The Walk Of Fame, by Michael Davis
Whenever I meet a celebrity, I say one of two things: either Can I have some money? or Black people love you. Which one depends on the star. When I met Al Sharpton it would not have been cool to say black people love you… because they don’t.
I’m kidding. It’s just much more fun to say black people love you to someone who’s not black. The looks on their faces are mostly priceless… mostly. I work in television and have the opportunity to meet a bunch of Hollywood types – actors, directors and producers. When I meet someone on business I’m not quite the knucklehead I am when I meet someone at a party or some other random place.
I’m always interested in what people who don’t work in the industry think of celebrities. If you read my column regularly you know I’m hard on some Hollywood stars and their behavior. So I thought I would take the time to give you a few of my many positive encounters.
The first time I ever took a drink I was in the ninth grade and I was trying to be cool. My friend Earl and I were going to a party and we each had a bottle of really cheap wine. Earl had a bottle of Wild Irish Rose and I had a bottle of MD2020. That’s short for Mad Dog. How did two 13 years old kids get their hands on those bottles of wine? We went in and gave the clerk money, that’s how.
What about ID’s?
So Earl and I took turns drinking these bottles. Needless to say, we were ripppped. I was so drunk that I was told I left the party at 1 am but somehow did not get back to my building until 4 am. The party was in the building right next to mine. That’s a 30 second walk. I have no idea where those hours went. That was the last time I took a drink until I was well into my 30’s, and that is where my first celebrity encounter began.
I was at an Oscar® party when I went to the bar to get a Coke. The bartender insisted I have a real drink instead. He was a really funny guy and I liked talking to him, so I asked for something sweet. He said he had a drink with real gold flakes in it. Yeah, that’s right REAL GOLD FLAKES. That’s why I took it. It sounded cool, and it was. It was also potent. After two shots of this Goldschlager I spotted Julia Roberts in the corner of the room and made a beeline to her. I ignored all the other people vying for her attention and said hello. She smiled and said “Hi!” Then I said “Black people love you!” She thought that was great and we started talking.
I have NO idea what we spoke about because I can’t remember thanks to some damn gold flakes. I met her again years later and she told me she remembered meeting me. I don’t know if she did or she was just being nice, but either way she was SO cool.
When Denys Cowan and I were both working at Motown we were walking the halls on our way to lunch when we passed the CEO’s office. The door was open and in there sat Bill Duke. Most of you know Bill as an actor (the big black guy with the baldhead who was in Predator). Bill is also one of the greatest directors working today. Google him and you will see a list of credits and be amazed at what he has directed. Denys and I were HUGE fans of Bill’s work so when saw him sitting in this meeting with the CEO we took one look at each other and without any other thought (like: don’t be stupid and keep your jobs) we ran passed the outer office passed the CEO’s assistant got on our knees in front of Bill and shouted “We’re NOT worthy, we’re NOT worthy!” Lucky for us the CEO and Bill had a good sense of humor. Bill is still one of my best friends and I’ve been trying to get him to the San Diego Comic Con for 10 years now. Maybe this year…
I met Wayne Brady on the set of a TV show I was writing. The cool part about this story is Wayne knew my work on Static because he is a huge fan of animation and comics. We had started to work on an animation pitch together. Right now he’s real busy with his show but I hope to get back to that soon. Here’s the thing with Wayne. He is exactly like you think he is. He is a great GREAT guy. Whenever we have been out and someone recognizes him he will stop and chat with that person for as long as it takes. He’s just a real nice guy with a lot of talent. He’s old school in a very big way. A throwback to Danny Kaye and Sammy Davis Jr. If you don’t know who Danny Kaye is then you are so in for a treat if you decide to find out. If you don’t know who Sammy is then you are just sad.
My friend Bruce Walker is a big time record producer. He invited me to his studio and when I got there Malcolm Jamal Warner was there. Malcolm is best known as Theo in The Cosby Show, but has had several hit shows and is always working. In fact, Malcolm turns down a great deal of work because he has other interests. On such interest is music. He is a badass jazz and spoken word artist. He was recording an album when I entered the studio. Bruce introduced me and I said “Hello, Theo.” He just looked at me and said “Glad to meet you, asshole.” I knew we were going to be good friends. Malcolm and I constantly try and one up each other in public. Once at a party I saw Malcolm talking to a really pretty girl, so I swished over there and in a really over the top gay voice said “Who’s this hussy?” She just looked at Malcolm who just looked at me while I swished away. Later that night I was talking to a girl when Malcolm came up to me and said; “When did you get out?” Yeah, it’s like that.
