Adat-Celebs

Adat Celeb Stories

In 2007, members of the Adat list serv shared stories of their run-ins with celebrities. Here are those stories.

My family’s political involvement there gave me the chance to meet Yitzhak Shamir and Ariel Sharon, and I’ve met Ehud Barak, Meir Kahane (he yelled at me for challenging him) and Moshe Dayan. My strangest Middle East acquaintance was the current King of Jordan, Abdullah. When I was an exchange student at Yarmouk University in Irbid, Jordan, my classmate was a grade school friend of his. So “Ab,” as we called him, would swing by our compound or call now and again.

A politically influential client of mine wanted to bring a sitting president of the U.S. to me as a client. The person in question was in deep doo-doo because of some compulsions. I discouraged the referral.

(I) peed next to Lydell Mitchell, a former running back for the Baltimore Colts. And yes, I did peek. He did not look anything like Herbert Hoover.

Darrin McGavin came up to my mother and told her that I was an adorable baby and pinched my cheek. He was probably also trying to hit on my mother who was just 20 at the time. But from that point forward he was always referred to as my boyfriend. Alas, I never got to re-meet him later in life.

Our backyard neighbor (also in a rental house - we both lived on the ground floors) was the discus champ, Al Oerter and his family. His older daughter and I became best friends. I remember him returning from his gold medal win in the Tokyo Olympics with kimonos for the girls and his wife

My wife played the daughter of Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn in the movie "Two for the Road". But don't look for her name in the credits; it's not there. And my brother-in-law played the boy Jean-Louis in the movie "Charade".

An episode of Gomer Pyle was being filmed in the hotel, which we

were able to watch, and I rode the elevator with Sergeant Carter (aka Frank

Sargent). I also saw Gordon Liddy on a plane.

My mother is a childhood friend from Brooklyn of Supreme Crt Ruth Bader Ginsburg (she was also interviewed and in photos in the NYTimes when Ruth was being nominated years ago) and two years ago, Scott and I were invited with our son Ian, to her chambers after sitting in on a court hearing with the judges! I have to admit this was cool! We saw photos of her on an elephant in one of her many travels over the years! Other than that years ago, Scott and I were at Blues Alley and low and behold who was in the back but Stevie Wonder!

My father held the US patent for the 800 number. I think if the invention is famous (and maybe not the person) that should count as well.

In 1977 I touched the arm of Golda Meir after she gave a speech at Tel

Aviv Univ. I also met and chatted with both Rabin and Peres. Last

year I shook hands with Bill Clinton.

I was at the Rizzoli Bookstore in NY, in the children's section, having just selected the original Babar book to purchase. The lead male star in the Jurassic Park movie (I think his name was Sam Neill?) came up to me and asked me where I had found that book. I showed him and he left without even saying thank you.

Well, I did a urinalysis on Dean Martin!

My brush with celebrity was back in 1979 when I was a contestant on the $20,000 Pyramid and my partner was Tony Randall -- he was smart and nice and Dick Clark almost had to bring out the hook to get me off of the stage after I lost and continued to talk to Mr. Randall (as his closest friends call him).

I sat next to Frank Perdue on a flight to Pittsburgh during the days when he was doing his own commercials and was an all too familiar face on TV. He was writing on index cards what appeared to be notes for a speech. I had to hide behind my newspaper so he wouldn't see me break out in giggles when I saw him write "more white meat"!

I saw George Wendt (“Norm” on Cheers) waiting for a plane. He was wearing exactly the type of outfit he wore on Cheers – a tweed-like blazer and no tie. I waved and he waved back. I resisted the temptation to shout “Norm!”. I think he appreciated that.

I was at a table with 6 other people and we had dinner with Willie Stargell, the great slugger for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and then dessert with Ralph Branca, the pitcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers who threw the pitch in the 9th inning of the one-game playoff for the National League Pennant in 1951 that Bobby Thompson hit for a home run, “The Shot Heard Round the World” that won the pennant for the New York Giants, one of the most famous moments in baseball history. I resisted the temptation to ask Branca about that pitch. I think he appreciated that.

I work for Senator Carl Levin. I’m glad he’s got so many admirers!

Has anybody else had Alan Greenspan wander over to them from behind his

desk to straighten their necktie, so it was not sticking out of their

collar,

As a child I was introduced to comedian Marty Allen. All I knew is he had funny hair.

