Brushes with Celebrity
Los Angeles has two industries that are not found most other places. One is called Defense. Once you start listening you find lots of people who are directly or indirectly part of the military.
Of course, the biggest and the most famous L A industry is the movie and entertainment industry. It seems like everyone in town has one way or another been involved in the entertainment industry. And one runs into the famous.
A few stories of brushes with celebrity.
People like to hear stories of celebrities. How interesting would it be if I told you about a guy buying me a drink, or someone reacting to my mother‘s violence, or eating a pastrami with somebody. But if a celebrity is a player in the story, it becomes a little more interesting. Don’t hear me trying to absorb a little bit of glamour, these are just stories with a little more oomph.
Vincent Price
I was about 20 and at Unimart, a discount department store on Whittier Blvd, which is now a Target.
Roberta, a good friend from junior high and high school, was there. We caught up, told stories, and then she says, "I’m going up to East LA College because I read that Vincent Price is showing some of his collection of paintings."
I say, Let’s go.
We found the rooms where the art was being shown. There were paintings, some famous artists, and most were impressionist. We were looking at the paintings, and then started talking about the paintings, and then started being smart ass, and doing Art Speak.
There was someone else in the room, listening to us being silly.
“What do you think of this next painting?" We turned around and who should it be but Vincent Price. We talked a little more seriously about the art. While we were talking we made a few movie references and he mentioned his wife, “The actress Coral Browne” a couple of times. He asked if we were familiar with her work. I said, She was great in Auntie Mame, and Roberta XXXXXXXXXXXXsaid, Her death in Theatre of Blood was my favorite. He was pleased with us at our age and our appreciation of movies, and that we knew the work of his wife, the actress Coral Browne, but then he wanted to know more of what we really thought of these paintings.
We talked even more about the art, and then I told him, “Really, I’m not all that impressed by the impressionists.” That got a laugh and we talked more.
In the room lurked another man, the president of East L A College. The prez impatiently announced that it was time for lunch. I said, They make great pastrami down the street at The Hat. Vincent Price turned to the president and said, "Pastrami sounds delightful." He invited Roberta and me to go along. So we walked a couple blocks to The Hat and had pastrami. It was mildly obvious that neither of them had been to such a pastrami joint in quite a while. The president was not in his comfort zone. But Roberta, Vincent, and I had a wonderful time. Eventually, the prez announced that it was time to go, so we said a reluctant goodbye to Vincent Price.
Four decades later I ran into Roberta and her third husband. She told him, "I’ve been telling you about David for years. This is the pastrami with Vincent Price guy. My husband says he never really believed that story."
So, we told him the story that you just read.
Another Fine Mess
When I was 11 or 12 l would go on the bus to Santa Monica Pier for a little amusement at the arcade. One day I met a girl about my age who was a lot of fun, a tomboy, a little like a jewish Peppermint Patty. We mainly played pinball, but also skee ball, and the various shooting games.
After a while, she ran out of money. Back then the machines took dimes, some just nickels. I shared my money with her. After a bit, we got down to only my bus fare home. She suggested we spend that, and then go to her house, get something to eat, and her mom would give me the money to go home. The arcade got my bus money.
A few times over the years I’ve tried to find the two homes in this story. They must have been around 12th St. and Arizona in Santa Monica, but I’ve never found them. I’m not sure I really remember them now.
As we were walking along, my friend asked me if I knew Laurel and Hardy. “I love Laurel and Hardy.” She seemed very happy. We stopped at a little house. On the little porch of the little house was an old couple sitting in rocking chairs. My friend called out, “Hi Stan. This is my friend David,”
XXXXXXXXXXXand sitting on that porch was Stan Laurel. I’m not sure if I did it first or if he did, but we were both playing with the hair on top of our heads and laughing, then he gave me that fluttering wave.
We went to my friend's house. Her mom didn’t seem very happy with me, but she gave us pb&js and grape juice. Then my bus fare was put in my hand, I said goodbye and left. On the way to Wilshire and the bus I walked by Stan Laurel‘s house, but they weren’t on the porch anymore. Over the years I’ve fondly remembered that day.
Louis Armstrong
For years I thought this happened when I was 6. I discovered online that I was 9. Louis Armstrong and a trio were performing on the Mark Twain Riverboat in Disneyland.
