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ANGELO MY LOVE!
"I'd like you to meet my friend Angelo Evans. I first saw him on a street corner in New York City flirting with a beautiful woman twice his age. I had to tell his story". - ROBERT DUVALL _____ This is probably the most unconventional film I have yet to feature on "Friday Movie Suggestion Night". As the true story goes, Actor-Director-Writer-Producer Robert Duvall was walking around in New York City when he approached a street corner--God only knows which one--and caught a scene that had him in stitches! A small Gypsy boy named Angelo Evans was trying deserately to pick up a 36 year-old woman. Angelo was 12. (Yeah, and here I thought I was hot stuff at 12). The boy had so much charm and confidence that Duvall introduced himself and eventually wound up meeting the entire Evans family. (Isn't this a SCREAM?--"Hey, Mama. This guy's Robert DuVall. No, no. He's cool. You know from the movies--the big movies" ). GEEZ! All I can think of is this: What Duvall never considered when he got out of bed that morning was that he would be introduced to an underground life of Gypsies living in New York. This so tickled Duvall's heart and imagination that he crafted a film out of the family. Using real Gypsies playing fictional versions of themselves, we are introduced to the lifestyle, rites, myths and passions of this tight-knit urban subculture. Twelve year-old Angelo Evans is clearly street-wise. The son of a fortune teller, Angelo accuses a sleazy gypsy, Steve "Patalay" Tsigonoff, and his foul-mouthed wife, Millie, of stealing an ancestral ring that was reserved for his future bride, Patricia! This results in a chase of the pair to Canada with little Angelo risking disgracing his family to get the ring back. What follows is a very cool "kris"---the Gypsies' "Court of Justice". Very amusing! Oh, yeah! Expect plenty of Gypsy music here with a good look at the tribals, customs and yes--YES--A WEDDING! Duvall reportedly financed this film himself. It is simply put, a work of JOY!
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_____ Trust me, this is a riot!
THE INTERVIEW: ACTRESS AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY FLORETTE VASSALL (PART 3 OF 5)
MM: One of the subjects I have to ask you about is EVVY--your non-profit organization. How did you start EVVY and what is the foundation all about?
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FV: WHEN YOU TUNE IN TO MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network) YOU WILL SEE THE SAME PRESENTATIONS THAT AIR ON BCAT (Brooklyn Cable Access Television). THE ONLY CHANGE IS IN THE TITLE. IN BROOKLYN IT AIRS AS "EVVY" CULTURAL INTERCHANGE AND IN MANHATTAN IT AIRS AS NEW VENTURES FOR "EVVY" CULTURAL INTERCHANGE. ALL OF THE SHOWS AIR DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL MULTI-CULTURAL EVENTS THAT RUN THE GAMUT FROM EDUCATIONAL DISCUSSIONS, SPORTS EVENTS, PRESENTATIONS OF JAZZ CONCERTS, HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE OPERAS, CLASSICAL SYMPHONIC CONCERTS, ART EXHIBITS WITH ARTISTS AND CREATORS, FASHION DESIGNERS AND THEIR COLLECTIONS AND PLEASANT ENTERTAINMENT FOR VIEWERS OF ALL AGES. _____ MM: Of course I am curious, and I know my readers are most curious about the name "EVVY". How did you arrive at this name? _____ FV: "EVVY" IS THE PHONETIC SOUND OF THE INITIALS OF FLORETTE VASSALL, F. V. _____ MM: Ah, okay! _____ FV: "EVVY" CULTURAL INTERCHANGE WAS ESTABLISHED AS A NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION IN 1983 FOLLOWING 10 YEARS OF FASHION PRESENTATIONS AS THE ANNUAL NEW YORK "EVVY" FASHION AWARDS. IT BEGAN AS A WAY TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR THE FASHION DESIGNERS WHO WERE THE FIRST TO COME FORWARD AND ASSIST ME IN MY FIRST INDEPENDENT FASHION PRESENTATION IN 1973. THIS TOOK PLACE IN YORKVILLE AT A CHARMING RESTAURANT CALLED "NOBODY'S". WHEN I WAS ASKED WHEN I WOULD DO ANOTHER ONE, I IMMEDIATELY ESTABLISHED THE DATE FOR THE FOLLOWING NOVEMBER AND DECIDED TO PRESENT AWARDS TO MILLICENT TAYLOR AND ANN HARRIS FOR THEIR TALENT AND DEDICATION TO THE FIELD OF FASHION. THEY RECEIVED THE FIRST "EVVY" FASHION AWARDS IN 1974. THE "EVVY" WAS RECOGNIZED BY NEW YORK'S MAYOR ABRAHAM D. BEAME IN 1974. HE ISSUED A PROCLAMATION MAKING "EVVY" THE OFFICIAL FASHION AWARD, RECOGNIZING NEW YORK CITY AS A WORLD FASHION LEADER. IT WAS PRESENTED TO ME AT THE OPENING OF THE 1974 PROGRAM AT JIMMY'S ON WEST 52ND STREET, BY MR. WILBURT A. TATUM. HE IS THE OWNER OF THE NEW YORK AMSTERDAM NEWS, THE COUNTRY'S LARGEST BLACK NEWSPAPER. AT THE TIME THAT HE RECOMMEND THAT THE MAYOR ISSUE ME THE PROCLAMATION, MR. TATUM WAS THE COMMISSIONER OF THE CITY'S GARMENT AND APPAREL INDUSTRY. THE "EVVY" PRESENTATIONS ENJOYED A PROFIT, WITH THAT FIRST PRESENTATION. I WAS ABLE TO MAKE DONATIONS TO THE CATHOLIC HOME BUREAU IN APPRECIATION FOR THE GOOD WORK THEY DID IN PLACING US WITH A WONDERFUL FOSTER MOTHER DURING THE YEARS THAT MY BROTHER, SISTER AND I WERE SEPARATED FROM OUR PARENTS. THE FIRST PROGRAM WAS SUCCESSFUL. "EVVY" WAS ABLE TO NOT ONLY MAKE GENEROUS DONATIONS FOR THE FOSTER CHILDREN DESIROUS OF CAREERS IN FASHION EDUCATION BUT LATER FOR FOSTER CHILDREN WHO NEEDED MONEY FOR THEIR PERSONAL ASSISTANCE. _____ NOTE: Two Items: (1.) Wait until you hear what commercial Flo just filmed for ESPN! Stay tuned!! (2.) We will break here to stay on schedule to post our "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" feature on Thursday at Midnight and conclude Flo's interview Friday and Saturday. Stay tuned!
THE INTERVIEW: ACTRESS AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY FLORETTE VASSALL (PART 2 OF 5)
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MM: As you know, I just finished an interview with a mutual friend of ours--it's amazing how our circle of friends has evolved---Al Topping. And I have to ask you--what role Pan Am played in your life--because it really involved your present day career?
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FV: PAN AM / AWARE (AN ACRONYM THAT STOOD FOR "AIRMEN WORRIED ABOUT REMAINING EMPLOYED" ALONG WITH A SEPTEMBER, 1974 FULL-PAGE AD PAID FOR BY THE PAN AM EMPLOYEES TO ASK WASHINGTON IN AN OPEN LETTER FORUM WHY PAN AM HAD BEEN DENIED MERGERS AND AMAZINGLY ENOUGH, THE RIGHT TO FLY DOMESTICALLY INSIDE THE UNITED STATES, AMONG OTHER TROUBLING QUESTIONS THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PARTISANSHIP) AND THE NEW YORK "EVVY" FASHION AWARDS BOTH CAME ABOUT IN 1974. THE TWO ORGANIZATIONS WORKED TO PROMOTE PAN AM AND I WAS ABLE TO GENERATE MANY REVENUE TRAVEL GROUPS THROUGH "EVVY". IN 1983, AL TOPPING HAD TRANSFERRED TO NEW YORK FROM MIAMI. HE WAS RENOWNED FOR HIS HEROIC HANDLING OF THE LAST FLIGHT OUT OF SAIGON. AL IMMEDIATELY JUMPED ON THE PAN AM AWARE BANDWAGON AND GAVE HIS TOTAL SUPPORT. THE AWARE PRESIDENT, SHARON STARK BROUGHT HIM TO MY ATTENTION. AL WAS VERY COOPERATIVE WITH THE EFFORTS OF "EVVY" AND PAN AM / AWARE. HE WAS PRESENTED WITH THE "EVVY" 1983 ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR ALL OF HIS EXPERTISE. AFTER ENJOYING SO MANY SUCCESSFUL AND HAPPY YEARS LIVING IN ACAPULCO, MY DAUGHTER AND I HAD TO RETURN TO NEW YORK BECAUSE OF MY FATHER'S ILLNESS. HE AND I WERE VERY DEVOTED TO EACH OTHER. AS FAR AS RESETTLING WAS CONCERNED, I HAD TO ASK MYSELF, WHAT DID I DO BEFORE ACAPULCO? THE ANSWER WAS THAT I COULD RETURN TO TEACHING AND MODELING. STILL MY HEART WAS IN ACAPULCO AND I HAD TO FIND A WAY TO RETURN THERE AFTER MY FATHER'S PASSING. I REMEMBERED THAT MANY FRIENDS THAT I HAD MADE DURING MY TIME THERE WERE AGENTS FOR EASTERN AND AMERICAN AIRLINES. THEY VISITED ME SIX TO EIGHT TIMES A YEAR.I TRIED TO GET WORK AS A TICKET AGENT BUT EASTERN, UNITED AIRLINES, AMERICAN AIRLINES AND BRANIFF INTERNATIONAL ALL WANTED ME AS A STEWARDESS. WITH MY BACK PROBLEMS, I WAS NOT ABOUT TO BE CARRYING ANY TRAYS. I ALSO REMEMBERED THAT THE TICKET AGENTS COULD WRITE THEIR OWN TICKETS. THAT WAS THE JOB I WANTED. BECAUSE I AM FLUENT IN FRENCH AND SPANISH IT WAS SUGGESTED THAT I TAKE THE PAN AM SALES TEST THAT WAS GIVEN EACH THURSDAY. I DID; AND A FEW DAYS LATER PAN AM WAS VERY PLEASED TO TELL ME THAT THEY WANTED ME TO COME IN FOR THE SALES INTERVIEW. WORKING FOR PAN AM WAS SO GREAT! IT WAS A CLASS "A" COMPANY. I WAS IN THE COMPANY OF PLEASANT AND IN MANY CASES VERY BEAUTIFUL, DEDICATED WORKERS. I LEARNED NEW THINGS EVERY DAY. I MET NEW AND INTERESTING PASSENGERS DAILY. I WAS ABLE TO GET BACK TO ACAPULCO ANY TIME I WANTED TOO. AND MY DAUGHTER AND I GOT TO SEE A WHOLE LOT OF THE WORLD. PAN AM WAS THEN, AND STILL IS NOW, A GREAT PART OF MY LIFE. I HAVE COVERED NEARLY ALL OF THE REUNION EVENTS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE SINCE THE SHUT DOWN IN 1991. THE PROGRAMS AIR REGULARLY ON BCAT AND MNN AND MORE ARE STILL BEING PRODUCED. AFTER THE SAD SHUT DOWN OF PAN AM, MY CAREER EVOLVED THE SAME AS IT DID WHEN I HAD TO LEAVE ACAPULCO.