Met Willis Reed and got his autograph on a basketball at a Madison Square Gardens restaurant. Dad put me in line for this honor and went to get us a table. I got the ball, a handshake, and the autograph. When I was done, my Dad says “we’re eating elsewhere, the restaurant is full”.

Was in the pay-off scene of an early Mario Van Pebbles movie, Rappin’. The movie stunk, but it was fun to be an extra.

Followed Frank Zappa all over Columbus Ohio after my back stage pass failed to get me an interview. Caught up to him as his car stopped and his bodyguard went into a bar known for its pizza. He politely declined, as he simply wanted to get a pizza and go back to the hotel “because I have to work again tomorrow, in Cincinnati.”

I inadvertently got Stephen King royally cursed out by a gardener on a movie set. The movie was Creepshow and, needless to say, I never got the interview I wanted.

My shaking hands with Bill and Hillary Clinton during his campaign in

Downtown Albuquerque, in the '90's

I work at National Naval Medical Center. I was heading in to a patient's hospital room, and lo and behold, out walks Stevie Nicks (lead singer of Fleetwood Mac). We chatted, and I thanked her for visiting the wounded service members, and then I told her that just the day before, my daughter Rose had requested the song Monday Morning on the car's CD player, saying that it always put her in a good mood. She was sweet, and beautiful. We hugged each other goodbye! (I am such a huge fan, I was walking around with a silly smile on my face for days.)

A few years ago I went to the Mark Twain Prize for Humor at the Kennedy Center; they were honoring Carl Reiner. Afterwards, someone handed me tickets to a VIP reception, and there I met and talked with Dick Van Dyke (very pleasant), Mary Tyler Moore (kind of a snob), and Joy Behar (very friendly). I also went over to the table where Carl Reiner's family was sitting (including Rob Reiner), and told them "Mazel Tov to all of you!"

My friend is one of the producers for the Tonight Show. When I was in California several years ago, I got invited onto the stage at the end of the show and met Jay Leno and David Crosby.

Hubert Humphrey lived off of East West Hwy. and called Ohr Kodesh his neighborhood shul. His kids were in scouts which met there. His wife, Muriel, was a constant at Suburban Women's Democratic Club. Also Scoop Jackson's wife came often.

In the mid-60’s, my parents got tickets to see folksinger Phil Ochs at Carnegie Hall because my sister (yes, older!) was a fan. Activist Jerry Rubin was sitting behind us and was talking loudly to his seatmates. My dad turned around and told him to shut up. I remember thinking that my dad was the Most Awesome Guy in the world for saying that to someone famous. My sister was mortified and concluded that her little brother was indeed hopeless; I’m still trying to convince her otherwise.

For our worst celebrity encounter: We were waiting for an elevator, when out stepped ARAFAT and his entourage.

I was once on a plane with Hulk Hogan, my 15 yo is impressed.

I once interviewed Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant for a story on wrestling for the Washington Post. A photographer and I were positioned outside the locker room at the DC Armory waiting for Andre the Giant first, and then Hulk Hogan, to come out for successive interviews. As a relative novice and--at the time--fearless, I perched myself atop planks of wood by the side of the door so that Andre and I would meet eye-to-eye when he opened the door.

The photographer was aiming from a corner, so he could catch a shot of the girl reporter facing off with the “giant.” Shortly after I uttered my first, dumb question (“What’s your shoe size?”), Andre lumbered off in a huff, announcing dramatically that the interview was over. Why was he so miffed? Supposedly because I’d insulted the noble art of wrestling and asked if the histrionics of his sport were fake.

The photographer was furious. He was robbed of a priceless photo opp because the novice girl reporter not only sprang the zinger question at the start of the interview, but also had obviously annoyed the big guy by facing off with him eyeball to eyeball. Chastened, I hopped off of my perch for the interview with Hulk Hogan. That went seamlessly. The photographer got lots of other great shots during the night, but not one reminiscent of the Faye Wray scene in King Kong.

All this happened long before Andre officially went Hollywood and Hulk Hogan achieved near-cult status. At least among 15-year-olds, as I now understand it.

Way back when Maury Povich had his local show I was a guest on the old Panorama show.

I got yelled at by Abbie Hoffman. I referred to him in a news article in 1986 as a "60's radical." He insisted he was an 80's radical, on his way to being a 90's radical.

