If you we have water back to if you need water, we have restrooms back there, and you can get up and move in and won't disturb me a bit, it will not interfere with me at all. So anything you need to do if you need to get up and go out and get fresh air, if you are running into a time crunch, and you have to leave for that, please feel free to leave it will not disturb anything I'm doing. If you if you get discomforted, this is for your convenience and your comfort as well as your entertainment. And anything that interferes with that, please feel free to to move, change go or anything that that is good for you. Because I want this to be something that you enjoy and not something that becomes physically difficult for you.
I'm going to be talking mostly about entertainers that have entertainment here. I'm going to start at some point were two figures in Las Vegas when I was down there covering the police beat report as a reporter from 73 to 78. And I had encounters with different entertainers for things but I'm gonna key on two of them. And they reached what I consider iconic status in terms of, they've gone beyond stardom to to a much higher level. And
I just want to tell you that giving you a little background about our area, and we've had fairs and carnivals, and Greek festivals and things like that going on since 1911. Right over here and part of our year museum here at Keewaydin is a display of the grape industry and the carnivals we've had on the festivals we've had and all of them leading to what is today the Ben Franklin County Fair. And there have been entertainers come through at different times a year 1948 There was a Leo Carrillo he had been, he played poncho on the Cisco kid, he was our he was part of the
Grand Marshal of the parade. Robert Conrad, he was the grand marshal of our parade.
And through the years different entertainers have come through here and in in more recent years, better and bigger entertainers even to hear, but I'm starting out in Las Vegas, and
I covered the police be down there and I did it a night and then I did it in the daytime. And in the daytime, I started in the morning, I went down, I went to the main door City Hall walked across, lobby there and I went to the desk and started talking to the station commander or the or the sergeant to see if I needed to go into the detective bureau to find out more major things. One day I show up and that front door is barred, you can't go in there. You're not allowed to go in there. So I sometimes would take it side door and I took a side door. And usually when I walked in, and I walked down the hallway into the lobby and see the sergeant or the station commander.
There might be one or two people around maybe two or three people in the lobby. Well, I walk in here, and it's packed with people. And there's a little enclave back here where they they've got cameras back here and they've got cables on the floor and they got technicians there. And they just got people watching what's going on. I look into the lobby, and Clint Eastwood is standing by himself. And there's a desk sergeant over here, but he's actually an actor who, who is going to be part of a scene and it's from the movie, the gauntlet that Clint Eastwood both directed and starred in. And the basic premise is he supposed to come to Las Vegas as a detective from Phoenix, I think the trainees in Arizona get this, they've got to a witness in jail and the witnesses to be taken back to Arizona testify against the bad guys and the bad guys go to prison. And all the bad guys are gonna want this witness dead. Clint, Clint Eastwood don't know that he just going to extra and the attorneys out there, whoever I never saw the movie I saw some scenes from but never saw the movie. But apparently there's some hierarchy in the police, that also are bad guys. And they want this witnessed at the scene that I'm about to describe. Clint Eastwood walks in the lobby of the City Hall goes to the desk sergeant. And I remember the first name of the
the witness was Gus, I don't remember the last name. So I'm going to say Jones for the purpose of this year. So the scene starts when the cameras rolling, Clint Eastwood walks in and he comes up to the def sergeant, and he's got a warrant. And he said,
I'm here to pick up a guy in your jail named Gus Jones. And the sergeant said, we don't have a guy in our jail name goes down. What do you mean don't have silly banter back and forth. And finally, Clint Eastwood concludes, they don't have this guy starts walking out and he's walking back towards the door. And the sergeant says, I said, we don't have a guy in our jail named Gus Jones. We've got a gallon RJ on him does Jones or woman or outlet or said gal fit guy, but so plenty would turns. And now he takes he turns to look at the guy and he's got the one about halfway in his pocket. He's at an angle and he's looking back at the guide and the cameras are in on it maybe went too far that it added back to the camera. And then the director takes over and he says and there's not anything like
Cut or anything like that, because he's the star and he's the director. And so he knows he's gonna cut. So he just says to the guy that plays, the actor says, Listen, this is what I want. That's pretty close, we're getting pretty close. This is what I want you to do. And I think you'd want him to change the inflection of his voice or something. So they start to see an all over walks back and up to the desk, we don't have a guy walks out, I said, we don't have a guy and we got a gal, Clint Eastwood, the director takes over again, he says, that, that's great, you got the part that I want you to do, this is something else I want you to do such and such. He did that at least four times, and maybe five as the director. And I'm sitting there being impressed. Every time Turn, turn to see this guy. He looked like he was in the exact same place, the warrant was in the same place. And his head was the same place. And it was like, it was like, you could take six or five hours for still shots of him with the camera. And the old saying, and I thought everything was fine. What did he do a second day, the third day, fourth day, key to didn't like what he was seeing. And he wasn't going to have it. And the guy responded to me directly we got him it it wasn't that he didn't get it right the first time. He got it right. He got it right. The second time. We got it right, the third time for them. Finally, Clint Eastwood director says that's it. We got it. Good. Good show. Good job. And that was the end of that scene and everything broke up. They didn't they didn't do any more filming right there. They're going to come in later, I guess and do it. So then people start breaking up and the cameras are doing this and I go up to the to the sock, my sock, the rigger sergeant, you get what's going on. And
when I turn around, Clint Eastwood is still over there. And he's talking to one of our reporters, and she's one of her small reporters. And he's a tall guy, and he's looking down. He's smiling at her and she's looking and smiling and taking notes. And she later became my boss. She was an excellent report, and she later became my boss's assistant city editor. And when I was impressed by that, and that's why Clint Eastwood has two Academy Awards for directing. He got it for the Million Dollar Baby, one of his best pictures, he got it for a given one as best we can. And of course, he won his producers of those two shows, but he wouldn't let it go. He was gonna have it right. And he just kept at it and he didn't. There was no yelling at the actor. Sometimes you hear directors yell at the actor and one because the guy was doing everything he would fun to do. He just wanted to change each time something different. And that's, that's the quality of work of Clint Eastwood.
Joan Rivers was a loud mouth barking
irreverence, unit name it that was her she would be on stage and she just, she just tore people parts. He just
she was that kind of comedian and literate. She barked. I mean, the words barked out of her mouth when she would be talking about things. And
a friend of mine, one of my best friends in Las Vegas was was a man named Hanford, Cyril and Hanford
headed the he was the Las Vegas correspondent for Billboard magazine. And he called me on one Friday says, Hey, you want to go into modern rounds? He says, I go, I'm gonna go down to the showrooms. If anything is going on, it's might see anybody. Oh, that'd be great. So I went down and spent the whole Friday night we've gone to different showrooms, and we didn't run into anybody or anything. He had free access to all the showrooms in Las Vegas, he didn't have access to the dressing rooms unless invited in by the stars. But we wanted to one one showroom, and there was Bobby vent, and he's getting ready to go on to do a second show and Hanford interview somebody, Bobby. And Bobby spent about 10 minutes talking to me just about hey, what are you doing and whatnot. And I really liked him. You know, he has you know, roses are red and blue velvet. I think it was and what was it steel with a kiss, I think or something like that. But he
very polite gentleman allowed him in his acting he did to John Wayne movies. He was his son and Big Jake. He was he was in a road with him as
a young man going for the train robbers. And
so I really like Bobby Vinton and he was very pleasant and just a delightful guy and totally great gone. So he goes on, and so it was nice to spending 10 minutes with them. And then we went on down and we go to the Riviera, and we go back stage and we're walking back towards the dressings and there's Joan Rivers standing there talking to a lady friend of hers. And
she goes hand in hand goes up there and he introduces me to Joan and Joan introduces us to her lady friend. And then Joan says, Uh, why don't you come in my dressing room. He says, You know, I've got an hour, whatever it is for my next show. We're just coming to visit so we go in there, and we sit down and it's just like for people in a living room than anybody. Sometimes Hanford talked to Joan and I talked to her friend sometimes I've talked to Hanford, and she talked to her friend, sometimes I talked to Joan and Hanford photographer and that sort of discussion that all those experience in in in living rooms and she was quiet, polite, soft, spoken, gentle, courteous and everything just just a total total turnaround from what she is on stage.