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MM: With Pan Am gone, how did your career evolve, Flo?
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FV: I ASKED MYSELF THE SAME QUESTION; ONLY THIS TIME IT WAS, 'WHAT DID YOU DO BEFORE PAN AM? I COULD GO BACK TO MODELING AND TEACHING AND THAT IS WHAT I DID. TO MY SURPRISE I AM STILL MODELING AND NOW I AM TUTORING MY GRANDSON! MY PROGRAMS WHICH APPEAR ON MNN AIR UNDER THE TITLE NEW VENTURES FOR "EVVY" CULTURAL INTERCHANGE. THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER IS MR. R. WELLINGTON JONES. A LIFELONG FRIEND OF MINE, DR. JEAN LLOYD, IS ONE OF HIS TEN PRODUCERS OF NEW VENTURES. SHE WAS KIND ENOUGH TO HAVE ME AS A GUEST ON HER SHOW WITH WELLINGTON. DURING THAT APPEARANCE HE WAS VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE VIDEO CLIPS THAT SHOWED SOME OF MY FASHION PRESENTATIONS. SOON I RECEIVED AN OFFER FROM HIM TO REPLACE A PRODUCER WHO HAD RETIRED FROM THE PROGRAM. THAT WAS IN 1992. MY PROGRAM AIRS EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 1230 P. M., CHANNELS 56 AND 109, IN MARCH AND AUGUST ON MNN (Manhattan Neighborhood Network). I BECAME A PRODUCER FOR BCAT (Brooklyn Cable Access Television) IN BROOKLYN AND HAVE MANAGED BOTH PROGRAMS SINCE 2000.
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THE INTERVIEW: ACTRESS AND TELEVISION PERSONALITY FLORETTE VASSALL! (PART 1 OF 5)
 Left to Right: Richard Espinosa of En Vivo Live Media applauds "EVVY" Achievement Award Winner, Lolitta De La Vega, Editor In Chief of Temas Magazine and Ambassador of "EVVY" Cultural Interchange. Florette Vassall is on the right.
_____ Here's the story to explain how Florette "Flo" Vassall became a dear friend of mine. Like many of my ex-Pan American World Airways friends--meeting Flo was the result of my association with the late Marty Shugrue. Following Marty's passing in March 1999, a special service honoring him in August, during what would have been his 60th birthday was held in New York's Saint Agnus Church. The service in New York was poignant because Marty spent 20 years of his life with Pan Am first as a Boeing 707 pilot, and in successive promotions in management, he rose to become Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of "The World's Most Experienced Airline". Not feeling up to attending my Nephew's wedding, like many others, I too flew in for the memorial service to honor this incredible man who inspired me greatly. In the afternoon heat, a number of we men stood outside the church within walking distance in fact, of The Pan Am Building (now the headquarters for Met Life). I knew no one and this must have been quite obvious, because a lovely lady named Ruth Estwick approached me to introduce herself. As it turned out, Ruth's late husband Earl Estwick became one of the first black executives at Pan Am serving with the late Najeeb Halaby, Father of Jordan's Queen Noor, a former head of The F.A.A under President Kennedy and CEO of Pan Am from 1969 to 1972. "Pardon me, but you seem so alone that I just had to come over and introduce myself", she said. "I'm Ruth Estwick". As we became acquainted, another Pan Am executive, Jim Leet joined us and we shook hands and chatted a bit before entering the Chapel. Unknown to me at the time, Florette Vassall, an ex-Pan Am employee who became an Executive Producer, Actress, Fashion Model, and Television personality in the Manhattan area (and a close friend of Ruths) was also seated in the church. But we didn't see her! Following the service, many of us walked to the renowned "Wings Club"--an exclusive Club whose members included the top executives of the nation's airlines (and of course this included Marty). Afterwards, I left the reception to catch some lunch with a retired Pan Am 747 Captain before taking a self-tour of the Pan Am lobby--viewing the sculpture "Flight" (not to be missed). And believe it or not, the tenants of what was Pan Am's headquarters on the 46th Floor allowed me to stop by and stand at the far window overlooking Lower Manhattan. A young lady who was the receptionist asked me about Pan Am and of course I "talked a blue streak" about the company I so admire. Standing quietly at that window, I tried to grasp the history-making events that transpired in the boardroom down the hall from an airline empire that literally taught the world to fly. (Pan Am once owned the building that bore its namesake from 1963-1992-10 months after the airlines' demise). When I returned to my home in the Southwest, I received an e-mail from a lady named Florette Vassall stating that she had lunch with Ruth Estwick and that she was sorry that she missed meeting me. Ruth must have made me sound special. Within weeks, we chatted on the phone and became great buddies. Seven years later in April, 2005 Flo had just returned to JFK Airport from Germany when she discovered that I would be attending the 30th Reunion of Pan Am's "Last Flight Out" of Vietnam that was coordinated by Al Topping at the Hyatt Hotel in Crystal City, Virginia near the Capitol. Although exhausted, Flo traveled to the event and I finally hugged this great friend! Who else would travel to see me? I ask you! The following interview was conducted over a three-week span as Flo was executive producing her program on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and BCAT (Brooklyn Cable Access Network), not to mention in between appearing in numerous TV commercial shoots. FLORETTE VASSALL'S INTERVIEW AS A RESIDENT OF THE FLATBUSH SECTION OF BROOKLYN CAN BE SEEN IN THE REPEAT CABLECAST OF NEIGHBORHOOD BEAT AT 12:30 PM AND 8:30 PM EACH WEDNESDAY ON BCAT, BROOKLYN COMMUNITY ACCESS TELEVISON, CHANNELS 56TW AND 69CV. IT CAN BE SEEN THROUGH LIVE STREAMING ONLINE AT briconline.org/bcat. AND CLICK CHANNELS 56 Time Warner and 69 Cablevision. Here's Part 1 OF OUR VISIT. _____ MM: Flo, most of my fellow bloggers have seen you on TV without realizing it. Can you tell us about your role in the MTV Video of Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" with The Counting Crows? _____ FV: THE SEGMENTS OF "BIG YELLOW TAXI", IN WHICH I APPEAR, WERE SHOT IN THE DUMBO SECTION OF DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN, NOT FAR FROM THE AREA IN WHICH MY FAMILY SETTLED AFTER MY FATHER RETURNED FROM THE WAR AND WE WERE ALL REUNITED AFTER SEVERAL YEARS OF SEPARATION. I PLAY THE ROLE OF THE GRANDMOTHER. IT IS QUITE CHARMING AND A LITTLE SAD. I AM THE GRANDMOTHER OF A LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD BOY. HE IS ONE OF THE LOVES DESCRIBED IN THE SONG, THAT HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY BY THE BIG YELLOW TAXI. I AM SEEN LEANING ON THE RAIL/FENCE OF A BROOKLYN BROWNSTONE HOUSE, LOOKING SOMEWHAT SADLY BUT CURIOUS, AT SOME YOUNG ADULTS DOWN THE BLOCK. THEY ARE STANDING AND CHATTING ON THE CORNER; THREE VERY ATTRACTIVE TEENS. AS THEY DISPERSE, ONE BEGINS WALKING IN MY DIRECTION. AS HE COMES NEARER TO ME, HE MORPHS INTO MY LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD GRANDSON WHO RUNS TO MY ARMS FOR A LOVING EMBRACE. THIS BRINGS A SMILE TO THE PREVIOUSLY NOSTALGIC LOOK THAT WAS ON MY FACE AS I PENSIVELY STUDIED HIM WITH THE THREE EARLIER, BUT I NOW ENJOY THIS LOVING MEMORY OF HIS CHILDHOOD WITH ME IN THAT VERY WARM HUG. A LITTLE LATER IN THE VIDEO, I AM SHOWN WITH ANOTHER LOOK OF SADNESS AS MY LITTLE SIX YEAR OLD GRANDSON IS WAVING TO ME FROM THE REAR WINDOW OF THE BIG YELLOW TAXI THAT HAS TAKEN HIM, (IN THIS CASE, MY LOVE) AWAY. IT IS A VERY NICE VIDEO BY THE COUNTING CROWS. DIFFERENT TYPES OF PEOPLE WATCH