August 11, 2003
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Dave Uphoff

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Meeting famous people (accidently)

While I don't rub elbows with the rich and famous, I have had fortuitous encounters with famous people. In 1957 I went on a vacation to California with Clifton and Marguerite Veihman, their daughter Carol, their son Bob, and Jean Abels. It was my first vacation ever and I am still amazed that six people could drive to California and back in July without air conditioning.

While we were in California we went to Disneyland which had just opened up the year before. We took the jungle boat cruise which probably lasted about 20 minutes. As we returned to the dock, the 3 men in business suits sitting in front of us stood up, turned around and looked at us. One of them was Walt Disney. He was my first encounter with the famous.

In 1969 I took an extended trip to Europe and departed from John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on Icelantic Airlines. I arrived a little early and was waiting to board when I noticed Charles Kurault of CBS was also waiting to depart on the flight. With unabashed gall, I approached Charles and introduced myself and told him that I enjoyed his On the Road series that was popular on CBS television at that time. He was very polite and cordial and asked me why I was going to Iceland. I told him that I was taking an extended open-end trip to Europe to see as much as I could. I still remember the grin on his face when he told me, "I really envy you." I thought to myself why would a world famous guy like Charles Kurault envy insignificant me. That was answered partly when I noticed that Charles was doing paperwork during the entire flight to Iceland in an area of the plane that had the seats in front of him removed so he could set up an office. Charles was going on business, I was going on a pleasure trip.

During a business trip to San Francisco in 1978, I became ill with a fever and high temperature and was forced to stay in my hotel room in the Fairmont Hotel on Knob Hill. This is one of the most elegant and expensive hotels and I am sure that the company I worked for was not overjoyed with footing the bill during the week that I lay ill in my hotel room. To this day, I do not know what I had but I can tell you that I was scared because I had symptons that could have been Legionnaire's Disease which was going around at that time. Hearing on television about a woman dying of meningitis in the Bay Area also fueled my fears. Everyday, the hotel doctor would check in with me to see how I was doing. I had a temperature of 105 and I was hallucinating. I asked the doctor why he didn't put me in the hospital. He replied that he didn't know what was wrong with me and didn't want other people to catch whatever I had. That remark didn't do much for my paranoia either. I never felt so alone in my life.

After a week of sweats and hallucinations and losing 20 pounds, I finally took a turn for the better. The doctor told me I could go down to the hotel restaurant for lunch one day. Although I was very weak, I eagerly left my room and headed for the elevator. I pressed the button, the elevator door opened and I immediately recognized Julia Childs of French Chef fame standing there waiting for me to get on. She gave me a slight, deferring smile, and I returned the smile. I didn't say a word to her during our ride to the lobby. Encountering a world famous chef after a week of hell in a hotel room only added to the surrealism of my trip.

A year later I was waiting to depart on a flight from Nashville and noticed that country music singers George Jones and Tammy Wynette were waiting for the flight also. They were husband and wife at that time. Being a country music fan, I started a conversation with George who was polite and exchanged small talk with me. However, Tammy sat in her chair and stared straight ahead with a "don't bother me you meathead" look on her face. I respected her demeanor and didn't say anything to her. A few weeks later, I read where they were getting a divorce. I often wonder if her demeanor in the airport was due to a strained relationship with George or if she just didn't want jerks like me bugging her. I suspect the latter.

In another airport encounter, I was standing in line behind Ed McMahon, who played second fiddle to Johnnie Carson on the Tonight Show. Next to him was his wife who had on a floor length fur coat that had about 5 different animal hides in it. She had leather boots on, and was wearing sunglasses on her forehead. She looked very Californian and very expensive, if you know what I mean. Not too long after that I read where Ed filed for divorce from his wife after discovering that she was having an affair with the gardener.

In 1986 I was playing blackjack at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. After playing for half and hour and losing money, I decided to quit. I left the table and walked around and then came back and noticed that Madonna had taken the seat that I had while playing blackjack. Across from her was Sandra Bernhardt who is just as ugly in person as she is on television. Standing by Madonna's side was Warren Beatty, her beau at the time. Madonna never said a word while she played. I stood next to Warren Beatty and noticed how small he seemed. He was at least 4 inches shorter than I.

I rode down with Jimmy the Greek, the football commentator, in an elevator at the Super Bowl in New Orleans in 1978. Prior to getting on the elevator I passed by Walter Conkrite. One thing I noticed about seeing celebrities in person is how different they seem in person. Conkrite, Kurault, and George Jones all were short in height that is not apparent when you see them on television. On the other hand, Julia Childs was just as tall as I am, which is 6 feet, 1 inch. I never noticed her being that tall on television.

I passed by George Schultz, Reagan's Secretary of State, in a Philadelphia train station. I met Roy Acuff on a street in Nashville. I sat behind Gloria Steinam in an airplane and also Bowie Kuhn, former commissioner of Major League baseball. The one celebrity that amazed me the most on an airline flight was Jerry Lucas, the former basketball great from Ohio State. During a two hour flight to New York he sat across from me and wrote feverishly on a tablet of paper. He must have dashed out 100 pages of writing during that trip. He never onced looked up, but just kept on writing. I always wondered what he was writing about. Later I read an article about him and learned that he had a photographic memory. With total recall like that I guess you can't write fast enough to empty a mind brimming with facts and figures.

It has been many years since I have encountered a celebrity in my travels but I don't mind that at all. The one thing I liked about meeting celebrities is that they never onced recognized who I was. I bet they wished they had my luck.


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