Page 74 - Been There… Done That!

Gary Graham
that people like Sal Mineo, Tony Bennett, Gary Crosby, Fabian and more would be buying us drinks. We did several TV shows while performing at PJ’s including The “Lloyd Thaxton Show,” ‘Ninth Street West,” “American Bandstand” and “Hollywood Backstage” with Connie Stevens and Robert Stack. Eventually we did a movie for Twentieth Century Fox starring Ed Wynn titled “Your Only Young Twice.” One night, Gary Crosby wanted to know if he could borrow a guitar. I told him that my Gretsch was a back-up and he could use it, but not my Gibson “Barney Kessel.” About a week went by and then he brought the guitar back and told me what an excellent instrument it was and that Elvis liked it too. They had used my guitar in a movie and damn, I wish I had it now.
One of the sad stories was that Bobby Fuller of The Bobby Fuller Four was murdered. The band had previously followed us in PJ’s when we left for Las Vegas. I was good friends with Bobby and had worked with him on the song “I Fought the Law.” To say that he was talented would be an understatement, but like most geniuses, he was unbelievably disorganized. He didn’t pay his union dues (and I probably can’t blame him) and he probably had more “deals” on his songs than a lawyer could dream up, but I couldn’t help but like him. His brother Randy was a great guy, tough as nails and after Bobby was murdered, Randy worked in some great show groups.
I’ve been asked many times about some of the great musicians that I worked with and the greatest guitar player, in my opinion, was Glen Campbell. Glen had perfect pitch and was not a great reader of music. He would usually want someone to play a song through one time and then he would put his touch to it and it would be
72