THEIR LOVE RIDE AWAY IN A BIG YELLOW TAXI. IT IS STILL SEEN OFTEN ON MTV AND DESIGNERS1. _____ MM: Let me work backwards for a moment. You have one of the most fascinating backgrounds. Tell us about your parents and your lineage? _____ FV: ONE LARGE PART OF MY COMPLEXITY IS THAT NO ONE HAS EVER BEEN ABLE TO "FIGURE ME OUT"; OR, IN THE CASE OF MY YOUNGER BROTHER, SISTER AND I, FROM THE TIME WE WERE SEPARATED FROM OUR PARENTS AND LIVED IN MIXED COMPANY, WE WERE SEEN AS CHILDREN OF COLOR, BUT WE ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE "DIFFERENT". THE DIFFERENCE WAS THAT MOST WHITE AMERICANS AND NON ETHNICS SEE ALL BLACK PEOPLE THROUGH ONLY ONE SCOPE, USUALLY AS BLACK AMERICANS; PRIMARILY OPPRESSED AND FROM THE SOUTH. WE WERE FIRST GENERATION AMERICANS. I WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN BORN TO THE FAMILIES OF MY MOTHER AND FATHER. GREAT PRIDE WAS TAKEN IN THIS FACT AND ALL WERE SO VERY HAPPY TO HAVE A REAL AMERICAN BORN INTO THE FAMILY. MANY PLANS WERE MADE FOR MY SUCCESS BY MY PARENTS AND MY MOTHER'S FAMILY. IN MY BOOK, TITLED "MY MOTHER WAS AN AIR RAID WARDEN", A WORK STILL IN PROGRESS, THERE IS A CHAPTER TITLED "PETER'S STORY". THAT IS THE STORY OF MY GRANDFATHER, PETER WALCOTT. HE WAS BORN IN JAMAICA IN THE VILLAGE OF ALBERT TOWN, TRELAWNY. HE WAS OF A FAMILY OF TEACHERS AND HIS BROTHERS WERE TEACHERS. PETER WAS A SADDLER AND LATER LEARNED HOW TO RUN A RAILROAD LOCOMOTIVE. HIS FATHER WAS CHARLES WALCOTT AND HIS MOTHER WAS DAISY CAMERON. PETER MARRIED HENRIETTA FERGUSON . SHE WAS OF THE FERGUSON'S WHO LIVED IN ST.. ELIZABETH PARISH IN JAMAICA. WHEN THE PANAMA CANAL WAS BEING BUILT PETER AND HENRIETTA MOVED TO PANAMA AND HE WORKED THERE AS A LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER. HE DROVE THE TRAINS THAT CARRIED THE SUPPLIES FOR THE BUILDING OF THE CANAL. HE AND HENRIETTA LIVED A VERY COMFORTABLE LIFE IN PANAMA. WITH THE SEVEN CHILDREN THAT WERE BORN THERE, THEY HAD A LOVELY HOME AND FARM. MY MOTHER WAS THE THIRD BORN. HER BIRTH CERTIFICATE SAYS HER PLACE OF BIRTH WAS THE PANAMA CANAL ZONE. DURING THE GREAT WAVE OF IMMIGRATION PETER SOLD HIS PROPERTY IN PANAMA AND BROUGHT HIS WIFE AND FAMILY TO AMERICA IN 1923. HE WAS ABLE TO GET WORK AS A HIGH RISE BUILDING ENGINEER IN MID-TOWN MANHATTAN. HE RETAINED THAT JOB UNTIL HE RETIRED. AFTER HIS FIVE YEARS RESIDENCE HE RECEIVED HIS NATURALIZATION PAPERS IN 1928. MY FATHER'S MOTHER WAS OF A NUMBER OF PERSECUTED FRENCH JEWISH FAMILIES WHO FLED PARIS FOR CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN. HER NAME WAS FLORENCE DU BOIS. SHE LIVED MOST OF HER YOUNG LIFE IN CUBA AND MARRIED A MAN NAMED EARLINGS HENRY. SHE BROUGHT MY FATHER, LAURENCE HENRY, HERE IN 1922 DURING THE GREAT WAVE OF IMMIGRATION TO "GIVE HIM A BETTER CHANCE IN LIFE". MY DAD'S MOTHER PASSED AWAY WHEN HE WAS ONLY 14 YEARS OLD. HIS FATHER HAD REMAINED IN CUBA AND HE WAS AN ONLY CHILD. HE WAS TAKEN IN BY A FAMILY IN ALBANY, NEW YORK. AT AGE 16 HE JOINED THE NEW YORK NATIONAL GUARD AND WAS BASED AT CAMP SMITH NEW YORK. IN 1942 HE WAS DRAFTED INTO THE ARMY AND BECAUSE OF HIS EXPERTISE IN MORSE CODE, RADIO COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS, HE SERVED AS AN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER UNTIL THE END OF THE WAR IN 1945. HIS CHAPTER IN MY BOOK IS TITLED "LARRY'S STORY" AND A SEGMENT OF IT AIRS ON MY PROGRAM, "EVVY" CULTURAL INTERCHANGE. ONE OF MY MOTHERS EARLY EXPERIENCES AFTER HER ARRIVAL HERE WAS WITNESSING THE VISIT OF THE PRINCESSES, ELIZABETH AND MARGARET ROSE. MY MOM MADE UP HER MIND THAT SHE WAS GOING TO DRESS HERSELF AND HER CHILDREN AS ROYALTY. SHE TOOK A COURSE IN SEWING WHEN SHE WAS IN HIGH SCHOOL. MY GRANDFATHER BOUGHT HER A SINGER SEWING MACHINE WHICH I REMEMBER HER USING WITH A HANDLE WHEEL THAT SHE WOULD TURN TO DO THE STITCHING. AFTER THE WAR SHE HAD IT CONVERTED TO AN ELECTRIC MODEL WITH A FOOT PEDAL. MAMA MADE ME BEAUTIFUL CLOTHES AND I WAS ALWAYS HAVING PROBLEMS LATER ON WHEN I WENT TO SCHOOL. THE CHILDREN WERE VERY JEALOUS AND WERE ALWAYS BEATING ME UP AND TEARING AT MY DRESSES. THAT AND THE FACT THAT I SPOKE WITH A SPANISH ACCENT MADE IT NECESSARY FOR ME AND MY BROTHER TO RECEIVE EARLY LESSONS IN SELF DEFENSE. MY MOTHER'S FAMILY SPOKE SPANISH AT HOME. MY FATHER HAD FORGOTTEN MOST OF HIS SPANISH AND FRENCH. HE SPOKE TO ME IN PERFECT ENGLISH AND MY GRANDFATHER SPOKE TO ME IN SPANISH. I WAS ABLE TO FIND THEIR SHIP RECORDS IN THE ELLIS ISLAND ARCHIVES. IT IS AMAZING HOW MUCH INFORMATION IS ON FILE ABOUT THEM FROM THOSE RECORDS. THEY ARE ALL BEING DOCUMENTED IN THE ABOVE MENTIONED BOOK. _____
MM: I have a photo of you from a 1970 full-page magazine ad when you are seen on the telephone at the Pan Am reservations counter in New York. Were you modeling by then? _____
FV: MICHAEL, I HAVE NEVER STOPPED MODELING SINCE I BEGAN AT AGE 15. I USED TO KEEP MY MODELING BOOK IN MY LOCKER AT THE VANDERBILT COUNTER BECAUSE FROM TIME TO TIME I WOULD GO ON A CASTING CALL DURING MY LUNCH BREAK. THAT SHOOT WAS FOR AN AD FOR IBM AND THE TELEPHONE COMPANY. THE PHOTO WAS USED IN A VIDEO COMMERCIAL. THAT WAS IN APRIL OF 1970. I CARRIED MY BAGGAGE TO WORK WITH ME THAT MORNING AND THAT SAME EVENING I LEFT THE OFFICE FOR JFK TO MAKE MY FIRST TRIP TO MUNICH TO SEE CHARLEY. HE WAS MY LATE DEPARTED FRIEND WHOM I HAD MET WHEN I WAS MODELING CADILLAC FOR GM AT THE NEW YORK WORLD'S FAIR IN 1965.
TO SIR WITH LOVE!
 Director James Clavell wrote and released this film in 1967--just five years after penning the screenplay for "The Great Escape". In this film, Sidney Poitier plays Engineer Mark Thackeray who arrives to teach a totally undisciplined and discombobulated class at a tough East End London school. He starts laying down his own brand of classroom discipline: forcing the pupils to treat each other with respect. Inevitably he begins getting involved in the students' personal lives, and must avoid the come-on of a student while winning over the tough-minded class. When he arrives at this post, it is but a temporary job to tide him over until his "break" in Engineering materializes. What will he decide when the engineering job comes through? Watch and see. Though I admit this is dated, the scope of Poitier's acting is certainly worth a serious look. Completed on a budget of just $640,000, "To Sir, With Love" (as with "Lilies of the Field") was drafted by contract to give Poitier a share of the gross profits to compensate for his greatly reduced salary. Writer-Director Clavell also worked under this same arrangement. Think of what Steve McQueen could have earned if he took this type of business deal with "The Blob". I'm serious! Clavell was selected because he genuinely loved the story. The rights had passed from studio to studio, and been offered to numerous stars before finally getting the green light when in the hands of Columbia Pictures President Mike Frankovich. Sidney Poitier notes in his autobiography the similarities in terms of racial issues between America and England at the time. Filmed entirely in London, the picture featured a number of minorities, many of whom, Poitier observed, would be unable to find work outside of the confines of the movie. However a sad reality, for his time spent with the cast, he was delighted to be in their company. Sidney plays one of his most famous characters. I think any teacher in the "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" audience will rediscover this film. The Cast: Sidney Poitier: Mark Thackeray; Christian Roberts: Denham; Lulu: Barbara 'Babs' Pegg; Faith Brook: Grace Evans. _____ AS USUAL...ENJOY!
