Some embarrassing and astonishing moments…

I was in San Francisco for the 1984 Democrat convention. Rushing through the halls of the Moscone Center, I bumped into an old colleague who was now working for the Center as an escort for VIPs. He stopped me with the actor Mike Farrell in tow and said he wanted to introduce us. I asked Farrell if he were a delegate and he said that he was just a curious enthusiast. We chatted amiably for a few minutes when I opined that I had really loved my time working in San Francisco and complimented him on his hometown. “I’m from Los Angeles,” he said. How embarrassing. I had confused his character on M.A.S.H. with him. News people are supposed to be able to tell the difference between characters and actual persons. He didn’t seem to mind, but I’ve never forgotten the gaffe.

The next day my friend was at it again and, again, we saw one another in the hallway. This time he had Robin Williams in tow and introduced me as the D.C. Bureau Chief for the NBC-TV Stations group. Williams brightened and asked what he should look for in that evening’s events. I began going over the agenda for that night’s session and he asked a couple of pertinent questions, obviously interested in the process. As we talked, about every fifth or sixth person who passed recognized him and said hello or made a comment. That was when I saw the most amazing display of acting. For every person that greeted him he returned the greeting, only in the exact accent that the greeter had spoken. I watched him turn into at least a dozen different characters right in front of me and turn back to our conversation in a normal tone. Just stunning.

And then there’s my lunch with Ted Kennedy. Some years before the above, while working in the U.S.  Senate, I was asked to accompany my Senator and our legislative aide to lunch in the Senate dining room to meet with Kennedy’s staff. My boss was a minority member on the Labor and Public Welfare Committee of which Kennedy was chairman. To this day I have no idea of why I was asked to go along. My boss was proposing what became the “Health Manpower Act” which would grant capitation to medical students who would agree to serve five years in medically under-served areas. I was his press guy, not a legislative aide. My only role would be to write about the bill (which passed and for which my boss, despite his minority standing, was given credit) once it had been explained to me by the people who actually did the work. My immediate reaction was regret that I couldn’t call my deceased mother and tell her I was going to lunch with American royalty. That would have impressed her. Towards the end of the lunch, during which I said nothing, I was patting my mouth with my napkin when I looked at Kennedy and saw a twinkle in his eye and a slight grin. It was then I realized that I wasn’t using my napkin, but rather patting my mouth with my necktie. I figured the Senator saw at least one idiot a day and I was the idiot du jour. Not always easy to keep one’s cool…