Side Salad
I went on one of my long walks yesterday, only the second since my return to the States. It was a country/small town walk with just a dash of encroaching suburbia thrown in.
I saw horses happily cavorting, managed to get lightly coated with prickly/weedy things, climbed through barbed wire, got challenged by a dog, and visited an upscale supermarket.
But the piece d'resistance was a visit to a Roy Rogers restaurant.
Where I grew up, there were lots of Roy Rogers (famous for their roast beef and fried chicken) but they became few in number and are now mostly encountered alongside highways in multi-brand food courts (their sandwiches pre-made and wrapped). But this was a classic, free-standing fast food joint and for both novelty and nostalgia value, I couldn't pass it up.
Now, those of you who have been following my financial travails may be upset and astonished to hear this, but I spent around six dollars, maybe more, for what turned out to be a disappointing culinary experience. But it had to be done. (If you don't understand why, you simply have no soul.)
Anyway, my "side salad" was topped by a reasonably nice-looking slice of tomato, which I then topped with Italian dressing. Since it was on top, I ate it first, and as I plunged my fork into the well-dressed slice and maneuvered it into my mouth, I was hit by a cinematic, transitional dream effect. The cheap, fast food salad was taking me back to an expensive, venerable diner from the Golden Age of Hollywood that -- as of ten years ago, at least -- still served hungry denizens of Los Angeles, all night long (or close to it).
Once again, I was sitting across the table from Bob Scheerer, a man who, at 13, danced alongside Donald O'Connor in a series of teen musicals at Universal. Then, in the early '50s, he appeared on Broadway with Phil Silvers in "Top Banana". Later, he directed (and produced) "The Danny Kaye Show" as well as specials with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand.
Still later, he directed some of the best episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". (And he even directed the "Matlock" I saw the other day while on the treadmill at my sister's house.)
Bob was the best gift given to me and my friends by Rusty Frank, author of the deluxe, coffee table book, "Tap". In the mid '90s, Rusty was in her thirties and Bob in his sixties but they were a wonderful couple, not least of which because half of the couple was Bob.
I was never sure about my relationship with Rusty. One year, for example, she and Bob and several others went out with me for my birthday. The next day (or the day after that), she went out for her birthday with pretty much all the people at my party except for me.
She took them to Magic Mountain, a wonderful California amusement park, and I think she felt that she had already paid for me at my birthday party, so why should she pay for me again at hers?
Still, it was disturbing and kinda weird.
But Bob was pretty much always wonderful. We had parties at his house with "the guys" to watch, for instance, boxing on his big-screen TV. (The guys, as I recall it, were pretty much vaudeville-loving male friends of Rusty's but it was "the guys" nonetheless.) We went to the fights at The Forum, along with my other friend Michael (then a comedian, now a New Jersey Orthodox Jew) and his friend -- a piano player who worked with Tony Bennett (or people like that).
And, memorably, we went to the Playboy Jazz Festival, where we sat in Hugh Hefner's box. (Hef couldn't come so he gave the seats to Bob.)
Anyway, one night after (probably) a showing of old movies and stuff at a vintage movie palace in downtown Los Angeles, we went to this (at least) equally vintage dining car. And Bob had a tomato and onion salad, which looked really good, but I didn't really have a lot of (or any -- so what else is new?) money and he gave me a taste of it, which was wonderful. There was a strain of judgment or criticism present, if unspoken, regarding my financial status, but that was Bob -- stern, warm, talented, fun . . .
I finished the tomato and ate the rest of my Roy Rogers salad.
_________________
Originally posted December 12, 2006, 17:04 @ http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
I saw horses happily cavorting, managed to get lightly coated with prickly/weedy things, climbed through barbed wire, got challenged by a dog, and visited an upscale supermarket.
But the piece d'resistance was a visit to a Roy Rogers restaurant.
Where I grew up, there were lots of Roy Rogers (famous for their roast beef and fried chicken) but they became few in number and are now mostly encountered alongside highways in multi-brand food courts (their sandwiches pre-made and wrapped). But this was a classic, free-standing fast food joint and for both novelty and nostalgia value, I couldn't pass it up.
Now, those of you who have been following my financial travails may be upset and astonished to hear this, but I spent around six dollars, maybe more, for what turned out to be a disappointing culinary experience. But it had to be done. (If you don't understand why, you simply have no soul.)
Anyway, my "side salad" was topped by a reasonably nice-looking slice of tomato, which I then topped with Italian dressing. Since it was on top, I ate it first, and as I plunged my fork into the well-dressed slice and maneuvered it into my mouth, I was hit by a cinematic, transitional dream effect. The cheap, fast food salad was taking me back to an expensive, venerable diner from the Golden Age of Hollywood that -- as of ten years ago, at least -- still served hungry denizens of Los Angeles, all night long (or close to it).
Once again, I was sitting across the table from Bob Scheerer, a man who, at 13, danced alongside Donald O'Connor in a series of teen musicals at Universal. Then, in the early '50s, he appeared on Broadway with Phil Silvers in "Top Banana". Later, he directed (and produced) "The Danny Kaye Show" as well as specials with the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand.
Still later, he directed some of the best episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation". (And he even directed the "Matlock" I saw the other day while on the treadmill at my sister's house.)
Bob was the best gift given to me and my friends by Rusty Frank, author of the deluxe, coffee table book, "Tap". In the mid '90s, Rusty was in her thirties and Bob in his sixties but they were a wonderful couple, not least of which because half of the couple was Bob.
I was never sure about my relationship with Rusty. One year, for example, she and Bob and several others went out with me for my birthday. The next day (or the day after that), she went out for her birthday with pretty much all the people at my party except for me.
She took them to Magic Mountain, a wonderful California amusement park, and I think she felt that she had already paid for me at my birthday party, so why should she pay for me again at hers?
Still, it was disturbing and kinda weird.
But Bob was pretty much always wonderful. We had parties at his house with "the guys" to watch, for instance, boxing on his big-screen TV. (The guys, as I recall it, were pretty much vaudeville-loving male friends of Rusty's but it was "the guys" nonetheless.) We went to the fights at The Forum, along with my other friend Michael (then a comedian, now a New Jersey Orthodox Jew) and his friend -- a piano player who worked with Tony Bennett (or people like that).
And, memorably, we went to the Playboy Jazz Festival, where we sat in Hugh Hefner's box. (Hef couldn't come so he gave the seats to Bob.)
Anyway, one night after (probably) a showing of old movies and stuff at a vintage movie palace in downtown Los Angeles, we went to this (at least) equally vintage dining car. And Bob had a tomato and onion salad, which looked really good, but I didn't really have a lot of (or any -- so what else is new?) money and he gave me a taste of it, which was wonderful. There was a strain of judgment or criticism present, if unspoken, regarding my financial status, but that was Bob -- stern, warm, talented, fun . . .
I finished the tomato and ate the rest of my Roy Rogers salad.
_________________
Originally posted December 12, 2006, 17:04 @ http://blogs.chortle.co.uk/andrewjlederer
posted by Andrew J. Lederer at 12:17 PM
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