THE INTERVIEW: AL TOPPING! (PART 3 OF 3)
 Haing S. Ngor, M.D. accepting his Oscar for "The Killing Fields" Dr. Ngor portrayed Nguyen Van Luc in 1990's "Last Flight Out" (March 22, 1940-February 25, 1996)
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MM: In the movie Last Flight Out there is a tense scene before departure when an inspector boards the airstairs with armed guards and tells Richard Crenna's character, "Before you take off, I must ensure that every person on board has the proper Exit Visa. This flight is most irregular. I think Mr. Topping is trying to hide something. Now stand aside!". Was that accurate?
_____ AT: It was more of a Hollywood kind of thing. It made it look a lot more dramatic than it really was. Having said that, there was a moment of truth, because at that moment there was no turning back. We had a load of people on the airplane ready to go, the place was surrounded; this was no time to be playing games. We kind of got together some funds before boarding. So, the confrontation they showed in the film was the kind of thing that would have happened if we hadn't planned and acted wisely. But they made it look more dramatic. _____ Also, let me clarify: Richard Crenna played Captain Dan Hood, who was not the pilot on that flight. Captain Bob Berg was actually our pilot. I saw some South Vietnamese soldiers boarding the plane, and of course I didn't try to stop them because I knew they were not going to hijack us. They were there to get out of town. After takeoff we collected their weapons. _____ MM: Did you interact with James Earl Jones, Richard Crenna and Haing S. Ngor? _____ AT: The film was shot in Bangkok, Thailand, and I wasn't there. I did some extensive interviews with executive producer Michael Manheim and producer Norman I. Cohen. At the time there were so many movies about Vietnam that had been made, such as Apocalypse Now and so forth. The guy who was responsible for getting this project going was married to Lisa Yates, a Pan Am flight attendant who was on the actual last flight out, and he played the role of the co-pilot in the film. When Lisa told her husband what happened, he said, "This has got to be a movie". And it took him years to get Michael Manheim to produce the film. It was only after the film was made that I met James Earl Jones, and he told me that he didn't want to really talk to me beforehand because he wanted to experience for himself what he thought I was going through---that's the way he works. And you want to know something fascinating? He did something in the film that I thought about doing, but didn't do. There was a scene where I found out that the FAA put a restriction on all of our carriers and we could not operate flights out of Saigon any longer. And in the scene I take my desk and flip it over on the floor and slammed a book against a wall. And that's what I actually felt like doing. But I didn't do it. That was not my style---becoming violent---but that was how I felt. All that work, and then we find out that flight cannot operate! _____ Haing Ngor's character---Nguyen Van Luc in real life---was a Pan Am employee who had a wife, eleven children, and a mother who was too sick to travel. So, he kept the whole family behind. Believe it or not, he's in the United States now. I was back in the United States some ten years after all of this when I received a letter from Luc that said "Please help me get out". I helped get he and his family out. _____ What's sad about that was that a year after we left, his mother died. Then his wife was killed in a motorbike accident, and he was put in a 're-education camp' after the fall of Saigon. His cell was a metal aircraft cargo container that sat outside. He was forced to endure 100-degree temperatures in that container wearing very little clothing. One of his fellow prisoners died, and the North Vietnamese left the man's decomposing body in the container with Luc and the others until the next day. Finally, Luc became so sick that his captors let him out. But he almost died. _____ MM: I believe you ultimately had 463 souls on board? _____ AT: Yeah, we had an airplane with a capacity for 375 people. _____ MM: What went through your mind as the plane began to roll? _____ AT: Oh, so many things! 'Will this thing even get off the ground?' 'Will they fire a missile at us?' I don't think I was even breathing! I was just overwhelmed thinking of the newspaper headlines: 'Pan Am 747 Blown Up'. Then finally we lifted off, I was sitting in the cockpit jump-seat looking outside the window for anything, and finally when I saw the fleet of American warships in the South China Sea I knew we had made it. _____ MM: Tell us about your return trip to Saigon in 1990? _____ AT: Saigon basically looked the same. I returned to the home where I lived that was occupied by a retired North Vietnamese Army Officer. Not only that---I went into what was once my den and saw the original US Embassy phone book. And then, at the old downtown Pan Am ticket office the original Pan Am logo was still on the wall, but it was a trading company. My office had photos of Pan Am aircraft on the wall, but they were all missing, and the only picture on the wall was of Ho Chi Minh. A couple of Pan Am posters were left in the lobby. They were very friendly and they let me in. I had an interpreter and we sat down and had tea. After all this time you have to ask, 'What were we doing there?' _____ MM: Al, do you miss the airline industry? _____ AT: I do. But when I started out I used to look at Pan Am and think, 'In order to fly on Pan Am you had to wear a suit'. This was a classy, upscale international carrier. The message I've tried to convey is that over the years Pan Am has affected the lives of so many people beyond the employees; even passengers tell me they miss us so much. #### My sincere thanks to Al Topping for his time in sharing this amazing story with me. It was originally published last April in Airways magazine and appears here with the permission of the author! :) _____ Authors Note: Today, Al Topping is an in-demand Guest Speaker available to organizations to discuss his experiences in Vietnam "Up Close and Personal". I have seen him behind a podium and he is a very relevant and inspiring speaker, indeed. Al has also informed me that anyone who wishes to purchase a DVD copy of the movie "Last Flight Out" can do so by mailing a Check for $23 (US) payable to PAAVN at:
PAAVN P.O. Box 771992 Miami, Florida 33177 ___ Please include your Address, Phone Number and Email Address. The cost includes shipping & handling. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Soc Trang and Sister Teresa Orphanages in Vietnam. Also, Al is planning an exciting Golf Tournament to be held in the Spring of 2007! The Tournament will be a fundraiser to assist PAAVN to continue its mission. In addition, PAAVN supports the work of CNN Headline News Anchor Betty Nguyen at HELP THE HUNGRY: www.help-the-hungry.org. _____
 CNN News Anchor Betty Nguyen
Betty is a lovely person who previously worked as a Television News Anchor in Dallas at KTVT CBS 11, while I worked across town at the ABC Radio News Network. Betty will be making her annual trip to Vietnam this September to deliver desperately needed supplies to those less fortunate. Both Al Topping and Betty Nguyen set a great example for each of us who are blessed to be able to reach out to our brothers and sisters in need to make the world a better place.
####
THE INTERVIEW: AL TOPPING (PART 2 OF 3)
 Actor James Earl Jones Portrayed Al Topping in 1990's "Last Flight Out" __________________
MM: Wasn't that the same week of the crash of a Lockheed C-5A Galaxy carrying orphans to the United States?
_____ AT: That was on April 4, and I was at the airport that day helping to load the plane. They were using our airstairs and my buddy from Continental Airlines was with me. They buttoned down and took off, and we watched their departure, and then turned around to walk back to our office. Just a few minutes later there was a column of black smoke. Suddenly we saw helicopters around that site and I called the US Embassy and they confirmed that the C-5 had crashed. At that time we had no idea what happened. But within 24-hours, a Connecticut-based organization called AmeriCares advised us that Pan Am was flying in with two chartered Boeing 747's to evacuate not only the orphan survivors, but others who were desperate to get out. This is something I'll never forget. Out 747's came in with all-volunteer crews. We thought that the C-5 crash might have involved sabotage. So, as we were loading the babies one at a time up the steps, we had to make sure that someone had not put explosives in their clothing;. We had to be sure. Here I am carrying a little baby up the air stairs and thinking there might be explosives placed in a diaper; it was an awful situation. If you could imagine: aboard a 747, cardboard boxes belted into the seats carrying three-hundred or more screaming babies at one time with the stench of urine everywhere. And these people were going to fly from Vietnam to California!
_____ MM: What was your flight route? AT: Our route was normally Saigon-Manila, which was three hours, over to Guam--that's another three hours--then Guam-Honolulu, that's seven hours, then finally Honolulu to the West Coast--that's another five hours. It is an 18-hour trip. But these trips we routed to Yokata Air Base in Japan, then Hawaii--West Coast. The airplane that arrived in San Francisco was met by President Gerald Ford. Some of the babies were sick and some had expired on the trip. With the second 747, we had set up the schedule so that we would not have two 747's on the ground at the same time. We felt that would represent too many assets just sitting there. So, just as soon as the first plane was lifting off, the second one was on final approach.