And she was that way the whole night. She got out her knitting and she started knitting with her long needles and her and her her yarn and stuff like that. And that was one of the subjects they carried on a conversation with her for a while, because my mom was a knitter and crochet er and a needle person. And she said, what does she make and I support doilies and she made quilts and she made she made dish towels with neat little decorations on them. And each day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and so we had this nice discussion, but I didn't know the tech techniques, but I told her I said one of the things I'm impressed by is you got your hands there and you got these needles there and somehow you're gonna make it come out look perfect. I don't know how you do that. So we had it was a one on one discussion and we get all done. There's a tap at the door and says it's time is reverse time. We're gonna go on our second show. And we go outside and I figured that's the end of that and then Joan turns and she looks at Hanford and and she looked over me to stay around. We'll have breakfast after I'm done. So many unhampered walkers show in the second we watch it from the backstage it's she's on stage. And she gets all done and she gets done. If you go to the dressing room does a little something that they got to have breakfast up in in the Riviera this past midnight now. And I turned out i LUCKY i got to sit right next to her. And so we carried on various conversation. I never we didn't talk any politics. I don't know that she's conservative or liberal or anything. And we didn't talk showbusiness. I made one mention of showbiz to hi first became aware of who she was back when I was a teenager. But we didn't talk any show business and none of that stuff. I can't tell you today what we talked about what there was no downtime. We we talked and we talked, we had a we talked before breakfast, we had a wonderful breakfast, and we talked after breakfast. And and it's I looked at my watch, and it's 235 in the morning. And I said, I said to myself, I've done my part in keeping this lady too long. I wasn't tired. I was enjoying myself. And so I told her, I said, I'm gonna have to leave. And I want to thank you for this wonderful, time shared. And she said, Well, I've certainly enjoyed it very much. So I get up and and I extend my hand down. She's looking up and into my face. And I feel my hand down and I say, I'd like to pay for my breakfast. And she said, No, this is on me. I've got this. And I thank you very much for that. And I always cherish the memory of
the time I spent with Joan Rivers and Joan Rivers is the person on lever again, remember, first and foremost for the quality of her pioneer pioneer comedian, on stage and things like that. So remember that gentleness and the kindness and, and the warmth and the generosity of her time and or in this case of breakfast and money and everything else. She was genuinely in the hours I spent with her most gentle woman.
I came back up here in 1978 and
interviewed different sources. But Charley pride was a man who had the perfect name. He was a man of great pride.
I set up an interview through a man named Pat Roberts, Pat Roberts booked the entertainment into our fair from Roberts productions on the west side of Washington, those side of the state and Pat would set up the interviews that they wanted to do an interview, sometimes the stars would turn us down, they didn't want to do the interview. And that was fine. I didn't want to interfere in anybody's life. But they weren't going to be happy. Stepping up with Charlie pride and I went down to the core item Motor Inn. And he walked in, it's in that old restaurant. Most of the meals now I think are sold in the crow's nest. And every was set by himself. He had his cowboy hat on he had attire that was Western attire. And we went back and we talk we talked music and I'm always looking for something different for an entertainer to write the story about because they've had so many musical stories. And I missed it on this one. Because Tim and I talked a lot of baseball, he loved the game of baseball, and he was a very big part of the game of baseball, and in through the years. And I love the game of baseball as he did. So we talk baseball but I'm not thinking this is gonna be my story that should have been my story. Not entertainment, not music, because music has been written about.
But Charlie, I'm going to use a word here that we don't use much in society anymore because it's a part of history and part of an organism a part of a museum in this country that he was very much a part of. And that is the Negro Leagues of baseball they now we use that word very much but due to efficiently were known as the Negro Leagues from late 1920s to 1960. Because blacks were barred from paying Major League Baseball Charlie played for the Birmingham Black Barons. He played for the Memphis Red Sox in the in the regular leagues. And then he got into New York Yankees system. And he went on to work in a way into the minor leagues with hopes of making the majors and he never did make it to the majors I believe he he got hurt and and his career and in baseball and he turned to music.
His mother given him a guitar when he was he was 14 years old. And that started him on, on course to music. But in later life, he was on the board of advisors of the National Negro Baseball Museum in Kansas City, which today has some of the most stirring accounts of black baseball in the history of this country. And it's the place to visit if you're ever in Kansas City. And he was very proud of that. So we talk
Charlie pride, spelled his name ch AR le y, and he hated CHR li e. So I knew that going in, I knew that. And so we're
just as a quick sideline on this, there was a guy named Al Cooper, the graduate from Kennedy High School in 1959. outgroup was a good baseball player. And he ended up breaking the minor leagues. And he told me one time that he played in the minor leagues against Charlie pride. And he said Charlie would invite the players over from both teams after a game to his place. And they'd have just a party in the celebration and interaction and stuff like that. And he says in bareboat charter and get us up and start singing songs.
And now said to me, he says, We didn't realize at the time we were getting free Charley Pride concerts.
So anyway, I interviewed Charley, and I'm gonna write the story second that date because I'm gonna go out to the fairgrounds and do a novelty act called good time, Charlie CHR li II, when you write a story about when you write a new story is pretty much you hit the name first. And then use the last name the rest of the way. When you're writing a feature story, you got a little bit of flexibility. You can write you write the name first, Charlie pride, and then interspersed through the story, either his last name of pride. Or you might say, Charlie, you might say prides going to town to buy a loaf of bread, Charlie said he enjoy walking along the Columbia River. So you do that? Well, when you're writing a novelty Act, and the only thing you know about him is it's good time, Charlie, you have a good time, Charlie. So 30 times in the story, you gotta try and Charlie, Cha RL lie. Anybody can see where this is going, can't you?
So I go back and I write the I write the Goodtime Charlie story first. And then I read the Charley pride story. And I've typed it up, and I read it and I read it and I read it. And then I go over to the parkade tavern to have a beer, it's late Saturday night, I'm just gonna relax and have a beer and, and I the stories go over in my mind, the story is important to me. And this story was important to me going over my mind. I'm sitting there sipping that one beer. And I said to myself, You misspelled his name. CHR, li e, Charlie.
