JENNIFER MAHAL -- IN THE WINGS

Feels like forever since I wrote my last “In the Wings” column. In

truth, it’s only been about two months. Two months in which the Pilot has

launched a new paper. A changed workload has equaled less time in which

to write. Thus, my once biweekly column has now turned into that dreaded

word “occasional.”

The sheer presence of retired hairstylist-turned-writer Richard Feeney

hastened this occasion. Feeney, a Costa Mesa resident who has

self-published a book of his poems, is a charmer.

I admit, I have a weakness for older men with the gift of gab. Guys

who are old enough to remember World War II and probably took part in the

Korean War. Men to whom calling a woman a “dame” is a compliment, not a

slur.

Feeney is one of those guys. When he tells a story, it makes me itch

to get a tape recorder. But when he starts to recite one of his poems off

the top of his head, it runs chills down my spine.

“Tell me what I’m feeling / when my eyes are filled with tears./ When

there’s no one left to turn to/ when I’m left with all my fears,” the

63-year-old recites.

“Tell Me” is just one of the poems to be found in “For What It’s

Worth,” the book the Boston native recently had printed at Minuteman

Press. The poetry has mostly been inspired by love gone wrong.

“Pat at the Minuteman said, ‘I gotta ask you a question. Some girl

really kicked you in the butt, didn’t they?”’ Feeney said. “I said, ‘No,

it was a few of them.”’

Single, unmarried, no kids, Feeney is a man with little family but

lots of stories. Like how he fell in love with the woman of his dreams

and lost her all in 24 hours. Like how he met a woman in Alaska who

introduced him to a guy who got him to move to Miami, which he really

disliked. Like how he followed the Beatles out to California in 1964 so

he could become an actor -- instead he became a grip for Universal

Studios.

Then there’s the story of how he got paid to be an extra in a film

without ever having to audition or turn in his head shot.

Feeney was on the Balboa boardwalk with a friend when he noticed a

group of comely ladies standing around a man with a bullhorn. The ‘60s

movie “Lord Love a Duck,” with Tuesday Wells and Roddy McDowall, was

being filmed.

Ever resourceful, Feeney got put on the film as an extra. He found a

way to stand near the women, and thus in camera sight, at every turn.

When the director was through, Feeney insisted on being paid, pointing

out that if the director checked his film, he’d find Feeney in pretty

much every shot. The guy paid up.

An admirer of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, Feeney said he uses

some of the techniques found in gestalt therapy to help him write.

Oftentimes he tapes himself talking to help him write.

“I’m looking for me. I’m still looking for me. I’ve never found me,”

he said. “I’m still looking today.”

But he’s not looking for fast fame and fortune.

“I’m like Tina [Turner]. I don’t want it easy,” Feeney said. “It’s

like playing pool. You play with someone you know you can beat. It’s too

easy.”

The ex-marine is working on a novel now, an action-thriller.

When he’s not writing, the blue-eyed raconteur hangs out at Patrick’s

Pub in Costa Mesa and plays pool.

“I’m very good at what I do,” Feeney said. “I beat Minnesota Fats in

one game in Nashville.”

He still has the embossed card the famed pool player gave him.

Feeney seems to have more energy than most people I’ve met who are in

their 20s. He jumps out of airplanes for fun. And pretty much does what

he wants. But writing is a focus right now.

“I could always write down my feelings,” Feeney said. “I couldn’t

always express them to other people, but I could write them down.”

* * *

Do you know a local artist, writer, painter, singer, filmmaker, etc.,

who deserves to get noticed? Send your nominee to In The Wings, Daily

Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627, by fax to (949) 646-4170 or

by e-mail to o7 jennifer.mahal@latimes.com.f7

* JENNIFER MAHAL is the features editor of the Daily Pilot.