_____ MM: One of those babies who survived is my new friend Dr. Matt Steiner? _____ AT: Exactly. He was actually about eight years old at the time. I've been in touch with him. In fact a book has been written about him called "Escape from Saigon: How a Vietnam War Orphan Became an American Boy, by Andrea Warren. _____ MM: Your family had to be worried sick about your safety throughout all this. How did you get word to him that you were all right? _____ AT: Actually, through Jeff Kriendler (Pan Am's Vice President of Corporate Communications). Jeff was in New York and he would get word to my mother to relay information as to my status personally. We didn't have fax machines, we used Quip machines, and I had my wife over there with me. In fact, when I first went over to Vietnam I was single. And I came back to San Francisco and married my fiancee' in March 1973. Talk about a culture shock, we spent our honeymoon in Hawaii, and then went right on to Vietnam. _____ MM: So, there you were monitoring Citizen Band radios, the Armed Forces Radio Network, local television and radio, and colleagues from other companies. How did you assemble the evacuation plan without endangering lives? _____ AT: My first concern was, 'How do we know when we leave?' because operations appeared normal on the surface; however beneath that surface a churning of activity was going on that told me this could not last much longer. You couldn't wait too long. So, as the government began lifting restrictions with allowing the orphans to get out, I found out that I could get our people out of the country if I could formally adopt them. I got our personnel guy to get me all the paperwork we needed, and we filled out piles of forms that said basically, that Al Topping was adopting 360 people! _____ MM: But you had over 700 names. How did you decide which were legitimate? ____ AT: It was awful, because the company said we could evacuate all of our employees and their immediate families. In the United States that meant a wife or a husband and children. But over there 'immediate family' meant everybody. So, I had to go back and explain that I could be responsible for only immediate family. I didn't want to tell our people that absolutely, positively, you cannot bring your mother. I didn't say that, but they knew they couldn't bring their mothers, fathers and grandmothers. So, eventually we got the number down to 303. Then the next challenge was to determine when this flight would operate, and I couldn't tell anyone. _____ Finally, two weeks before we left, I was taking up residence at the airport. I had already sent my wife back to the States. I was living in a trailer because I didn't want to be stuck downtown if the situation became unglued. So, as I was pacing the floor at night, I looked at the calendar ad realized that May 1st was May Day, the communist holiday, and I knew that would be the day they would launch the offensive. So, looking at our schedule, I decided which flight to use without looking suspicious , because it was our scheduled flight anyway. _____ I decided that April 24th would be our day to leave and I didn't tell our employees until 24 hours beforehand. I told them to be prepared to leave immediately. That particular morning we had rain, and I received a call from my ticket office manager who said that the office was filled with our people and how do we get them out of the office on buses to the airport. I said, "Anyway you can". And somehow we got it done, and I had him leave a note on the door that said 'Temporarily Closed', I met them at the airport checkpoint and from there we began boarding. _____
[In Part 3--our Final Installment, Al discusses some very tense moments at the airport, and concludes our visit by discussing the filming of the movie, "Last Flight Out"].
THE INTERVIEW: AL TOPPING! (PART 1 OF 3)
___ I first became aware of Al Topping in 1994 through his appearance in the film, "Death of An American Dream: The Pan Am Story". An outstanding video documentary that received a prestigious award, News Reporter Rob Fuller spoke on camera with Al at Miami International Airport. Al's final position with Pan American World Airways was Vice President of Corporate Communications--a position he held only two weeks before Pan Am's demise on December 3, 1991--a position that was synonymous with another dear friend of mine--Jeff Kriendler. Over and over I played the one hour documentary, listening to Al's account of the day Pan Am's Plan of Reorganization was withdrawn before Judge Cornelius Blackshear in the US Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. I seemed to hang on every word Al spoke to Rob Fuller about terrorism and commercial aviation--about why the U.S. government failed to bail out Pan Am as they had Chrysler and Lockheed. And I was amazed at the wisdom and maturity in Al's words that I seemed unable to pull together for my own personal outrage at how an American Institution as huge as Pan Am could be allowed--in the words of Pan Am's last Clipper Pilot, Captain Mark Pyle "to fall into the abyss". There was something unique about Al Topping. Watching that video, I instinctively knew that this was a great leader, and a great man whose words were unmistakably forged by being "in the trenches" --just as Jeff Kriendler had been (we'll hear from Jeff in December here on "THE INTERVIEW"). These were no ordinary men. Destiny had been placed on their shoulders. In Al's case, through that final night at Miami International as he walked among scores of large commercial jet aircraft parked on the tarmac with the large blue Bodine style "billboard sized" letters: "PAN AM" emblazoned on the fuselages was surreal. Today, this is still an almost unimaginable scene for me to absorb. For leaders like Al and Jeff, "intestinal fortitude" met with a sobering reality. But long before this catastrophe, there was a story of Vietnam--a war one of my brothers served in. A nightmare. I was a little kid when my brother was drafted. But I remember him opening his Draft Notice. My parents went through hell for nearly two years. My brother--by the Grace of God--was one of the lucky soldiers who returned home alive. Five years later, Al Topping---amazingly---was "promoted" as Station Manager of Pan Am's operations in Saigon. A tall, handsome and highly competent man who grew to understand the Vietnamese culture, this interview is about the role Al played in the final days of Vietnam that is now legendary worldwide. I am privileged today to call Al a dear friend. Who would have imagined? But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.
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By April 1975, US troops engaged in the Vietnam War had dwindled from a peak of 500,000 to 25,000. North Vietnamese Forces began to take over provinces without firing a single shot. When it became apparent that Saigon would fall to the communists, one man organized a daring feat to evacuate Pan American World Airways personnel and their families. That man is Al Topping, then Pan Am's Station Manager in Saigon. Topping and the lives of 463 people (along with hundreds of orphans) changed forever on April 24, 1975. His true life story was later made into an NBC TV movie entitled Last Flight Out (not to be confused with the 2004 movie of the same name) starring James Earl Jones as Al Topping and featuring Barry Corbin with the late Richard Crenna. The role of South Vietnamese Pan Am Ramp Supervisor Nguyen Van Luc (dubbed 'Pham Van Minh' in the movie) was played by Dr. Haing S. Ngor, M.D., a Cambodian who won the 1985 Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Killing Fields. Haing Ngor was senselessly murdered in Los Angeles in February 1986. Thanks largely to Jeff Kriendler and my membership (beginning in 1992) with The Pan Am Historical Foundation (Listed at the right hand margin near the lower portion of this BLOG page) I was able to interview Al Topping and finally meet him in Washington, D.C. last year during three days commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Pan Am's "Last Flight Out" of Vietnam. The Vietnamese friends I made were lovely people and for this author, the entire weekend was a true Honor. Here is my interview with Al Topping.
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MM: Tell us about your career at Pan Am.
AT: (smiling) Oh, man that is a story! I worked at United Airlines and that's where I started out in the airline industry in 1964, as a ticket agent at JFK Airport. One day we had some problems getting my uniform out of the dry cleaners. So, I went to work with my suit instead of my uniform. My supervisor said, "Where is your uniform?" I said, "I had a little trouble and I couldn't get my uniform out of the cleaners today". He said, "I like you in that suit". So, right there I got promoted to handling VIP's and from that moment on I began meeting a lot of people simply because I was no longer just selling tickets. And I started to meet some frequent travelers with Pan Am. _____ One day I was helping a Pan Am Executive and he told me, "If you ever decide to leave United, give me a call", and he gave me his card. After five years at United I wanted to be a sales rep downtown. But at that particular time they didn't want to hire a black sales rep. Son I decided to call Pan Am and they gave me the job I always wanted, They hired me in a fast-track sales management training sales program, and after about three years they said, "We're going to transfer you to our sales office in San Francisco". At the time I said, "Are you kidding?" I had visions of Cleveland or Buffalo. But this was like going to Heaven! So, after a couple of years I was promoted to telephone sales manager. It was a challenging job in charge of 150 people in reservations. _____ Then Pan Am began to go through one of their many restructurings, and they decided to go with a one-man concept of a 'Mr. Pan Am', so to speak at each location with sales, service and airport director all folded into one person. That was in 1972. And in all of my evaluations with Pan Am, I always put down that I wanted to be a Station Manager. So, my boss called me in one day and said there's a possibility of an opening coming available in the Pacific. When he said that, I was thinking maybe Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan. To cut to the chase, he said, "You could be our Station Manager in Vietnam". And my immediate response was, "No thank you!" The war was going on and Vietnam did not turn me on. So, he said, "Before you say no, why don't you go out there and take a look around?" So, I did and as we drew closer to the coastline of Vietnam, I was glued to the window like a kid, and I saw remnants of the war. But after spending about three days walking around, I saw that there were a lot of people from the United States, and Pan Am was operating a lot of civilian and cargo flights in and out of the country, so I accepted the assignment.
_____ MM: It's hard for me to imagine an American living safely in Vietnam at that time?
_____ AT: Back home, you would see and hear stories on the television about people flipping grenades into houses and stores and sidewalk cafe's. As a matter of fact, my first night in Vietnam, I was standing on the top of The Palace Hotel at the rooftop bar restaurant about dusk. And all of a sudden I started hearing a series of giant explosions in the distance with flashes of light as we're sitting there having a Gin and Tonic--and it just became so normal to hear every single night. Saigon itself was a bustling place. Sometimes I felt very secure. I had a car and a driver that the company provided. Traffic there was horrific. I'd say 90 percent of the traffic was Honda motorbikes, and I'm in a four-door Chevrolet Impala. At traffic lights, you're surrounded on all sides by these people looking in the car and you wonder, 'Who are all these people? Are they Vietcong?' Fortunately, nothing ever happened.