And you die with about three or four years later, Charlie, pride comes back to the fair. And this time, I'm going to interviewing up at the fairgrounds in a trader that the fair supplies, and I go up there and he's just casual, slacks on, buttoned down shirt open at the neck short sleeve, and about 30 seconds into into my visit. And they're the first thing he says to me is this. What do you know about Colin ostomies? And I said,
I'd have a lot of I can tell you and he said, Well sit down and talk to me about it. So he's gonna have one that week, like, two days later, or three days later. And so he asked me questions, and I'm telling him, you know, back and forth. When you go out there as an as a reporter, and you got to start here. That's, that's your framework. But when you get to talk to somebody about a situation, you get to talk about things you forget, you don't even think I'm a reporter, you start, you're talking about a situation he wants to know something about. And I explained it all to him. We get what I went through, I told him what I went through the prep, you go through the fasting he goes through and what the procedure was, like, for me, never painful or anything. So he really thanks for him for that. And we sit down, we start doing the interview. He was a much more relaxed interview the first time and it really was the first time he seemed like he was on guard. But the second time was just relaxed, like two guys talking. And I honestly believe it came from that discussion about about Kumasi. Just just just this relaxed atmosphere, talking about a subject unrelated to entertainment unrelated to reporters and unrelated that and I really believe that's why we had such as easygoing thing.
So, that was Charley Pride.
Glenn Yarborough, I liked Glenn Yarborough in college. That's when he I became identified with Glenn Yarborough had kind of like, pop and almost ballad type music or whatever you but I really, I love that voice and that's music and, and everything.
I did not know that as a boy. I was listening to his music. He was a part of blind lighters and they formed from 59 to 66. I didn't. I didn't know that. He was one of them. I invited him to he he and a guy named New Gottlieb I believe it was they shared ownership in a club in Aspen, Colorado known as the limelight, and they sang duets and stuff and another guy like Alex had So I think was sitting out in the audience when I listened to him and he sang nice. I think our voices were been great. They got together and became the line lighters. Well, Glenn Yarborough love sailing. I think more than he loved music. He just was passionate about sailing. And he said, he told me, he took his daughter out of school. And she was like in the third grade, and they sailed around the world. And he said, we took a long lesson plan and did all of that. But in the meantime, she's learning cultures. And she's learning geography. She's learning ocean, she's learning to storm. She's learning sailing, she's learning dialect. He said, when she got back in school, the next year, the next grade, she she was bored to death in two days. I don't remember how they resolved that sort of thing. But somehow they did. Now, again, Pat had set up this interview. And when he set up the interview, he told you go by yourself, I won't read them and he knows you're coming on tapped at the door. And he let me come in. And you're just friendly as the Dickens and he said, Would you like a pop? And I said, Sure. And he got out a couple of cans of squirt, sit one by him and one by me. Some interviews you can tell when they're going great. I mean, they're going great. And some interviews you can tell whether or not the worst interview I had, and the one I hated the most and it wasn't the stars fault. It's my shortcoming. I don't interview for well, and I had to interview the, the new Mamas and the Papas, and that's actually the name they took. Bama capsulated died, John and Michelle Phillips had separated. And this was John and Danny Doherty, I think was the other Papa. They were still together. And they brought in Spanky McFarland, who had her own group spanking before and in our game. And they brought in Mackenzie Phillips, which was John's daughter, and she was on the TV show, I think, One Day At A Time or something like that. But at any rate, so now this is a new almost Apophis and I have to go interview and I do not interview for well.
I'm looking at one set of eyes and I want to concentrate and I want to talk and you got six sets or three sets of eyes looking at you. And you're staring at you. And I'm supposed to be talking to them too. I don't want good ask good questions. I don't feel good about it and stuff. And I hated that interview. Well, they were very polite, very kind and everything. I do to pretty well I did the Hager the hair twins from the OHA series, the comedy thing. And those guys were the best two on one interview I ever did. They were as zany the talk of them as they were on the TV show. I love that. I love that Zane into seven. But the golden Yarbrough was going really great. It was I was asked some good questions, I'd getting good substance and everything. And then going Yarbro said to me and just a straight voice. He's decisive. Just want to make a point. He said, you know, and this isn't Jack woulda never forgotten. He says, You know, I don't mind answering your questions, but you don't have to drink my pop. I've been reaching out and getting his pop and bring variety. He's not getting his pop and drinking.
So there I was misspelling one stars name and I'm drinking down the pop of another star.
Anyway, the best interview session I ever had it's affair, the one I love the most. And I distinguish between my favorite interview session. And the favorite person I interviewed are two different things. My favorite interview session was an interview session in which I did not even interview the star. I did not do that. What happened was I was set up to interview Jerry Reed and I love Jerry Reid's persona on there that guy's got this giggle that turns into a laugh and you're likely guy whether he plays a bad guy or a good guy and he played a bad guy I think in the movie Gator with Burt Reynolds and
and but you're still waiting personality about any played on the the smoking the bandit series with Burt Reynolds and stuff. And he was a singer songwriter, multiple, multiple full talent, that guy and so Pat Roberts somebody you're gonna go to his personal trainer and do the interview. And it's not the fare traders. It's the trader is personal trader and his wife Priscilla will be there. She'll sit in but she probably won't be interfering in any way with the interview at all. That's why we had an employee at the Tri city Herald named Dorie O'Neill, join you as my friend and I really liked that girl. And she came up through the ranks doing different things was our library. And then she got into writing. And the Herald was I remember was going to establish a an entertainment section on Friday. And they told her Dora you're going to put this package together. You're going to get the stuff off the wire and you're going to do this and you're going to get the stuff that they're going to be entertaining at the various parts of what's going to come on the weekends at the Tri Cities. And invariably, she would probably have to interview a star somewhere along the line coming to town and stuff like that.
She came in one day says, Can I go with you to the fair?
And when you interview somebody and take notes to see how you're interviewing somebody, and I said, Yeah, as far as I was concerned, she could do the job anyway, she didn't. She didn't need to do that. But she was starting welcome. I loved her company. And I thought, well, maybe there's some little things she can learn. But I think she can do the job now. So we go out to the fair, we meet Pat, he takes us to the trader and Pat's gonna go on to something. And he says, Not Jerry, just winding down a little bit from his first show, and he will come out and invite you in to the to the interview, and said, Okay, and so he leaves and we're talking, I'm talking glory. And I'm always trying to think what new can we do to be different whatnot, and it hits me and he says, we get in there if they don't mind, or why don't we do this? You interview Jerry. And I'll enter you put sell if they let us. She liked the idea. So deny door opens Jerry caused and likewise, his favorite neighbors show that personality. So I introduced myself and Dory to Jerry and Priscilla and he entered his syllabus. And I said, Jerry, I was supposed to interview but you but what I what we thought you might like to do if you didn't mind and just really didn't mind is I would interview Priscilla and and Dori would interview great. They like the idea. So they sit down and Jerry said heron, Dory was Aaron. I'm talking to Priscilla or Henry just go off. Jarius got a white towel in his hand. If you remember in school, you're in a locker room. You got these towels in the pot. And yes, snapped at somebody Interestings like the dickens. So we're sitting there and I'm going on the interviews going along. I'm not paying attention. What's an autist in Jerry says, Why You rascal, and he took that talent. He whacked it against
against her leg not hard, not stinging, or they just like, just flopped against why you rascal. And then they both laugh. I didn't know what it was all about. But he said, Well, it's not sinister are getting along for a little while later going on. In Jason, are you rascal any walk through that tally again. And he did it four times while I'm interviewing him? Every time so it was certainly a happy thing. In that whole time. For people in there. I don't think there was a smile on anyone's face. Not one smile. We weren't smiling. We were laughing. It was just the most upbeat thing. It was just in complete contrast to to Ray Stevens who I didn't he had those zany things, you know that he had a rabid the streak or whatever it was and, and stuff like that. He never cracked a smile once in the time. And he he he was polite. He wasn't rude. But he never smiled. It was just business like, let's do this interview. And these guys were engaging, laughing and they were as happy as we were sorted.
