I have appeared on many night time shows. The first one was The Merv Griffen show. Mr G was a singer. His famous song was I got a lovely bunch of coconuts. Mr G was an actor, singer, and a host of game shows. Do you know what game show he created ? Wheel of Fortune. At the end of every segment they ran a credit about Mr .G. There was a lady in his audience that went to every show. Her name was Mrs.Miler. He always mentioned her and gave her a little wave.
After doing his show a few times he asked me to his compound to have lunch. On his piece of property he had a few houses and he lived in the main one. He had one other guest for lunch. It was … Eva Gabor. , Ms Gabor had been married five times. Wow..she was busy. I don’t know if you remember the show Green Acres. She was so hysterical.
Where she really made money was the creation of her wigs. She was a leader in the wig industry. And made millions and millions of dollars. When I met her she was dressed to the nines and did not have a wig on. She looked like she just came from the hairdresser.
The next nighttime show I did was with Arsenio Hall. When he came on stage he put his hands together like he was in prayer. This is how he greeted his audience at the beginning of every show. He had a small stage with two oversized comfortable blue chairs. He leaned in to ask me questions and to hear my answers. Now imagine a baby grand piano…..his teeth looked like the white keys. His eyes were so big ,and those eyes were so wise. Do you remember Mr A in Coming To America and the sequel. It made me smile.
When I was a waiter Mr Johnny Carson came into the restaurant. Before I went over to the table he was sitting with a group of friends. One of these gentlemen was Mr Fred De Cordova….the executive producer of the Tonight Show. I don’t know why but I could not go over to that table. Mr Carson looked over at me and I turned away to wait on another table.
When I became well known Mr Cordova asked me to do the Tonight Show…but not with Mr Carson. I think he was so angry with me for not waiting on his table. I did the show several times….with…Bill Cosby. He was quite humorous and he had those big puppy dog eyes. That’s all I can say about Mr Cosby.
I did a few shows with Mr. David Brenner, He had a quick wit. The next time I did the Tonight Show it was with the funniest lady I ever met. It was Joan Rivers. When she came through those curtains she was clapping ….clapping for the audience. I did not know who did her dresses but were they beautiful. To be continued…