We had occasion to be in close proximity to many celebrities including Gina Davis and Randy Quaid. However, my most cherished memory of those days was our encounter with a gold place setting (real gold not gold plated). That gold place setting contained the bigest knife, fork and spoon I had ever seen. We saw it when we entered the elevator of our hotel and it was around the neck of a very large, friendly and smiling man. That fellow was Mr. T. When I think it about it now I also think of the line "I pity the poor fool, who don't donate to Krusty's shul" (see The Simpsons).

And I got yelled at by Milton Berle -- in the lobby of a theatre in NYC because I (and a friend) were not wearing neckties to the theatre. Mr. Berle (originally Berlinger) was no doubt annoyed with us because my friend had yelled "Uncle Miltie" in falsetto. But, also, in the 1960s, when this occurred, there were still dress codes. In the summer of 1967, a librarian at the NYU law library chastised me because I had removed my suit jacket while doing some legal research. And that same summer one of NYC's finest threatened to give me a summons because I was rowing in Prospect Park without a shirt on.

Thank you for reminding me about E. Howard Hunt. I had been involved with him in some government business. As we sat and chatted together he proudly allowed his gold cufflinks embossed boldly with The Great Seal of the President of the United States to peek out from his suit jacket sleeves. The cufflinks were , he said, a personal gift from the president (Nixon, for you younglings). Needless to say, he got what he wanted (and later, of course, got the justice that many thought he deserved).

George Will and his second wife have a child David who as a little boy (age 3) was the spitting image of Mr Will, in miniature, button down shirt, khakis, bowtie and all. He was in Josh's nursery school class.

One day, in 1995, I picked up the ringing phone to hear "This is the Bob Dole for President Campaign. Please hold the line." As a life long Democrat, I could not imagine what the Dole campaign was calling me about so I held on.. Soon, Mari Will, who was the director of communications, picked up. She had called because David had begged her

to find out where I got Josh's clothes ( which definitely did not include bowties.) Since Josh is a 3rd child whose "cool clothes" came out of the hand-me-down box, I couldn't do much to help her child obtain a more fashionable wardrobe. However,David and Josh were friends for a while. David, who was very verbal and precocious, would read books to

Josh. In return, Josh showed David how to loosen his belt and lower his khakis from his waist to his hips and also how to untuck and unbutton his shirt.

I, too, met Timothy Leary -- this was in Chicago, in

1990, where he was giving a lecture on this weird new technology called Virtual

Reality. He was quite gracious, surrounded by groupies, and had a mad, gleam in his eyes, which were (of course) acid blue. I got him to autograph one of his

books for me.

The weirdest encounter I think I ever had was seeing E. Howard Hunt, one of

the Watergate burglars, in a restaurant in D.C. He had the meanest stare I have

ever seen.

I spent a day in Pennsylvania with Karl Hess, Barry Goldwater‚s former

speech-writer, long after he had left the Republican party and become somewhat of an

anarchist and an urban environmentalist.

I also once met Russell Means, who --along with Dennis Banks-- founded the

American Indian Movement (AIM), back in the 1970s.

I took a two-day workshop with O. Ivar Lovaas -- who‚s that, you might ask?

Lovaas was a pioneer in the field of autism, and ranks as a celebrity in some

circles. As does Lou Brown, an early leader in the movement for inclusion of

people with severe disabilities.

I worked with George F. Will’s first wife on several occasions,

Along with several other Adat Shalomers on a Federation Mission in 2003, I

heard then-Mayor of Jerusalem Ehud Olmert giving a talk on security issues.

Irwin made Liberace's first piano ring!!!!!! :)

Back in his Philadelphia days, Irwin made rings for Frank Sinatra and Vic Damone...also a custom watch for Sammy Davis, Jr.

When I was 15, my friend Chris invited me to see the Broadway production of The Elephant Man, in which David Bowie was starring. Chris' father was the stage manager, so we watched the show from the spotlight booth, which was wonderful. After the play, we were wandering around exploring the backstage, when who should emerge from a door leading to the dressing rooms, but Ziggy Stardust himself! Chris' father introduced us, and I stood there swooning.

