LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 25: Musician John Densmore of The Doors and Ildiko Von Somogyi "Big Shots: Rock Legends & Hollywood Icons" Guy Webster book release & photo exhibit reception on October 25, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Paul Redmond/WireImage)
It was around midnight when Steve Hideg made a trip to his bathroom, got dizzy and took a fall.
“I hit my head over here,” Hideg told me, pointing to the edge of his bathroom sink. He lay on the floor next to the bathtub for about 20 minutes, hoping to regain his strength and get back on his feet.
Hideg, 91, is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear from injuries suffered when bombs rained on Budapest during World War II. In recent years he’s become shaky on his feet, and he’s taken several falls in his one-bedroom apartment in East Hollywood.
But the one last August was a bad one.
Photographer Francine Orr heard about it and alerted me. We’d collaborated on a story about Hideg in 2017, when we learned the jazz drummer and band leader’s rent was higher than his monthly income. At the time, he called his situation a “beautiful struggle.” He was broke but still doing the thing he loved, playing in small bands here and there.
On my latest visit, Hideg reenacted his fall and retraced the path he had crawled — about 15 feet from the bathroom to the kitchen. He felt dehydrated and needed a drink. Near the kitchen, he managed to pull himself to his feet, only to fall again.