I pushed my way through the crowd and sat on the edge of the stage. Just listening to the music. The boat stopped, there must have been an announcement, but it didn’t find my ears. When the music stopped I looked around, everyone was gone, and I jumped up and panicked.
XXXXXXXXXX I heard Louis Armstrong say to me, “Hey Face, come on over here.” He asked me how I was doing, what’s my name, and if I was having a good time at Disneyland.
After a bit, he stood up and said “Okay Face, wait right here. I’ll take care of things.” He went up to the microphone and said “Folks, we have a lost boy up here at the bandstand.” Soon, I could hear my mom‘s heavy footsteps rushing up the stairs.
When she turned the corner, she grabbed me by the arm, and gave me a slap that made my ears ring. She said, "Leave the man alone.”
“Hold on there lady, he’s fine.”
My mom dragged me down the stairs.
Over the speakers, I heard Louis Armstrong say,
“Have a good life, Face.”
Mike Mazurki
When I was very little, Wilshire Boulevard from MacArthur Park all the way to Santa Monica was really the Main Street of Los Angeles.
MacArthur Park was a jewel, but had started to decline.
@Please look at a story about the place on page
I heard that the actor Mike Mazurki had a bar/lounge on Alvarado Street across from MacArthur Park. Once I discovered it, I would step in, using my pirate eye trick, and often Mike Mazurki would be sitting at the far end of the bar. I was about 10 or so and I made a point of saying in the most squeakiest obnoxious voice
“Hi Mr. Mazurki !“ He would turn around and bellow out “Get the fuck out of here kid!” I did that as often as I could. The last time I did it I was in my mid teens. The park was on the downward road. Mike Mazurki’s bar was now merely a bar for palookas and alkies.
XXXXXXXXXX I stuck my face in there I said, Hi Mr. Mazurki! He was close to the front door for the first time. I don’t quite remember what he said, but it was along the lines of……
It’s been a pleasure watching you grow up. You used to annoy me years ago but now it’s good to see you. I’m closing down the bar. I might not see you again. I'm glad I got to say goodbye.
Kathleen Freeman.
I was spending a lot of time waiting to do something simple at the Hollywood DMV. A few people behind me was one of my favorite character actors, Kathleen Freeman. I went back to say hello and it turned into an hour conversation about shoes and ships and the movies.
She was in over 300 movies and TV shows. She was Sister Mary Stigmata in the Blues Brothers, in at least one Naked Gun movie, and in many of the Jerry Lewis movies. Lots of cartoon voices. My kids know her best as the elocution teacher in Singing in the Rain.
“ I cahn’t stawnd it. “
About a week later I was waiting for an hour to do something simple at the phone company, and who did I see? Kathleen.
XXXXXXXXXXX More fun conversation.
A week or three later in the wonderful long gone Tick Tock Room in Hollywood, who did I see? Kathleen. We had a fast and funny visit.
A month or two later I went to the auction of Zoetrope Studios. And who did I see? Kathleen. We wandered around and met other old Hollywood actors. I was more than a little overwhelmed. I wish I could remember who those other actors were.
We used to go with my tio Marcos to one of my favorite childhood restaurants, the elegant Perinos on Wilshire Boulevard. But now it had gone out of business and their furnishings were being sold at auction. And who did I see there? Kathleen. We wound up in a group of people half of them Kathleen‘s age, and half my age. We were reminiscing about how wonderful this restaurant was. They were remembering as adults, and we were remembering this beautiful restaurant as children.
A year or so later, Uncle Bob and I went to a wonderful 12 hour production of Nicholas Nickleby at the Ahmanson Theater. During the first of many intermissions, who did I see? Kathleen. We caught up and talked about the play. She was standing in a group of theater goers that included George Furth. He is most remembered for playing the officious railroad guy who got blown up by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He was flattered that I also knew him as having written the book for a couple of Steven Sondheim musicals. The three of us talked about movies and music during some of the rest of the intermissions.
I ran into Kathleen a couple of more times at the movies, and twice at the Ralphs on Sunset.
