Summer Time

Bruce and I were having a good time together. But, there was definitely drama. The girls were nice to me but very conflicted about their father and mother. Unfortunately, it seemed B&B were conflicted too. As always, hindsight is 20/20 and while Bruce had been in therapy, I hadn't. I had no clue that my attraction to emotionally unavailable men made them my primary interest romantically. But then you don't know what you don't know.

Bruce lived in a large guest house on an amazing old estate in Encino. It had originally belonged to the director of the Maltese Falcon, Michael Cortese. Years earlier, the long hill up to the house now filled with many newer houses, had been a polo field. John Wayne, Clark Gable and many other celebrities of the day had preferred the large acreage available in the San Fernando Valley and, at the time, Encino had been on the edge of no where compared to Hollywood.

I liked "the Valley". I still lived in my charming one bedroom in Toluca Lake opposite Bob Hope's house, about a mile away from NBC. That summer I celebrated my 28th birthday working on Wheel of Fortune in Studio 1, right across the hall from the Tonight Show. The fifteen minute break between shows found me in the hallway outside a dressing room as Henry Fonda opened the door and looked me right in the eye. The Locust Valley girl have turned bright red and scurried away, but after a few years working "in the business" I had discovered something interesting. Celebrities were just people who were famous. And many of them were very, very nice people.

Take the time I was working on Wheel of Fortune. A red-headed woman came in and sat two seats down from me in the empty (security, security, security) front row, cheering for the then host, Chuck Woolery.

She looked over at me and said "I think he's so handsome".
I stammered, "Sure is", back at her.

Chuck looked up and saw her. "Oh my gosh", he said on camera," Lucille Ball is sitting right in the front row."

Back to Henry Fonda...I decided the synchronicity of seeing one of my all time fave's on my birthday was too good to pass up. I walked up to him and said something along the lines of ,
" I can't believe it's you, I've been a fan of yours forever. " He was charming, though, took my hand and said something much more polished in response.

"Today is my 28th birthday and you've made my day", I responded.

"No, you've made mine," he said with a big smile as he walked away.