_____ Directly across the street from our house was the Vice President of Vietnam, and he had towers with gunmen at each corner of the rooftop. Then, on the other side of our house was the President of Air Vietnam, directly across the street from the U.S. Embassy. So, I felt relatively safe. _____
MM: Ed Trippe (son of Pan Am's visionary founder Juan Trippe) told me that outside of JFK, Tan Son Nhut was the second-busiest airport in the world. ____ AT: Ed Trippe was absolutely correct. But by the time I arrived, the war was winding down significantly. We did have the R&R (Rest and Relaxation) flights carrying troops from Saigon to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Malaysia, Hawaii and Australia. In addition, we had scheduled flights and I got there in December 1972. There was a lot of pressure in this country for us to get out of Vietnam. Dr. Henry Kissinger finally reached an agreement at the Paris peace talks that all of the US troops had to be out of the country by February 1975. I can recall, by the way, the North Vietnamese literally checking our men off the lists as they would leave. At that point the peace agreement was signed and the war was basically over. Bit of course it really wasn't. _____ MM: When did you first become concerned that Saigon would fall to communist forces? _____ AT: In February 1975. That's when the pressure was really stepped up against the United States to exit the country and to reduce the amount of aid coming in. The South Vietnamese felt that they could not adequately defend the country without the same level of aid and so they started pulling back. As they pulled back, the North Vietnamese moved in. There was no resistance. As the weeks passed, province after province was falling and there were no shots being fired. This trend really concerned me. I had no experience in evacuation planning. It suddenly became obvious to me and to everyone that the end was literally around the corner. Our employees were getting concerned about what I was doing to help them out. I started communicating with our people back in New York. The most difficult part of this was although the country was falling, the South Vietnamese government was still in charge and we could not leave the country. So, I had 61 employees and their families. My challenge was, 'How do I effectively evacuate them with a workable plan without endangering their lives?' _____ It all came to a head in early April, when a South Vietnamese pilot who was sympathetic to the war because his father was killed, took an F-5 fighter jet and tried to bomb the South Vietnamese President' home. That plane flew about five hundred feet over our ticket office which was filled with people at the time, People were screaming and running out into the streets. That hit the AP (Associated Press) wires...Saigon was under attack. But I was able to determine that this was an isolated incident. Nevertheless, I had to convince our people in New York (at Pan Am's Headquarters at 200 Park Avenue) not to cancel an incoming flight, because I had people with tickets waiting to get out. _____ [Tomorrow, In Part 2: Al explains the tragic crash of a Lockheed C-5 Galaxy carrying orphans to the United States. In April 2005, I met one of the orphans at the 30th Anniversary of the "Last Flight Out" held in Washington, D.C.]
THE INTERVIEW: KATHRYN MAGENDIE! (& FINAL DAY NOTE)
 Kat Magendie _____ As many of you know, I've been fortunate to meet certain of my regular Bloggers in-person. Deni Bonet (Last Girl On Earth) was my first, and Kathryn (I call her "Kat") Magendie became the second. We met on two occasions. Her husband whom Kat refers to as "Good Man Roger" is a warm and wonderful fellow who has begun a voiceover career. Uniquely from many of our respective locales, Kat lives high in the Carolina Mountains which is conducive to the "quiet time" she discusses with me here. She is a generous writer and a very giving person and it is with genuine pride and a thrill that I am able to present Kat Magendie from her BLOG "Howl on My Mountain". _____
MM: Kat, you are in an enviable position in that you really do live in the mountains and it would seem to me the perfect setting for a serious writer like you to reflect and write in that environment. When did you know that this was what you wanted to do with your life? _____
KM: Oh yes, my mountain fiction world. I am very lucky, at last, after so very long! Well, I know this sounds like a cliché, but since I was a kid I wanted to be a writer. However, books were my best friends, and I was known quite well in the school libraries (at least until high school, then I was too "cool" to be seen in the library *laughing*). I won at least one writing contest in junior high, and teachers told me I'd go far as a writer—oh, if I'd have listened then! There were a few times I wrote weird and startling stories, and the teachers called my parents to inquire as to whether I was insane and should be on some kind of medication (laughing)
But, life being what life will often be, when I grew up, I didn't pursue my dream for many many years. Now, it is all consuming, all that I want to do and be and realize. If I don't write, I become depressed, moody, inconsolable, stomping about the log house with a cloud of unhappy swirling chaotically about my brain (okay, that happens sometimes when I do write as well, but what can I say?)
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MM: There are many who are reading this interview for the first time who may not be familiar with your work. How would you best describe what you write and your writing style?
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KM: My essays are long poems, mostly nature inspired. My poems are hopeful, but not so very poet-like. My short stories free me, as they allow me to create that quirky strange world with quirky strange characters, and to do it quickly! My novel(s) will break your heart as you read them, but then at the end you sigh, because you know the heart is seared back together again, imperfect, different than before, but stronger. _____
MM: Is there a central source of inspiration you draw from to create the storylines? _____
KM: Not really. What happens is: A line will pop in my head, like this morning, I thought “He was Pure D crazy, which is why I set out to make him my friend…” and I thought, “who’s that talking and who is she/he talking about?” And then I squint my eyes and try to see—in this case I saw a boy standing with his arms by his sides, hard-faced, but not mean, and a girl, watching him. I have to know their names, and what will happen. So, I sit down and write that first line and then see what happens. I never have a beginning, middle, or end in mind. Or, I'll see a character - maybe it is just some trait they have, like a weird tic or walk or way of looking at the world, or I'll see their eyes or hair blowing in the wind, or their dress blowing against their mosquito bitten legs. Either way, I'll hear them say something in my ear and I must write them. I write until I get it all out, then I start the re-writes. Ninety-nine point nine percent of my stuff is character driven. I can't think of plots, they give me a headache! A character has to come to me. _____
MM: What a fascinating process you follow! If a young person were reading this, how would you describe the current state of the publishing industry so that they have a realistic view of what to expect and what is required without ruining their dream with discouragement. It is a fine line, I would think? _____
KM: Oh. Dear. Yes. Well. See how I write those words with one word and a period? It is because the publishing industry is a frustrating one. You must pull on a skin so thick and tough and then barrel through the process fearlessly. No matter what you write, you must think of your work as arrows, and you shoot those arrows out at your targets, again and again and again until they begin hitting, and maybe even hit that bulls eye (don't you just love analogies or metaphors and the like?) Do your homework, which means, when you are ready to submit, do a bit of research to see what agents or editors are looking for. If you send out willy nilly, you'll be wasting your time. That said, sometimes it’s hard to know just what they are looking for!
There is a bit of luck and chance and fate involved, but first, you must write, and until you do that, what’s the point? Realistically speaking, it’s tough to get some types of things published now. You can “write for the market” and perhaps have more success if you do that. I tend to write what pleases me, and then start looking, which can be a more muddied process, I suppose, but it makes me happy. Look, I’ve read a gazillion things from writers who have published successfully and they all say, “Don’t ever give up!” So, I guess I’ll leave it at that.
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MM: Ah, okay. I'm going to ask one of my favorite questions now. Among the most delightful aspects of reading an Author such as yourself, for me, is to learn about their background. Tell us about your background leading up to writing? _____
KM: You make me blush, Michael! (teehee). Okay, I’ll say this, and it’s going to sound so clichéd. A lot of my writing comes from personal experience with painful things. And in those painful things, emotions were felt, things were said or done or experienced which tattooed me, branded me, made me who I am—which is kind of a sick joke life can tell you, one that allows these painful experiences to happen, but then gives one the ability to use it to create works which speak to people in a way they can think, “Oh, yes…she has read my mind.” That empathy one develops from experience that is coupled with the ability to see the world from many different angles—like those kaleidoscope toys.
Now, that doesn’t mean those who did not experience painful things (and there aren’t many of those, are there?) can’t write about them, but there’s something to be said about “writing what you know,” and think of that statement in the abstract, not so much the concrete. One thing I had to do, however, is rise above it all, make a distance from it. And from this distance I am now, which means I am safe and happy and contented, I am able to write outside of myself—meaning, I don’t write about ME but about my characters, but I use my experiences, or other people’s that I have observed, as background noise. _____
MM: Are you ever discouraged by the lengthy and often expensive reality of submitting your writing to multiple publishers and being denied a break? And if I may add a Part 2 to this question, how do you overcome this frustration?
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KM: I am often discouraged. There are times I get on my red couch—I call it the Pity Pout Couch—and drink two vodka tonics with lime, and eat lots of bad, bad, bad food, and whine and sob. I allow myself no more than two days of that, and then I get up, get back to work. For I must write. I had to ask myself this: “Kat, would you write even if you knew you’d never be published again?” and the answer is “Yes, I would.” But, I’d find another way to be read—through my blog, or website, friends, family, e-zines, something, anything.
I must tell you all this: being rejected many times has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Please remember that. I do assistant editing at Rose & Thorn Literary E-zine, and in that capacity, I have learned much about submitting and rejections. Editors/agents/publishers receive many many submissions in a short amount of time, and from those they choose the ones they are interested in, and then from those, they must choose very few, in some cases only one or two, to publish. Your material may have been one of those that was so close—always a bridesmaid never a bride (laughing). _____
MM: I for one am relating to what you've just said, because last year I launched two separate mass mailings to market two entirely different manuscripts. And it was necessary to pull on the tough skin. That's for sure. Let me shift gears a bit. What is the Ideal Environment for Kat Magendie to write in?
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KM: I must have quiet. When I lived in Baton Rouge, I had a glass sunroom in our little house, and I wrote in there—for it looked like I was outside. Here, I have my mountain, quiet, secluded, serene. _____
MM: Where do you see your career going at this point in time? _____
KM: I will publish my novel(s), for I know it (they are) is good. I finally am convinced of that, for various reasons. If I have to eventually publish it myself and promote the hell out of it, I will do it (more and more writers are taking this route). As well, I am working with Rose & Thorn, and that is opening up opportunities to do author interviews and book reviews, etc. I’ve just begun seriously sending out my short stories and essays and am beginning to get published in that regard. Where I’ll be in my writing career a year from now, I don’t know, but I do know things are going to happen, because I’m going to make them happen (she says fearlessly!) _____
MM: Has the industry changed a great deal from the time you began writing to the present? _____
KM: It is always changing! But, it’s hard for me to answer this since I’ve only just began to seriously try to publish my novel, and in the last few months to seriously send out my more of my short stories and essays.
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MM: In a sea of ever-changing dynamics regarding the publishing industry, what aspects would you like to see changed? _____
KM: I’d like to see editors/agents/publishers take more risks with writers who are good writers! Saying that, I know this is a business and are words are a product and they must know the product will work.
