More Hollywood Excursions

More Hollywood Excursions

At one point I dated Burt Sugarman who was the producer for a show called the “Midnight Special.”  I met him when I was working for a game show called “The Wizard of Odds.”  It was Alex Trebek’s first American job as a game show announcer before he became the host for “Jeopardy.”  Burt was one of the producers of the show.  Alex had given me a silver chalice for Christmas that year.

Burt had asked me to go with him to Hugh Heffner’s house with him but I did not want to do that.  I heard Heffner’s house was filled with mirrors and I wasn’t that confident in my appearance.  Burt had given me a beautiful bracelet that had silver and gold chains. 

I later gave the bracelet as a tip to a hotel maid when I was staying at the Hotel Tropicana with John Barrymore, Jr. after he had an altercation with Drew Barrymore’s mother, Ildikó, before Drew was born.  I was taking care of John as he was very distressed, until we had an altercation also.  Then people told me of his history.  I’m glad it wasn’t worse than it was and I did remain friends with John for a few years.

I met David Carradine through John as they were close friends.  John and I had visited David at his camper on the set of “Kung Fu” in the back lot of Universal Studios.  It was the day after an incident involving some Indians that had come to visit David the night before and had committed some crime after they left his house in Laurel Canyon. 

David was always in trouble with the law (John too!).  So we came to offer support in case the police showed up.  There were other close friends there to support him also.  Later, at a party, David introduced me as “the girl who saved him,” which I thought was cool since he was the Kung Fu master.

I met a lady friend of John’s named Ruth who taught me astrology.  I bought all the ephemerides and began doing friend’s charts.  Too bad the computer wasn’t around then because this took up a lot of time.  I also helped calculate the charts for Ruth at the Renaissance Fair.

I applied for work around the corner from Richard Rust’s house where I was crashing temporarily and went to work as a bookkeeper for Elektra Records on La Cienega Boulevard in Hollywood.  In the evenings I came home to a cute Hollywood adobe cottage on North Hillcrest Road.

I briefly dated Jim Levitt, who’s  father, William, built “Levittown” which was the first developed suburb and served as the archetype for the other suburbs that were built from then on. 

Jim had a beautiful house and told me he always knew who was going to be president because it was a manipulated situation.  The elections were just to give people the notion that they had something to do with it.  He knew this because his father was president of the board of IT&T.  Jim said he grew up in a huge mansion but was basically raised by his maid.

One night I was given a ticket to go see Elton John at the Troubadour.  I was twirling my long hair around and around during the show and couldn’t move my head for about a week after that.  Also my boss called me in and said the bookkeepers were not supposed to be out late in the clubs.

We were always given a free new release album from Elektra and Nonesuch Classical.  If we didn’t want them then they went to Michael Ochs.  He had the hugest records collection on the West Coast.  The hallways and all the walls of his house were lined with albums and he knew where each one was and could get it right away.  He liked to program music and I really loved hearing his selections.

Michael’s brother, musician Phil Ochs, had recently died and Michael was reclusive with Phil’s paperwork spread all over the house.  So, I stacked all the paper up in one place and took Michael out (to the Troubador) to help get him back functioning after his devastating blow.

I was present when “My Eyes Adored You” and “Lady Marmalade” was being written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan.  I threw out suggestions for lyrics here and there but the one they used (including the tune of the line) was:

“Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?  Voulez-vous coucher avec moi?”

I had been a French major in high school and this was a little joke we said back when days were more innocent.

Well, they used the line and it is the all important “hook” for the song.  The line was originally written by Tennessee Williams for Blanche Debois in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” but I was the one who contributed the line to the song “Lady Marmalade.”

I still hear it today on television and in stores when I’m shopping.  It can be kind of spooky, really.

I stayed in the guest house of a house off of the Sunset Strip rented by Gary Legon and his wife who were producers for a Gene Clark album called “Two Sides to Every Story.”  I traded work f or my rent and worked at a desk in the front house living room and attended all of the recording sessions and took around the finished master to various record company A&R persons to sell the album. 

While I was working there I also was typing the life story of John Paul Getty II who sat in a nearby chair and dictated his story to me while I typed. 

I met Don Williams from Shelter Records while working on Gene’s album.  Don was helping a young band named the Heartbreakers.  They had just moved from the South and Don had them staying in a furniture-less apartment in Hollywood. 

Don wanted them to have practice playing in front of large audiences and crowds and also in the recording room before they were introduced to the record company.  My yellow station wagon would get packed with all the band gear and off we’d go to a nearby park or to a recording studio.  I’ve been happy to see the success of Tom Petty and wonder if he remembers my yellow station wagon .