I met Kiefer Sutherland at what used to be my favorite restaurant in the world, La Dome. La Dome was on the boarder of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills in L.A. This was my second office for a long while. I was there so often that everyone knew me and I knew everyone. I was sitting at the bar when Kiefer sat down next to me. I said “Black people love you.” He shot back. “And I love black people, and just to prove it I’m going to buy you a drink.” He was WAY cool and funny as hell. I mean this guy was funny. Really nice guy.
Don Levine is the creator of G.I. Joe. I am a HUGE G.I. Joe fan and a big collector. The 12-inch Joe’s from the 60s and 70s, not those lame ass mini-Joes that became popular in the 80s. Don Levine found out who I was from Steve Geppi (head of Diamond Distributors) and asked for a meeting. When I met Don I brought a few on my prized Joes with me for him to sign. Yeah, I brought them to a business meeting. For all I know, Don could have hated me and I never would have had a chance like this again. Hey, I’m not proud. This was DON LEVINE I still can’t believe I know this living icon. No he’s not a Hollywood type but for me he’s even cooler!
Denys Cowan and I had a meeting with Stevie Wonder at Motown. When Stevie’s assistant left the room to get something for him, Denys and I looked at each other then started waving franticly in Stevie’s face. Look, we were not trying to be disrespectable but we could swear he could see. Stevie said with a smile “That’s not funny.” Denys and I could have been knocked over with a feather. To this day we can’t get over that encounter.
Man, now that I think of it there are so many cool stories of great people I have met in Hollywood that this could turn into a book.
A book? Really…
I will leave you with just two more.
I was at La Dome one evening when I saw Rod Stewart and another guy sitting at a table. I went over and said “Black people love you.” He thought that was really cool and invited me to sit down. I sat with Rod and his friend for hours and we talked about a zillion things. Man, was he cool. I remember him asking me about Frank Sinatra and we shared our love of the Chairman of the Board. This with the guy who sung If you think I’m sexy. That was a good night.
Finally, most people who know me know I have a very little patience for idol worship. I can’t stand people who fawn over stars and hang on their every move. My pat answer to this is thus “Is Tom Cruise thinking about me? Is he writing me a check?” I’m pretty jaded when it comes to meeting stars… except one.
George Clooney.
I met George on a studio lot where he was shooting a movie and I was writing a TV show. I saw him earlier in the day and thought he blew me off when he said he was late for his call. Then I saw him again and he seemed really happy to meet me.
My heart was all a flutter. He had told me the truth: he was late. I spend quite some time talking to George and secured a future meeting with him to talk about an animated project. There is something about George that makes him bigger than a star. He (like Wayne Brady) is a throwback to old Hollywood. He is what a movie star was back in the day. Bigger than life and talented. I just like the guy. I like his politics, I like his humor I just like him.
Yeah, it’s safe to say that when it comes to Clooney, I’m his bitch. He is just that MAD COOL.
At some point I would like to share in more detail some more stories and maybe expand on some of the above. I’m so hard on Hollywood I forget sometimes there are some great people who work here.
Now there is a flip side to these great people. Those people I have met who turn out just to be idiots. Like the really well-known actress I used to DATE who ignored me as if she did not know me when I saw her a party a month ago.
I guess she forgot those photos. Can you say You Tube?
Nah, I would never do that. Unless I have too many gold flakes…
Michael Davis is a Hollywood mogul and a Friend of ComicMix.
Hollywood Mogul Michael Davis should make better use of his time by helping Cheetah get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Cheetah is 76 now, and won't be around much longer, and it would be nice if Cheetah was honored while still alive.
Jeez, you wouldn't want to piss off Cheetah. But what would Cheetah do to the star?
When is Cheetah's birthday?
And what's an appropriate present?
Pooper Scooper?
BTW, I'm seeing Cheetah spelled Cheeta in many places. I always think of it with the 'h', and so did a couple articles I read, but Wickipedia, which we all now to be an unimpeachable place for information, says it is Cheeta.His birthday is celebrated as April 9, 1932..
