Friday, January 16, 2015

Four For Friday - A Night With Johnny Grant - Part One

It is Friday, and in the US is a three day weekend if you happen to be a bank employee or government worker of some type. Most of the rest of us have to work. As usual I will be here all weekend and blogging with my bacon soaked fingers. OK, booze and bacon soaked. Tomorrow and Sunday will be parts two and three of this blind item. If you would like to follow me on Twitter, I am @entylawyer

Back in the day when I was just getting started and helping out at film festivals and making connections and going to law school I ran into Johnny Grant. I had no idea who he was when I looked at him, but knew the name when I heard it. For those of you who don't know who Johnny was, he was the honorary Mayor Of Hollywood until his death in 2008. He started out in radio though and when he heard I had worked with some bands and radio stations we tossed some names around and found a few we both knew or worked with. We made plans to meet for lunch one day when we were both back in LA. I didn't know if he was serious, but he was the one who did the calling and we met a couple of days later for our first of many lunches. Generally we only had lunch. There were only a handful of times we even saw each other at night and that is when we would cross paths or one of us would spot the other in the Roosevelt Hotel bar. One day at lunch he asked what I was doing the next night because he had something in mind that he thought I would enjoy.

We met at The Roosevelt. It was easier for him because that is where he lived. He met everyone there. We sat down in the lobby and had a drink while we waited for the guest to arrive. A short time later I heard a loud voice yell out, "Why the f**k are you here in the lobby drinking like you own the place? I told you to meet me out front" Johnny was laughing, but I didn't until I turned around and saw this permanent A list singer/actor. Permanent A list in both (Lets call him OE). I had never seen him anywhere other than from an audience, but here he was in the flesh and it was a reddened/tan jowly kind of flesh. It was hard to describe but it was as if the perception of the man and reality were exactly the same. You could tell he was gruff and impatient just from looking at him and didn't even need the way he greeted Johnny when he walked in to know it.

When Johnny introduced me the handshake was firm but then he said, "Johnny told me you like old Hollywood kind of things. Tonight you are going to feel like Scrooge because you are going to see the f**king past and present of Hollywood." I asked him about the future and he told me, "I'm not going to be alive much f**king longer so I'm only worried about me right now and waking up every day."

He then turned to Johnny and said, "Grab a few of those bottles from behind the bar and lets get out of here." Johnny turned and asked the bar tender for a couple of bottles. You weren't supposed to take them out of the bar, but no one was going to tell Johnny no, and they sure weren't going to turn down the guy who told Johnny to get them.

Before Johnny could even get the bottles OE was walking through the side door by the bar and was seated in a limo before we could make it down the stairs. When Johnny opened the door, there was someone waiting with OE and I knew this was going to be one hell of a night.

29 comments:

Tricia13 said...

OE-Elvis?

Tricia13 said...

That would make enty ooooold lol

River Song said...

Ol' Blue Eyes

sandybrook said...

I kinda doubt its Sinatra but he fits and died the exact same day my uncle died in 1998

Tricia13 said...

Or Bob Hope.
grant was good friends with Hope.

Derek Harvey said...

Frank Sinatra

sandybrook said...

Grant was good friends with Sinatra and he fits as singer\actor I just can't see him being friendly to a nobody like Enty. That's why I hesitate....

aemish said...

I like the Sinatra guess! I can totally picture him talking exactly like that + the description of the tan..

Simon said...

I am on the frank Sinatra train

D Brown said...

Elvis was certainly A+ list in singing but, even though he was relatively young, his film career was over almost a decade before his death. He was A list in movies, in the commercal sense of opening, at his height but never received critcal acclaim and is therefore suspect as "permanent A" list. Also I'm not sure he was old enough for "old" Hollywood and can't see him hanging with Johnny Grant without his Memphis posse.

Johnny Grant seems to have a few connections with the Rat Pack.

I'll go with Dean Martin. Permanent A list in both. Reddish and jowly. More likely to hand around old Hollywood. Probably didn't drink when working, despite the image, but did drink more in his later years after the death of his son.

Sinatra could also fit but I doubt he would hang with a stranger.

D Brown said...

I can only think of Bing Crosby as another permanent A list is song and film. Doubt it is him inasmuch as he was reputed to be quite cold, although gruff might cover that. He did work a lot with Bob Hope, who worked with Johnny Grant in enteraining troops, but Crosby and Hope were not close personally.

Guess I'll have to wait for the next blind to see how the hints are going.

Tricia13 said...

Dean Martin is a great guess!

david said...

Johnny Grant, president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. He was always re-elected because no one dared to run against him. Great guy! (Hollywood Chamber owns the Hollywood Walk of fame Stars that were put in to get tourist to walk up and down Hollywood Boulevard so they could patron the stores.)

Pghgirl said...

OE = Oceans Eleven
Frank Sinatra?

Smoke and Mirrors said...

Sounds like Frank Sinatra

H2O said...

Also, Elvis would not have known he wouldn't be around much longer.

Chi Chi said...

Grant was friends with Sinatra, Hope and Crosby. Was Angie Dickinson in the back seat?

Chi Chi said...

that is a good idea.

Eros said...

I like this bi.... someone jowly and red faced. I like alot of the guesses but besides elvis not sure if they match.

M. Brown said...

I thought Sinatra right away.

AtlLady said...

Two things:
1 - So far, I am liking the Dean Martin guess given by D Brown. Can't wait for the next clue!
2 - Enty, a lightly bacon-flavored tequila might be rather tasty!

MrsF2u said...

This one is gonna be delish!

CINDY said...

For what it's worth my first thought was immediately Sinatra. I don't know enough about Dean Martin's persona to throw him into the mix though.

Babble said...

Has Dean Martin won either an Oscar or Grammy?

I think it's Frank Sinatra too.

Babble said...

Duh.

Don't know why I thought Oscar/Grammy.

Will shut up and wait for more clues.

Anon said...

OE=Ol' blue Eyes=Sinatra

back again said...

Hey @Sandybrook- Howdy- I DO think this is Frank Sinatra & I'll tell ya why! A good friend of mine's Dad worked w/ Sinatra forever-& he was really nice to my friend since he was a boy.My friend even asked me to join him while they worked Sinatra's Meadowlands show(long ago)when his voice was going(which was sad to witness & he looked a bit sad @it).Yet backstage he was funny& gruff &self-deprecating & who gave him "the bad booze causing this crap" kinda stuff-He thought nothing of talking to us or in front of us,swearing in front of us @some sound issue-in short, he was quite open & comfortable & nice to me-a complete stranger--I'm just sharing my experience-I've many Sinatra anecdotes & I never got the impression that he would not speak to a 'nobody' like Enty

Princess Kate said...

I know there's no point in quibbling with ratings, but Frank Sinatra is permanent A++++++ list. Even fifteen years after his death. He was one of the most famous people of the 20th century.

Im Babs Johnson said...

I'm thinking OE could also be for Old blue Eyes. Sounds like Sinatra....

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