Fast forward about 11 years. Al Gore has just released his new book, Earth in the Balance, and my then boyfriend/now husband, Eric and I went to see him give a talk. There was only a small group at the talk, and it would have been a quiet event, except for the fact that on that day the Wall St. Journal reported that Bill Clinton had narrowed down his list of potential running mates with Al Gore as a likely choice. Therefore, a group of reporters with microphones and cameras in tow were also in attendance. Al Gore refused to answer any questions about the Clinton running mate speculation, and instead insisted that he only discuss the environment. My husband Eric raised his hand and began his question as follows. "If you were you to be selected as Clinton's running mate..." The reporters jumped up, the cameras went on, and Al Gore glared. Eric then continued..."would you participate in a spelling be with Dan Qualye?" Cameras off, reporters sat down, and Al Gore burst out laughing. He then looked at Eric and said "Can I use that?"

Our older daughter Yael, 11 years old, performs at the Imagination Stage gala benefit. The guest of honor is the singer Maureen McGovern. After the show, all of the kids who performed attend the party. Yael and friends approach Ms. McGovern to request her autograph. When she hears Yael's name, she responds "What a lovely name!" and proceeds to write "Dear Lyel..." on the playbill. Yael then asks Mo Rocca, who spoke at the gala, for his autograph. Sure! He says, and writes "Dear Lyel..." Oh well. I guess they need to brush up on their old testament women...

I had a conversation with Carl Levin, at Adat Shalom. He attended Saul Levin Bar-Mitzvah at AS. Saul was my wonderful student, and he is Andy Levin’s son. They moved to Michigan since then.

Andy is Carl’s nephew. And since then I am on Carl’s friends list serve.

I was the babysitter of Carl Levin's kids when they were small. At the time Carl was on the Detroit City council and I was in high school in Detroit.
My father was the pediatrician of his kids.

Yes, we shared a bed, Richard Goode and I. We were 4 years old, and we were

supposed to sleeping, but instead we jumped up and down on the bed. We had

a wonderful time. Our parents were friends,and our families spent a lot of

time together when we were young. At the time I didn't realize he was going

to a world reknown concert pianist.

On my 17th brithday (also about a hundred years ago...) I sang at TOGETHERNESS HOUSE in Germantown, Philly, PA with a band of very talented musicians including KEVIN BACON on bongo drums. Kevin asked me out on a date, but I turned him down because I was seriously attached to my high school sweetheart, (now my husband.)> My kids always say, "MOM< YOU TURNED DOWN KEVIN BACON FOR DAD?" :-)

(my husband) works with celebrities all the time, from Presidents to Rock

Stars. filmed Ginger Rogers and Jimmy Stewart ,. shot interviews with

Victor Frankl, Fidel Castro, and Shimon Peres (not all together,

although that would be quite interesting!)... And lately spends a lot

of time with Ted Koppel.(or as my Mom calls him, TedKeppeleh.)

I'm an extra in the movie "The Pelican Brief." I walk behind Julia Roberts while she is on the phone in Georgetown Law School toward the end of the movie. If you blink, you will miss me. I had just gotten married and so had she (to Lyle Lovett) and we exchanged congratulations.

I worked on a project for then-First Lady Hillary Clinton and Mother Teresa (establishing a home for pregnant women and babies pending adoption). I have a picture of myself with both of them on the day the home was dedicated.

But, perhaps most exciting since I was a kid at the time: Maureen McCormick (Marcia Brady) and John Travolta during the hey day of Welcome Back Kotter.

Mike and I and the kids were flying to Seattle many years ago. When the plane landed, the pilot announced that we would have to wait a few minutes because the ground crew couldn't get the baggage doors open.

In the row in front of us (NOT first-class) was Senator "Scoop" Jackson. He stood up and addressed the plane, saying, "This is a plane made by Lockheed. If we were on a Boeing plane we would not be suffereing this wait."

Susan Sarandon in the late 80's in the Village. I literally bumped into

her while she was carrying a lot of packages. I apologized and helped pick

up the packages. Was very flustered when I realized who she was - though it

took a few minutes because she seemed much smaller in real life than on the

big screen and I was concerned about picking up packages (from Barneys!).

She was quite gracious.

Bianca Jagger on a flight to London from IAD when I flew first class --

the one and only time in my life -- in 1996 or so. Long story but Bianca

sat right in front of me.

Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea, probably in 1990.

He sat right across the aisle, which was so close that I could have reached

out and held his hand. But I didn't (alas!). I can't remember who was

performing because I spent the whole time looking at him. Also much smaller

in real life than on big screen (or even on stage).

