(Added May 2023)
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“I want to keep fading and fading until I just disappear.”
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Continuing our mini-series on runaways, meet Aremis Slake (Version 2.0) in this agreeable 1989 made-for-television movie. Adapted from the 1974 novel Slake’s Limbo by Felice Holman.
In one paragraph? Any performance by Jasmine Guy and Charles S. Dutton is worth watching. This episode of the children’s “Wonder Works” anthology series is competently written and contains both a moral ending and a happy ending. A viewer might well enjoy it. It just does not bear much resemblance to the book.
We retain some of the characters and some of the names. Joseph remains. He still gets killed by a truck. The novel never gives him an age or appearance; the film makes him look about seventeen.
A kindly waitress remains. Her boss, the manager, remains. The frustrated aunt remains. And Aremis. Aremis remains.
(In the film he is called Aremis. He even gives up his name to strangers.)
But so many things change. In the film the kindly waitress already knew Aremis when Joseph was living. She was sneaking extra food to both of them. In the film the diner’s manager finds her kindness annoying. He claims she sneaks food to “every” youth, and he cannot afford to feed “every” youth. He certainly never hires Aremis Slake.
The waitress Charlene, nicknamed “Charlie,” blames herself for the death of another random youngster named “Bobby.” No Bobby exists in the book, but in the film he gets mentioned more than most of the living characters. Lesson: getting strung out on drugs is bad. It will kill you like it killed Bobby, and it will scar nice people like Charlene and Ralph-the-vet.
Ralph Colby, the Vietnam veteran, is another invented character. He provides a strong paternal presence to guard and guide the rudderless Aremis. Though wheelchair-bound, he chases away three toughs and two drug dealers. Though he has seen ugly things in war, he is drawn to the life-affirming qualities of street art.
Conveniently, Aremis and Joseph also make street art. They spend their free time scouring New York City for materials which they can recycle for their designs. Aremis dreams of growing up to be an artist.
In the film “Miss Hartley” declares that Aremis sometimes helps the children at the Friendship Center with their arts and crafts. Aremis also smiles at a string quartet busking for funds by performing classical music. Altogether the film Aremis smiles at least five times.
In the novel, Slake’s experience with survival scavenging opens the door for him to explore the notion of art. In the film, Aremis Slake’s experience with art teaches him how to scavenge for his survival.
Just as Charlene blames herself for the death of “Bobby,” Aremis blames himself for the death of Joseph. At least Aremis Slake’s fear makes sense. (A bystander tells the police to “Get that kid! He was the one that called out to [Joseph].” That is, the accusation that Aremis lured Joseph to his death.) In the film, this is the incident that sends Aremis fleeing into the subway.
By working together, Ralph and Charlene are able to identify Aremis by name, to locate Joseph’s special-education teacher (another invented character), and to reunite Aremis with his Aunt (here named Anna Mae Lawson).
In the film, Anna Mae becomes a complex individual with goals and dreams, while still retaining serious flaws. She struggles under the exhaustion and expense of bringing up a child. She resents that said child’s no-good mother ran off with some no-good man and dumped said child on Auntie. Anna Mae works a day job and takes classes at night school. Her refrigerator contains “bologna and potato salad,” better than the nothing from which book-Slake would get to choose. But then her frustration expresses itself like this:
Aunt: “You are never going to make something of yourself if you keep digging through trash with that slow-minded boy.”
Aremis: “Joseph ain’t slow-minded.”
Aunt: “Ha! The dumb defending the dumbest.”
This would be a good time to mention that Miss Hartley (Joseph’s teacher) and Anna Mae already know each other. Auntie clearly does not respect either Miss Hartley or her vocation.
It is Miss Hartley who has the unenviable task of informing the aunt that Aremis has run away. Anna Mae retorts, he has run away before; he always comes back; stop wasting my time. (The novel says nothing of Aremis Slake ever running away before his one great plunge.)
Repeatedly Miss Hartley offers friendship and professional assistance, both to find Aremis and also to share some family coping skills that will keep him home next time. Anna Mae fiercely rejects them all. Aremis will have to be gone for a very long time indeed before Anna Mae will crumble under the pressure.
Other additions to the film include a bouncy soundtrack, with the drumming style and vinyl-record scratches evocative of television productions of the day. Trivia fun fact: we see the prices of Slake’s ham sandwich. (The 1974 novel says it costs US $1.05 plus tax. The 1989 film says it costs US $1.50, plus tax.)
We see the scenery instead of reading about it. We notice typical 1988/1989 hairstyles, apparel, and automobiles. A New York Post article: “Landmark Verdict in Smoker’s Death,” [June 14, 1988 real-world date]. A Penn Books store with Jonathan Kellerman’s Over the Edge on its New Releases shelf. A movie poster for Arthur 2 on a subway wall.
We see Anna Mae’s apartment—literally a miniature studio or medium-sized sleeping room. Slake’s cot faces the refrigerator. Anna Mae’s bed faces the front door. The space is divided into two imaginary rooms by a console television.
