hollywood add on

A guy I worked with was telling me that when he was a kid he had a part-time job pumping gas in Beverly hills,
got to know James Stewart and used to go to his house on Sunday and help him wash his car.

Growing up in Hollywood was different for a kid. Those people they saw in the movies used to be around, visible. actual people. In Ohio we went to the movies, but there was no way we'd run into a movie star. I remember Arthur Godfrey was a friend of somebody local and came to town one time and drove down the old road to the yacht club. A couple of us were playing there and saw a car go by that they said Godfrey was in; but we never saw anything. Who knows.

Years later I was working at the TV station in Columbus
when Godfrey came in the back door at the studio where I was standing. He looked like he had the flu and was miserable. The camera swung around and I was in the shot. That was the first time I was on TV. It happened about that fast, but I remember.

Maybe it happens in Cleveland, somebody shopping sees someone, or you'd see them at the airport. Maybe a star comes in to be in a play or they're shooting a movie. It could happen, but it's infrequent. In Hollywood, the kids grew up with the fact that anyone could happen down the street, anyone.

I worked a season, half a year at Universal Studios Tours as a show announcer for the stunt men and the animal trainers. Both of these shows were fun to work. The stunt men were cowboys and dressed like the old west, ran around, drank out of bottles and broke them over their heads, shot guns and fell off of buildings.

All I did was walk out at the beginning and greet the audience, welcome them to Universal, then start the act. At the end I did the same thing, came out and introduced the stunt men, let them bow and send the audience off to see another show. I'd do the stunt show, then walk over and do the animal show. A British lady who was a dog trainer was there one time. I saw a copy of the show on TV one time and I was the announcer for that show. You did so many shows you don't think about it too much at the time, just do the show and then the next one. It was a good time working for Universal.

There was a young fellow who was an animal trainer, and like with the stunt men...when we're not working, just waiting, we used to talk about things in general.
This fellow was raised near Beverly Hills and used to have a job pumping gas. One of his regular customers was James Stewart. They used to talk and evidently got along. Jimmy said on Sunday he washed his car in his drive and the you man could come over and hang out and they'd talk. So it became that sort of friendship. The young guy would go over to Jimmy Stewart's house and talk with him as Jimmy Stewart washed his car. I forget if he used to help with the hose, or just watch, but it became a regular thing and they'd visit and wash the car together on Sundays. They had fun spending the time chatting. The young fellow told me about it, it was a pleasant memory for him and he was happy to share it. I was from far away Ohio and the story sounded like a good thing to me. I would have gone over to Jimmy Stewart's house and talked with him if he was washing his car around the corner from where I lived and I saw him in the westerns and he was a friendly guy and we got along.

This was growing up in Hollywood. My story Hollywood Ways by Jack Sender doesn't have this particular matter in it, but there are other things to read about that you may enjoy. Take a look.