my awesome conversation with david frost about pie
Here’s the full story of the meeting I mentioned in this post.
When I was a teenager, I got to go to this concert:
The clip above shows a list of the performers and brief clips of some of the performances. If you want to catch any of the acts in their full, cheesy glory, you can peruse these.
The Music for UNICEF Concert: A Gift of Song happened in January 1979. Thanks to my school friend NN, whose dad was one of the organizers at the UN, I got to go backstage and meet (and pester) all the hot stars of of the late 1970s: the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, Henry Ford, Donna Summer, Rod Stewart, Henry Winkler, Rita Coolidge, Carol Lynley, Kris Kristofferson, ABBA (Anni-Frid and Agnetha only), Cat Stevens, Danny Kaye, Earth, Wind & Fire. I didn’t meet the boys of ABBA nor Gilda Radner.
Tragically, I have very little of interest to report. Putting it mildly, I was an awkward adolescent and did not serve up any sparkling conversation with anyone. I remember Rod Stewart, Cat Stevens, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Rita Coolidge, and Carol Lynley as pretty unfriendly and coated with celebrity fuck-youness. Although, in retrospect, people may have been coated in other substances that made everyone seem a little sweaty and unfocused and, um, remote. Eh, who am I to speculate or judge. I was a mess of a clueless weirdo teen.
I do remember David Frost, Henry Fonda (who drank a glass of milk during the party), Philip Bailey from Earth, Wind & Fire, Danny Kaye, Barry Gibb, Henry Winkler, Kris Kristofferson, and Olivia Newton-John as very friendly. Eye contact and a firm handshake goes a long way towards warm memories 30 years later. Remember that, celebrities!
It was with David Frost that I had my only memorable and vaguely witty conversation.
A couple years previously, he hosted David Frost Presents the Guiness Book of World Records. (I thought it was a series, IMDB tells me it was just one television special). In it, people would try to break world records of all kinds. Oddly (and this is the sort of shit I always remember), I recalled that David himself had attempted the World Record in Pie Catching. I can’t find anything on the official Guiness site about pie catching (was it one caught from the highest distance? Or most in a period of time?), but I retain an image of David Frost gleefully holding the remains of a berry pie that had been dropped towards him from somewhere above.
So, I approached Mr. Frost, who immediately threw his arm around my shoulders in that inimitable fun-party way, and I asked him if anyone had broken his pie-catching record. He roared with laughter and said, no, as far as he knew, he was the record holder still.
And that is it. Maybe not the most awesome of conversations, but the context makes it pretty awesome.
I have yet to delve into these YouTube clips of the concert. If you do, keep an eye out for an ungainly girl in the audience with a Dorothy Hamill cut and tan-colored cowl-neck sweater. And a gypsy skirt and Fry boots. Good lord.
PS The above-mentioned friend, who made it all possible, recently friended me on Facebook. If you’re reading this, NN, thanks!
Wow, you met Danny Kaye. I am impressed. Becky, you have such great celebrity karma. I think it was probably only because you were with me at LAX that I had one of my few celebrity citings: Alan Alda!
Also seem to remember Becky/The Clash and Becky/Radiohead stories from some years back. And I think a Becky/Annie Leibovitz encounter as well.
This would be a great place to re-visit if you could go back in time. Very exciting! I adore your question for David Frost.
I met Gilda Radner!! She was very gracious. I was sitting in her seat at the premiere (in NY) of . . . “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.” I got her autograph later. But you met Danny Kaye.
Becky – I think you have my email address (captured by your reply system) so please send me your snail address and possible colour preference for the ornament. What fun!!
Oh my goodness, the outfit you described! I *yearned* for those Frye boots!