About a year before Albert Einstein (of blessed memory) died, he had occasion to work with my father on a project in the Jewish community. Einstein called the house. My brother answered. In a typical German manner, Einstein said, “Einstein here.” My brother, quite a skeptic, at the age of 12 or 13, answered “Right, and I’m Sigmund Freud!” whereupon my brother hung up on the great genius.

A few minutes later, the phone rang again. My brother answered again. This time, Dr. Einstein said in a quiet gentle voice. “Hello young man. This is Dr. Albert Einstein from Princeton, New Jersey. May I please speak to your father, ( name), from Los Angeles, California?” whereupon my brother promptly got my father and went to hide his VERY red face in his bedroom!

Years ago, I met Sen. Carl Levin's wife at a renewable energy forum in California. Her maiden name is the exact same name as my mother's married name: Barbara Halpern.

Uganda's president, Yoweri Musaveni, literally brushed against me in Lusaka, Zambia. I was standing just outside a hotel lobby, trying to get a signal on my cell, when a fleet of black suburbans pulled up, armed guards jumped out, and Musaveni strode into the lobby. After Musaveni walked by, one of the guards shoved me against the door for good measure.

A colleague and I interrupted the late Dr. Lee Jong-Wook's breakfast. We were at the World Health Organization in Geneva early one morning waiting to meet with a WHO official who had promised to squeeze in a 7 am meeting with us. We had our eyes glued to the elevator when the doors opened and, instead of the tall official we were waiting for, a short man walked out, head down, clutching a cup of coffee and a danish and heading to an office on the right. Recognizing the Director General, my colleague made a bee line for him. Dr. Lee looked up, surprised and, I think, a little taken aback, since it seemed to me he had been looking forward to a few minutes of peace and quiet at his desk before the day's onslaught of phone calls and meetings began.

My family and I, including our sons, Ari & Nathan, spent half an hour chatting back stage with Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson and his wife. They were very down to earth and his wife, Shona, and I commiserated about doing laundry. We were just standing around in a hallway behind the stage at Constitution Hall and there was no one else there. Len gave Ian a cat calendar because he likes cats.

My very first job was assistant cook at a horseback riding camp in Belchertown, Mass. The head cook was a lovely Scottish woman from Lee, Mass. The owner of the camp was a newly rich bigot who drove an enormous pink cadillac. She once came to the kitchen and vented to the cook, a woman about her age, about how all the problems in the world were caused by Jews and blacks (she used less acceptable terms than these). The cook and I listened in stunned silence. After the owner left, the cook, who knew I was Jewish, explained that her husband was a Jew from Scotland who owned a barber shop in Lee and that a famous artist in the neighboring town of Stockbridge had once used him as model. He was the barber in the Norman Rockwell painting.

Our family encountered Tiny Tim at the Air Canada desk at the Montreal airport in 1967. And yes, he had his ukelele. My mother later described him to me "as on overgrown Jewish basketball player."

My most memorable interview, was with the last living survivor of the Titanic. He was a toddler on the ship and became separated from his mother during the chaos. He survived in the life boats and was claimed by an Italian woman who had tragically lost her child to the icy waters. The boy’s mother was able to get him back by describing his unique feature. He was circumcised.

When I was in college I met Bruce Springsteen who was leaving a restaurant on 9th Street in Greenwich Village. We walked together for two blocks chatting about music!! And, several years ago I visited the Vatican and was able to touch the hand of the last pope during a public visitation. All the Catholics around me were going wild. Despite being a non-believer, and not liking his views on so many issues, it was a suprisingly moving experience.

When I first moved to the area, I was on the staff of the National Symphony Orchestra. We often were given tickets to dress rehearsals of upcoming Kennedy Center events and sometimes I could slip downstairs to the stage during my lunch break. It was during a rehearsal for Bob Hope‚s 80th birthday (in 1983) that I saw Lucille Ball back stage and I got Tom Selleck‚s autograph (at that time he was still quite popular because of the Magnum, P.I. TV series).

Also while working at the Kennedy Center, I had the privilege of hearing Dudley Moore practice piano ˆ he was quite an accomplished pianist ˆ shortly after his appearance in the movie Arthur. I even have a photo taken of the two of us.

Last summer, when we were in Chautauqua, NY, I took a Spanish conversation class and one of the other students (there were only five of us) was Scotch Ellis Loring who recently appeared in the movie Firehouse Dog ˆ a great kids‚ movie.

