Maxine Lynch Bedyn: Run ragged escorting Malak Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa Citizen
May 28, 2004

In the early ’70s, as an information officer at the Canadian Government
Office of Tourism, I was assigned to arrange film and still photos
of the NAC.

Malak Karsh was commissioned to shoot the stills. He would arrive
at my apartment at 5 a.m. to review photos, after leaving the dark
room at two in the morning. In-between, we trekked all of the NAC,
shooting stills of the building and performances at night. Although
in my 20s, I found his schedule exhausting.

One evening, in the middle of a play, Malak exuberantly ran on to
the stage to get a better shot. The union was aghast and threatened
to walk out. I had to mollify many ruffled feathers.

Finally, one evening, I curled up in the press box of the Opera,
to rest during a performance. Joe Morrissey, a colleague from the
CGOT, locked me in. I suddenly came to from a snooze to find myself
enveloped in the dark of the NAC!

Heart pounding, I knocked on the door – no answer. Unbeknownst to me,
Joe crept back and quietly unlocked the door. I knocked some more and,
suddenly able to open the door, I stormed out to find Malak sitting
innocently on the wall near the canal.

Malak shot several award-winning photos of the NAC that were used
promotionally for many years, and often spoke to me of the fun we
had that summer.