So we got off the with that and and that was absolutely my most delightful. That session I enjoyed the most in terms of session.
Barbara Fairchild wasn't the biggest name star that ever come the fear but she was she was the headliner on the strip, probably second banana day was Sammy Davis Jr. But you'd see her name on the Las Vegas Strip at time. She had one number hit and went Number one, he had a teddy bear song. And she other other renditions of songs that she was very successful. She lives in Branson, Missouri now with her husband. But at the time, she was a 29 year old single singer and, and well known in her own right. And we had a wonderful interview, she smiled a lot. I smile a lot. And she had a lovely smile. And she she had this self deprecating humor that she just were always, always laughing about you know, and stuff like that. And one time she didn't know what I was does, I'm not on a log on that one. So, so we do the interview, closed an interview and get done. And we walk out of a backroom office into the lobby of the fair office on the fairgrounds. And we walk towards the door and I've got my back door. I'm going to be opening the door
for her to walk out and she takes my arm and she turns me around to face her and she said, Let's go walk on the fairgrounds just showing me I said I'd like to step out into the night air and she slips her right arm under my left arm brings her left hand over and clasp her right wrist and we're we're interlocked now, walking arm in arm and we start
I don't walk that well these days and those days I walked at a pretty good clip.
But I use I use a word for that night that I rarely use for myself. In that era.
We strolled with the fair we didn't walk we just stroll to the fair ARM and ARM and we went down to the goats and they're looking at you or the wonders eyes and we put our fingers in the the sheep goats down about a quarter inch and they scratch their backs and you go to see the rabbits with those floppy ears and those great ears and that very coat and is twitching noses. And it was just it was just at some point, I felt like I was in a cocoon, because there was just the two of us just and I'd reach over and I'd hold her right arm, you know, that kind of enclosure and she
it was like the people around us 1000s of people, hundreds of people go and pass it forward towards us crossing in front of us. And, and they were like, ghosts, they were there, but not there. Because we were so interlocked in our conversation, someone remarked on laughter sonar lock, in wonderful motions of happiness. And we did that for the whole hour. And I will always treasure her as my favorite entertainer. Because of the gifts she left me. She left me with a memory that I cherish for the rest of my life, not because she was a star. But because this woman, attractive 29 year old woman wanted, she saw something in me that she wanted to share time with alone, just walking on the fairgrounds, strolling through things, seeing things laughing together, and nobody else around and touches my heart to this day. Always trade your heart for that they're there are there are stars I wanted to meet for sentimental reasons and I say sentimental reasons beauty kite in my childhood in some sort of way. Chevrolet came there he was on rawhide, the TV series, he had a great single hit in 58, flying purple people eater and all that.
But there were a couple that I wanted to meet the had no sentimental ties, and one of them was Johnny Cash. I wanted to meet Johnny Cash. He was a giant. He was like on a different level.
So I got a pat. I said, Can we interview Johnny Cash and he said I'll go as he goes the interview Johnny Cash convert says no, you don't want to do an interview. He said that every time he does an interview all they want to ask him about his past drug use. That's what they want to know about. I could that was old hat I could care less about that. I had no interest in that I had no interest in that.
Even if I was going to write to talk about his music, but I didn't even want to talk about his music. He wrote a book called The man in white. And he's the man in black. I wanted to write it was a novel and I wanted to talk to him about that book. And
soap Pat comes back in and he told me about the drug. So I don't care about that. I said, I didn't want to talk about music. I wanted to talk about this novel. He wrote the man and white the whys, the wherefores of whatever. He goes back and seat I didn't know him back. But he went back, see Johnny, and I'm out there watching his show and pet him. He said Johnny wants to do that story can meet you in his trailer when he's done, you know, go there, whatever time Pat said. And great, you know, so I go there and just, I won't want any details about all what
any details of the novel or anything but basically what it came down to was, it was about the Apostle Paul as I recall, and his life of redemption. He had been a a persecutor of Christians and he had been a, a an order the murder of Christians and things like that. And he had a confrontation with Jesus Christ that changed his life. And he went into
a totally different he went out of the darkness of his life, as Johnny was writing about. And, and Johnny himself had had his own redemption, He come out of the darkness of his life and, and the drugs and the various things that in his young life, even though it's an accessible music, sometimes it still owes the darkness. They had his own redemption. And he saw it himself what Paul had gone through and so he wrote this novel, I didn't massive research on it. So I went there to interview him knocked on the door, he let me in June, Carter Cash, his wife was there and a singer in her own right. She was very gracious and greeting me. And she went about our business. And Johnny and I started talking.
He was so proud of this book, and he was passionate about it. And
I knew what I wanted when I went there. And he was giving it to me without me asking questions because he was telling me about this and that and the other thing. I probably ask
fewer questions to get what I wanted for a story of that length than a story that length I ever wrote. He was that passionate about and at explaining things before I even asked him that's what I wanted to get. I wanted to hear that I wanted to know about it. And I'm writing things down.
And just as a little note because I took this to be something I call it touching. Jun was moving around doing things. She was straightened pillows on the couch and stuff. And at one point she started folding clothes she had these clothes and folding. And
we all they did the same things we do you know they shave and they
bolt clothes and whatnot. But I was touched by it for this reason, because of the timing of it. She had just named her 20,000. And some people because that's what the chairs office told me how many were out there. She changed the screaming fans or whatever. And it's like, you get my view job. What are you going to do when you go home tonight? Oh, I'm gonna go home and fold clothes.
She gets off on the stage and all this adulation, and she's in there folding clothes like, and I was just touched by that I was even picking up on it while I was listening to Johnny. And
I was never intimidated by anybody I ever interviewed and I. And then he ever, nobody ever tried to intimidate me. But there was something different about Johnny Cash. And I've never been able to put a full understanding to it. It was at a totally different level than anything else I experienced was any of the other people that entertained.
I wasn't afraid I wasn't nervous. But it was like I used the word force. It was like a force demand in size and temperament and voice and reputation and achievement and all of these things. And I use the world. What was the other word I use? Overwhelming, even though I wasn't nervous, and I was overwhelmed sitting in this trade or talking to this man, and I wasn't overwhelmed by anybody else I ever interviewed, nobody.
And I was just overwhelmed. And I felt like this force.
Intimidation isn't the word I fit in. But I don't have a full explanation for it. Except he was different. It was it was just much more overwhelming than anything I'd experienced in any other interview. But I really enjoyed meeting Johnny Cash and, and going through that experience and living this into him and his life and redemption. From the from the depths that he'd come back from the hip hop didn't come back from.
I didn't always entertain interview singers and stuff and and I interviewed a Miss America
named Kelly cash and Kelly was the great niece of Johnny Cash. And I spent a fair amount of time with her over two days. And I never once brought up Johnny Cash in the conversation. To me, it was a separate thing.