Here’s what I remember:

Hubert Humphrey who bumped into me as he was trying to exit a national Airport   Men’s Room through the “IN” door.   And the Smothers Brothers who I once shared an elevator with in Portland, Oregon.

Marshall McLuhan – an evening-long discussion in a Detroit bar when he was developing his “Understanding Media” work.

Buckminster Fuller – over a lunch in Denver where he noted how, until he got glasses around age 5-6, his childhood eyesight problems caused him to find different ways to see patterns and clarify the fuzziness of reality.

W. Edwards Deming – talking with him in his kitchen, while he made Japanese corn soup, about the GM executives and school superintendent who were working fruitlessly in his living room to try to clarify the “aim” of education and the system that is supposed to fulfill it.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg – Did this brush with celebrity change history?   I’ll have to leave it for you to decide.   Here’s the story.

We both attended PS 238 in Brooklyn and she was a year behind me.   One of my clearest memories from that time was early in the year that we entered 1st grade, and one day were going up the stairs as the new kindergarten class was coming in the door.
I don’t know who started it, but suddenly we had turned towards them and were shouting in unison – “Kindergarten Babies! Kindergarten Babies!”

Not being the warm, sensitive new age male then that I am now, I have no way of knowing how that made her feel.   But isn’t it possible that her later sensitivity to “class” discrimination actually started there?

I had the honor, in a chinese restaurant in NYC, of relieving myself next to Moshe Dayan (and about 4-5 bodyguards looking nasty). The bodyguards were not relieving themselves.

So, when the Beatles came here in '64, singing at the Uline (sic) Arena, my father was responsible for their transportation. One of his drivers gave them a 3x5 card, which they all signed (in pencil), and the driver gave it to me.

I kept it thumbtacked on my college bulletin board and similar less than display quality surroundings. Eventually framed...it is available for ASers viewing when you go to the bathroom at my condo!

Back during the first Begin term as prime minister, I was working on water planning. My boss and I presented our work on drought planning to the then Minister of Agriculture, Ariel Sharon. During my MIT days, pre-Israel, I became friendly with Uzi Landau (I would edit his "Free Soviet Jewry" petitions) and, while in Israel, met his father Chaim, at Uzi's home.

I once saw Fred Rogers on the street in Pittsburgh. It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Also, Wilt Chamberlain and Billy Cunningham came to my cousin's bar mitzvah. But I was too young to remember it.

In 1981 I was working as a community organizer in Toledo, Ohio. One day I received a call from a young friend who was a local Democratic Party operative. She asked if I was free to come to a small breakfast she was putting together for a candidate she'd just started working for, a member of the Cincinnati City Council who was running for governor. I gladly accepted, though I didn't feel I was important enough for someone running for governor to meet with.

Unfortunately, the breakfast ended up being a smaller affair than she expected: her, the candidate, me and a woman who had been involved with a number of local campaigns. Though my friend was clearly embarrassed over the turnout, it was pleasant enough... until the other attendee began asking the candidate what he would do as governor on behalf of animal rights. "It's really a very serious issue," she said gravely. He answered that he, too, was concerned with the plight of pets. Not satisfied with his response, she went on to provide graphic descriptions of animal abuse. Really horrible stuff. This went on for a while. A long while. He listened intently -- or, at least, did a good job of looking like he was listening intently (one of those hand-on-chin nodding things). My friend was dying.

Luckily, there was an opening and, good staffer that she was, she jumped in to warn him that, if they didn't leave right then, he'd miss his next appointment. As we all stood up and said our goodbyes, the woman offered, "I'll send you some pamphlets." "That would be great," he answered. "It's a serious issue," she added. "Yes, it is," he said.

The next year he lost the Democratic primary. Soon after, he decided to leave politics and go into broadcasting. I never spoke with him again, but I'll always remember my breakfast with Jerry Springer -- and the hideous things some people do to animals.

I had dinner with Carl Sagan, and his wife, Annie, in Florence in (or around) 1978.

I had never heard of Carl Sagan, as we had been living overseas for a number of years – so when the friends I was visiting said, “Guess who we’re going out with tonight? Carl Sagan!” I had no idea who they were talking about. He was in Florence at that time, filming for Cosmos at Galileo’s house.

