We love you, too!
I have to tell you. A hollywood star lives around the corner from me
(2 neighborhoods down). It's the house with it's own limo. I always
thought it was Debbie Reynolds. Your stepmother sounds like a pretty
cool lady! I can't get over how many stars you California MoPoer's
get to meet !!
I love these stories, guys. I was thinking of changing dinner w/
Marilyn to Billy Crystal.
I met Yul Brynner (fell over the back of a couch into his lap at
Studio 54), John Kenneth Galbraith, saw Mick and Bianca Jagger ; all
that same night. But that's it for stars. There were more drugs in
one place than I have ever seen in all my hippie years! It was a
night they did the Academy Awards live on screen and had two parties
on two coasts. I was working for Polaroid, shooting instant movies of
them and putting them up on other screens.
These people I didn't know kept coming up and handing me their drugs
to hold while they danced!
Andrea
On Jul 2, 2008, at 1:20 PM, Susan Heim wrote:
Hey Bruce,
I was at that same event at the Cinerama Dome. We went early also
to get the "special program book". The only good thing I can say
about it was that while we were waiting in the line to get the book,
we were positioned right in front of the area where they were
interviewing the celebrities as they got out of their limos. So we
saw Angela Lansbury, Jack Nicholson, Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews,
Kirk Douglas (we actually attended to see Spartacus), and a few
others I can't remember now (I'm getting old and forgetful). You are
right, though, the book wasn't that great but it did have some very
nice photos in it.
Also, about Debbie Reynolds. My step Mom has been in the
costuming business for 50 years. She and Debbie are good friends.
Years ago Debbie "found" many of the costumes from Gone With the
Wind stored at a Bekins storage facility in Hollywood, having been
stored their by Selznick. Over the years she bought and "found" many
other costumes and many of them were restored at my step Mom's shop.
She saved me all the scraps and I have them stored and labeled in
little jars at home (o.k., I'm a pack rat). About 15 years ago, my
step-Mom bought the original half sheet for Singin' In the Rain and
Debbie took it to Gene and Donald's house to have it signed. My
birthday is New Years Eve, so typically I have always gotten the
combined Christmas/Birthday gift, which is cool, except when I was a
kid and the birthday would come but I'd already gotten the gift a
week before (kids can be so greedy!). So, when I went over to see
my step-Mom at the holidays and she handed me a tube, unwrapped (her
no frills style, I love it), I thought it was something she wanted
me to frame for her. Inside was the signed half sheet with a little
note from Debbie. It is my most prized possession in my collection.
Not my most valuable, monetarily, but the care that went into
getting it for me was the value to me.
I have been lucky enough to meet, work and dine with many
"celebrities". Some were nice people, some were fantastic, and some
were grumpy and some downright rude. Just like regular people. My
favorites have been Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, Gregory Peck, Gene
Kelly, Patty Duke & John Astin, Carol Burnett, Helen Hayes, and a
few others. Those just stand out in my mind. With my business I have
had for the past twenty years since I retired from the film business
I have many people in the public eye that are customers. Believe it
or not, most are just down home folks who got lucky and they are the
first to say it. There are some that think they are all that, but
they probably did before they became famous also. Just like regular
people!!
To be honest, I'm with some of you. I would rather have dinner
or hang out with some of my customers that are regulars on this
group and I have with some of them. Koose (Dave K.), Toochis,
Patrick/Michael, Richard Del Belso, John Schad, Freeman, and
others. There are so many on the group that I would love to meet in
person. Kirby, Alan Heimann, Andrea, Joe Bonelli, Greg Douglass,
John Reid, and pretty much everybody. I love the varying
personalities of this group. That's my spin.
Sue
www.hollywoodposterframes.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Bruce Hershenson
To: [email protected]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008 3:59 AM
Subject: Re: [MOPO] <><><> dinner <><><>
I was real busy last night with my auctions, and am just now seeing
this. Obviously, I am both greatly complimented and embarrassed by
this sweet reply from Marty, and he knows I enjoy time with him just
as much (or more) than he enjoys spending time with me (we clearly
have a mutual admiration society).
Funny true Marty Davis story. I was passing through Cleveland like
20 years ago, and someone had told me of this MAJOR collector I
should meet named Marty Davis, and I called him up and he gave me
directions to his house. He said hello when I got there, and said,
"I am sorry, but I can only talk for a few minutes because" (if I
remember correctly) he said "I am getting married tomorrow and my
wedding rehersal is very soon".
Well, Marty saw I loved posters just as much as he did, and we ended
up talking for a couple of hours, and he showed me lots of great
items from his collection, and I bet he got in all kinds of trouble
over being so late for his wedding rehersal, but it showed he had
his priorities in order! The last time I was in Columbus I spent a
couple more hours talking to Marty (even though we both were
exhausted) and in a more perfect world he would live down the block
from me, and we would see each other frequently!
