The Return Of "Hold The Shoes".

The death this week of Frank Sinatra's widow, Barbara (the former Mrs. Zeppo) Marx, at age 90, immediately brought to mind the funniest story about Frank that I know of.
In the early 90's, a very good friend of mine worked as an airplane mechanic at LAX, specializing.
on Lear Jets.  Those owned by celebrities, or chartered by them.
My friend, Rick, was always regaling me with stories about whose lives he was responsible for, being in the enviable position of never having to take any shit from
any of the celebrities whose services he rendered for them. 
He witnessed a lot of arrogant behavior from many of them, but none of it was directed towards him.  It seems that however arrogant  they were, they all smart enough not to mess with the guy who was fixing the plane.
Thus, when Fran Drescher, who was then starring on "The Nanny" was about to take off on one of those Lear Jets, and realized that she had packed her suitcase and by mistake, left her Louis Vuitton handbag packed in her suitcase, and asked her very gay assistant out to ask Rick if he would retrieve it for her, Rick responded that unless it was right on the very outside of the very full, luggage compartment, he was not about to unload an entire compartment to retrieve it.  He opened the
compartment and said "Do you see it?"  The assistant said "No. Wait here."  He then re-boarded
the Jet, a moment later he came back out and said  "The Nanny said she needs her Louis".
Rick said, and I quote "Tell the Nanny what she can go and do with her Louis" 
And he continued to close the luggage compartment, leaving The Nanny Louis-less, at least
for the length of the flight.
There was no further confrontation after that.
Some times, it's just great when you can essentially tell a big star to go fuck herself.
I tell you all this, because it always makes me laugh to think about it, in the light of how many
times I've wanted to tell a major star to go fuck him or herself.
I've told this story on the blog before, and have since removed it and planted it in one of my e-books.

And now, the one about Sinatra: Whenever he flew into LAX,  Rick  provided maintenance for and unloaded the luggage for Frank's Jet.  It was usually a two-man job.
And he had done this many times.
According to Rick, every time he encountered Sinatra, Frank was a major crab. Always towards his wife , Barbara, and usually towards the guys unloading the plane.
This was not a man who seemed to have the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow.
No, he seemed to still be pining for Ava.
So as the bags were being hauled off the plane the last time, Rick chose to rattle off what seemed to be the contents of each bag, and he got to Sinatra's golf shoes.
Rick called out "Golf Shoes" to which Sinatra replied to his wife  "Goddammit, I told you not to pack the Goddam Golf Shoes!!"
She held her tongue, which according to Rick, was the usual case.
Rick responded, in a too low key manner" "Hold the Shoes".  And put them back on the plane.
Rick said that Sinatra suspected that he was being mocked.
But he said nothing, and Rick is alive and well to this day.

Again, this is a recycled post, that I just thought was very timely, now that Babs is gone.

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My books, "Show Runner" and it's sequel, "Show Runner Two", can be found at the Amazon Kindle Store.
Along with the newer ones, "The Man Is Dead", and "Report Cards".
They are all compilations of blog entries that have since been removed from the blog.
So this is the only way you can find them.,
You can search by typing in my name, Cindy Williams, Laverne and Shirley, The Odd Couple, or Happy Days.
Check them out.
You don't need a Kindle machine to download them.
Just get the free app from Kindle, and they can be downloaded to an IPhone, IPad, or Blackberry.
The paperbacks, "Mark Rothman's Essays" and my new novel, "I'm Not Garbo" are not e-books.
But they are available for people without Kindle.
I have many readings and signings lined up for those, and the thing about Kindle is you can't sign one.
If you'd like one of the paperbacks, personally autographed, contact me at macchus999@comcast.net
And now, we've got my reading of my "Laverne and Shirley Movie" screenplay on YouTube.

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