Once a Page, Always a Page

A great David Mamet anecdote.

When I chatted with Greg Germann, formerly of "Ally McBeal," currently staring in Mamet's "Speed-the-Plow" at the Geffen Playhouse, the actor recalled his first in person encounter with Mamet.

Freshly arrived in New York, Germann was cast as an understudy and a page in Circle Repertory Company's "Hamlet" with William Hurt as the Prince of Denmark and Lindsay Crouse (then Mrs. David Mamet) as Ophelia.

Mamet, of course saw the production.

"Being a young actor, I did like ten pages of research on Elizabethan pages," Germann said, "and David came up to me. I was just a kid. He came up to me after a performance one night, and said 'I’ve been watching you, I've been watching you on stage. I believe everything you're doing, You are a page.' And he was sincere."

Well, flash forward many years. Mamet attends several rehearsals of "Speed-the-Plow" only to be reminded by Greg Germann of this iconic first meeting. Quite naturally, Mamet doesn't remember the encouter.

But at the conclusion of one successful "S-t-P" rehearsal, the playwright gives the actor a verbal "attaboy."

"He said, 'Good job today. Once a page, always a page.'" Germann said.

What greater praise is even possible?