SINATRA AT THE SANDS

Once upon a time in the 60's, a friend of mine went away for a week and asked me to take care of his car and to use it.   Well New Year's Eve was coming up so what would U do??

I drove to Las Vegas with three lady friends, Dorothy, Rosemarie & Janay and since we thought we were driving through the desert at night, we figured it must be very hot so we dressed accordingly, shorts, tank tops, etc.

And of course it was freezing.  I ended up wearing Janay's turban on my head and her long black evening gloves to keep me warm.  Please no drag comments, it was really cold.   When we arrived in Vegas, we discovered that I had accidentally opened the vents in the car, letting tons of ice cold wind in.

However we were young and we were in Las Vegas for the first time.  And it was almost New Year's Eve.   That night we were walking around all the casinos and it was heaven.   I found a crown...that's right...a crown on the floor of one and immediately crowned myself...King Richard.   Where else would a king go...The Sands where Sinatra was holding court.  Frank (always called him Frank) was not only singing there, he was walking around the poker tables.   When he spotted me with the crown, he yelled across the room to the dealer.  "Hey Joe, see that guy in the crown, deal him in, he's a personal friend of mine."  I looked around to see the guy in the crown and it was mois.   Joe (always called him Joe) would show me a card and and asked if I like it.  No... how about that one?"  In other words, I was winning and so was everyone else.   The place was jumping!   Now in typical McInnes naivete, I was bidding a buck at a time while others were betting 10..20 bucks.   My pal Rosemarie, a feisty little Italian from Brooklyn made a bet just as they stopped the fun games and her dealer wouldn't give her the money she won.  Said, "Hey, he was giving it away.  Be happy with what you got".   She replied "I don't care what he was doing, I bet it, I won it and I want it!"  He wouldn't budge so Ro spots Frank with a gaggle of ladies at a table and she walks over to him.   You read right....saying "Frankie Machine (his name in Man with the Golden Arm) I wuz robbed ".   And told him her tale of woe.  He asked for her chips and gave her cash plus the $20.  Ro told him she didn't want his money, she wanted their money to which Frank replied, "Don't worry baby.  I'll take care of it".  We left Vegas with money in our pockets.

True story and one of my most memorable moments.   A tip of the hat to thee, Mr Sinatra.  By the way we made back to L A and had the heat on this time!

LIZA AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Liza at the Hollywood Bowl

Almost didn’t make it to see Liza…again at the last moment decided go to the Bowl and see if I could get a ticket.   Ended up with a nice seat in the center.   They made an announcement that there was something wrong with the sound and that they were working on it.   A huge moan with many thinking she’s late.   Soon her voice comes over the stage sound….Hi…I am here…and there is really something wrong with the sound…but I am here and I will be out soon….big sighs of relief.   When she made her entrance and that girl knows how to make an entrance, she was greeted by thunderous applause.   She looked absolutely great and started to sing….her voice seemed a little weak but still it was Liza.  The most amazing thing happened…as she went on singing…her voice returned to normal and each song was better than the last one…she dedicated the evening to Marvin Hamlisch who had just passed away.  He had written many things for her and she mentioned him several times during the show.  By the time she sang Cabaret, New York, New York and Liza With a Z, the audience was all hers.  Nobody does it better!  After several curtain calls, the band left the stage and she followed them….turned back and slowly walked to center stage and sang I’ll Be Seeing You acapella The audience who always try to get a head start toward the parking lot stopped in their tracks, not a sound from anyone, turned to the stage, mesmerized until she finished the song and then really went crazy…as I said…nobody does it better!

‘Forever Marilyn’ statue lands in Palm Springs, Calif. - Chicago Sun-Times

‘Forever Marilyn’ statue lands in Palm Springs, Calif. - Chicago Sun-Times

Hard to imagine that Phyllis Diller has left us but leaving us with tons of  memories & laughs…that raucous, loud  and totally Diller laugh.   I’ve been to her house as a press member so many times and she was always a most gracious hostess.  When The Thalians honored her, I went out to her Brentwood home.   Phyllis had broken her wrist and yet she took the time to show me the wonderful  file cabinets of her life.  I truly believe that The Thalians Book that year was one of my finest achievements.  She left  me alone to go through the files and pick out the photos for the layout and after being dazzled by her “stuff”, I was leaving when I saw the most wonderful photo of her in the hallway which I asked her assistant  if I could take it with me.  It was the perfect  cover.   When I took the finished product back to her, she asked me to pick a favorite lithograph which she signed to me.  I still have it on my living room wall….it is one of my favorite possessions just as Phyllis was and always will be one of my favorite ladies!