The following morning he sent all of us, including my 4 and 7 year old daughters who were traveling with me, silk scarves as mementos – via his entourage. They were ugly scarves and I lost track of them – though I wish I had them today….

(I) had my picture taken with Yitzhak Rabin in 1970 with my extended family when Rabin visited my hometown synagogue during his stint as Israeli ambassador to the UN (my dad had organized the event)

(I) shook Katharine Hepburn's hand when she spoke at her alma mater in '78 or '79

Our shul in Weldon, N.C., was so tiny that we did not have a rabbi. So every Jewish New Year, my uncle (who was president of the synagogue for 50 years) imported some young student rabbi, usually from a seminary in Cincinnati. These young student rabbis (they always sounded foreign, as if they were from New York) loved the “gig,” literally basking in the warmest Southern hospitality imaginable – practicing their prayerful sermons to a congregation so insular that it consisted of an almost-inbred compilation of “me and my cousins.”

When I was a tot, the student rabbi was named Jake Mazur. After his services, one of my cousins remarked, “Jake, from what I could understand - with your accent and all - you were so funny! You should be a comedian!” This student rabbi later changed his name to Jackie Mason.

3 years ago I had Thanksgiving dinner with Richard Chamberlain - actually,

several family members and friends did. We all agreed not to talk about Dr.

Kildare ... except for my nephew who is way too young to remember. Then, we

offered him a ride to his hotel in Manhattan from our hosts' home in

Westchester. As usual, I took the middle seat squeezed in between a niece or

nephew and my childhood hero. He was very charming

Bella Abzug! I was an intern in her congressional office in 1975. She was an amazing, brilliant woman, but had a horrible temper and terrified all of us. The worst was when I had to pick her up from the airport and she spent the entire ride yelling at me about some political issue -- filling a very small car with her auditorium sized voice. I was literally shaking.

My best celebrity moment was interviewing Nelson Mandela. Very sweet man, but sadly already getting a bit senile three years ago. I spent 40 minutes with him. A very special honor.

I had Canadian Thanksgiving dinner with Marshal McLuhan in the 1960s.

And, that's the just the start of my list. :)

Flying from Chicago to Philadelphia my plane was delayed 2 hours. I ended up hanging around with a bunch of Philadelphia Phillies who just lost to the Cubs. Mike Schmidt was friendly, outgoing, funny. Pete Rose is an ass.

I was on John F. Kennedy's campaign staff in 1960. Following the Los Angeles convention at which he was nominated (I was there with the Florida delegation), Congress reconvened in a post-convention session. Senator George Smathers for whom I was working at the time, took me with him to a Southern campaign strategy session held in a six-person booth in the Senate dining room. Besides Smathers and me, the other participants were Lyndon Johnson, Mike Mansfield, John Connolly, and Walter Jenkins, Johnson's Senate chief of staff. I had been manuvered into the seat next to Lyndon to absorb all the physical contact that he regularly meted out in small gatherings. I do not remember anything that was said after he put an arm around my shoulder and his big hand on my THIGH. For me, that was too close a brush with celebrity.

I babysat for Alice Walker’s daughter, Rebecca, when they lived across the street from me when I was growing up in Brooklyn. And Jonathan and I drove Anna Quindlan (my personal hero) to the airport after she won an award at the DC Rape Crisis Center. And perhaps most appropriate, when Jonathan and I were in Israel one time, we were walking through the Knesset, and got stopped because Yitzhak Rabin was coming through. And he stopped right next to Jonathan, turned to him and said in a deep, resonant voice, “Shalom.”

About 15 years ago, Stuart and I were in Chicago riding down the

elevator from our hotel room. We're alone in the elevator as it stops

on a floor and in walks a very tall substantial older woman (too old to

be tall and too tall to be old). Stuart and I look at one another and

I say, "I certainly know who you are" to our elevator mate, Julia

Child. She asks where we're from and when she hears Washington, D.C.

she cheerfully says, "Oh, I used to live on Olive Street" in her

inimitable voice to which Stuart replies "oh, how appropriate." We

reach the lobby and she most graciously says goodbye.

I hosted and rode two days with the Duke of York, otherwise know as Prince

Andrew, Randy Andy or Fergies ex. And one of our meetings was with

Craig Ventner who broke the gene code. I also met Tony Blair at the

Embassy.

I did work with Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. for a week (I was the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party floor manager) at the Democratic Convention in Atlantic City in 1964.

