I don’t know if anyone has watched the TV Show “Objectified”. Harvey Levin, the founder and managing editor of TMZ, sits down with a famous celebrity, entrepreneur or television personality to see what makes them tick.
The guests have the floor to tell their stories through objects they have collected throughout the years. The objects are the focal points on understanding their experiences and how that shaped who they are today.
Featured guests have included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; businesswoman and television personality Martha Stewart; and Dallas Mavericks owner and investor Mark Cuban. Walter and I thoroughly enjoy this show!
What has been really interesting to me is that for the past two weeks, the celebs that Mr. Levin has interviewed are people that I have met and with whom I have actually had lunch.
Last week it was Willie Nelson. Now many of you have heard the “famous” Phil Donahue story ---which I will share again soon. This week, the show featured Jaclyn Smith.
Well let me share the story of how we met. I was contacted to appear on the Gary Collins “talk show”. As always, all my travel arrangements were made by one of the show’s staff members. In this instance, it was a gal named Susan who contacted me.
My rule of thumb is to establish a great relationship with whomever I am working. Susan and I chatted about UndercoverWear, her boyfriend and last but not least my itinerary. Susan assured me that she would take care of everything.
The show was filmed in Burbank and I was going to be staying in Beverly Hills. I had visited California several times, but this was my first entrée into the glitz & glamour of Hollywood.
I arrived @ LAX and was greeted by a limo driver who drove me to the famed Beverly Hills Hotel. At check-in, the front desk Manager came scuttling out to welcome me and said , “We were able to accommodate, your request….You are in “The Bungalow.” Well I hadn’t made a request, evidently Susan had. Guess I was in “The Bungalow” !
After check-in, the concierge suggested that he would drive me to my room. I was very surprised and confused to discover that my room was away from the main hotel.
When we arrived to the room, with great pride, the concierge said, “Ms James we are so pleased that you have chosen the Beverly Hills Hotel and we are proud to have you join us in “The Bungalow”.
I politely thanked him and wondered why I had been relegated to a room away from the hotel. Yes, it was lovely. It had two bedrooms and an outdoors patio with a fireplace & of course all the amenities of the hotel. But it was NOT in the hotel. I felt “removed” from the action and a tad bit concerned that here I was all alone in …. The Bungalow.
The next day Susan called to “check-in”. With a sense of excitement, she asked, “So how do you like “The Bungalow”. Now I was beginning to see a trend here. Every time someone said “The Bungalow it sounded like they were introducing The Palace of Versailles. I decided I must be missing something.
Later that day, I went to the main hotel to the library and discovered that I was staying in the most secretive and prestigious room in all Beverly Hills. The list of celebrities that “hid away” in the Bungalow was endless. John F. Kennedy, Elizabeth Taylor (who spent 6 out of her 8 honeymoons in Bungalow # 5), Aristotle Onassis, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra, and John Lennon--just to name a few!
Well I’ll be darned. I was in, “The Bungalow”. When I entered the Polo Lounge at the Hotel, I had a new sense of glamour and sophistication. Incidentally, I literally almost “bumped into” Jay Leno. I actually knew him in high school and had re-connected because of a mutual friend. So we chatted for a few minutes before he sat down for dinner.
I pondered this whole situation for a moment. Hmmm.. I’m staying in “The Bungalow, appearing on TV and hob-knobbing with celebrities. Not bad for a “girl” from Lawrence, Massachusetts. I could really get accustomed to this --LOL!
After my new found “fame”, I decided I wanted to look glamorous for my appearance on the Gary Collins show. At that time, the most well-known hair stylist in the US was Jose Eber who was “Stylist to the Stars.” I really wanted to get an appointment before appearing on the show in 2 days. I called and was told that the earliest I could get in was in 4 months. That was not going to work. As you all know, I don’t “quit” easily.
I waited a few hours and called back. This time, I called & pretended that I was my own Assistant. I was Liz Casey, calling for Tiffany James who was going to appear on the Gary Collins show and was a guest in “The Bungalow” at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Suddenly everything changed. Of course Jose can accommodate me . As you probably guessed, voila …..I had an appointment for 9 AM the next day. After all, I was a VIP Bungalow guest! LOL
And that is the beginning of my adventure of how I met Jaclyn Smith…
To Be Continued……..