Hollywood

by Ed Nelson

“This explains something my friends and I have noticed about Rick. Most of the time he is as serious and focused on things as you are, on the rare occasion like at the Hamburger Hamlet tonight he is just another kid like the rest of us.”

  “Rick you are going to be an interesting person to watch,” stated her father as he yawned, “As much as I have been fascinated by all this it is my bedtime.”

  Looking at my watch I realized it was past ten o’clock and fast approaching my bedtime also. We all said goodnight and Nina walked me to my car. A quick goodnight kiss and I left for home and bed.

  Chapter 47

  The next morning I was up at the normal time and ran with Dick Wyman. He asked me how things had been going. I gave him a small update as we circled the high school track. He told me he didn’t understand how one person could get involved in so many things.

  My morning was prosaic to say the least. I stopped at the bank, the dry cleaners and the library. From there I went to the mall to pick up some new golf shirts as mine were getting tight. I went home and polished my boots and shoes. The housekeeper that stopped once a week didn’t seem to have the same standards as I had been taught so I spent some time cleaning the apartment.

  At lunch time I went over to Larry’s Chili Dog. Larry’s is an outdoor stand with picnic tables to sit at. As far as I was concerned they had the best Chili Dogs west of the Mississippi. Those at Crosley Field in Cincinnati were the best east of the Mississippi.

  I read a book on economics and how the stock market works. I had picked it up at the library. I had a feeling that I would have to know about such things someday.

  Later on I took a nap because I had no idea how late the Monroe’s party would last. I also ate dinner before I went. I drove over to Sandwiches by Connal’s in Pasadena for a quick meal.

  I returned to my apartment to shower and shave. I wore my normal outfit of dark grey slacks, a yellow golf shirt and dark blue blazer. After dithering between my boots and shoes I went with the boots. They seemed more natural to me these days, certainly more comfortable.

  I arrived at the party at seven thirty, a half hour fashionably late. Actually Nina had suggested this as most people would arrive about then. She was at the door greeting guests with her father. I actually got the air kiss on the cheek from her. Wow, were we fancy tonight. I cheated though as I was pulling away I licked her ear.

  In turn she slugged me in the gut. Ain’t love grand! Well anyway it was a little bit of fun. No one else noticed.

  I went to one of the bar setups to order a Coke. After that I snacked on appetizers for a while. The bacon wrapped shrimp, or as the waiter informed me, Angels on Horseback, were wonderful.

  I finally found a corner to stand in and watch the crowd. I was joined by a young man who introduced himself in a strong Australian accent as Jack McLeod. He was here on business and knew some people who knew some people so he got an invite. Well at least he came with people who had an invite. He seemed like a good guy.

  He was in the cattle business and was looking for bulls to improve his herd. He told me he couldn’t wait to get home, this was okay but he preferred the outdoors. We stood in the corner for the longest time and talked about the various guests. Naturally we didn’t know many of them but we made up stories about them anyway.

  Jack told me about his farm in Australia and invited me down under someday. He made it seem really nice. It would be fun to take a bath in a tub set out in a field next to a windmill. Talk about a different world.

  One of the people we talked about was a guy every bit as big as John Wayne and real good looking. Someone had pointed him out to Jack; he was a high powered advertising man from Madison Avenue, by the name of Don Drason or something like that. He sure liked his booze and women.

  I wondered if DF would need an agency like that. If so I think I would ask Mum to handle it. For some reason I think she could hold her own with that crew. With his recent sobriety I wouldn’t want to place Dad in that situation.

  Standing there I didn’t notice a young lady who came up to me.

  “Ricky, I am so glad to see you.”

  It was the beautiful Annette. We did the air kiss thing. What’s wrong with a real kiss? At that point Jack McLeod excused himself and walked away. Just as I was getting ready to have a good talk with Annette another old acquaintance showed up. Paul Anka was there. I barely had time to introduce him to Annette and they were in another world.

  Jack came back as they wandered away, “Puppy love if I’ve ever seen it.”

  Our corner was getting busy as now I was tapped on the shoulder by Anna Romanov. This time Jack made no attempt to leave so I introduced them.

