Smiles wrote:And Gaybutton's list? Hugely populated.
I grew up in Washington, DC. I was a page boy in the US Congress. It's a very long story how that came about, which I won't go into, but I'll explain how I met some of these celebrities:
Bobby Kennedy - Backing into an elevator in the Senate Office Building while carrying a rather heavy load. I thought the elevator was empty until I realized I had just stepped on someone's toes and then heard, "Watch where you're going, kid." It was Bobby Kennedy. He was a senator at the time. Definitely one of life's embarrassing moments for me.
Richard Nixon - At the Washington National Airport (Now Ronald Reagan Airport) just before he was elected.
Gerald Ford - He was a congressman at the time when I was a page boy. I spoke with him nearly every day.
Lyndon Johnson
Martin Luther King
Hubert Humphrey - Met all of them in the US Capitol Rotunda. President Johnson had come there to make a speech and sign the first Civil Rights Act. Although we had to stand in the back, the page boys were allowed to attend and go through the receiving line after the ceremony. I got to meet the Supreme Court justices too.
Spiro Agnew - Was actually a neighbor. He lived just down the street from us, long before anyone had ever heard of him. He was known as Ted Agnew then. He used to kick us kids off his lawn.
John Glenn - At the height of his fame, not too long after his famous space flight. He was not yet in politics, but he came to the Capitol to lobby for gun control. He was standing right outside the entrance to the House of Representatives. The page boys were allowed to go outside to meet him, shake hands, and chat with him a few moments. I'll never forget that.
Everett Dirksen- Famous US Senator at the time. Met him on the subway that runs between the Capitol Building and the Senate Office Building.
Kareem Abdul Jabbar- On a flight to Thailand. On Thai Airways. The whole old Los Angeles Lakers team was on its way to Thailand to play an exhibition game. Before boarding the flight he was letting people come up to him to say hello.
Mickey Mantle- My mother took me to see a New York Yankees-Baltimore Orioles baseball game. I got to meet him and shake hands, along with getting his autograph after the game. He hit a home run during that game too.
Martha Raye
Annette Funicello
Hermione Gingold - Met all three on separate occasions. They were eating in the same restaurant I was in.
Peter Ustinov- I met him in the lobby of a hotel
Sammy Davis, Jr. - In Washington, DC. My brother used to play the drums. We had just come out of a musical instrument store and he was walking in.
George Segal
John Lithgow - They were starring together in Ft. Lauderdale, doing the play 'Requiem for a Heavyweight.' There was a cast party and a friend had gotten me a pass for it the day I went to see the play.
Leonard Nimoy - In Boca Raton, Florida. He was doing a lecture there.
Jim Belushi- In Las Vegas at a craps table. He was there with the inevitable blonde bombshell. His words to me were, "You want to move over a little bit, pal?"
Robert Mitchum - At a beach in Maryland. In those days he owned a farm near there. He was staying at the same hotel where my family was staying. The photo is my younger brother standing with him. I'm the one who took the photo.
(And please Lemmetellya, none of those "you're just jealous" retorts.)