I once stood in line at Disneyland with Meredith Baxter Birney. This was 1975, pre-"Family" and "Family Ties," post "Bridget Loves Bernie." The line was for the Haunted Mansion. She and her son were ahead of us in line, but because the line snakes back and forth she was standing right next to us. My mother spotted her and used that classic line, "Isn't that somebody?" Meredith was wearing sunglasses and a head scarf, obviously trying not to get noticed. We stood there, trying to put a name to her face. Meredith was actively ignoring us. The line began to move and since we were right next to each other, that meant moving in opposite directions. Meredith took her boy's hand and in a very thick Southern accent said, "Come along, Junior." At that moment, my brother, who is very good at these kinds of games, exclaimed in a hushed voice, "That's Meridith Baxter Birney!" Meridith didn't seem pleased that she had been made. She didn't even turn and smile. She just took her kid and started walking away. It was her son who beamed, pulling against his mom, leaned through the bars of the cattle-run and shouted, "That's right! You got it! You got it!"Michael, if we ever meet, I hope I can remember my greeting: "Hi, Michael. I'm Russ Rogers. Black people love me!"
I would PAY to hear somebody say that to me. Not with money mind you…
You could buy me a drink.
You are on!
I would take it a step further and say that anyone who doesn't know who Sammy is must be only posing as a music fan/lover and they should be required to watch all footage from the Sands and listen to Sammy's live albums (both alone and with the Summit) while wearing a T-shirt that says "The internet gives me no excuse to be ignorant."Great post, man. Some good, funny stuff here. :-)
Great stories! I have mixed feelings about the whole celebrity thing. Some are shallow, self-centered and really believe they are better than "the little people." However, others very real, down-to-earth and well-centered. I've been fortunate that to date, most of the celebrities I've met have been pretty decent folks, clearly falling into the latter category. This is probably a good thing, because I don't suffer fools well.In all cases, however, I feel sorry for those who want to escape their fame, but can't.
Living in New York is great for celebrity spotting, so great that one tends to create categories for scoring the game. So far, at my local yarn shop, I've met Sarah Jessica Parker, Uma Thurman, Mary Elizabeth Parker, and Kate Winslet.Claire Danes mother ran Arthur's pre-school. Claire was only 7 then, so it probably doesn't count.
AACK! I mean Mary Louise Parker.
The Wife and I like to say that we convinced Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker to have kids. We were walking about Battery Park some years back, Shugie (The Kid) dancing ahead of us in her chaotic Asergers/ADHD-y way. Broderick and Parker were walking their HUGE dog (made all the huger by their relative twee-ness) and Shugie bolted up to play with it. She just sort of danced around in front of them for a moment or two, and Sarah audibly said "Oh, honey, look!" with an "aw, cute" in her voice. We ruched Shuge away before the dog ater her. Nine months later they had a baby. So we like to think that we inspired them.
Jungle Larry was working the crowd at St. Wenceslas' gym in Maple Heights when, noticing my Mickey Mouse Club logo t-shirt, he lifted me by my suspenders and announced, "a Mouseketeer." Probably thought I was that Cubby O'Brien kid.
Grrrrrrrreat column Michael! I think you've given me my new tag line for when I print up new business cards, "Black People Love Me!" My own celebrity sightings in public are few. I saw the late Nancy Walker just walking down Broadway one day. That was a surreal experience as she looked like a Drew Friedman drawing. I also saw the late Marty Allen (of comedy team Allen & Rossi fame) in Hollywood once as I left a video store which tells you how long ago that was. Let me state here that despite my calling them late, these people were not deceased at the time I saw them, but are now. As a kid, I saw Tiny Tim perform at Steel Pier in Atlantic City at the height of his fame. Some one said he was signing autographs at a side door so I high-tailed it over there and took a couple of pics with my then new Insta-matic camera which Mr. Tim gladly signed. I still have them somewhere but they were starting to deteriorate from the ancient chemicals in the paper and by now are probably blank, darn it! TT looked as freak-ish in person as he did on TV but he was a unique talent, I'll give him that. I'd kill to own a suit like the one he once wore on the Mike Douglas show which consisted of Golden Age DC comic book covers! It was sweeeeet! At conventions I've seen more celebs than I can count but had interaction with few of them. My favorite was a Hollywood Collectors Show in California years back where I had great chats with perrenial bad guy, William Smith, John Hart (serial star and the second TV Lone Ranger) and Pat Priest (Marilyn Munster) who also was in an Elvis flick. It may not have been chance encounters, but hoo boy, it was well worth the trip to La-La land. I was most star struck meeting Jack Kirby and Robert Crumb. I'll have to post the Crumb story sometime as I name drop a few UG cartoonists, it was quite the day and it wasn't at any comic con!