  Anna told me that she was starting a design house. She would recommend products and even carry her own brand names. Her first product was going to be a special line commissioned with DF Designs. She was interested in co-sponsoring my TV special and being in our catalogs. I told her I would have to talk to my partner Mark Downing and arrange a meeting to discuss terms.

  She thought that was how we should proceed. About that time John Wayne showed up and swirled her away.

  Jack looked at me and said, “Mate, you certainly know some interesting people. Next you will be introducing me to the Queen.”

  “Both her and Eisenhower I said with a straight face.”

  He looked at me, “Somehow I think you could.”

  I just laughed at that and we changed the subject. The corner was getting stuffy so we took a walk around the parts of the house that were open to the public. One of the rooms was Mr. Monroe’s office. In a glass case there were cigars and cigar boxes on display. I recognized the box that had pride of place with its own lighting.

  It was a shabby looking box which had been opened and had two dried out cigars in it. What I found interesting was the picture of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders that was on the box. It was identical to the like new unopened box I had found in Dad’s office basement. I didn’t say anything about it.

  A young actor came into the office, while looking around he introduced himself as Leonard Nimoy. We talked for a while. He joked that he might smoke one of Mr. Monroe’s cigars. I didn’t say anything, instead raising my one eyebrow at him. He loved it. He was going to practice it. He might be able to use it in a role someday.

  At that time Nina showed up freed from her duties. I introduced her to Jack. She seemed to lean towards him as they shook hands. I got her away from him as fast as I could. I suspected he was more of a ladies man than that Don guy.

  Nina and I went out by the pool and that’s where I found out where all the teens were hanging. It was a fun party after that. We danced, ate, dance, snuck in a kiss or two, ate some more and danced. It was a great evening.

  Around midnight people started to drift away. Nina told me only the hard core drinkers would be staying and some wouldn’t leave till dawn. She was tired and wanted to go to bed so I hunted up her father and thanked him for the great party. After that Nina and I kissed goodnight and I departed.

  I wasn’t five blocks down the road and the police had me pulled over for a sobriety test. I was able to walk the line and recite the alphabet backwards so they let me go. They did question my hardship license, but bought my story.

  I collapsed into bed without reading anything.

  Sunday was a sleepy day. I was too late to run with Dick so did the route myself. Lunch was at the Bob’s Big Boy in Burbank. I made my tee time with the same old guys I played with last week. The mouthy one wasn’t so mouthy this week.

  I had longer to warm up this week and I knew the course better. John Jacobs was my caddy once again. This time I managed an eight under, still not a course record but getting there. I think I owed it to Mr. Williams just to help keep the nasty ones mouth closed.

  After a day out golfing and a late night for me I was ready for a quiet evening. I called home and talked to everyone. I had to apologize that I hadn’t written a letter this week. No one was upset but it would be missed. Mum
told me more about her trip to England and how the family was getting along. Even though Grand Mum was okay this trip the sooner we made it over the better.

  She also wanted to know if I had any further problems like last week. I told her no, and she told me she thought those problems had gone away. That must have been wishful thinking on her part as she had no way of knowing.

  I asked Dad to mail me the box of unopened cigars that were in my closet with the picture of Teddy Roosevelt on them. He said he would, but in turn would like me to check out the Rowland-Workmen families in City of Industry, especially seeing if I could find anything out about the last Spanish governor of California. I promised him I would do it next weekend.

  After saying Hi to my brothers and sister and explaining that I had yet to make it to Disney, and yes I would get there soon, I hung up with a round of I Love You’s.

  I then called Nina and we talked about the party last night and what a good time we had. I told her about getting stopped and she told me that several people at the party had spent the night in jail and her Dad wasn’t happy. He had talked to the Mayor earlier and now the Mayor wasn’t happy. Soon the Mayor would talk to the Chief of Police and he wouldn’t be happy.

  I tried to imagine Sergeant Woodruff of the Bellefontaine Police force worrying about making anyone unhappy and couldn’t picture it. I chalked it up to another difference between Hollywood and the real world.

  I was glad to get to bed. I wondered what the next week would bring. I was finished with school for the year and would be on the set all day.

  Continued in Book 4: In the Movies of the Richard Jackson Saga

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