RIP…dear Phyllis and thanks for the hours of joy that you gave us.

Sunday, August 5...50th Anniversary of Marilyn much too early demise.

I had almost given up on making it to the services. My good friend Larry

emailed me and was shocked that I wasn't going...services begin at noon and it is 11:15....showered quickly and ran down to my car...yes, ran...drove over Oxnard to the 405 Freeway also known as Nightmare Alley...incredible timing...NO traffic on the freeway made it to Westwood in 20 minutes....drove to Westwood Village Memorial Park.   I drove up to the gate expecting no parking...guard saw my handicapped sticker and directed me to a spot right in front of ceremony.  I know that MM was guiding me through this. I was actually 10 minutes early. I took pics by MM 's crypt, in front of an MGM logo with MM in the center replacing Leo the Lion and visited Natalie Wood, Merv Griffin, Bob Crane, Rodney Dangerfield all buried there. Merv's tombstone says No I will not be back in a few minutes   Farrah Fawcett is also buried there but only her name on the tombstone.      My good friends, Kathleen Hughes (MM replaced her in Two Tickets to Tomahawk) and her husband  Stanley Rubin who produced River of No Return spoke and I then decided to leave…very hot…I  looked at the car parked next to me and it was theirs.   Hadn’t seen them for a while so decided to wait until they came out.  There was a reception at the Presbyterian Church around the corner so when the Rubins didn’t come out,  I went over there and I was so glad I went….a big room filled with MM fans, all ages, sizes…all loved her.   Food was great, received yet another MM Tee shirt, notecards. Etc.   Greg Schreiner, Founder of Marilyn Remembered who produces this event every year…yes, every year….does such an outstanding job…the program is a masterpiece of MMemorobila in glorious Technicolor & B&W designed by Michelle[O1]  Justice & Rick Carl…all the staff is great.   Scott Fortner who also did the video tribute actually told late comers that he would bring out the souvenir book before we left and DID IT!  They sold it at the reception for a mere $10 if you wanted an extra copy.  I should have bought several!!!

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 [O1]k

He’s back….and he’s glad he is….

TCM website kept me up for many hours and taping  a lot…..first…my beloved Tarzan marathon.  I spent many, many Saturday matinees at the Harris Theater in Tarentum, PA watching and loving the Tarzan films.  They were always fun and exciting for me….saw all the 40’s Weissmuller films and some of the later ones.   Maureen O’Sullivan was so lovely and I also enjoyed Brenda Joyce…who didn’t love Boy, an amazing Johnny Sheffield and last but most certainly not least…Cheetah.  Plus there were always wonderful supporting casts. 

The next day was Marilyn and although I have most of films on DVD, I watched the Monroe Magic and it was magic…Bus Stop, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Niagara, Some Like It Hot, Seven Year and The Sleeping Prince. 

When I was a cabdriver here in Los Angeles (can U believe that????) The dispatcher sent me to Hecht, Hill & Lancaster, and a major production company in Beverly Hills (Hill was Rita Hayworth’s husband) and Lancaster was Burt)   It was around 7 PM and no one was in the lobby and as I walked up the staircase,   wondered who it would be, Hecht…Hill or Lancaster?  I stuck my head in the doorway and asked “Did somebody called a cab??”  You can only imagine my surprise when Laurence Olivier turned around and said, I did   the gentleman with him turned out to be Terrance Rattigan, the playwright who wrote The Sleeping Prince.  They gave me the address and we entered the cab.   I couldn’t resist. I had to ask why they had changed the title to The Prince and the Showgirl.    Sir Laurence said “Well dear boy, seems that the powers that be at Warner Brothers had decided that it was much more marketable film title” and he winked at me…yes, he did…

And just when  I thought it couldn’t get any better…we pulled up at the address and British fiilm star Kay Kendall (one of my favorites) came out of the house to greet them!  All  I needed was for Sexy Rexy to join her!  (He didn’t)