Her father was Johnny Cash, his niece, and nephew.
And
Kelly came here she stayed two nights, which is unusual for Miss America. But she had an event in in Hermiston, as well as Tri Cities events. And
we I wrote down in the car whether to Hermiston there was a chaperone. She said on one side of the backseat and my memory is I sit on the other side of the backseat. And then it was a driver. And we carried on just conversation, my interviews with her and stuff about her Tri Cities visit. We're going to get out and I'm going to write a new story on Hermiston visit. And so we just talked general stuff, you know, just talk different things. And I had her bio, I'd read her bio, and I had things I could ask her about that you could carry out a conversation about her father was an Air Force full colonel. He was a Squadron Commander of fighter pilots. And he was a fighter pilot. We talked about that. That was impressive. I had read when she loved to swim.
And so I asked her, I said, are you still swimming?
And Miss America got this funny look on her face. And she looked at me and says, Am I still slumming?
I said no, no, no. Kelly, are you still swimming?
And she laughed it off? No, no. She said I don't have time to swim with my schedule. But you probably shouldn't ask Miss America if she's still swimming.
But anyway, so
I noticed while she was there, the chaperones always there this lady is always there. And when when when Kelly or Miss America, as the case may be is in a public event, this lady doesn't take her eyes off. She's like a secret service agent. And I don't interfere with that. But I got to see her enough. I wonder if she'd let me do a story on what she does. So I asked her if I could do a story on when we had some downtime, just sure yeah, you come to my hotel room and we'll do it. And basically what she did was a she'd Miss America Pageant, set up the schedules. They set up where you're going to be they set up the airplane reservations, they set up the hotel reservation they did that she took care of the administrative part for you go to hotels, she'd get the the room numbers and she'd get the airline tickets and stuff like that. She didn't set up she just took care of all that. She advised Miss America and wardrobe you notice we're going to be at a swimming pool event today. I think you should wear this what do you think about wearing this? And and sometimes Miss America Tigger bites sometimes you wouldn't. She'd make the final decision and
the she would be a sounding board and Miss America needed. So I wrote the story about her and demean the pointy part of the cat A case that came about three or four years later, when another Miss America came to the Tri Cities it was Debbie Turner de bb why I love the spelling of that name. And Debbie was going to fly in on a Sunday, be in the tri city for someone fly out on a Monday. So I decided, Oh, I'll go over, I was covering the Tri Cities patch. And that was part of my beat of different things. I'll go to the airport. And see Kelly on a Sunday afternoon, do an interview. So we haven't Monday's paper. And I set it up, you know, it wasn't like I just showed up blind. And I said, I'm gonna take mom so she could meet Miss America, go over there. And they're just clearing the waiting area where people are waiting to get on planes and where they come in and walk down the hallway and get your luggage and stuff. There's a whole cluster of them just miss American, just just two of them arriving but there's a whole cluster that are taking them down this hallway where Miss America is going to do some greeting and talk one on one interview and stuff. And as they clear the last seats before you start down that hallway are United States senator Slade Gorton is sitting there, and he's got an aide to him. And I thought I've never met Senator Gordon, I'd actually interviewed his wife and two years before comparing life and Olympia when he was state, Attorney General to life in Washington, DC. And I want to moderate our United States Senator. So I walk over and I don't think I told him I was reporter, just a citizen. And Senator got a very gracious and talk to us, you know, and we shook hands, and he greeted mom kindly and warmly and everything. And so we started down the hallway. And I mentioned this because it played a small part in what was about to transpire. I go down here and and Debbie is greeting people and talking to people and visiting people and whatnot. And we wait, wait, and I look over there and there is the same chaperone. We had been here with Kelly. And I thought when I get a chance, I'm going to go say hi to her. And so the my time came to go interview Debbie and I went and interviewed her and talked her and so forth. And then I told her that I have my mother here and she'd like to meet you if you had them or bring her over, I want to meet her, brought over mom got to meet Miss America. And Debbie was so gracious and warm. And that you know, just to a stranger, and I just was touched by that mom was touched by it. And then one of the hostesses come up to me says Gail was that Senator Gordon sit down there in the lobby and suggested is just I want Miss America meeting. So she goes over to Debbie and they start breaking up now and you're starting down this hallway. And the lady starts relaxing over here says this is my chance to go over there. So I go over there. And I said, you probably don't remember me. Well, when you were here with Kelly cash. I interviewed you and I did the story. Dead silence. Not a word, she just stares into my face. And if you've been in that situation, it seems like an eternity.
Finally, she says as you start on my face, she says, We've been here before.
She not only didn't remember me, which I expected she didn't even remember she'd been there. We can think about that. You think of it. Day after day Airplane, airplane hotel after hotel. It's got to be mind boggling. You know, I came out with a great appreciation for the Miss America program after spending time with Kelly and realizing what they went through. I mean you think about that she's got to be on 365 days a year. You got to have your hair right you've got to have your attitude right you've got to have everything right every single day. And that's impressive their athletes in a different sort of way. But that was Miss America
there are certain
things that these entertainers do that you
gain appreciation for who they are as people
and their kindness as His people. One of the guys interviewed on the on the on the on the telephone who was coming up here for an event and I met him appear for event was Jerry Mathers. He did Leave It to Beaver for six years. 1957 and 1963. And my friend Willie over here was had had the park a tavern and he learned that I was going to interview Willie Could I just say, Jerry Mathers and he said, Hey, we're having a reunion at the Red Lion the same time that you're gonna be here. Could you ask him if he'll come down to to our our Friday night socializes? Yeah, I asked him so I asked him on the phone, you know, they're having their 25th or 30 if I forget which reunion I said they would like you to come down and meet him at their Friday night social, it'd be so keen to him they're going to school near Leave It to Beaver, and here they're having a reunion and they just love that because you Oh, come. And he did. I met him over there. I took a date over there. And we met Debbie. We met Jerry and his agent and walked him down to, to the reception. And it was a wonderful experience. You know, they, they got they meet Jerry Mathers and he was doing something he likes doing nice things, I guess. And Charlie Daniels, the devil went down to Georgia know is long haired country boy and great musician, great singer and stuff. And I'm five seconds away from starting my interview with him when the door opens. And one of his men says, Jerry, this little girl and she's between eight and 10, she wouldn't be older and can and what any younger than eight says, she just would love to meet you. She just would love to meet you. Do you have a minute you could spare it with just absolutely you can right over your daughter. She walked over, he put it on her lap and he spent at least 10 minutes whether or not one minute. And he is just talking to her there could have been 30 people in that room. And there were only two of them. And that was Charlie Daniels. And this little girl and Charlie Daniels get had all the number one hits in the World and Me but he would never be remembered me for anything and number one hits, he will always remember me with a kindness he showed that little girl. I mean, she went out of there with a memory that had to cherish her heart forever. He was that kind of guy. Some of them I'm going to talk about just kind of hit a highlight, you know. And Hoyt Axton was the most relaxed entertainer I ever interviewed. And he just sat in an easy chair and he just sit there with his little grin on his face. And you know, he had you know, greenback dollar and, you know, songs like that dollar on the dealer that all goes well and so and he he just totally relaxed and the guy came up to him while we were there, but part of the interim says, Hey, I've developed a song I got this tape here. I was wanting to take it and sing it and you'll see if you might be something and Hort says No Mr. That I don't do those things. He says we have people to do those things, but I don't know him so I just sorry, I won't do it. And the guy took it gracefully and stuff like that. And wait was this as polite as could be and everything like that if it just as good as you're gonna get it? He played. He played a bad guy on Bonanza one time. Adam Cartwright brought him to justice news when he sang these ballots and sang these songs and he's really a sinister guy underneath killing people and stuff. Always remember that show. Leroy van de he had his main song was the auctioneer. But he had a lot of other good hits to the white VanDyke. told me that he had wrote that song as I believe he was in the Air Force and his family had background and auctioneering. And he was in the Air Force in Korea, I believe when he wrote the auctioneer, and it became a marvelous hit. But Leroy Van Dyke was like the closest thing to your next door neighbor. He was just, he wasn't relaxed, like white. But he was just this friendly guy that was like, I'm just wanting my managing editor for the newspaper at that time, was named Bill Clank and Bill Clank was graduated from Leroy Bandai. And he went out to the he went out to the fairgrounds, then they hit it off beyond they hadn't seen each other years. And I went back as an early riser. Why didn't you tell me your boss was in school? I didn't think about it at the time. But, but anyway, that was just kind of an added thing. The Charlie Daniels and Leroy and I both told me similar stories relating. They both had fathers who were like 86 years old, spoke, got up early in the morning, went out and farmed all day long. And they're 86 years old. Both of I think we're both 86 years old doing that. That was impressive. Joanne Castle, she was the honky tonk girl from Lawrence Welk and she was one of the most enjoyable persons I spent time with, I went and interviewed her out of the Hanford house, or the red line, or whatever it was out there, went back and saw her when she performed on stage at the fair, just very fun shoot, she had said she was very proud of the time because she had lost so much weight. And, and, and, and felt good. And she said that was important to her sang beautifully. And I went over to the airport and saw her off the next morning, and I had never done that before. I never did it again. But I just did that. And about a year later, I'm sitting on my desk at the Herald and the phone rings and I pick it up and she says, Hi, Gail stone castle.
