingly beautiful book," he said. "The books you keep, the ones you remember, are the ones that represent beauty." And in the barren Death Valley country, Marta Becket has represented beauty for 36 years. Now, captured in the pages of her autobiography, that beauty goes forth into the world. For Becket, however, sending the book will be enough. She appeared in Las Vegas at the Clark County Library to introduce the tome and do a signing on Wednesday night and will probably appear at the Amargosa Valley library for a book signing, but she doesn't expect to make any other out of town appearances. Performing in her weekly shows, painting in her studio, and keeping the Opera House in roof tiles and repairs is all she has energy for, she said. Despite Saturday's festive launch party, it's still hard to believe, Becket said, "that my book is actually going to be in bookstores." But be there it will. By Nov. 28 the book will be available through Internet sellers such as Amazon and in major chain stores such as Barnes & Noble and is available now at the Amargosa Opera House and the office of the Pahrump Valley Times. Congratulations, Marta Becket, on a job well done. |
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