Grandpa's stories about Elizabeth Taylor's boobs
Some stories from Grandpa about working in the movie studios in LA in the 50s-80s. He bounced around from studio to studio doing all kinds of jobs and rarely remembers which specific movie was involved and wasn't too good at remembering most of the people's names. My mom was getting some of the stories on tape. He says he has a lot of really good ones but they're too dirty for him to tell me as he'd have to bleep out too much. haha. Here's what I can remember from this week-
He started working near the studios as a high-end tire salesman and it was his job to go to the studios to take pictures of the famous people who bought the tires. He saw a bunch of guys sitting around playing cards,etc (waiting in the "doghouse" to be assigned random jobs) and decided he wanted to work at the studios too.
His first official job on his first day of working for Disney Studios was to drive out and get Peanut Brittle for Walt Disney.
He was once asked to drive Judy Garland home after shooting had ended for the day. She drinks a whole bottle of wine in the back seat on the way there. He gets to her house, she tells him to wait because she's going out (and she's already drunk). He's not her personal driver or anything, he was just doing someone a favor because it was on his way home, so he's not sure what he's supposed to do at this point. She goes into her house and he hears her having a loud fight with her then husband. She goes into the pool house, turns the lights on and proceeds to change right in front of an open window (he saw down to the undies). Then, she gets in the car, and can't remember the address of the place she wanted to go (someone's house), but when they finally find it, he had to physically drag her, passed out drunk, out of the car when they got there.
He was working on a movie with Frank Sinatra and they sent him out with Sinatra's assistant guy to go find a boat for Frank to use over the weekend to hang out with Gene Kelly and his wife. Frank had such a good time on the boat, they had to shut down the movie production over the weekend.
He had to fly out to Florida to deal with labor relations on a movie set. He deals with the problem, but one night one of the actors asks to borrow his car. He says sure. Early the next morning, he gets a call from the guy saying that he got a speeding ticket the night before, and could my grandpa please pay the ticket and he'll pay him back. Grandpa says "why aren't you here to pay the ticket?" and the guy tells him that he was feeling sick and had to fly home to California last night. Turns out the guy had a terrible case of the clap and didn't tell anybody and just up and left the movie set.
He was hanging out with some of the set painters on a set and one of the guys bought a brand new Cadillac. The other guys decide to mess with him and tell him "oh, those new Caddys get great milage, you'll see!" So they secretly add a gallon and a half of gas to his tank every day when he's not looking. After a few days he's like "wow, it DOES get great milage!" So they tell him that if he REALLY wants good milage he should get it all tuned up at this Cadillac dealer. So the guy takes it in, pays a lot of money to get his car all tuned up, and afterwards they stop adding the extra gas to his tank. The guy gets all upset that his milage has plummeted. Long story short, I guess they tricked the guy into taking it to a few other shops to get it looked at, but before they could tell him the joke the guy got fired.
Grandpa was working on a movie with Elizabeth Taylor. She was coming in to check into a hotel on location and grandpa had never met her before, so he told the bellhop he was from the studio and took some of the bags up to her room so he could see her. So he goes up to the room, and her husband is in there talking to a bunch of girls. The door is open and she stands right against the doorjam blocking his way. So there's not much room for him to get through, with the bags and all, and he was feeling brave, so he let his arm brush her chest as he went by to put the bags down. She looked him up and down and smiled and laughed and didn't get out of the way, so he got even more brave and went to get some more bags to bring up. She again, stands in the doorjam and is smiling at him and not moving, so he again goes by and lets his arm brush her chest as he goes by to put the bags down. She asks if he is working on the movie, he says yes, and she says "oh come by and see me next week, on on Set 20" So he goes by, finds her dressing room, and some security guy tells him she's not there and to go away, and grandpa was too scared to go back.
He worked on a few movies with Angela Lansbury, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and often drove her around. I guess they became pretty good friends and he says she was crazy about him (he was married to my grandma at the time, my mom and aunt being young kids). So she gave him a boat one day, and he had this boat for a while. One time he was at her house and 2 long haired hippy types riding motorcycles came by and he said "don't worry, I'll get rid of those hippies" and she said "those are my kids!" Another time he was there, and her whole house burned down in a fire, including a drum set that she was going to give him. One of the last times he saw her, she said she was going off to stay in Italy and he should come with her, but not wanting to leave his family he said no, and he never saw her again.
One day they were shooting on location in Disneyland, and a bunch of guys went over to the employee commisary for lunch. Roy Disney Jr. (Walt's nephew) wanted a ride over there, so he got in with them and went over to eat lunch. I guess the routine was that they would all get in line for their lunch (which was 65cents) and one guy would pay for everyone and then they'd get reimbursed later. Well Roy Jr. this big shot guy (who owned a major portion of the company at that time) is with them in line for lunch and gets out this little coin purse and counts out his own 65cents and that's it.
On a McHale's Navy movie, there is a point where the pilot is wasted and 2 novices have to land the plane. They already had planned to take a shot of a plane landing all wobbly, but do all the close ups on a sound stage, like usual. One day grandpa had a convertible on set and the director decided he really wanted a close up shot of the landing gear boucing around trying to land the wobbly plane. Even though this should have been a stunt driver's job, the idea came to the director and he decided he had to have the shot and there wasn't time to get the stunt guy, so tells my grandpa to drive the convertible along side the plane as its landing and he'll get in the back with the camera guy and shoot the shot. So they ended up doing this twice, and I guess the used the shot in the movie, but my grandpa ended up doing a stunt guy's job for a fraction of the pay.
He was working on either a Sinatra movie or a James Bond movie and they decided they wanted a shot of a car speeding down a narrow alleyway. With no time to get a proper stunt driver, grandpa drove, pulled it off and they used the shot.