Dahling
XXXXXXXXXXIn Beverly Hills, five year old Thea and I were holding hands waiting to cross the street and I hear this odd cooing voice next to me. I turn and there’s a fur coat between me and Thea. The fur coat stands up and it’s Eva Gabor saying Thea was such a dahling, beautiful little girl.
BBI Got You, Babe
I was 12. There was a very highly advertised Teenage Fair at the Hollywood Palladium.
It was mainly fan merchandise. But it was entertaining. There was a lot of Batman merch, the Adam West TV show was on at the time. I thought my brother would like a couple of Bat Things.
I went out the door by the parking lot and there was a line of trailers containing wannabe rock stars.
By coincidence, I had heard the song I Got You Babe very late the night before on the radio. One trailer had a poster for the song. I told a pretty girl sitting at a card table, I heard your song last night. She called into the trailer, XXXXXXXXXXSonny there’s somebody here that heard the song. And out comes Sonny and he takes a look at me and says, That's just a kid, and back in the trailer with him. But she wanted to know what I was doing up so late, and she talked to me, and she was very nice, and so pretty to 12 year old me.
I told my brother about the teenage fair and my dad took us there the next day. He got Batman Things. The only thing I remember was a sign for the bathroom door that said BATROOM that stayed there for years. I took him back to meet Sonny and Cher. They were both talking to people, she said hello, it wasn’t a big deal.
A couple of years ago Mario called me and said, Did you introduce me to Sonny and Cher when I was little?
I did.
Check out Tiny Tim’s cover of the song.
Brilliant!
Singing in the Rain
I celebrated my 21st birthday with my lifelong friend, Eddie, who was four days older than me. We went to the Mayfair Music Hall, which was very strict about their age 21 policy. I had tried to get in a couple of times before.
This place was an English music hall straight out of the movies. There was music and sing-along, dancers and singers, and comedians. The theater and environment was right out of the music hall in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, or Dorian Gray. Everything was brought “At enormous expense!”
Putting on the Ritz from Young Frankenstein was filmed there.
The place was everything I wanted. It was exactly what I was expecting. We had a wonderful time. When the show was over, as is my way, I waited for the crowd to clear.
I wasn't ready to leave. The bar was up in the balcony, so Eddie and I went up to the bar. Who is sitting there at a table? Ray Bradbury. He said something like, What are you two young guys doing here?
XXXXXXXXXXX I mentioned Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and he was amused and asked us to sit down with him and his friend. We talked various Jekyll and Hyde movies. He hadn’t seen the one with Jack Palance, which I think is most like the book.
"But, what are you doing here? You are probably the youngest person in the building." I told him I was the youngest because it was my birthday. He said, Can I buy you a drink? What’ll you have? and I said Guinness, please, and he was very happy with my choice. Ray Bradbury was the first stranger to buy me a legal drink.
A coincidence; 33 years later, Sarah bought Max his first legal drink at a place, Bucca de Beppo, half a block away.
During the conversation, which lasted another Guinness or two, I asked him what his favorite science fiction movie was, after he asked me what mine was. He said his was Singing in the Rain. It is a story of how a new technology effected the lives of people that it touched. I absolutely loved this answer, and the movie, and we talked about that and cabbages and kings.
I told him while wandering around the Central Library, one of my favorite places in the world, I saw in the Literature Dept one of his books. I sat on the floor to look at it. In the forward he talked about him sitting right at that spot, smelling the books, feeling embraced and comforted by the tall shelves and narrow aisles, and reading. He was delighted and said, “Hmm, that librarian put my book there waiting to be discovered only by you.”
Then the music hall management told us it was time to go.
VBB. Tiny Tim and Duke Ellington
Sitting around with my friend Jimmy DeLoy, two or three years older than my 12 years, we heard on the radio that Duke Ellington was going to be at the Hollywood Bowl that night. "Let's go."
We get on the bus to Hollywood Boulevard, but neither of us actually knew where the Hollywood Bowl was. Jimmy had never even been to Hollywood.
@ (More stories of Hollywood Boulevard. )
I have a sense that the Bowl is north. We walked on Hollywood Blvd for a bit. We randomly turned right on Hudson St. Half a block up we found a hotel, and I told Jimmy how I like hotel lobbies. We go check it out, and who is sitting there in the lobby, but Tiny Tim.
