Compadres AN ORAL HISTORY:
McCabe and Mr. Whaley
Bill Whaley was right out of Damon Runyan. From the constant fedora to the once-constant stogie and the prizefighter’s nose. Whaley loved the movies, and he loved a show. He had the Taos Plaza Theater — thanks to the recently departed Jean Mayer racing up to the bank on motorcycle, at closing to save the day with personal bona fides. Talk about drama.
And he surveyed the Plaza as his personal Times Square with a starstudded cast of luminaries like Saki Karavas, Tally Richards, Cal Loving, Noel Farrand, John Holland, Peter Rabbit, Whitey, The Sheriff, Indian Lou, sometimes “Dennis,” the mythic newsboys Paulie and Philipito, and, as they say, many, many more.
By way of Runyon, Whaley was the Sol Hurok of Taos, booking the recently reconstructed Taos Community Auditorium with more fine films (the only theater in town at the time), world-class performance artists and musicians, and by sheer force of personality and will, gave us the brilliant, forever memorable community production of “West Side Story,” followed later by an equally wonderful “Fiddler on the Roof,” and the great Ron Kalom.
At the Plaza Theater, Whaley produced and staged “difficult” works, by any community standards, by David Mamet and Tennessee Williams, and with Jonathon Gordon and the good offices of Judge Joe Caldwell, staged a riveting “Antigone,” by Jean Anhouil in the very chambers of the Taos County Courthouse.
Bill Whaley (far right) with (from left) Peter Parks, Hank Saxe and Cynthia Patterson at a magpie gallery opening before the pandemic.
Bill took up the old KXRT FM, and KTAO was up and stumbling from the Plaza to the funky trailer overlooking el valle at the foot of Blueberry Hill.
And all this Whaley ran “out of his hat,” as my old man would say, and before mobile phones existed. There was no “no-can-do,” in the man. He just got it done — with cigar smoke and mirrors, and whatever and whomever happened to be around.
Years later, Bill and I had our editorial/journalistic and stylistic differences, and we never cleared them up. We didn’t have to, just one of those things.
In the end, Bill’s great work was the terrific entertainment and joy that he brought to the communal table of Taos, and the great homegrown talent and creativity that he supported, promoted and showcased in his revolving door of venues and ventures.
Whaley loved the movies and a show. And one of his favorite films was Robert Altman’s great “McCabe and Mrs. Miller,” with Julie Christie and Warren Beatty, soundtrack by Leonard Cohen. I once said to him, “Bill, I know why you like that film so much. Maybe you see a bit of yourself in ‘McCabe,’ Beatty ... “
He grinned, blew some smoke, said, “Good one, Tommy. Good one. Let’s go get a cup of coffee somewhere.” And so we did.
And we’ll leave it at that, and, “Adios, Billy.” He will be missed.