Page 11 - Been There… Done That!

Been There... Done That!
are in the spotlight, it’s a whole different world. You have hundreds, maybe thousands of people wanting you to entertain them. When I first realized the difference was when my keyboard player Ed Craig and I went to pick up our laundry in Sherman Oaks, California. I told Ed to take our clothes to the car and when I turned around and asked what I owed, I was told, “Nothing – I enjoyed the show last night.” Wow, I was in shock. Later that afternoon a young lady invited Bob Nigg and me to her dad’s house with the whole band to watch the Rose Bowl Parade. Her dad turned out to be James Griffith, a character actor we had seen in countless shows such as “How the West was Won” and “Wagon Train.” Because of how I was raised, I offered to chip in money for the food and drinks but was told that the studio had already paid for everything. Again, Wow and little did I realize that would be only the beginning. Duncan Reynaldo’s (the “Cisco Kid”) daughter lived next door and she was quite a looker. She told me she could listen to us talk for hours and that’s when it hit me, “keep talking.” In those days people in California weren’t used to Southern accents. However there was a great deal of discipline involved and plenty of hard work. Without hard work, we might as well have stayed home.
This book is an answer to questions I’ve been asked often over the years. Many friends and family members have encouraged me to write my story. I’ve been told that my life is hard for most people to believe, especially some of the encounters I’ve had with the rich and famous. When I first started in the entertainment business, I was almost in shock meeting some of the people I had idolized as a young man growing up in Missouri, where my family had watched
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