A Martinez Tells About His Most Precious Moment--

"I Don't Think I'll Ever Forget It!"

by Lillian Smith, Soap Opera People, 1988

    The idea of A, his wife Leslie and little Cody, plus a nanny flying to Paris for eight days was intriguing, so we hotfooted it out to the set of Santa Barbara to hear all about it.  A was great, looking a bit tired and working hard so we talked in his dressing room, between his doing some scenes.

    "Yes, it was a dilemma deciding about going with all of us," A told me.  "Because it was hard on everyone to make a trip.  Cody is so young and it's difficult to turn around in eight days time.  On the other hand, maybe I was just being selfish, but I didn't want to leave them for eight days."

    "And you wouldn't have wanted your wife to miss out on a trip like that either," I agreed.

    "Exactly, especially when they were so generous as to be willing to finance a nanny, as it were.  It just seemed like a wonderful opportunity and I know it ended up being worth it to schlep all of us over there, to go through it but it was hard, it was definitely hard.  I was tired when I left and the week after we got back was remarkable, mainly for it was a measure of how it is possible to function on a level when you're exhausted, you can't believe you're actually doing it."

    "I was amazed when I heard you were back on the set the next Monday," I nodded.

    "The first couple of days I just used it and that's one of the benefits of being firmly established here, you know.  If I'm in trouble, I'll just used my trouble to get through the work.

    "In the course of those shows, the force of those shows came about through Cruz's exhaustion, for me anyway.  You just use it because you certainly can't hide it.  I've found your rhythms break down, everything is strained and if you try to hide it, you'll just explode.  So it turned into Cruz being somewhat fried because of the fact that he didn't solve the crime.  It was certainly a justifiable way to approach it."

    "Is it my imagination or are they trying to suggest Cain did it?"

    "They're setting him up to seem like a likely suspect, but I don't think he did it.  I'm almost sure he didn't do it."

    "Not only that but it would be a tremendous turn in his character, almost more than I can bear to think about.  Did you enjoy finding out how popular you are in France?  I understand they love the show," I told him.

    "Yes, it was remarkable."

    "And you have been on since the beginning," I added.

    "Right, it's run there for three years now, five nights a week in prime time and won a 52 share of the audience.  It's really different to be on the streets there compared to here in Los Angeles.  Also, you spend more time on the streets there when you are visiting.  Here, we spend most of our time in cars.  But there it's almost like a dream.  It seems so strange that these people who are so far away, speak in your own language, they dub a voice in for me and all the actors.

    "It's a tribute to what a great job they do and I've heard this from everyone.  I saw them dubbing one scene into French and it's remarkable they could dub a half hour show every single night.  They cut the show in half.  Still they are faced with dubbing a half hour show, getting all the sound effects every single day.  They match the intent and the mechanics of our speeches.  I got to meet about a dozen of the actors who dub the show and they're all really high quality.  They have our music track, which is a great benefit obviously.  Dominick Messenger is our music guy.  They have to add everything but the music.

    "I saw a scene where I was typing and angry with Eden and I was knocking the carriage around and sort of pounding on it, taking the paper out and here's a guy in the corner doing the same thing as the actors are doing the speeches.  It was just remarkable.  The thing that was lovely about it was you could tell they have developed a certain camaraderie around the show that very much mirrors the sense of family we have around here.  That was surprising."

    "Did you get some time to go sightseeing?"

    "Yes, but we were mobbed.  It was okay, not violent or anything.  I felt embarrassed to be standing in the middle of the Louvre and have people looking at me," A said laughing.  "After all a great deal of the world's most priceless paintings are there on the walls."

    Among the great moments in Paris was one night Leslie and A said goodnight to everyone and went to their room ostensibly to retire.  Instead, they sneaked back down and out of the hotel's back way, past kitchens and garbage cans and all and spent the rest of the night walking around, savoring the sights and sounds of this beautiful city.

    "There weren't many cars around, it was the middle of the week, and they close the Metro at midnight.  We went walking in the mostly empty streets, the river was humming as it does and it's gorgeous out, all the great statuaries are lit up and the water is moving by.  It was three in the morning.  It was utterly wonderful because we could hear footsteps echoing from  blocks away.  I keep saying remarkable, that's all I can think of to say.  It was a real special moment.  I don't think we'll ever forget it."  A paused and laughed, "We were pretty pooped the next day from doing that.  It was just wonderful."

    "Did you try to learn some French before you went over?"

