On the last day of May and what felt like the first beautiful day of spring, your editor had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat over iced tea with one of Westport's most wonderful couples---Susan Granger and James Mapes.
You may know Susan as a syndicated film critic who's published nearly 2,500 reviews on her website where she rates each film on her 1-10 "Granger Movie Gauge." Or you may have been in the audience when she gave her remarkably accurate "Oscars Predictions" speech to the Y's Men. When you're deciding yea or nay on a movie, you can always trust her for an honest take. If Susan says it's a must see, you won't be sorry you saw it, and if she calls it a dog, you won't be sorry you passed.
From her earliest days, Susan knew she wanted to be a writer. She learned the alphabet sitting on her father's lap, playing with the keys of his typewriter. She was the kid who took her typewriter to summer camp, and even now, when she wakes each morning, her fingers automatically start tapping. Susan is a child of Hollywood---and a child actress, too---with cinema in her veins. Her natural father, director/producer S. Sylvan Simon, put her in movies, but after his untimely death, her stepfather, producer Armand Deutsch, was, as she puts it, appalled by her acting and encouraged her to pursue a career in journalism. Her professor at Mills College was none other than Pierre Salinger, who was working as the night editor at the San Francisco Chronicle before he was tapped to serve in the Kennedy administration. She fondly remembers Salinger's grading scale for articles: "If it gets published, you get an A. If not, it's an F."
After years as a movie critic on radio, TV and in newspapers, Susan also became a first-night Broadway critic for WMCA radio in New York. She credits Walter Kerr with teaching her everything she needed to know about theatre criticism, and her first assignment---reviewing "La Cage Aux Folles"---with giving her a dose of humility. As her late first husband, Donald Granger, parked in a garage across the street from the theatre, he beamed with pride as he informed the attendant that his wife would be reviewing the play. The attendant's reply, "If she doesn't write for The New York Times, who the hell cares?" Times have changed since then of course, and Susan has a large and devoted audience for her reviews.
Susan and James met at Westport's Theatre Artists Workshop. Not long after, Don was diagnosed with cancer, and he asked James, a hypnotist, if he could help with the pain. So began an amazing exchange, in which Don, who was chief of the department of neurology at Bridgeport Hospital and clinical associate professor of neurology at Yale, tutored James on neurology as a way to compensate him for the relief brought by his daily palliative care. Before Don died, he asked James to promise he would take care of Susan, and what had been a friendship between the two eventually morphed into a romantic partnership, and after 15 years together, they married. With a nod to Susan's Hollywood heritage, Jane Powell and Dickie Moore hosted the wedding.
In 1982, James was asked to create a program for Pepsi, which became the foundation of Quantum Leap Thinking, a revolutionary approach that integrates creative thinking, leadership, motivation, and change. James's coaching and motivational speaking practice through The James Mapes Organization helps people develop and lead "exceptional lives," and his clients include top executives as well as the actor Anthony Hopkins. About two years ago, James learned he had an aortic aneurysm "waiting to happen" and required immediate cardiac surgery. As he prepared himself for the operation and his recovery, he used his knowledge of neurology and psychology to create "Mind Over Body," a pre-op/post-op therapy program for healthcare professionals, patients, and doctors and medical practitioners that reduces pre-surgery stress, improves post-op patient performance, and reduces recovery and hospital time.
In their spare time, Susan and James are collaborating on a screenplay, the details of which are closely guarded but will surely be revealed when the finished film hits the screen. It was both an honor and a delight to spend time with such an interesting and accomplished couple, both of whom are great additions to our town.