We share his wonder as Aremis beholds the Grand Central Station inside and out, including the winged statue of Mercury overshadowed by the silver Pam Am® Building. (For the Gentle Browser who has not visited New York City, the Pan Am/Met Life® building is the footprint that Tony “Marvel’s Avengers” Stark would have bulldozed to replace with his monument to himself.)
And we see the homeless. In the film, Slake only occasionally hides in a literal hole in the ground. Film-Aremis instead hides in a crowd. This is one thing that would not look much different than 1974, when the novel was published. (When Jesus said The poor shall be with you always [Matthew 26:11; John 12:8], it wasn’t just a prophecy. It was an accusation. You can be kind to them whenever you wish. [If you wish. If you choose. cf. Mark 14:7, Deuteronomy 15:11])
Also added are a voice-over narration. (Film-Aremis proves to be quite the chatterbox.) And although it cannot be helped, the film adds something else: it adds Aremis Slake.
To the extent that a writer can fight a publisher, it is said that writer Felice Holman fought as hard as she could to prevent the novel from including a visual representation of Aremis Slake. A silhouette might be acceptable, but not a visible face. Let the child be “red and yellow, black and white; they are precious in His sight” in the reader’s imagination—but let him not be portrayed by the publisher. Felice Holman wanted Aremis Slake to be “every boy.” Not coincidentally, this makes the characters who helped Slake, harmed Slake, or ignored Slake into the Everyman, i.e., you, me, us.
(We can see her point. Consider any preconceptions that come to mind when the Gentle Browser views a Black actor portraying Aremis Slake in the movie. Next, consider any preconceptions that come to mind when a reader locates an illustrated cover of the novel. For example, the copyright 1986 Aladdin/Macmillan paperback edition. That cover illustration, complete with chic, tousled hair, looks for all the world like one of the blonde-haired, blue-eyed moppets on the television series Home Improvement. One in particular. No, seriously. What color does Slake have to be, to be seen in a world that looks right through him? Someone once said that God is the color of love; what color is that to you? Before the Gentle Browser read this review, what color was Aremis Slake, in your mind?)
Like we said, in a film it can’t be helped.
Just for fun, some trivia alerts. Less than a plot point but more than a blooper.
Trivia alert #1: After Joseph’s death, Aremis wears Joseph’s cap. Where did he get it? Obviously he did not claim the body, but he also was not wearing a matching set. He would have been caught if he had gone home to fetch it.
Trivia alert #2: When Aremis sets up his portable news-stand, he wears the shirt turned inside out so that no one can read the “Friendship Center” identification. Later he buys lunch at Nedick’s Diner. The shirt is now right-side out. When Charlene the waitress reads the words on his shirt, Aremis retreats. (“The shirt! I forgot about the shirt!”) He frantically strips off the shirt and turns it inside out. The speed and surprise with which he performs this task suggests that it is the first time he thought of this problem.
Trivia alert #3: The “Landmark Verdict” newspaper cover page really was published in June 1988, but Aremis spends his last days in the subways during Memorial Day weekend. That holiday is commemorated in May. The film version of Aremis assuredly did not last an entire year in the subways—not with four adults coordinating their efforts to locate and retrieve him.
(The book version of Slake might have survived for said year, if his cave-home and his physical health had remained stable.)
If the movie added a lot, many other elements are missing. Slake’s regular newspaper customers are missing. Slake’s creatures are missing. Slake’s pneumonia is missing.
Willis Joe Whinny is missing.
The cave is missing. Oh, there is a cave in the sense of an abandoned storage room, and in the sense that Aremis sleeps in it. But the film spends almost no time there. Aremis never tidies it up. He never decorates it. He does not learn art; he already knew art. And his reason for leaving his shelter is mundane: there are broken pipes in the ceiling. Every time it rains, he gets soaked. He must wander until his home dries out. (In our personal headcanon, the liquid is rainwater. Your actual mileage may vary.) Nevertheless we think of “the cave” as a character because it changed Slake’s character. In the film, Aremis doesn’t need to change; he just needs to forgive himself.
Sturdy and thoughtful. Just don’t expect it to mimic the book. Judge it on its own merit.
Recommended.
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Made for television movie “Runaway” copyright 1989 by WonderWorks, a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) Children’s anthology series. Producer, Peggy Zapple [Margaret Ann Peggy Zapple, 1946 — 2014]. Edited by Pamela Scott Arnold. Teleplay by Delle Chatman [1951 — 2006] and Lonne Elder III [1931 — 1996]. Directed by Gilbert Moses [Gilbert Moses III, 1942 — 1995].
Starring in alphabetical order: Gavin Allen (as Aremis Slake) … Kevin Artis (as Joseph) … Charles S. Dutton (as Ralph Colby) … Jasmine Guy (as Charlene) … Kim Staunton (as Miss Hartley) … and Hattie Winston (as Aunt Anna Mae).
Story adapted from Slake’s Limbo by Felice Holman. First published New York: Atheneum, c1974.
Felice Holman Valen (October 24, 1919 — March 2, 2023), unbeknownst to us, died a few weeks before we decided to write this review.
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potluck2point0 