XXXXXXXXXXXX We say hello, we start talking. Tiny wants to talk baseball, neither of us cares for baseball. Then we start talking music, Tim really likes that we like older music. When I mention that we are going to see Duke Ellington, he is very excited and we start talking even more music. He called us Mister David and Mister James.
We talked for about 20 minutes.
And he gives us directions to the Hollywood Bowl.
We find the Bowl, bought our nosebleed tickets for $.50. We hike our way up to the seats and see that there's maybe 50 people up there in that area. The box seats and others down there are mostly filled. And almost no one is sitting in between.
Then the show starts. I don't remember if there was an opening act. I do remember Duke Ellington coming out and playing one song. Then he says he's so happy and that we all came, but that the seating arrangement is crazy. So he invited all of us from the cheaper seats to come in and fill the closer seats, and played a bit while we migrated. Jimmy and I got box seats.
The music was amazing.
Now as you know, or maybe you have read here, I don't like to shuffle with the exiting crowd. So Jimmy and I sat there while the crowd left. We were sitting there talking, and who comes out to get his music off the piano?
XXXXXXXXXXXX Duke Ellington calls us over and says, You guys were the youngest people in the audience, what are you doing here? I say, We love your music. Did I play everything you wanted to hear? I said, I would've liked to hear Creole Love Song. And he said, Oh, that's an oldie, you really do listen to my music.
Anyway, we exchanged a few more words and he said goodbye and we said goodbye and off we went, it was a little awkward.
@ (I’ve been to the Bowl multiple times most summers for the rest of my life, see page. )
Many years later in July 1972, my friend Chris and I went to Magic Mountain, kind of in celebration for us leaving the next day for our trip to Europe. And who is entertainment at Magic Mountain that weekend? Tiny Tim. We went to hear him sing, and when it was over, I went up to the edge of the stage. Amazingly, he recognized me and said, Hello Mr. David!, but his wife, Miss Vicky, didn’t let him talk to us.
Many more years later, Tim was playing at The Comedy Store, and I really wanted to go. I called to make reservations, the girl on the phone laughed. Apparently the show was not well attended. And even though this was the plan, Suzi and Bob kept me from going.
Tiny Tim died not too much later.
Beatles
I saw John and Yoko coming out of Phil Spector‘s office on Sunset Blvd.
Josie, Marcos, and Stella and I were at Seaworld in San Diego eating lunch, and next to us sat down a couple. Stella and I noticed that it was Paul and Linda McCartney. Linda gave us a please don’t make a fuss look and so we didn’t.
At a party given by a masseuse/astrologer/healer acquaintance in Topanga Canyon, I just missed seeing Ringo Starr. I did get to say hello to Barbara Bach, his wife and Bond Girl.
A Star
I was at a flea market in Rome in 1972 and down the row comes Jack Palance. He looked like he was 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide. He was a Movie Star.
XXXXXXXX About 40 years later Lily and I took a friend to her doctors appointment in Beverly Hills. While my friend was at the doctor, Lily and I went to Nate & Al’s, a great deli. While we were there we saw Larry King with Bob Costas and Shecky Greene at a booth. When we left the restaurant, we saw an ancient stooped Jack Palance. He was still a bit taller than me, on two canes, with an assistant. He was still a striking, amazing looking old man.
Crossing a Street in Beverly Hills
I had a business called Anything That's Legal where I arranged things or found things for people. One day, I was filling a long Christmas list for a guy who had won the lottery, I was walking from a favorite parking spot on the outer edge of downtown Beverly Hills. Making my way I wanted to cross the street in the middle of the block. Beverly Hills police have always been militantly very strict about jaywalking, so jaywalking has become a sport. Looking to see if the coast was clear, I noticed there were two guys doing the same thing. I thought, safety in numbers. And then there were a couple other guys also crossing the street.
We all made it to the other side, everybody's happy, we all were kind of giggling and started looking at each other. And who were my partners in crime? Gary Shandling, Rob Reiner, Billy Crystal, and the comedy writer, Alan Zweibel. Naturally, they all said hello to each other, and then looked at me. I self consciously raised up my hands and said, "I am merely a civilian," I got a good laugh from all of them. Then we all said goodbye and went on our merry ways.
I think that is enough stories of celebrity encounters.