My Grandma Fran was the best...and she really wasn't my Grandma-she was my step-dad's mom.
She always treated me just like I was her blood and I used to love to go and stay with her in the summer.
I would go for a couple weeks and later my sister would stay a couple weeks...
I was pretty low maintenance...Grandma always said give him a stack of paper and some colours and he's busy for the rest of the day.
Still true...
I may have mentioned that Grandma Fran taught me how to do blush on colouring books or drawings-her colouring had a distinctive 30's feel to it even though I don't know that she had nay artistic leanings---ballet I know when she was a kid and of course she was the Ukulele girl for her 2nd husbands band...I guess those are art...
She was very fussy about her hair...it was (at this juncture in her life) a dark mahogany red, never brassy always subdued and always on the short side...I can't imagine Grandma with big hair-she was too little.
I always said she was like a feisty cookie jar...short and round and full of spice...she was fascinated with life and everything about it....
When I was about 25 she called me on the phone one night "Buddy? (remember that's my nickname) Elmer won't take me to see the Female Impersonators over there on Ventura Blvd-I want you to come get me one night and we'll go over there...I'll pay."
She had a red Volkswagon-I think 60's-when she died in 1986 it had about 5 thousand miles on it-it had always been in the garage and was very well taken care of-like Pristine condition...it was my sisters by bequest-I don't know what happened to it...
Anyway she would toodle (remember when people used to "toodle" around?) around Van Nuys in her Red Volkswagon with her red hair and red lips (usually with a cig clenched between them) and explore.
They put an Adult Book Store in a few miles from her house-she wanted to know what it was all about-so one afternoon she drove up, parked and went in with her purse on her arm.
I would have loved to have seen the faces of the men who were browsing the wares...
She said it was "interesting" but also "nothing she hadn't seen before"...no judgement...
So, she took me with her to the Parco Brothers Salon in Sherman Oaks---Italo Parco did her hair I don't remember the other brothers names- I think one was Sal, Salvatore Parco...but he didn't like Sal so he was Tito (I think Tito Puente was popular then and Tito Parco had a similar ring) there was at least one other maybe two...but I digress---they were all like central casting extras, broad Italian accents and big gestures...but not feminine...more like the waiters in old Adolphe Manjou movies...
Grandma had brought a few colouring books, some blank paper, the big box of Crayons with the sharpener built in and a rug to corral me on in an area near the dryers but out of the way "where I can keep an eye on him."
It was interesting...I was perfectly happy and I had never been in a place where ladies got their hair done...or their lip bleached or permanent waves...it was a lot of work and they all looked better when it was over but tired.
The Parco brothers provided Italian Cookies and WINE, nice for ladies a little sweet snack...keep the sugars up...
There was a commotion at the front and a lady came in with a TURBAN and BIG sunglasses-she was very TAN and had tight capri pants, a yellow top and wedgie shoes that were sorta like straw and hawaiian in a way-lots of jewelry-she had a funny loud laugh and Tito fussed over her a lot...
"who is this? You're too blonde to be a Parco Brother...are you colouring?"
And with that she plopped on the floor and asked if she could colour something-so I gave her the hollywood stars colouring book because she look kinda like some of the ladies in there I thought.
"OOOOOOHHHHH this one is FABULOUS, wait...I'll show you!"
She flipped pages and came to a lady with a short flipped hair do and a big dress with a long full skirt..."see that one is ME...!
BIG LOUD LAUGH
"Miss Taylor we are ready to start you now..."
"No, I am colouring with my new best friend so go away for awhile..."
"You can call me Elizabeth..."
And that was that, I pointed out my Grandma and told Elizabeth about how we went to the movies and to the amusement park and answered all her questions and she told me I should see her pictures from when she was a little girl and it turned out I had seen her in National Velvet on channel 5 movies...she coloured her dress and hair in the book and told me about Mickey Rooney and I told her that I had breakfast with Frankenstein and the Wolf Man and how I had seen Ida Lupino kiss her Great Danes right on the dog lips at the drive in restaurant on Santa Monica Blvd.
"IDA needs to be more discreet"
BIG LOUD LAUGH
She was under the dryer when we left so I just got to wave good bye-but she was fun...
Her husband was killed that year and it was very sad.
My dad and Grandpa Elmer had both worked on portions of her husbands film and my Grandparents had been to the premier in Hollywood.
Fast forward 1977 :
"Kadota can you come in here" my new nickname based on Figs at a breakfast recently came over the loudspeaker-I was on VIP's at the tour.
"We need you to meet a limo out front and there will be a publicist from the lower lot-you're on their clock so you are their property-check in with Ops when you get back."
Occasionally when someone important visited the lot we would go get them at a local hotel or their "home" in Beverly Hills or Hollywood and escort them to the studio.
