“Having been thrown into a place of needing money has gone from embarrassing to humiliating.”
So says singer/performer Mac Morison, a well-known lakeside resident of 23 years. Three months ago he unexpectedly underwent open heart surgery – a procedure that set him and his wife, Barbara Clippinger, back more than US$40,000.
An outpouring of donations from the community has reached US$25,000 and with the upcoming fundraising variety show, “You Gotta Have Heart,” the couple is hoping to take in another US$8,000.
Clippinger describes the overwhelming generosity that the lakeside community has demonstrated following her husband’s procedure.
“We live in an incredible community,” she says. “Good folks like Val Jones and Kristine Moily posted ads in newspapers and on social media following Mac’s surgery. We continue to receive an outpouring of love and donations from so many people — people we don’t even know. This says a lot about our community.”
Adds Morison, “It’s been heartwarming and unbelievable at the same time.”
Morison entered the hospital last August at 8 a.m., expecting just a stent. Two hours later the surgeon said he needed immediate surgery. Because of his age, 86, Morison was warned that complications could arise from the surgery. Fortunately, none of these complications arose. Instead, what came out of the eight-hour surgery was an enormous bill for more pesos than the couple could cover on their own.
To help offset these medical costs, Val Jones and Kristine Moily are co-directing “You Gotta Have Heart,” which is scheduled for November 27 and 28 at The Spotlight Club in San Antonio Tlayacapan.
Says Jones, “Mac and Barbara have given so much of their time, talent and money over the years. Seeing how Mac’s surgery has placed them in a deep financial bind, as a community we want to help give something back. This show is our way of doing that.”
Adds Morison, “This is our wonderful community at work; people donating their time to the revue, including dancers and musicians rehearsing daily. Even The Spotlight is donating its space for the event. It’s overwhelming, not to mention extremely gratifying.”
“You Gotta Have Heart” will feature local musicians, singers, dancers and comedians, all the while helping defray the astronomical cost of Morison’s surgery.
Morison and Clippinger met in Ajijic 15 years ago, while performing Lakeside Little Theatre’s musical, “With a Song in My Heart.” Clippinger was the choreographer and Morison was a soloist. The couple got married six years ago.
Says Morison in his teasing way, “I tried to start a rumor, saying that the reason we got married was because Barbara got pregnant. Being that I was 79 at the time, no one believed us.”
Together, the couple has put on a number of shows since that first play 15 years ago.
Says Clippinger, “Six years ago we did a show for Chapala’s Tepehua community and ended up donating between 40,000 and 50,000 pesos to women of that community so that they could get pap smears.”
The following year they put on another show, raising money for the same community. Those funds allowed parents to pay for birth certificates for their children, thus enabling their children to attend school.
The couple continued to raise money for the local firefighters, Lakeside Little Theatre’s renovation project and the HIV/AIDS group, Ajijic Cares.
Morison began his love of singing as an eight-year-old church choir boy in his birthplace of Victoria, Canada. At 13 he owned his own radio show.
He says, “I stopped singing in 1952 and didn’t perform for 20 to 30 years. Instead I worked in the optical field. I lost my audience when rock and roll came into fashion, then got my audience back when I moved to lakeside.
“Music has been my life. I thoroughly enjoy spending time each day practicing the lyrics for my next show, which can take six months to prepare. I don’t know what I’d do with myself if I couldn’t sing anymore.”
Clippinger, who was a professional jazz dancer on Broadway, says she retired from theater after choreographing “Chicago” in 2017. “I’ve done 25 shows at Lakeside Little Theatre, and now that I’ve been encouraged to choreograph their upcoming musical, ‘Sweet Charity,’ it looks like I’m not quite retiring yet.”
Morison and Clippinger can hardly wait to put their own show together so that they can give back to the community.
“The way we give back is by performing,” says Morison.
Morison recently had a echocardiogram and the doctor was amazed at the before and after readings.
“I feel like I’ve been given a new heart,” he says with a grin. “Despite the cost, heart surgery turned out to be the right thing to do.”
“You Gotta Have Heart,” November 27 and 28, 4 p.m. at The Spotlight Club in San Antonio Tlayacapan. Tickets at Mia’s Boutique, Diane Pearl and The Spotlight Club.