They didn’t keep in touch, although over the years he would still see Doria at Agape. When the church moved to new premises in Culver City, the entrance hall would be filled with various book, bric-a-brac and clothing stalls. Doria had one for her vintage lines and Joshua would stop to chat and discover how ‘Meg’, as her mother called her in public, was doing.
Joshua has become a well-known name in Los Angeles performing arts. He mentioned Meghan in his one-man show and later was a resident performer, the expert beat-boxer, on the Drop the Mic spot that proved so popular on The Late Late Show with James Cordon. As Meghan would also do, he has given back to the community; in his case with workshops and residences in local schools that have provided a safe and non-judgemental environment for boys and girls to realise their creative potential.
Meghan had enjoyed her first romantic interlude, but perhaps just as importantly she couldn’t wait for the next show at Immaculate Heart; another step on her Yellow Brick Road.
5
Meghan could still be found most days after school on the set of Married with Children. She was part of the furniture, but she herself was becoming more aware of the world of television. Her interest in performing that had been nurtured at elementary school, inspired at the Agape camp and encouraged by Immaculate Heart, was becoming increasingly important. She wasn’t just turning up to give Buck a cuddle – the much-loved dog retired in 1995 – but to watch what was going on and study the actors. One of them, Amanda Bearse, who played Marcy in the show, remembered Meghan as ‘quiet’ and ‘respectful’.
Life at the studios, however, wasn’t all about acting. Meghan became fascinated with food and the beautiful dishes that were served every day to the cast and crew. Sometimes Tom, who was popular on set, would suggest she help out in the craft services department where all the food was prepared. She explained, ‘That’s where I started to learn about garnishing and plating. I saw the appreciation of the food. I started to learn the association between food and happiness and being able to entertain.’ She was happy to take over the cooking duties back at the apartment on Vista del Mar.
Meghan’s first job as a young teenager involved food but there was nothing to interest Michelin at the wittily named Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yoghurt store in the Beverly Connection shopping mall on La Cienega Boulevard. The owner, Paula Sheftel, shrewdly realised that the youngest member of staff was a big asset, popular with the customers who appreciated her ‘outgoing personality’.
Although she didn’t earn much – just four dollars an hour – Meghan had her own money for the first time. Of more long-term significance was an encounter in the car park next to the parade. She was taking out the bins when she spotted an off-duty Yasmine Bleeth, famous for playing Caroline Holden, one of the swimsuit-wearing babes in Baywatch – not exactly a show at the forefront of female empowerment.
Meghan, however, was star-struck and blurted out, ‘Oh my God, I loved you in the Soft and Dri commercial.’ The ad for an anti-perspirant was all over the television screens at the time and featured Yasmine purring into the camera, ‘What’s the most important thing you put on?’
The star smiled at Meghan, shook her hand lightly and said, ‘Ok, thank you!’ She made a point of asking Meghan her name. Her gracious reaction would set a benchmark for how Meghan would react to her own fans and well-wishers in the future – look them in the eye and be kind. She never forgot Yasmine.
Meghan’s own acting career at school was progressing steadily. In many ways it would mirror the path of her professional career – a collection of minor roles while waiting for more recognition. When younger, she had no expectation of becoming the next Shirley Temple. She did, however, strike lucky – a real-life former child star was in charge of the drama department. Her name was Gigi Perreau and she had a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
From the beginning in middle school, she noticed that despite being ‘very green’, Meghan was one of those students who could absorb ideas. Gigi had plenty of them, as well as a lifetime of experience in Hollywood that began when she was just two years old and was cast as the baby daughter in the 1943 biopic Madame Curie that starred Greer Garson as the famous Nobel Prize-winning scientist. She clinched the role because unusually for someone so young, she could speak both French and English; or at least, gurgle in both languages. Gigi called it a ‘beautiful film’.
She had made thirty-six films by the age of twenty. Her favourites, other than Madame Curie, are Enchantment, a war film in which she played the role of Lark as a little girl – portrayed as an adult by Oscar-winner Teresa Wright; and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, in which, more grown up as a teenager, she acted alongside screen legends Fredric March and Gregory Peck. She was awarded her star on Sunset Boulevard in 1960.
In between making movies, Gigi – short for Ghislaine and pronounced with a hard g – attended Immaculate Heart, so always had affection for the school, wanting to give something back to her alma mater. She returned as a member of the faculty in 1986, only forty-five and still acting. ‘It’s kind of wonderful to share,’ was her simple philosophy, although it always made her laugh when she told friends about her career change. ‘What are you teaching?’ they would ask. ‘Nuclear physics,’ was the reply.
The drama group at Immaculate Heart is known as the Genesians, named after Genesius of Rome, the patron saint of actors. Gigi had been happy for Meghan to become involved in drama in middle school even though most of the roles in school productions went to older pupils. ‘Meghan was just so eager,’ she recalled. ‘She had such a really dynamic personality, even as a child, that she just kept growing and growing – each play, each class, everything.’
Immaculate Heart was not a renowned theatre school, so Gigi was given carte blanche to shape classes as she saw fit. Her idea wasn’t to make drama lessons just about plays and musicals: they were also about speaking and presenting yourself in the best possible light; and about listening. They would act out one-to-one scenes just as you might in real life at a job interview or an audition.
Singing was the one aspect of drama class that Meghan did not enjoy. For someone so very open in the other aspects of performance, she was shy about singing and not too keen on auditioning for any of the musicals. Right from the start, Gigi told her she had to push herself a bit and try out for one.
Gigi cast her as a porter in the production of George M!, the show based on the life of the legendary Broadway star George M. Cohan. Meghan was on stage for the showstoppers ‘Give My Regards to Broadway’ and ‘The Yankee Doodle Boy’. The title role was played by Joseph Leo Bwarie, later to become an acclaimed Broadway performer as Frankie Valli in the Tony award-winning Jersey Boys.
Joe, as everyone called him, handled most of the choreography for Gigi’s productions even though he was still at high school himself. Typically, she insisted that he audition for the role of Cohan even though it was his original idea to do the show. He had a quality that Gigi would also recognise in Meghan – an inbuilt professionalism. When they went off stage they weren’t grabbing a soda and reading Variety; they were running lines with other people.
Gigi cast Meghan again as Delilah in Back County Crimes, in November 1995. The drama with music was written by the prolific post-war American playwright Lanie Robertson in 1980. It’s the story of life in a small town called Duty as told by the local doctor and features love affairs, sordid murder, comic misunderstandings and tragic events – quite grown up for a school production.
Meghan shared a place on the cast list with Luis Segura, a pupil at St Francis High School, in La Cañada Flintridge, a city in Los Angeles county, about fifteen miles from Immaculate Heart. These cities, such as Malibu and Pasadena, are dotted all around LA. Meghan and Luis dated on and off for a couple of years.
It was common