Evolution of a Pun
What is a Merylthon?
First and foremost, it’s a good pun.
Back in 2006, I discovered that some friends hadn’t seen many Meryl Streep movies and we decided it would be a fun movie night to watch some classics in her filmography.
I dubbed it a “Merylthon”. Later, my friend Kyle sent out this email to schedule our hangout:
But we didn’t end up doing it…
The word Merylthon is yellow because I recently went searching for the word it in my old yahoo account and a bunch of emails popped up. And I realized this idea has been buffering quietly in the back of my brain for over 15 years.
A year later, in 2007, I wrote Kyle this email.
Not sure what Venus has to do with anything, but this Merylthon never happened either!
A year later. 2008:
I think here’s a good time to tell you that my brain can clamp down on an idea like a vice and not let go.
A year later, I added ‘Merylthon’ to a list of potential date night activities with my boyfriend at the time.
I would never throw paper gunpowder caps on to strangers, by the way. I’m sure that idea was there to make others, like the Merylthon, more attractive.
A few years later in grad school, I thought a Merylthon would be a fun event with other film nerds.
But again: Nope.
Throughout the last 17 years, the word inspired a fun thought experiment - ‘What movies would you watch during a Merylthon?’ and that’s just where it would end.
But every time I would bring it up with a friend - the idea would be refined.
At some point I Googled that the length of a marathon was 26.2 miles. Which meant that a Merylthon was 26.2 consecutive hours of Meryl Streep movies. I knew I probably couldn’t get friends to spend 26.2 hours watching movies and sitting on their butt. But maybe we could attempt a Half-Merylthon - 13.1 hours. A mere 786 minutes.
I posted a very un-viral tweet about it. Didn’t you see it?
Just for fun, I wrote down all the running times of her films and figured out which configurations added up to 786 minutes exactly.
I wrote about my process of choosing the films in my occasional newsletter - Don’t Be Precious, Darling. Here’s my first attempt at programming a Half-Merylthon:
The Devil Wears Prada 110 minutes
Doubt 104 minutes
Adaptation 115 minutes
The Prom 130 minutes
Into the Woods 125 minutes
Marvin’s Room 98 minutes
Death Becomes Her 104 minutes
= 786 minutes
Then, during the pandemic I heard how people would rent out movie theaters with friends to watch a movie. And I thought maybe now was a good time for a Merylthon. And bonus that it supported a local movie house.
I wrote to a local repertory theater and asked if I could rent out a theater for one full day. They wrote back:
Another theater quoted me around 5k.
Around this time I decided that the only way to incentivize people to sit for 13 hours was if they were making money for themselves - or if it was for charity.
I thought back to other “-a-thons” of my youth. Remember the Jump-a-thon, where you’d jumped rope and raise money for cancer? You’d get sponsored by friends or teachers or godparents one cent per minute you jumped rope, and at the end you’d tally up how much people owed you.
I imagined people getting friends and family to sponsor them per minute they participated in the Merylthon. Every minute would be accounted for. I wanted to make Merylthon punch cards and get one of those clock punchers. If you needed to go to the bathroom you’d have to punch out and then punch back in.
I thought I’d have the money go to a national charity that Meryl already supported so that she could at least get behind that piece of it if she were ever thinking of sending me a cease and desist letter.
But the above theater eventually said no.
So I brought the idea to the newly renovated Four Star Theater in the Richmond District.
By this time, I realized an all-day event was a big ask and that - ultimately - a Merylthon was whatever I said it was.
What is a Merylthon? It’s a 3-day weekend festival featuring Meryl Streep in 8 of her iconic roles. 4 Double Headers with punny titles (Doubt Becomes Her, She-Devil Wears Prada) show the range of characters she has played over years - and provide ample inspiration for the drag artists who will perform during each intermission.
I also realized that a local non-profit would make more sense and I found a true partner in Queer LifeSpace. Queer LifeSpace provides affordable mental health services to the Bay Area’s LGBTQIA+ community. I have benefited so much from counseling and therapy at various points throughout my life, so partnering with QLS on this has added a personal connection that motivates my pro bono efforts.
So kids, the moral of the story is - the journey of a creative idea is a Merylthon, not a sprint! And good ideas can come from anywhere - and turn into anything.
….To be continued!
