“Morton Meets The Eye” premiered in April at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, home of the handprints in cement of the most famous Hollywood legends, from the Marx Brothers and Shirley Temple to Humprey Bogart and Marilyn Monroe. It was the perfect venue to present a movie that’s been a dream for its author and co-star for almost 70 years.
For 50 of those years my dad, Jon Sonneborn, has spent much more energy telling stories about movies than writing them. While pursuing a career in business (he co-founded Really Good Stuff, a popular direct mail catalog and website offering creative teaching tools for teachers) Jon taught courses in film history part time. Since the 1980s he has hosted classic film screenings at the Easton Public Library, but always, in the back of his mind, Dad dreamed of writing screenplays and stepping in front of the camera.
The resulting musical-comedy-murder-mystery is set for its East Coast premiere as a fundraiser for WSHU Public Radio on Monday July 20 at the Sacred Heart University Community Theatre in downtown Fairfield at 7 pm. “Morton Meets The Eye” is an obvious play on words for “more than meets the eye” and that double entendre has a deeper meaning here. While Jon assures us that the main reason to see “More than Meets The Eye” is for entertainment, he suspects audiences will find that part of the fun is exploring the film’s many undercurrents. “Morton Meets The Eye” is clearly a farce, and if the audience at the Chinese Theatre has it right, a pretty engrossing and funny one at that. I happened to be seated near a group of children and their parents, who giggled, cheered, and were completely swept up in the upbeat musical numbers. When the lights came up, the audience was buzzing with excitement.
My dad plays Morton, a curious character on a mission to discover the identity of the most elusive master detective in the world, but who has so far only found The Eye on the pages of the detective’s best-selling books. Morton reads and re-reads each, searching for clues. Some of his theories are far out! But Morton has a hunch, and with the help of his best friend Lucien, nothing’s going to stop him from attending the fancy-schmantzy Hollywood lunch, where Morton is sure The Eye will make an appearance.
At the Hollywood lunch, Morton meets a fascinating cast of characters, including a baroness, played by yours truly; a rock star; LA’s most famous food critic; an award-winning chef; three of the oddest police officers to grace a movie screen since the Keystone Cops; not to mention a Maitre D as strange as his facial hair. But where is The Eye?
A veritable screen-full of musical comedy fun, “Morton Meets The Eye” offers as many twists and turns as the Maitre D’s mustache!
So join me, along with Jon Sonneborn, my dad, on Monday, July 20, at the SHU Community Theatre, 1420 Post Road in Fairfield. Christopher Maltauro, the film’s director, and several other members of the cast will also be present. Don’t miss the chance to look over Morton’s shoulder, and against all odds, finally get to meet The Eye.
For tickets and more information go to wshu.org/morton
