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| If I Ever Get A Hold Of A TIME MACHINE ... Marfa, Texas 1956!! |
Back in the early 90's, I was working the Academy Awards. The big news that show was, Elizabeth Taylor was going to be receiving an honorary award. She's the big momma of
all divas;
she was the original! Liz and her husband, the late actor Richard Burton tore up the headlines in the 60's and 70's ... no couple were bigger items back then (and FYI the Jolie-Pitts are bush league compared to the Taylors in their heyday!)
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| Dick & Liz: Love is a Battlefield! |
Well, Liz appearing at the Oscars that year was a real big deal (even though she hadn't done a real boffo picture in about 25 years.) There was an electricity back stage at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion waiting for her to show up that night (like a bed-wetter sleeping with an electric Snuggie... you know you liked that one!) I was in this narrow backstage area when the word came down; Elizabeth Taylor's car is here! Yes, the eagle had landed at the back entrance! When she came down this narrow corridor it was like the were bringing
the real Cleopatra! An army of men in black surrounded her, they were keeping fellow celebrities at arms length; The rat pack's gal, Shirley Maclaine, Liza with a Z, "Dalton from Road House himself"; Patrick Swayze pushed aside like a girlie man! even the great Paul Newman (who was to present the award to her on stage that night) was steered to the side like a mere mortal! What really was funny, her husband at the time, the construction worker named Larry Fortensky, he looked like a blond deer caught in the headlights, It was the craziest damn thing (I myself made myself invisible next to the Xerox machine) and yes, the most entertaining things do happen backstage!
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| Larry & Liz! |
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| Hurricane Liz |
Yes, Liz walked right past me... but did I see those famous violet peepers of hers? Or those fabulous jewels she always wore? Well, with all of those beefy bastards surrounding her... I pretty much saw the top of her head! Not even a sniff of her White Diamonds perfume got to one of my nostrils! (Liz was actually small, and if she wasn't sporting this kinda Marge Simpson hairdo that night, I would have saw nothin') but that was okay, for a moment;
I was in the eye of the Hurricane Liz... so long baby.
I was her assigned Page that day, yet was informed by Johnny B that he would be personally taking the assignment from me. Didn't bother me in the least. It gave me more time to spend with Shirley Maclaine. She was a blast!! BR
ReplyDeleteI that JB star-blocked you! Funny memory, and yeah, Shirley was cool!
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