I'm coming up to your place and Richard, why don't you come over and visit with me and we'll play catch up.
Okay, that'd be good. So I went over to the Hanford house or whatever it was in those days and we spent a good nice two hours talking I'm just sharing and catching up on what had been going on in the last year. I never heard from her again after that, because she probably never came back here. But I thought that was very nice of her to call me and think of me and one share time and stuff. And I always kind of wish that could have been a longer friend in the sense that I think she had some struggles later in life and stuff, but, but she was a delight to have shared time with me. And I always enjoyed that a great deal. Jimmy Rogers, he had to hit honeycomb. Do you remember honeycomb Honeycomb, and once you move my baby, and so we had a lot of it's a lot of the stuff. But that may have been his only number one hit. But he told me that. He says you never know. When you record a song, if it's going to make you just don't know. So he records honeycomb and wherever it went, I don't know. But he said he was out what he was from Kansas, Washington. What school he grew up there. And he was washing the family car in the driveway and cameras watching his dad had the radio on to listen to music, and all of a sudden honeycomb comes on. He says I want running screaming and after playing my Connery, you're famous. And you're listening to him. hunico When are you? Well, from there went on Ed Sullivan, whole career and stuff like that. But he told me his brother, older brother had been a big man on campus in high school. And he'd been like, lost in the woodwork and sort of thing. And he said my brother really had a hard time on my initiative said he really didn't handle that. Well, I suppose over years. So loud, okay, and stuff like that. But, but there was Jimmy Rogers lots in the woodwork in high school. And now he's on Ed Sullivan and girls scream and all of that. And so, but always remember that there was Jimmy Rogers. There was a man who died nine years before I was born. And somewhere along in my life, he came to my attention. And I started reading about him learning about him and and really like him. He was a major figure in American, some of the early decades of the 20th century. His name was Will Rogers. And Will Rogers was a humorous, he was an actor. He was a storyteller. He wrote columns that appeared like in 300 Some newspapers every day. He was a political satirist and witty person. And there are probably a lot of Democrats don't know this anymore. But But I remember James Carville, he was still quoting Will Rogers, and Will Rogers. He always had this weird about him. And he said, Because James Carville, who was a Clinton, unofficial adviser was a Democrat. And
Will Rogers once said, I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Democrat. Read his his, to me probably his most famous saying was, I never met a man I didn't like will rewatches Jr. Came to Pasco and gave a speech and I went over and interviewed him. All my life when I heard that quote, and continue to stay, I still believe it. Will Rogers just reading about him, no one is, weighs in his witticism and his friendliness. I took that quote to mean I never met a man I didn't like meaning he liked me and I liked this guy met every man like every guy I ever met. Will Rogers Jr. Says my take on it is that he never met a man he didn't like, when you when you take that. Take that phrase. I don't like this guy. I liked this guy. I never met a man I didn't like I liked this guy. I never met a man I didn't like, I don't dislike this guy. His take on it was just the opposite of mine. He told me he said it wasn't. He wasn't my father told me that that is just what I believe is I can't believe my father right everybody ever met. But Will Rogers Jr. look just like his dad. He spoke just like his dad. He played his dad's part in it when there was a movie about his dad's life. He played the part and it was a perfect part for if you want to get somebody to play Will Rogers. That guy really look like Will Rogers are pretty darn close. But I was enjoying every once in awhile. Tell myself I shook the hand of the man who shook the hand of Will Rogers. Will Rogers died in a plane crash in? Well, it was two days ago was the 18th anniversary of him dying in a plane crash in Alaska, the 50 miles south of Point Barrow, Alaska, with a famed aviator tiny Morley post. And I've been to the Will Rogers Museum in Claremore. And I've been to his birthplace in Oklahoma. I still have some great admiration for that guy. When, when when my life is starting to get rock and roll into it starting to get an understanding what rock and roll is I'm coming out of childhood into kinda like an age when you should like rock and roll. There were three people three entertainers that I knew about and at some point it spread out from there and got more and more into it. But it was Elvis Presley and Jerry Lewis and Little Richard. And I never got to meet Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis. I did see him perform in a in a showroom in the main hotel in Las Vegas and that was that guy could do with a piano was beyond compare he put his he put his heel up on the piano and never missed a note. He's kicking with his foot dinner Mr. Mouth never met all of us. But I met Little Richard and in sometimes I don't know how. How things come to us to do an interview. But Kim Robertson, my boss at the newspaper comes up to me and he said, I need you to go to the airport and interview Little Richard. He's between planes flying in. He's gonna be here for like two hours, and he won't catch a plane to go out. I was thrilled about the idea of meeting Little Richard. But where does that come from? to some agent call up says Oh, my man is going to be in the airport for two hours. I don't know where that comes from. I never did ask him. But he sent me over there. So I go and interview Little Richard and, and he when he was when he started he was dynamic. He's a dynamo you it's electrifying all the words that you can possibly think. And he was a self promotion that like I'm the guy that kind of got rock'n'roll going. And he got a great and he was one of the he was one of the pioneers gotta gone. But when I met him, he was he was enthusiastic, but not flamboyant. He was and he seemed to have filled out you know what? He was so thin. In my mind. He was a skinny Dynamo. Back when he was an early days, the rock and roll 57 that timeframe. Curie had filled out and he wasn't fat. He was not not not anything that he was just, it was just already pictures of John F. Kennedy went into Saturday with just this thin guy. And he filled out nicely when he was president. And Little Richard was like that. And he, he spoke to the enthusiasm about rock'n'roll, and everything like that. But he he had, he had such a such a passion for his mother. He talked about his mother a lot and what she meant to him and things like that. And I think years later, I remember her dying and I'm thinking how heartbroken he must be today because he really had a strong bond with his mother. And it was a wonderful interview. I enjoyed it. And I always cherish the memory of getting to meet Little Richard
sometimes