I was in the elevator with Bella Abzug while some man pontificated and she

and I rolled eyeballs at each other.

In the late 1970's Angela Davis ate dinner in Durham, NC at SomeThyme

Restaurant, the first natural foods place in Durham. I was the cook. The

owner of the restaurant had to be forcibly restrained as she kept standing

at the table saying "You're Angela Davis!" which we figured Ms Davis already

knew.

I once came home from work to find Richard Gephardt in my house. He was there to pick up his daughter Katie who was a friend of my daughter Rachel.

I also sat next to Dick Morris and Evan Thomas at a restaurant at Tysons Corner!

In 1979 I was among a group of young activists who organized a mass demonstration against nuclear power after the Three Mile Island accident. On the day of the march/rally I was backstage at the Capitol all day, hanging out with rock star celebs: Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash and others. Well, hanging out is a bit of an overstatement but I did get to play Graham Nash's guitar later that day ...

I went right up to Woody Allen and Dianne Keaton and said, "I don't want to cut in your time too much but just wanted to say that whenever I'm feeling low, I love

watching your movies." He looked up at me with those big thick glasses of his and retorted, "What did you say your name was." I replied: "My name is Bob

Lapidus." He asked, "What does the name Lapidus mean?" I said, "It means a flaming torch in Hebrew."

Allen then says to me, " I kinda of like that name. Dianne, "Would you take down this gentleman's name and phone number?" She then takes out her pocketbook and writes down my name and phone number and I'm thinking to myself this is going a lot better than I ever thought as now I have Dianne Keaton's attention! He then says, "Mr. Lapidus, it was great meeting you. I hope we can get together on another occasion." I went back to my seat completely dumbfounded as to his meaning.

Fast forward, I started dating a girl and told her about my meeting with Woody Allen and took her to see the new movie, "Sleeper." During a scene in the

movie, Woody Allen (who has been brought back to life after having

been dead for several centuries) captures Dianne Keaton and holds her hostage in order to help navigate through the totalitarian society he finds himself in.

In a scene in the woods, Dianne Keaton says to him, " You should turn yourself into the authorities and the worst thing that will happen to you is that they

will re-program your brain." He then replies to her, "What are you crazy. You think I want to wind up like my friend, Mr Lapidus, who was struck by a bolt of lightning."

I then yelled out in the middle of the movie, "That's me, That's me."

I was interviewed for a campaign policy position and heavily ogled by

(then presidential candidate) Gary Hart shortly before his campaign

sank from his voyage on the Monkey Business.

I shook hands with Hillary Clinton when she visited at the American School of the Hague because she was in town for a UN Conference on Women. And my daughter Rachel shook hands with Bill Clinton when he came to Rotterdam to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Marshall Plan.

Well, when I was sharing the store at Goldberg's, Senator (and former vice/presidential candidate) Joe Lieberman came in with his wife Hadassah for some lunch 3 or 4 times. Very nice folks to talk with. BTW, he really likes my brownies and chocolate chip cookies!

I once chauffeured Al Pacino and his then girl friend (a European

actress who has since drifted into obscurity - - this was the 70's ,

folks) to an AFI celebration at the White House and Kennedy Center - - which prepared me for the frequent test of maneuvering for a parking spot at AS Shabbat services.

I cleaned up after John-John Kennedy and his fraternity brothers at the snack bar where I worked in college. I think that is what has prepared me for the Adat Shalom Co-Presidency.....

I peed next to (then former president) Herbert Hoover. Later shook the hand of (then president) Richard Nixon.

Once introduced (civil rights leader) James Farmer to a seminar group.

I sat next to Dr. Timothy Leary in a press conference before a lecture/performance he was giving. Then got into his next show in another city and took backstage photos.

I sat next to Congressman Henry Waxman in shul (at Adat Shalom) once. Not
only did he not recognize me, but I didn't recognize him. Someone told me later
who had been sitting next to me.

During college, I covered the ’72 presidential campaign and interviewed Hubert Humphrey on his press plane. He was very gracious – and I was excoriated by my politically correct colleagues for being too nice to him.

But, better, I was in the men’s room and in walks Hunter Thompson, dark glasses and all, and we shared a few men’s moments together, while he ranted in his fear and loathing style about George McGovern’s Secret Service detail and how he couldn’t get his interview. Very funny.