Story notes: This is a combined sequel to the movies "Somewhere in Time" (1980, based on the novel "Bid Time Return" and "Portrait of Jennie" (1948, based on Robert Nathan's novel).
1950….
Elise McKenna was approaching, if not into, the twilight years of a very successful acting career. She had performed the leading lady roles created by many a playwright, appearing on stage in almost every continent in the world. Soon, she considered, an invention called television might well preserve plays on film in the same manner that cinematic movies had done for the last few decades. Unlike the silent films that had been made in her youth, the current films had dialog and sound effects as well.
Yet she would be entering that medium too late, if she continued to age, which of course she would. She wanted some way of preserving the youthful image, which she had briefly shared with a man who had been torn from her in the most unbelievable way.
It was while musing on such thoughts, that she visited a museum, and saw the most breathtaking picture of a woman that anyone could see, let alone another woman. It was framed below a sign that offered its title 'Portrait of Jennie' and signed by the artist Eben Adams. There was something incredibly timeless about the image portrayed in that picture.
Timeless. That word meant a great deal to Elise McKenna. She would not leave the museum without following up the new sensations, which that picture had begun to stir in her mind. She asked a staff member if she could speak to the curator, and was soon introduced.
"It's an honour to have you here, Miss McKenna," said the curator, "I dare say there are few people in the world who have not seen one of your plays."
"You are kind," said Elise, "Actually, I was wondering how many people have seen the painting titled 'Portrait of Jennie' in your main exhibition room."
"We have pictures that come and go, but that one will remain here forever," said the curator.
"What about the artist, Eben Adams? Does he come here with more of his work? I couldn't see any other paintings by him in the museum."
"He went into seclusion. There were even rumours of his having lost the will to live, but I don't believe an artist who could capture the visual essence of the living so completely could ever give up on life itself. There is one elderly person who might know how to reach him. Her name is Miss Spinney. I'm sure she'd like to meet the famous Elise McKenna."
The curator set up a meeting, and Elise visited Miss Spinney at the studio of her associate art dealer Mr Matthews.
"I hope I haven't imposed on you, Miss Spinney," said Elise, a little uneasily.
"If I thought you were an imposition, I wouldn't have invited you here at the curator's request," said Spinney, as assertive with the younger celebrity as she had once been with the much younger unknown struggling painter Eben Adams who would be the subject of this present conversation, "Besides, I welcome any chance to talk with someone about Eben Adams. He knows a unique and special kind of loss of something that most people might never believe he actually had in the first place."
"That's the kind of loss I suffered many years ago," said Elise, "Maybe that's why the picture affected me so deeply. I'd been thinking about posing for a portrait, something that would mean more than an endless supply of publicity photographs. I went to the museum, still thinking about it, and I think Eben Adams would be the man to do it."
"I once told him that there wasn't a drop of love in any of his pictures of flowers and landscapes," said Spinney, "But then he found someone who brought all of the love in him to life, and he captured her forever in that portrait."
"What happened to her?"
"She was lost in a storm at sea, when it struck the rocks at Lands End Light. Eben was there, when it happened, trying to hold onto her, as the wave ripped her hand from his. He's sold a few minor works of art since then, but never has he painted another picture like the Portrait of Jennie. Before it happened he said that painting her was the one thing he was certain he would do. So you see, Miss McKenna, for a portrait of you to be as engaging as that picture, he would have to find you as engaging as Jennie."
"Would he be prepared to meet me?" asked Elise.
"He might. I could ask. You might be just the person to lift his spirits. I do hate to see depression and loneliness destroying such a kind man by eating away at him slowly. I'll pass on the curator's favour to us, by doing the same one for you and Eben Adams," said Spinney.
Elise had been considering a contract to appear in a tour of a new play, in which she had been offered a leading role. She now decided to put that on hold, and sent a telegraph to the producer, saying that she would be prepared to appear in it later, or willing to relinquish the role to an understudy. Free of other concerns, she soon had the opportunity to call on Eben Adams.
"You must forgive me, Miss McKenna. Your work is well known, but I haven't felt like going out to a theatre … alone."
"Miss Spinney told me a little about … about Jennie," said Elise, "I too have a story to tell, but I would also like to commission you, if you're interested in taking on new work, to paint a portrait of me. I realise it might not be driven along by the same motivation as your greatest portrait, but there's no artist I'd rather sit for."
"It would be an honour to paint you, Miss McKenna. In fact, there's something about you that has a similar timelessness. What was it Matthews once said? Oh yes. 'There ought to be something timeless about a woman. You could see it in all the famous portraits. You felt as though you could meet those women anywhere, in any time' or something like that. It seems like so much longer than it actually has been, since I first met Spinney and Matthews."
So for several weeks, Elise McKenna took a room in a New York hotel, and avoided all public appearances, committing her time to sitting for her portrait. Eben seemed keen to concentrate, and she was not sure how much her bizarre story would have distracted him. Patiently, she waited until the picture was done, and then invited him out to dinner to celebrate.
They sat in a restaurant overlooking Central Park. Adams had chosen the location himself, saying that it was his one condition for dining with her.
"Your picture of me somehow captures something that's never come out in any of my publicity photographs," she said, "So why did you want this location for our dinner?"
"Because that's where it all started," said Eben, pointing out the window into the park, "That's where I first met Jennie. Most people wouldn't believe my story. My friend Gus either eventually believed it or continued to humour me. It's been harder to see him, since she died, as his presence was locked into the memories of her. It's funny. They never even met each other, but I was always talking about Jennie with him, while I was waiting to see her again."
"She must have been very special, like my Richard. If you like, I'll tell you about him too, but I don't want to interrupt your story," said Elise.
"Let's both tell our stories tonight," said Eben, "Although yours will be much more straightforward."
"I doubt that," thought Elise.
Chapter End Notes: "Excess within control, McKenna" (spoken by Elise's agent in the movie "Somewhere in Time").
