Julia Roberts smiled at me.
At the Upper Crust Bakery in Austin. Her megawatt smile is the reason she’s a
star. That she smiled at me when she didn’t have to is the reason she’s a
regular, nice person.
Karrin Allyson thinks I saved
her life. Her show at Jimmy Mak’s in Portland was SRO. I was standing near the
top of the steep basement stairs.
Dressing rooms at Jimmy’s are in the basement. Karrin came upstairs,
stumbled, and grabbed my arm. She thanked me, and thanked me again. I guess,
for not letting her fall, and for not falling down the stairs on top of her.
Nothing so personal passed
between Goldie Hawn and me; the story is in how it didn’t. In 1980 I was
standing in line at a taco stand on the plaza in Santa Fé, chatting with a very
nice Japanese-American man who somehow looked familiar. As we bit into our
tacos and said goodbye, I realized it was Pat Morita, who was then playing the
cook on Happy Days. (There was, as yet, no Karate Kid.) I rejoined Hyon on the
other side of the plaza, and she said, “Isn’t that Goldie Hawn?” And it was
Goldie, holding toddler Kate Hudson by the hand as they strolled off down Lincoln
Avenue. Hyon and I think of the baby Kate sighting whenever we see adult Kate
in a movie.