Speaking of celebrities, and meeting them or having dinner with
them, I have had my fair share of encounters over the years, and I
have found the ones where I am meeting them as a star struck fan
very awkward, and I have learned to avoid such encounters (for
example, I have a close friend who runs a comedy club where Jay Leno
appears once a week, and every time I go there when Jay is there, he
comes over to me and says the same few pleasant sentences, and I am
certain he has no clue he has met me before, for he must go through
the same process with 100 people every day!).
I would say my nicest celebrity encounter was with Debbie Reynolds.
It was around 18 years ago, and she was getting ready to open her
museum in Vegas, and she had heard of my posters and wanted to get
me to display them in the museum for no fee (but that kind of made
sense, because it would give me great free publicity).
So she wanted something from me, which is the best way to ever meet
a celebrity. She called me and invited me to her house, and I went
to this little house in North Hollywood, and I knock on the door,
and this little old lady answers the door, and she has a scarf
around her head and zero make-up on, and I truly thought it was "the
maid" and it took me a minute to realize that it was actually
Debbie! I went in and talked with her for an hour or so about the
museum idea, and then she said she had to go, and invited me to see
her again the next day where she was taping some kind of show.
I went to some studio she gave me an address to, and when I got
there she was all made up, and looked exactly like the person I had
seen so many times (an amazing transformation from the day before),
but now that she was surrounded by people she had little time to
talk, but she kept introducing me to everyone there as the "king of
movie posters" (I get that sort of thing a lot!). Rip Taylor was
there jhovering about, and he said "Give me your camera and I'll
take a picture of you and Debbie", and he was amazed I didn't have a
camera.
A year or so went by, and one day Debbie called me, and said she had
the financing in place for the museum, and wanted to talk again. I
had gotten married and thought my wife would get a big kick out of
"lunch with Debbie" and so I suggested we meet in public, and Debbie
told me to be in some fancy hotel lobby at some time, and we were
there. She came in all decked out, and lots of people were staring
and pointing at her. She walked over to the hotel restaurant and
said "I want a table for three" and the restaurant guy said I am
sorry but I have nothing for an hour, and she said, "Look, you know
who I am, I bet anything you can find me a table if you really try",
and of course he did!
It was a pleasant meal, and I ended up lending her a couple of six
sheets, and when the museum closed they were carefully returned to me.
One meal I won't forget is one that I didn't get to have! Last year,
there was a special AFI showing of ten movies in L.A. with intros by
top stars, and one was Star Wars with Lucas, and one was Cuckoo's
Nest with Nicholson. My oldest son (then 14) loved Cuckoo's Nest,
and two of my best employees are Star Wars freaks, and I wanted to
take them to see those movies, but had no clue how to do so.
I posted right here on MoPo about it, and Richard Del Belso (a MoPo
member and poster collector) contacted me and told me he could get
tickets. He came to the event, as did my old friend John Sawyer and
HIS son, plus I called collector/multiple Oscar winner John Myhre
(another old friend), and he came too.
We were all supposed to have dinner together before the movie, but
the AFI pulled a scurvy trick. They had announced that the first 100
people in each movie would get a special program book, and my son
and my employees wanted to be sure to get it, so they said they
would skip dinner, and wait in line, and I reluctantly stayed with
them, so they wouldn't be alone, and missed the dinner. I am really
sorry to have done so, for Richard worked for the studios for years,
and John works on top movies, and I am certain I missed a zillion
great stories!
To make matters worse, it turned out the "special program book" was
just the regular crappy program book everyone got, and it didn't
matter if you were one of the first 100 people (it was just a trick
to try to get people to arrive on time).
The worst part of living in a tiny town is NOT the lack of fine
dining or top entertainment, but rather not getting to share the
company of fine people (like the ones I mentioned above, plus many
other MoPo members).
One of the absolute best dining companions I have ever had was
Nelson Lyon, a semi-celebrity (and great lover of lobby cards). I
had a series of dinners with Nelson, and I think he could easily
hold his own with Orson Welles or Chaplin, or any of the other
celebrities mentioned on this list. I wish I could magically join
together the highlights of my dinners with Nelson, and I think it
would be a far more entertaining movie than "My Dinner With
Andre" (those of you who know Nelson know what I mean, and those of
you who don't, do not know what you are missing!).
Enough rambling down Memory Lane!
Bruce
On Tue, Jul 1, 2008 at 2:25 PM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
In a message dated 7/1/2008 9:43:14 A.M. US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
writes:
if you could have dinner and then chat for hours with any hollywood/
movie person, past of present, who would it be?
I will extend the definition of "hollywood/movie person" to include
those people professionally selling movie memorabilia. And I would
choose Bruce Hershenson, because he has consistently shown me over
the past 20 years that he has more fascinating stories, accurate
information, and understanding about the film poster world, and
auction machinations that anyone else. Time with Bruce just flies by!
Marty Davis
Vintage Film Posters
38732 N. 10th Street
Desert Hills, AZ 85086
623/551-6655 tel
623/551-6622 fax
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
OneSheet (eBay Screen Name)
www.vintagefilmposters.com
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