My mother was a lovely woman, loved children and creating magnificent memories for all of us to carry with us forever No one did Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween better than she did. She was one of the first “Super Moms” being a “Rosie the Riveter” during WW II, a truly masterful housewife and home maker and business woman as well. Here is a one of my favorite pictures of her from her glamour years, a picture of the man she married, my father, her parents and a picture of her and I in a limo when I flew her out to LA to show her my studios and introduce her to the film industry. The picture of us in the limo has a special meaning to me because she really didn’t know what I was doing out in LA. I remember how proud of me she was and how happy it made her to see my name in the credits on 60 Minutes when I worked at CBS in New York but my carreer move out to Hollywood was a mystery to her so I flew her out and gave her the grand tour.
As God is my witness, here is a story that’s too good to be true, but it is. Her flight out to LA got her into LAX pretty late. I had a limo at my disposal all the time out in L.A so who knew it would be such a treat for her when I carried her luggage to the stretch that would take us to the Burbank Hilton. She just giggled with delight when she realized that the long black limosine waiting at the curb outside of baggage at the airport ternminal was waiting for her and loved the ride and being welcomed to Hollywood in such a fashion, but what happened next was too surreal to imagine. While driving from LAX to the hotel she asked me if she was going to see any movie stars. “Yes Mother, you’re going to see a lot of movie stars and witness a lot of “Lights, Camera, Action” I answered
Well, God, or as I like to call her, “The Divine Imagination Itself” was front and center and with us in that limo writing a script for my mother that even I could not have come up with. When we got to the Burbank Hilton it must have been 1 A.M in the morning. The Hotel has an entrance door to the lobby that is very set back from the driveway and curb where guests are let off and there’s a very long awning that extends from the door to the curb. At the end of the awning right where it ends at the curb is one spotlight that points straight down to the sidewalk. When we drove up to the hotel everything looked pretty dark and shut down for the night except for one solitary person who was standing all alone at the end of that awning right under that spotlight. When we pulled up and the limo driver opened the door, my mother got out of the limo and came face to face with the lone woman who was standing directly under that single spotlight at the end of the awning. That woman was Debbie Reynolds It was so surreal you couldn’t believe your eyes, but there was Debbie Reynolds standing all by herself, not another person in sight, to be the first person my mother would meet on her trip out to see her son in Hollywood.
I think my mother froze in disbelief, as I think I also did, at the sight of this cute little mega star from my mothers era. “Hello” Debbie said to my mother as we both stood jaws to the floor. We exchanged some polite conversation and seeing Ms, Reynolds just standing there I offered her my limo to drive her wherever she needed. Debbie declined saying her car was about to arrive. We all said goodnight and my mother and I proceeded to the check in counter and up to her room to settle her in. I could not have scripted that scene if I had tried, and all my mother could say in disbelief through her joyful laughter was, “That was Debbie Reynolds !!!”
As promised, I introduced my mother to a lot of movie stars during her stay but her hands down favorite by far was meeting Johnny Depp who I had on my backlot when we were shooting Hunter Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”. There’s a lot more to that and to the story of bringing my mother out to see what her son was up to out in Hollywood but I’ll leave that for my novel at http://thebaysideexperiment.com/
I’ll just end this Mother’s Day remembrance by saying, I loved her very much, loved making her happy more than anything in the whole world, think of her all the time and have a life that’s been very blessed to have had her as my mother Love you Mother. Forever and Always — at BaysideLiveTV.com Headquarters.