As well, I would like to see more respect given to E-zines. And, as long as their work is good, I’d like to see more respect to the author’s who take a risk and self-publish! _____
MM: How do you promote your work? ____
KM: I have a website, a blog, and I’m not afraid to use them (laughing). I am going to begin publishing my short stories and essays, and that gets one’s name “out there,” too. My work with Rose & Thorn helps, as I make contacts, and even if nothing comes from those contacts, the experience of it is wonderful. There are things I’d do when my novel is published, but that is different from what I do at this point.
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MM: What are some of the commonly traveled paths writers use to get their material read pending publishing? _____
KM: Do you mean like writing blogs, and developing websites? Or publishing in literary magazines? Local magazines? Because that’s what I do—I write on my blog, I keep my website updated with any publishing credits. _____ MM: No, no--all of the above. _____ KM: I’m submitting to literary magazines, but as well, I submit to small local magazines and to e-zines. I have excerpts of my novels, even if they are drafts, on my website. I’m not sure I answered this correctly! _____
MM: Yes, that's perfect. This just helped me clarify a bit more in my own mind. What is your Ideal Dream with writing? _____
KM: I always have these weird scary thoughts like “Be careful what you wish for…” like if I say I want my novel to be wildly successful and a movie made of it, and blah blah blabbity blab. Then, that happens and I never have a moment to myself to write, because I am promoting and running away from paparazzi (laughing). But, I’d like to see my novels published—The Virginia Kate series, and The Affliction of Sweetie, for starters. I want to publish my collection of short stories, and collection of essays. I want to know people are holding my words in their hands, feeling the weight of them—and reading my words, finding out something about themselves perhaps, or just saying, “ahhhhhh,” when they’ve completed a book. _____
MM: That's a wonderful sentiment! For my final question Kat, I always like to open the floor to my Guests and let them summarize anything about themselves, their work, their observations about life, anything that might give us a better grasp of who you are? The floor is yours! _____
KM: I’m a bit chaotic. I’m a bit weird. I’m a bit moody. I like being reclusive. I have “writer’s schizophrenia” which means there are characters talking to me and I listen—which means so many times I’m in my own world, staring off, listening. My husband, Roger, is patient and supportive, for it is hard to live with a writer—we can be so self-indulgent, so self involved. MM: Oh, yes! _____ KM: I can go days and days and weeks and weeks without human contact and not care. Sometimes I suppose my poor Roger feels as if I forget him as I shamble about the house, my eyes glazed over, my head spinning with characters and what ifs and who and what and where. I know I have a gift, but where that gift takes me is yet to be seen—where it has taken me so far is only the beginning and even as I write that, I quake, for I hate tempting fates! So, I will just say, I will continue to write as long as I am able. I will write and let the words fall where they may. _____ MM: Kat, thank you for your time. This visit really flew by. And I have no doubt after it's Archived in my section, "The Interview", many aspiring writers will return to your words again and again. It's been a joy, my friend. Thank you! __________ Kat's interview ran from last Wednesday and concludes Sunday at 12 a.m. Kat will also be featuring Poetry Month throughout OCTOBER at her blogsite: http://kathrynmagendie.com My Thanks to Kat, a lovely lady and great friend along with her husband "Good Man Roger". For reasons unknown, Blogger would not allow Roger's painting of the photo featured above of Kathryn to stay posted. But Roger is a local actor and a fine voiceover artist as well! ______________ 
Mike Douglas with Comedian Soupy Sales
___ Special Note from Michael Manning: Legendary Talk Show Host, and Singer Mike Douglas, a fellow native of Shaker Heights, Ohio died this past Friday in Florida on his 81st birthday. Since we have such a varied Blogger audience in age, I felt that it would be very inappropriate of me not to mention a word of Honor. Many of you were young as I was to recall all of it, but "The Mike Douglas Show" ruled the world of daytime celebrity chat from 1961 to 1982. "The Mike Douglas Show" was a must-visit promotional stop for top politicians like the late Bobby Kennedy and also new talent. Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin, and Tiger Woods (who demonstrated his golf prowess opposite Bob Hope while he was still a tot) made their TV debut's on Mike's show! Mike's favorite Guests of all time were John Lennon and Yoko Ono and they hosted the show for one week in 1972 while Mike was on vacation. A very friendly man who began his career struggling as a big band singer for Kay Kyser's Orchestra, Mike always stepped aside to let his Guests shine. In Broadcasting, he was a Giant of a man who was easy going and kind. Mike Douglas influenced numerous followers, from Merv Griffin and Dinah Shore to Rosie O'Donnell, who paid Douglas homage by inviting him to come out of retirement for a guest appearance on one of her first shows in 1996. In 2000, Mike wrote a well-received memoir (called I'll Be Right Back, naturally). Mike was happy to spend his last years playing golf in Florida. He was very troubled by the negative garbage masquerading as "Reality TV", yet he was optimistic that this sad chapter in my profession would fade away. I wish it were so. Nevertheless, I want to share a quick story about Mike's "Class". When Mike's show was cancelled by Westinghouse (and subsidiary Group W Productions), Mikes ratings were at the top. The corporate decision makers felt they knew best. He was replaced by John Davidson (who was cancelled 18 months into his contract). While stung by this terrible development (it was kept hidden from Mike until days before the show was pulled), Mike and his staff went "Independent" and brought the show back. Again, the ratings went through the roof. After a few years, Mike went out---on his own terms. He was in my book, "a gentleman". CNN mentioned that Mike's influence lives on in the work of Jimmy Kimmel and Ellen DeGeneres. I would like to think so. But as Rosie O'Donnell told Entertainment Weekly in 1996: ''If Mike came back, he'd be The King. And I'd be back working at Yuk Yut's". I'm certain many, if not all of you will be so gracious as to remember Mike and his family in your thoughts and prayers. __________
SUMMER OF 42'
A summer vacation on Nantucket Island in 1942, is the setting for this week's tender 'coming-of-age' story for young Hermie and his friends Oscy and Benjie. As World War II rages on, Oscy's main worries center on losing his virginity. The story takes a huge turn from the normal preadolescent obsessions and horsing around when the young Hermie sincerely falls in love with a young woman awaiting news of her soldier husband's fate as an Army pilot. When tragic news arrives, life changes for the young woman and Hermie (whom she turns to for comfort) forever. The young woman, Dorothy is played by the lovely Jennifer O'Neill.
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This is Herman Raucher's autobiographical tale of a summer vacation with his parents and buddies among sand dunes as a preadolescent kid watching GIs depart for war. Hermie (Gary Grimes) and his two buddies Oscar (Jerry Hauser) and the nerd Benjie (Oliver Conant) are consumed with hanging out, eating ice cream, and trying unsuccessfully to act grown up around awkward girls they take to the movies. Director Robert Mulligan paces the film slowly and beautifully as the viewer is welcomed into a story of tenderness with Michael Legrand's famous music score. This film catapulted Jennifer O'Neill into stardom and also features Christopher Norris and Walter Scott. Producer Richard Roth and Director of Photography Robert Surtees produced this Oscar-Winning film for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score. The film received Oscar Nominations for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material, Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing in 1972. This is one movie that stays with the heart.
NEW GUESTS AHEAD ON "THE INTERVIEW!
Here's a "Teaser Promo" if ever there was one. Next week, former Pan Am Executive Al Topping joins us on "The Interview". Al's true-life story about how he engineered an evacuation for Pan Am personnel and their families as Saigon, Vietnam was falling to communist forces was the subject of a made-for-TV movie starring James Earl Jones as Al, along with the late Richard Crenna. His story is gripping!
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Coming THIS Wednesday at 12 a.m. Author Kathryn Magendie If you are an aspiring writer or you enjoy a gifted artist, then you won't want to miss Kat's visit with me. Kat was the second of five Blog Buddies I have met in-person and she is delightful! Visit Kat at: http://kathrynmagendie.com !
A CHILD WHO NEEDS SUPPORTIVENESS!
Much in the same way I admired Rick Nelson's fascinating career, I took a look at the re-designed Website of musician/actor Rick Springfield and quite unexpectedly came across the story of a little girl named Sahara Aldridge on Rick's site. The bottom line is that this 11 year-old girl has her own Blogsite at http://saharaaldridge.blogspot.com/. She is fighting a Stage 4 malignant tumor on her brainstem, and she is in Houston with her parents where doctors are pursuing according to Rick, ..."promising alternatives to chemo and radiation". Here is a photo of Sahara with her favorite musician:  If you have a positive word to Sahara and her family, you can leave a message on her site. She enjoys basketball, cats, shopping, cheesecake and music! Her By-Line about her Cancer is: "This is the story of how she kicks its ass". I love her spirit! Whatever your beliefs, Rick put it best when he asked for ..."prayer groups, meditation circles, screaming, begging and positive healing energy to be directed to our maker and Sahara for intervention on Sahara's behalf". I've mentioned before that my CPA of 20 years is also an amazing Pastor who at 79 has been writing a book on the subject of "Supportiveness". I think that is probably the best single word to describe what this little girl needs right now. Our collective supportiveness in a positive way! And so I decided this would be the best short Blog I could bring forward for a Monday. Sometimes an unknown person with urgent circumstances has the ability to cause each of us to see beyond our own problems and worries and do something nice and merciful for such a deserving child. Stop by for a visit!
---Michael
SUIT BAGS AND GLAD RAGS!