you meet an athlete and you're impressed Jim Ryan came here. He was a national champion. First High School rate, the four minute mile, got to run in a 5k race with him as part of the sagebrush games that he was here for. And but I got to meet one named Debbie Meyer, and she may not be on your radar screen anymore. But not in 1968. She was 15 years old and the greatest girl women's freestyle swimmer in the world at 15. She in her career would win would set pointing for American records and swimming 15 world records in swimming, children 19, National age championships and swimming. And in the 1960 Olympics, you won the 204 and 800 meter freestyle races and as the first woman and maybe the first Olympian haven't been able to pin that down the first woman to win three individual gold medals swimming in the Olympics. There are some that won three medals, but that one on one might be a relay team. But she wouldn't have first three. And Debbie laid out what her career was. But she laid out this incredible story of what the training that goes into it and it's not a monthly it's not a month thing. It's not six months, you train for years for the Olympics, years for the Olympics. And there's no guarantee you're putting in for six years of training. She started when she was a little girl you know she she wasn't even a teenager because she's gonna be a teenager when the Olympics were going on. And hour after hour after hour, she would do homework in her mind while she was swimming to keep up on her homework to use the time, but probably they keep that agony of those laps going on another one another one another one. And she told me that and so she wants these three goals. she relaxes a little bit take some time off. She did basic swimming and her Are you 70 to earnings is going to come up? She's going to be 19 years old. And she in our training got together. So do we want to go for it? Do we want to go through this madness again, this this, this. You sacrifice everything. There's no late night problems. There's no late night movies, there's no slumber parties, there's no nothing. Your childhood is over devoted to that training. And now she's getting to be a young woman. And she's going to be devoted that training is what we're going to go through. They decided they didn't want to go through it. So she starts out, month after month, and week after week, and you get an A year passes.
She said one day, it came to her and she had this thing that she wanted to do for pleasure.
That's what she wanted to do for pleasure. But to do that, she's got to miss a workout. She said she did it for pleasure, she missed the workout. And she looked across the table. And these are the exact words she said, I knew then that it was over. She quit competitive swimming in January 1972, eight months before the Olympics, because she knows Oh, it was the whole package. It's the brain. It's, it's the physics. She was graced by God with a great talent. She used that talent during those gold medals. And she put her mind to see that she was going to do it. But then the day came when no more I'm not doing this anymore. Jim Ryan, the great runner, national champion in college, one day, he stepped off the track and he quit in the middle of a race. And he said, It wasn't fun anymore. And I wasn't going to do it anymore. He did come back, he refreshed his mind. He came back and still be a great runner. But the point was, it wasn't fun anymore. And for Debbie, no more. I'm not going to do this anymore. I had given it there's no guarantee. In 1980 there was the there was a debate whether Mary Slaney or syllabub would win the Golden the 3000 meters. And they trained for years they collided on the track, and neither one of them even got a medal. No guarantees. I asked eight friends in the 19 when the 1976 Olympics are going on with us. I'm not sure I guess if I guaranteed you a gold medal. I guarantee it. You're gonna get it. All you got to do is the work to do it to get it. And everyone said no, I'm not going to do that. They wouldn't put some even for the guarantee. They wouldn't do it. And these people are doing it. Well, I guarantee. That's impressed. I was impressed by Debbie Meyer. And I never forgot that. There was an actor that came out there there are there are in interviewing these people there are disappointments. Just the beautiful girl on the screen. You sign autographs, you get money and whatnot. But there are disappointments in Hollywood. There was an actor came out of rich 1965 Right. His name was Terrence I think could have been Adams but it wasn't Terry Knox. He married into the KNOX fame and Rich and I interviewed him. I never met the man still. But I interviewed him a number of times on the telephone. When he was getting different parts and stuff like that he told me that he saw admired the KNOX family and rich and so appreciated them that when he went to Hollywood to try to become a movie star, he took their name Terry Knotts, he probably best known for the series tour of duty the Vietnam War series. And he did St. Elsewhere. He played a physician on St. Hill for I believe it was for three or four years. They wrote him out of the script. I Stein as a murder victim in a made for TV movie, but I think was based on a real story. But he recently had a one man show in Richmond, I get him back here now I think. And now one man show was to tell people how his career came together. And it's really entertaining. And a friend of mine, Ryan Bennett, who was just here, we went over to see him and tour duty and and and stuff like that. And Terry said he was up for a part that he really wanted. And he got it. And he said the lady producer told me was $20,000 an episode. And it was gonna be something like guaranteed 20 episodes and you calculate out the math on that. That's a pretty fair amount of money. And he said he was sky I got the part. He said it went home in order to car and I believe he said if my memory is correct, and over there in Richmond, it was the very next day. This lady producer called up and says, Terry, we've decided not to do that series. We're going to do another project and you're not a part of he said you go from here to there. You just can't believe a better story than that is an act and kind of coming getting near the end so bear with me. I'm sorry to be pretty good on but there was a man with an actor living in Yakima retired actor and his name was Bob Ivers and Bob Ivers had a pretty successful career and some of the things he did He was Elvis Presley, his best buddy in the movie gi blues. And when Elvis died they'd have Ellis festivals down and down in Graceland. Priscilla Presley always called him up and says, Bob, I want you to come down. I want you to be a part of this. Now we did. He was voted in by one. One of the places as the fans favorite sidekick to Elvis of all his sidekicks. And he did. He wasn't the only movie directed by James Cagney. He played the son of Academy Award winning actress Claire Trevor, in a scene from The Untouchables. He was in cataloging with Robert Taylor, in the early 60s, so he had all these good roles and stuff like that. And so I know who he was, you know, his first. The first time I took notice of him, it was 1947 when he stared starred in Jerry Lewis first movie, delicate delinquent, Jerry and Dean Martin had been together for 10 years exactly from July 25 1946, July 25 1956. They made 16 movies together. Then Jerry went on and on, Dean went on his own Jerry phones. First Movie was as producer and as actress, star of the delicate on LinkedIn and a pic, Bob Iris for a major role in that. And
so, I arranged to
do an interview with Bob. I knew who he was living in Yakima, and he had accounts up and down. He wasn't an Alan, in the advertising. He had accounts up and down in the valley, including the Tri Cities. So I said, I do an interview with him and talk about his career and everything. And I write the story about these neat things that happen. I love the fish story him and Robert Taylor and Robert taters wife had seven days before shooting started on cataloging. They went up on the streams to northern California and fish for trout and had crowd feeds and they had campfires great stuff, but so I write the story. And a couple three years later, I run into Bob in the tri city Herald, he's in there doing work on his empty account. And I said, Bob, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm the guy that wrote the story on
you wrote that story. I love that story. That was such a positive story.
