The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, graphic violence, physical abuse, sexual harassment, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, mental illness, addiction, and substance use.

Griffin moved to New York and started classes at the Neighbourhood Playhouse, but New York really “began for (him)” on the day he got arrested for shoplifting some snacks from a supermarket (173). To Griffin’s good fortune, he was the last one the judge got to that day, chosen ahead of two young Black kids purely because of the color of his skin. Additionally, the judge refused to press charges and berated the supermarket security officer instead for wasting his time on a petty offense, and Griffin was let go.

Owing to his poor attendance, Griffin was not invited back for the second year of the Neighbourhood Playhouse program. With no allowance from Lenny since he was expelled again, Griffin began to wait tables to pay rent while attending open-call auditions in hope of a break. Almost a year later, Carrie Fisher, enthralled by Griffin’s stories of New York, moved there to join the chorus of Irene, a musical that her mother, Debbie Reynolds, was starring in. Griffin frequented their hotel often, sustaining himself on their 24-hour room service.