Hey guys! Remember when you could buy these Suit Bags (that's what I call them) like this one (above)? Well, after 12 years my American Tourister brand bit the dust after what was left of it arrived on the Baggage Belt at the airport after my recent Florida trip. Long-story short: Sheryl Crow is right when she sings: "A change will do you good". I couldn't find the "old style" garment bag anywhere. Until I did some investigating and located this:
 So, newly outfitted with my cool new "Rolling Garment Bag" I'll be sure and post a follow-up Blog if my updated acquisition improves my social life. I remain a bit skeptical. But stranger things have happened. For instance, imagine if Elizabeth Hurley spotted me walking across an Airport Concourse with my cool new "Rolling Garment Bag" in tow while looking at the cover of a magazine with her photo on the cover. Liz to her Agent: "Oh, my God! That guy has to have other qualities. Just look at the Rolling Garment Bag he's stepped up to. I love ambitious people!", she might exclaim (then impulsively runs over to me abandoning the Agent). Liz: "Pardon me. I don't mean to be rude, but is that a Samsonite you're pulling along?" Me: "Well, as a matter of fact it is. And I don't think you're being even the slightest bit rude" (I extend my hand and smile) "Michael Manning". Liz: (Flustered) "Oh, sorry. (shakes my hand) Elizabeth Hurley". Me: "Yes, I know. Umm, catching the 'Red Eye'?" (Breathes a sigh of relief that I'm not a star-struck groupie) Liz: "Yes, unfortunately". Me: "In that case, this calls for an celebration of Life! Please allow me to be a perfect gentleman. What is your favorite drink? There's a British Pub not 30 feet away". Liz: "You know what? I'd love a Martini". Me: "Good, then we can discuss the full line of Samsonite luggage and any other subject you want". (Magazine is tossed onto a nearby chair as I offer my left arm and Liz takes it as we walk to The Pub. I now pull the Samsonite Rolling Garment Bag with my right hand). Me: (not wasting any time) "Marriage is a very big step here in the States, as I'm sure it is in the UK. Are you absolutely sure that this guy I've been reading about is 'the one' for you? I mean--- and if you'll indulge me for paraphrasing advice given to Romeo, from 'Romeo and Juliet' fame---'Examine other options', right? I mean, why make a tragic choice?" Liz: Well, now that you mention it...(We disappear into The Pub as Liz begins chatting in an animated fashion). Stay tuned! _____ Listening to: "All I Really Want to Do" by Bob Dylan, Performed by The Byrds.
FLORIDA
 No, I didn't run into Chris Evert! (My loss!!) ___ Most people don't fly into a state such as Florida and then pick up a rental car to drive 5,700 miles up the West Coast, over and down the EastCoast and then criss-cross the State with 13 cities and towns without discovering the tenor, the vibe--if you will--of each place they visit. While meeting 170 business contacts in 23 of my 25 days, I quite literally questioned everybody about potential areas for relocation. This included Hotel Managers, Bell Captains, photocopy shop employees, bartenders, people on the street, you name it...and to "cut to the chase"--virtually everyone from all walks of life. Now, why do this? Well, because this is the best way I know to connect with people who have a ton of cool information about where to go, where to stay away from and the tips (suggestions not Moolah) were tremendous! On top of all of this, Floridians know how to give directions! Ultimately, it was West Palm Beach where I stayed the longest. And I was adopted by a First-Class staff of very nice and supportive hotel employees from the overnight Security Officer to three Amazing Women I dubbed "Charlie's Angels" each of whom wished me "Good Luck". In fact I counted 12 instances of well-wishing! It began with the Flight Crew whom I interviewed for an upcoming "Coach Flyer" review that we are featuring in a future issue of Airways Magazine. In each case I said, "Thanks, I'll need it". And in turn, the person bestowing the compliment said with a genuine smile, "No you won't". Priceless sentiments. Each one reminded me that what other people see in us on the outside, is often at odds with how we may be feeling about ourselves at any given moment on the inside. On my last day, I wrote a letter to the Hotel General Manager and intoned: "Kill if you have to, but don't lose these ladies" (Pssst! I borrowed this line from the late Actor Robert Webber from Blake Edward's "10" where he tells Dudley Moore's character, George: "Don't do as I do, George. Do as I say. Kill if you have to, but don't lose that lady", (a then-38 year young Julie Andrews who played "Samantha Taylor"). Every night, I'd return soaked and beaten to a pulp from the heat of the day and my schedule. The Night Watchman would ask me as I walked through the Lobby, "How did it go today? Anything?" I'd say, "Pheew! Time will tell, man." He'd say, "Hey! I'm prayin' for ya". See? Wonderful people!
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Truth be told, there was little party time, but I did walk three beaches barefoot in cut-offs at Dusk, and then mid-way through the trip, BUD BUCKLEY e-mailed me with a suggestion to eat better. As a result, I am taking off a few excess pounds. BUD and his wife CATHY took me to dinner at a gorgeous Marina where Bud will be playing a gig soon. Then towards the end of my trip, another Blog Bud, the lovely and multi-talented DENI BONET and her Father met me for dinner and we had a fabulous time! The minutes just literally melt away when you can relax and refocus on what people you care about have been up to since you last saw them and what lies ahead. Very exciting! Those two visits I cherish as a precious gift from my trip. Then on the 25th of July, I Officially announced (as a Guest on WIBQ Radio's "Suncoast Magazine" with Host Doug Miles) the launch of a fund-drive for a 2007 musical concert benefiting The National Parkinson Foundation. Amazingly, every Department Head at NPF's world headquarters who had heard about me since 1999 and gave up their lunch time to meet me. I was so grateful. And my dear friend Mary Ann Sprinkle, Director of Development and I met with Chairman Nathan Slewett in Miami the day after my WIBQ broadcast in Sarasota.
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My trip wound up with a stop near Miami International Airport where a new friend of mine and her husband gave me a personal tour of their business. They manufacture Travel Agency Desk Top models of commercial airliners (one of my hobbies). So, I shipped home a few for my Pan Am, Eastern, TWA and US Airways collection that I've carefully cultivated for 15 years. We talked in the Lobby for 90 more minutes near the old Building 16 (now Embry Riddle University) where I first interviewed the late Marty Shugrue in 1994-- then--Trustee of Eastern Airlines). The following night, it was back at BUD & CATHY's in Venice, Florida for a delicious non-fat dish that CATHY baked. Back in the Mid-West, it has taken me 5 days to catch up on a load of mail and now it's good to be able to catch up with each of you over the weekend and into early next week. I have no relocation news to report! There are many potential opportunities percolating. But I'll be right here with YOU! :)
A BLACK AND WHITE NIGHT!
The Venue: The Cocoanut Grove Nightclub inside The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California. The Event: An intimate concert with Roy Orbison where it's hard to decide what is more fun. Picking out the star-studded musicians Roy assembled for his backup band and singers, or the Los Angeles' luminaries in the audience! As the title suggests, this 1987 concert was filmed in Black and White. Cast: Roy Orbison, Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, T. Bone Burnett, and Elvis Presley's road band: The TCB Band ("Takin' Care of Business") featuring these "Legends": James Burton: Lead Guitar, Glen D. Hardin: Piano, Jerry Scheff: Bass (played on the fated last album with Jim Morrison and The Doors: "L.A. Woman"), Ronnie Tutt: Drums, Alex Acuna: Percussion (ex-of "Weather Report") J. Steven Soles, J.D. Souther, Mike Utley: Keyboards (tours with Kris Kristofferson and others); The Singers: k.d. lang, Jennifer Warnes, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt.
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This is simply a film that falls into the "labor of love" category and for 64 minutes the spotlight is on the "Man of the Hour", Roy himself, surrounded by superstars who are "sidemen" (but having a rollicking good time as you will see). The TCB Band was originally assembled by Lead Guitarist James Burton after a phone call from Elvis in 1969. Rhythm Guitarist John Wilkinson suffered a stroke, but recovered and was able to join The TCB Band before choosing to retire. Needless to say, the band is very tight and the atmosphere in this 1940's era nightclub is magic. It gives everyone who wasn't born in the 1960's a chance to see "The Comeback" of this genuinely humble musician playing the hits that topped the charts. Roy is in fine form here shortly before his untimely passing. There are in numerous stories behind the songs. But I'll just share one that Roy mentioned to k.d. lang.
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Roy was walking through the downtown area of a city (Memphis or L.A.?) and upon turning a corner bumped into a woman who broke his heart, years earlier. A shy and humble man, Roy was so shocked that all he could say was "Hello" and a short chit-chat followed before she walked on. By the time he reached his apartment, Roy sat down and wrote "Crying". Imagine! In that emotional state of mind!! Roys life was filled with tragedy, including the loss of a wife and two children when their home burned to the ground while he was touring on the road. He remarried however, and rediscovered happiness again. "The sunglasses" are also worth a quick mention.
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In 1964, Roy was opening for The Beatles (Geez!, a thankless job, right?). His airplane flight was running late and the sun shone so brightly through the windows of the plane that Roy donned his sunglasses. A car was waiting at the airport to rush Roy to the concert venue, and quite frankly he never bothered to tale the glasses off. Remember, this was considered quite riske' in 1964. Many assumed Roy was blind. The sunglasses became a trademark. Oh, before I forget---this is SO funny: Look for the three women in the first couple of rows in the audience all wearing Ray Ban sunglasses (definitely groupies but hard not to laugh at)! Great for the soul! _____
Everyone on stage with Roy can be seen having the time of their lives! This is again, a simple movie pick for "Friday Movie Suggestion Night" that I wanted to feature because it gives each of us a much needed "break" to decompress with a Margarita and just groove along with a true Legend. A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless) is close friends with Roy's widow Barbara. He bought Roy's Porsche and a number of personal items that he later used in his Wine Bar that he named after one of Roy's songs. A developing guitarist like me, my friend hired Roy's lead guitarist of many years to perform with him during a wine tasting event and I was very fortunate to be invited.
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I hope you won't mind that I'm posting this 9 hours early. It's good to be back after 25 days on the road. I am finally caught up, but I'm still winding down follow-ups through this Saturday. Hope you are all enjoying the summer! Remember your sunblock and of course your Roy Orbison Ray Ban sunglasses!
------Michael
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