    "I did try a little but I had very little time.  I found I had a little bit from high school.  Leslie speaks it better than I do.  I would lapse into Spanish and I was surprised at how many people jumped right into Spanish.  It became a saving grace to have a means of communication that wasn't just English.  It was really nice to have them understand Spanish."

    One of the highlights of the week was an appearance at a variety show called the Sacre Soiree.  The host spoke French and A spoke English and they had translators in their ears who kept up with each of them.  It was live television, which A says gave him great respect for actors who used to do soaps live.  He can't imagine how they ever did it.  The host pulled a guitar out and asked A to sing for the audience, which was to say the least not quite fair since A was totally unprepared.  Then when he decided to try it, he discovered the guitar was totally out of tune making the task practically impossible.  Knowing A, he didn't want to be a poor sport, but it made him a little angry, still he says it was the only negative part of the whole trip.

    A says they had wonderful help from people taking them all around to Versailles and other historical places, which everyone loved, even Cody.  Leslie and A were delighted to learn that one of the women from the magazine Tele 7 Jour was named Irene Bolling and they discovered her husband was a musician they both admired tremendously named Claude Bolling.  So they all ended up at the fabulous Maxim's for dinner where all the musicians obviously were happy to see Claude and were kind of energized by the sight of him.  The evening became something special...a night to remember.

    By the end of the week, even little Cody was saying bon jour to people whereas at the beginning he said he didn't want to say bon jour.  If they had stayed longer Cody would probably have picked up French.  Cody is getting to be quite a traveler because A says they have schlepped him everywhere, but this trip was special.

    "This was the first time Leslie said that she looked across the aisle and saw the two of us sitting side by side with our seatbelts on during take off.  It made her feel a little tug on her heartstrings to see us so grown up looking.

    "Of course, Cody got off on seeing that we were above the clouds.  He's flown before but didn't get it.  This time was amazing.  He even understood you have to wait for the sign to come on before you unbuckle your seat belt.  He was aware that take offs are slightly dangerous, or really special."  They made four stops each way, so Cody got plenty of practice.

    A says they are still working to get their house built.  They had to file with the county planning office and then it's on to the coastal commission.  However, he's kind of glad things are going at a leisurely pace and figures now that they won't get into their house until next Thanksgiving.

    "Is your wife working now?"

    "No, well she's raising our boy which is a full time job.  It's astounding how hard it is.  It's hard enough when things are going well, but there are problems that come up, like if he's not well, or lots of things.  It becomes difficult.  My heart really goes out to her.  Sometimes I wish I could just quit so I could give her a real bit of slack, so she could be away from it.  She wouldn't want to be away from it, but I'd like to take it off her shoulders.  We spend so much time here, a lot of hours."

    "By the time you get home I guess Cody is ready for bed," I said.

    "Well, we have it set up so he stays up just so I have the chance to be in contact with him, which is important to both of us.  It makes it difficult for her.  She has to give him a snack instead of dinner when he would want it.  Then we sit down at the table for dinner when I get home.  It's hard on everybody, but it's just one of those compromises we all make."

    A laughed when I said my mother used to make me take 40 winks every day, which I violently objected to...then slept for a couple of hours once she convinced me to try it for a minute.

    "Yes, he's just like that.  My parents said I was the same way.  He's two and rambunctious, you know."

    We agreed that children have so much going on in their daily lives they have to learn, like washing, getting dressed and all.  Every day is an adventure of learning.

    "He's doing exceptionally well," A nodded.  "He's proud of it.  Leslie thinks when I try to teach him things I change my voice in a way that he dislikes, that I speak just a little bit louder, more clearly and there's something in my attitude he doesn't care for.  She has counseled me to try teaching him or putting new ideas to him in a casual way, like it's part of the normal conversation because I've found that he does shut down a lot of times when I try to tell him how to do something, show him.  He doesn't want to hear it.  It's funny, sometimes he'll ignore it studiously and a week later I notice he's doing it.  He just wouldn't let me know he's doing it.  It's a strange ritual we go through.  I'm trying to adjust my approach to him."

    "Right and they learn a lot just watching you."

    "Sometimes he'll come and say, 'Daddy, show me.'  Then your heart just breaks.  That's my favorite thing to be asked.  Whenever he asked me, or made a decision that he wants me to help with, then he's fine with it, he's all eyes, he's attentive and those moments are amongst my all time favorite moments," A told me, smiling.

    And now you know why A doesn't want to be away for even eight days without his wife and son.  These precious moments will go by fast enough and he doesn't want to miss even one of them if he can help it.

A and his lovely wife Leslie at the SB anniversary party.

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