When I saw the limo I knew it was someone BIG since their was no LOGO on the car-it was a classy, black Rolls limo as I remember and I think it belonged to Dr. Stein who was head of MCA-he also endowed the eye clinic at UCLA-I never met him---I had met Uncle Lew (Lew Wassermann) several times-(nice man).
PUBLICIST: Oh good a mature one, have you done this before?
ME: I have, several times.
PUBLICIST: OK this one is a hand full-do what she wants, whatever she wants-so not argue with her-if she wants to fly somewhere call the studio first-this is the number...try to be back before midnight-do NOT take a tip from her!
ME: May I ask who "HER" is?
PUBLICIST: Elizabeth Taylor
ME: FABULOUS! Maybe she will give my colouring book back...
He turned pale so I gave him the short version of "we used to colour together when I was a kid"
PUBLICIST: She almost single handedly put 20th out of business try to see she doesn't do it to us.
I picked her up at a very swanky boutique hotel on San Vincente not far from Chasen's.
When she came downstairs and into the lobby I swear they had special lights for her-she literally glowed-she was also wearing THE Diamond (33 carats given to her by Burton)-she had a cashmere coat with a large lynx collar over her shoulders and a PA with another coat, an overnight bag and other "important stuff" trailing behind her.
I introduced myself and tried to be as polite and charming as possible-in my head I kept saying-she sat on the floor and coloured, you've seen her in a shampoo coat and under the dryer getting her toenails painted...
HER: I'm starving I have called Chasen's and they are doing breakfast for us-we can WALK there!
I just followed her and the PA and the "STUFF"
Lot's of welcomes and MRS. CHASEN was there-we were at a table towards the back away from the front door and any NOISE.
When we were finally all settled-she had FRESH squeezed Orange Juice with just a splash of Champagne-I had Iced Tea-she asked me NOT to have coffee please because she hated coffee breath before noon-in a very nice way.
She had LAVENDER eyes you know.
I finally had a chance to remind her of our meeting in the past when she asked if I was wanting to be in the Movie Business.
This required a huge amount of tact because you can't say "when I was a child....etc etc" or "when I was a tiny boy...etc etc" so I led in with You have no reason to remember but we have met at the PARCO Brothers hair salon in Sherman Oaks on the floor near the dryers_I was with my Grandmother..." (fairly classy I thought for an unrehearsed intro).
HER: Oh My GOD, well you were too young to have been sleeping with any of them so you must have been a child---tell me more"
And I did-remember I told you first about it- see above...
HER: (to the PA) YOU-take this crap (she used another word) back to the hotel-leave my coat and my bag if I need anything I will call you AT the hotel-this is an old friend so we need room to visit...
and that was that!
We had the most incredible CHILI OMELETS (no onions), some lovely toast points (assorted with sweet butter) and fruit-the most amazingly good fruit cup I have ever had-my first brush with sour cherries...
We took the Limo and went to Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills-she took my arm-she told me many stories about MGM and making Cleopatra and almost dying several times.
We went to Gump's where she bought a gift for a friend (giftwrap and send).
I realized when we sat down for LOVE FOOD SALADS in the Neiman Marcus Tea Room a few hours later (she had bought a lot of STUFF in between -all charge and send, some gift wrap charge and send) I had never seen money or a credit card change hands nor had anyone asked her any questions-it was some amazing code.
We stopped at the bottom of the escalator (main floor) for exactly 5 minutes when she almost literally bumped into a very TAN actor (George Hamilton)-she introduced me, he looked at me like I was a fungus, she verified their dinner plans for the next day, said "I'll call you or you call me, I at the Hermitage" and we were off.
We took the limo to Malibu to a friends house who I can not name because I promised I wouldn't where we sat in the living room while the sea crashed outside and looked at jewelry brought in for her inspection by a jeweler whose store we had been literally yards from not 2 hours earlier.
We snacked on cashews and kumquats-more iced tea (minty this time)...some transcendental chat and we were off again.
In the limo she considered a "quick trip" to San Francisco-I must have gone pale because we stopped back at the hotel where she changed and we went off to a very exclusive restaurant in Topanga Canyon where there were cocktails , hors d'oeuvres and eventually dinner...more Movie and TV people...a well known talk show host (when he comes over here wait 2 minutes then remind me we have to leave almost at once)...I did, we did not.
I walked her into the hotel at precisely 1 am-I had been on double time since 4:30pm...
She was charming and tired and a little tipsy she took my hand and held it for just a bit and said "Thank you for being a perfect gentlemen, a great shopping companion and not some Hollywood tight assed son of a bitch-you may kiss me on the cheek"
As she made her exit she turned (in that special light reserved just for her) - diamond sparkling alluringly in her amazing cleavage and said "Good Night Buddy" and disappeared.
I never did get to ask for my colouring book back.
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