When Michael Eisner came around in 1987 he fired a bunch of people, including my 62 yr old grandpa being one of them, but he got, among other things, a lifetime pass to Disneyland.
He started working near the studios as a high-end tire salesman and it was his job to go to the studios to take pictures of the famous people who bought the tires. He saw a bunch of guys sitting around playing cards,etc (waiting in the "doghouse" to be assigned random jobs) and decided he wanted to work at the studios too.
His first official job on his first day of working for Disney Studios was to drive out and get Peanut Brittle for Walt Disney.
He was once asked to drive Judy Garland home after shooting had ended for the day. She drinks a whole bottle of wine in the back seat on the way there. He gets to her house, she tells him to wait because she's going out (and she's already drunk). He's not her personal driver or anything, he was just doing someone a favor because it was on his way home, so he's not sure what he's supposed to do at this point. She goes into her house and he hears her having a loud fight with her then husband. She goes into the pool house, turns the lights on and proceeds to change right in front of an open window (he saw down to the undies). Then, she gets in the car, and can't remember the address of the place she wanted to go (someone's house), but when they finally find it, he had to physically drag her, passed out drunk, out of the car when they got there.
He was working on a movie with Frank Sinatra and they sent him out with Sinatra's assistant guy to go find a boat for Frank to use over the weekend to hang out with Gene Kelly and his wife. Frank had such a good time on the boat, they had to shut down the movie production over the weekend.
He had to fly out to Florida to deal with labor relations on a movie set. He deals with the problem, but one night one of the actors asks to borrow his car. He says sure. Early the next morning, he gets a call from the guy saying that he got a speeding ticket the night before, and could my grandpa please pay the ticket and he'll pay him back. Grandpa says "why aren't you here to pay the ticket?" and the guy tells him that he was feeling sick and had to fly home to California last night. Turns out the guy had a terrible case of the clap and didn't tell anybody and just up and left the movie set.
He was hanging out with some of the set painters on a set and one of the guys bought a brand new Cadillac. The other guys decide to mess with him and tell him "oh, those new Caddys get great milage, you'll see!" So they secretly add a gallon and a half of gas to his tank every day when he's not looking. After a few days he's like "wow, it DOES get great milage!" So they tell him that if he REALLY wants good milage he should get it all tuned up at this Cadillac dealer. So the guy takes it in, pays a lot of money to get his car all tuned up, and afterwards they stop adding the extra gas to his tank. The guy gets all upset that his milage has plummeted. Long story short, I guess they tricked the guy into taking it to a few other shops to get it looked at, but before they could tell him the joke the guy got fired.
Grandpa was working on a movie with Elizabeth Taylor. She was coming in to check into a hotel on location and grandpa had never met her before, so he told the bellhop he was from the studio and took some of the bags up to her room so he could see her. So he goes up to the room, and her husband is in there talking to a bunch of girls. The door is open and she stands right against the doorjam blocking his way. So there's not much room for him to get through, with the bags and all, and he was feeling brave, so he let his arm brush her chest as he went by to put the bags down. She looked him up and down and smiled and laughed and didn't get out of the way, so he got even more brave and went to get some more bags to bring up. She again, stands in the doorjam and is smiling at him and not moving, so he again goes by and lets his arm brush her chest as he goes by to put the bags down. She asks if he is working on the movie, he says yes, and she says "oh come by and see me next week, on on Set 20" So he goes by, finds her dressing room, and some security guy tells him she's not there and to go away, and grandpa was too scared to go back.
He worked on a few movies with Angela Lansbury, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and often drove her around. I guess they became pretty good friends and he says she was crazy about him (he was married to my grandma at the time, my mom and aunt being young kids). So she gave him a boat one day, and he had this boat for a while. One time he was at her house and 2 long haired hippy types riding motorcycles came by and he said "don't worry, I'll get rid of those hippies" and she said "those are my kids!" Another time he was there, and her whole house burned down in a fire, including a drum set that she was going to give him. One of the last times he saw her, she said she was going off to stay in Italy and he should come with her, but not wanting to leave his family he said no, and he never saw her again.
One day they were shooting on location in Disneyland, and a bunch of guys went over to the employee commisary for lunch. Roy Disney Jr. (Walt's nephew) wanted a ride over there, so he got in with them and went over to eat lunch. I guess the routine was that they would all get in line for their lunch (which was 65cents) and one guy would pay for everyone and then they'd get reimbursed later. Well Roy Jr. this big shot guy (who owned a major portion of the company at that time) is with them in line for lunch and gets out this little coin purse and counts out his own 65cents and that's it.
On a McHale's Navy movie, there is a point where the pilot is wasted and 2 novices have to land the plane. They already had planned to take a shot of a plane landing all wobbly, but do all the close ups on a sound stage, like usual. One day grandpa had a convertible on set and the director decided he really wanted a close up shot of the landing gear boucing around trying to land the wobbly plane. Even though this should have been a stunt driver's job, the idea came to the director and he decided he had to have the shot and there wasn't time to get the stunt guy, so tells my grandpa to drive the convertible along side the plane as its landing and he'll get in the back with the camera guy and shoot the shot. So they ended up doing this twice, and I guess the used the shot in the movie, but my grandpa ended up doing a stunt guy's job for a fraction of the pay.
He was working on either a Sinatra movie or a James Bond movie and they decided they wanted a shot of a car speeding down a narrow alleyway. With no time to get a proper stunt driver, grandpa drove, pulled it off and they used the shot.
When Michael Eisner came around in 1987 he fired a bunch of people, including my 62 yr old grandpa being one of them, but he got, among other things, a lifetime pass to Disneyland.