Alan,Cheetah slept with an ex girl of mine. The pain is still to great.
Yours, your ex-girl friend's, or Cheetah's?
How many ex-girl friends are out there? ;-)
A few. Are you one? I dated a girl named Lisha, she was really cool.
Why, thank you!!! ;-)
Howdahellru?
Life is splendidly good!!!
Email me offlist so we can play ketchup! lishais@earthlink.net — remember that email address? You gave me the "lisha is" idea! LOL!
I hate goldschlager. I had recently been divorced and a buddy and I were vacationing in Florida. We were sitting around a tiki bar drinking shots of something the bartender recommended, goldschlager (with Molson chasers). A cute little blond, Brigid, sat down next to me and we shot the shit for over an hour. We decided to go out for dinner at 6. We'd meet at my hotel room. I had probably 5 shots of goldschlager, whose nefarious effects were masked by the gold flecks and the dentyne-like taste. I went to the room to shower and clean up, but just passed out into a coma. My buddy said Brigid showed up at 6 looking really good, but there was no reviving me. We had to fly out the next day, so there were no second chances. As I said, I hate goldschlager.
Man, what is wrong with you? I can tell when people are waving their hands around even when I have my eyes closed. I'm not even blind and the rest of my senses are still strong enough for me to do that. Can you imagine how strong the other four senses must be for a blind person? You know Stevie probably has a sequined Daredevil costume in his damn closet. And some throwing stars made out of Songs In The Key Of Life CDs.
You SO right-but in my defense I went to public school.
Below is the link to a 1994 photo of me and the late, great Ed Bradley, sharing considerably less than 60 minutes together during Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. When the photo was snapped, our three-person Air Force public affairs contingent was in the process of making arrangements for Mr. Bradley to return to the U.S. on military aircraft to file his story. He was one of more than 500 accredited media people we arranged transportation for in the first three weeks or so of the U.S. invasion.Link: http://home.comcast.net/~russ.maheras/Russ-Ed_Bradley-Haiti-1994.JPG
STEVIE WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to see him in concert Thursday night and I send him your love Michael. P.S. I'm sad, but I will forgive you for not answering my emails telling you we were out in LA 2 weeks ago. I had some shots of Tequila, not the gold flake stuff, waiting for you!
I DID answer your email. Maybe you should get a computer not made by Mattel! You know I'm never one to pass up a shot…or 7. Tell you what, I will make it up to you at Comic Con.
ahhh I knew you still loved me too! bring Wayne B and I'll bring the pineapple "backs". I will start the comic con countdown – 40 DAYS!
Michael, your column today raises a rather disgusting question.I've been seeing a lot of this edible gold flake stuff on teevee lately – on a $1,000 hamburger in some Manhattan restaurant that seems to cater to fools, on a $1,000 sundae in some other Manhattan restaurant that seems to cater to fools… it's a fad.Seeing as how you've imbibed the stuff, I just gotta ask you: after consuming gold flake, do you, ahhh, poop gold?Might be worth it. Once.
I saw that spot on the $1000.00 hamburger. I am a 'live and let live' kind of guy and really should not bitch about what people spend their money on considering what I paid for a 'mint in the box' Captain Action but…damn. I stopped drinking anything right after that encounter with Julia Roberts. It was months later when I was out with a bunch of hip hop guys and Magic Johnson when I ordered Goldschlager again. You should have seen the looks I got from these guys. It was like I ordered a Shirley Temple. Needless to say I changed my order to the only other drink I knew (because of the song) Tequila, and the rest is history. So I did not really have a in depth history with the flakes to be able to answer your question. Also-as far as any 'pooping' goes I draw the line at any 'booty' talk with anyone unless they have an M.D. or a court order.