I'm glad you liked it. And then he said to me, did you know that the Yakima Herald did a story on me? Long before you ever get annoyed, and he said it was a totally negative story. But here's the key. He didn't blame the writer. He said, the writer got it exactly right. As I told him, he had vented himself to this writer about the miseries of what had happened to him in Hollywood.
I don't even know what they were.
When we finished, we're nearing in an interview, he told me that his wife got real sick, and he had to leave Hollywood. And they went, I think, to live with their parents. She had lupus and she passed away of lupus. And I had a hint that he was saying something like, I wish I'd gotten more support from Hollywood when my wife was sick. That's the nearest thing to a negative I can think I can remember. But the last thing Bob said to me, and this this has to do with the good that you're gonna get out of Hollywood and the bad this is the last thing Bob said to me. Before we separated in the Herald other than I goodbyes. He said two different Hollywood stories. And both of them true. The negative and the positive. And how will you remember that? I'm gonna close this off with my most enduring and endearing interview. That was with an actress named Eleanor Donahue and Eleanor Donahue was on Father Knows Best around from 1954 to 1960. She had played Betty Anderson. And this past April 19, she celebrated her 86th birthday. She's now retired. So she was older than me, and I was in love with her. But I went over to the to the Hanford house, or whatever they called it, and she knew I was coming. She was coming here for March dimes fundraiser. And the fundraiser had something to do with stars coming here. And they cook their favorite recipe and I suppose people buy tickets and that money went into the coffers of the March of Dimes. I don't know exactly how it worked. And so I went over and I called up to her room and she came down. And we interviewed and among things she said that she was very, very, very close still to Jane Wyatt. Jane Wyman J. Y. gy, who had played her mother on Father Knows Best. Robert Young had passed away. She said she was still close to Billy gray and Lauren shapen her siblings, but not as close as he was to Jane. And so we talked about that and the interview went fine, everything was good. And I I did something I never did before and I never did again. and I still don't know. I still don't even remember how it came about. It was the most
spur them on social thing ever did
we get through with the interview, and also the interview this thought was not on my mind to do this. We stood up on site still on my mind to do this. And I'm thinking and I reached out to shake her hand goodbye. And she reached out and our hands came together. And it just came out of my mouth like it was separate from me and I said, Would you like to go for a drive? In without hesitating says, Yes, I would. So we went out, got in the car, drove over to Kennewick pick it up the Herald introduced to some of my friends. It's pricey here. And then she said, Well, can you give me a tour of their newspaper? I said, Sure. I took her down. We had presses. In those days, we had press paper, we don't have stuff like that anymore. But I showed her all that and we're leaving on there's a stack of newspapers. She says, Can I have one of these? And I said, Absolutely. She took it. I said, Why don't I take you up on my mom, my mom's house, you know, mom's work, you know, she got so I couldn't introduce her blood sugar up to her mom lived and where I spent my high school years and part of my years in Kennewick and took her for a drive. And then I told her well, I need to get you back to Richmond. And so I'm gonna take you to Columbia park because they have geese there. And I want to show you how the geese, postcards, they postcards. It's a fascinating thing. If there's one of them eating, the other would be watching. You go by canal drive in the wintertime and there's hundreds, maybe 1000 miles on those battlefields at Scott Park. There'll be guards posted up most of the people in underbellies and sleeping or whatever. There's guards in the middle of him on the sides. And that's fascinating. So I did that I showed you that. So we're entering the Columbia Park. And I, I asked her what, what's the latest you've done, and I just finished an episode of Murder She Wrote. And that's the avalanche berry Series. I love it. She plays Angela January is Jessica Fletcher, Jr, Fletcher. And she writes the murder mysteries and solve the murders. And she invariably has three or four or five guests on that you probably know because you've seen him on other things. And one of them will invariably be the murderer. So I turned on one, I says, Are you the bad guy in this one, and she looked over at me and smiled says, I'm not telling that she wasn't from what I saw. And so I took her back and then that Saturday night, I went over to the cook off and and when everything was breaking up and stuff, she had a moment she was through with people. She came over and said at one of the tables that are killing off coffee cups, and and she took my hand and put my palm down on one put the other tops on my hand is pancake burners, played on lap and we just talked and just have this wonderful conversation. And see we said our goodbyes, and just this wonderful warm coming from her. And I never was much for autographs. But I asked her if I can get an autographed picture from my mother and she gave me one for mom, not for me. And she was so warm and gracious. And so that was the end of it. And then I'm not I still don't quite understand exactly how this came about. But I ended up going to Kathy Olson more than a year later and seeing if she had Eleanor's address and I wonder right or something it could be that she lost her husband Harry Ackerman, who was one of the great producers of TV and in in Hollywood. You could have been that I wrote a letter I caught him I'm not quite sure but that you only back and thanked me for that and everything. And then a year later she wrote me and said that she's she's going to marry a longtime family friend, Luciana Marino. And I went out I bought a picture book of Washington State one of these big books hardback cover, because she was born in Washington State and I inscribed it to Lou and to her as a wedding gift and I sent it and she wrote me back and thank you for that. And then she sent about Thanksgiving, I sent her a card and she wrote sent me back a Christmas card. Thank you for the card. And of course one and from then on, we started corresponding. I don't want to overplay this, we don't talk on the phone or anything like that. I call her my California friend. And I sent her a birthday card to my California friend in April, but one year I didn't get a Christmas card. And I said, Okay, people move on. That's was fun. You know, in April. I mean, in mid January, I get a letter from it's not it's not a postcard. So letter postmark, Kansas City with the Kansas City return address. And she tells me she's been doing stage plays down there and didn't get back to get my card and send me a card and but her husband Lou had brought my card out to her in Kansas City. And so she wrote me this nice letter and I wrote back a letter, not a call heard and continue that correspondence. I never send her a letter to Eleanor Donahue because I want her to know that I'm not sending her a letter because she's a movie star. I'm sending her a letter because she's my friend. I always address it to Mr. Digenova. Reena, I don't I did not send out to send that sort of married name and I send it to her that way. And I think we've all given money to nonprofits and stuff and they give you a little gifts, maybe little notepads, maybe little address, stickers and stuff. I got one from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I think it was Gail Metcalf addresses right and whatnot. Okay, so an A Hello Christmas decoration. I sent her a Christmas card and I put the Christmas I put my sticker on there with a little Christmas decoration on it. Send it to her in mid January. I get a letter size envelope from her. And there's one sheet of paper inside. She's cut on my address way when she's taped it up. And it says ms up above Ms. Gilman. Alright, LRH just noted says. And all this time, I thought I was talking to a guy signed out. And she drew an arrow up to that. So I got one I cut it out scratch and I'll put Mr. And I wrote and all this time you are right. You weren't talking and she used the word talking. I was talking you were talking to a guy sign Gail and I do an arrow optimist. But it's been delightful. I think I'm going to call it here. And that's pretty much where I ended there. I came up with a list of over 60 people of different from President Ford to I interviewed a chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, other movie stars other things but I think you get the idea and we get tired and we get worn out and I hope it's been entertaining for you. And I just want to tell you bars are somebody significant because of their names. But there's people in this room tonight that I absolutely adore and I absolutely love and they are stars in my heart more than any movie star could ever be. And I just want to thank you for sharing tonight with me. I want to thank you for sharing my life with me. And I hope it was okay for you