New Jersey Stage published its 25,000th story in December 2021. As the site approached the milestone, we posed the question on social media as how we should celebrate. One response was to highlight our favorite stories from over the years. We liked this idea, but could not narrow things down to just 25 favorites so we will present a favorite each day from different genres. Every Wednesday will feature a story about film. This week's choice is our feature on Death of an Umbrella Salesman by Jersey Shore filmmaker Steve Herold.
The feature was published on February 26, 2018 and is available here. In this 18-minute short film, Herold brings us into the sad life of Grimp (played by Kevin Kolack) as he attempts to make a sale, avoids his ex-wife hounding him for alimony, and tries to reconcile how his life turned out this way.
The inspiration behind the film came after Herold drove a friend and his wife to the airport. The plan was to drop them off and bring their car back. When they opened the trunk to get their luggage, several umbrellas caught his attention.
“I looked in the trunk and he’s got like ten umbrellas in there!” said Herold. “I’m like dude, what’s with the umbrellas? What are you an umbrella salesman or something?”
As he drove back from the airport, that thought stuck with him.
