Saturday, June 23, 2007
Blind Date about 1968
One night I was having a beer at the Pilot When Pierre Sarrizan came in. He looked around and when he saw me he sat down. After ordering a beer and passing forth the usual pleasantries. Pierre asked if would do him a really big favour.He said he was supposed to meet a friend from Montreal but something had come up and he couldn't wait. Would I meet her and show her around.So i sat there with a name and basic description. Denise was very pretty, absolutely charming, if a touch young for me. I told her the story and asked if she wanted me to show her the town. she did not hesitate and we started off. At the time she probably could not have had a better guide. I was the party man of Toronto, I knew everybody gave great party. We hit the el Mocambo for a while but Grossman's was the happening place that night and we soon had primo seats for the Downchilds Blues Band. We rocked til closing and i offered a late dinner in china Town so we headed south down Spadina holding hands. We passed the Paramount Tavern as about 300 hundred blacks hit the street as it closed too. I could never resist showing off so I hollered. Hey Any of you niggers got any dope. Not nice! poor Denise squeeze my hand desperately No dont! what are you doing?? Of course I knew everybody and within minutes we had had a bout 10 joints delivered with nudges and smiles.We lit up and smoked on down to Kwong Chows for food and celebrities. lastly I grabbed a cab and delivered her home. Pierre said she said she had a great time.
The Elephant Walk Club
The Elephant Walk was an infamous Black After Hours bar at Queen and Spadina. it was a den of thieves, pimps and dealers and you pretty well had to be black to get in and known about. it was the entire Top floor of a building and the only way up was a very narrow stairway with a clear view to the landing. they had a monstrous steel door and extreme security.
From the middle of the sixties I had a lot of friends in the older black community in Toronto. Most of these families were Nova Scotia Blacks and i often went to parties and picnics and was friends of entire families. I met most of these people through the waiters at Grossman's or the Paramount Taverns. the Paramount was primarily a black bar. I swear I could go in the paramount at 12 noon sit down at a table with a dozen or so black guys and be both drunk and stoned by the time the waiter reached the table. Most of theses guys were into a lot of things from drugs to pimping etc. and it was very much a live and let live time I was not judgmental. 10 years later I had my own 'After Hours Club' across from the Horseshoe Tavern. The infamous Elephant Walk club was around the corner. it was a famous black after-hours bar and a regular hangout for dealers thieves and pimps most of whom I knew from my previous time at Grossmans.
So one night I am hanging out at my usual place the Club 22 at the Windsor Arms and this very elegant girl hits on me. Like she says Your Gary LeDrew a friend told me about you yada yada yada. She looks much like a model. Beautiful with long black hair and a full length Sable coat. I had no idea who she was but what the hell we had a few drinks she was pleasant to talk to as well. Then as closing time comes around she’s snuggles up close and says. I hear you can get me into the Elephant Walk? Now I knew she wasn't an undercover. I tried to figure out her angle. I told she was crazy it was not a place for a nice girl. She went on about just wanting to see the place it fascinated her. As it happened my bar wasn't open that night so what the hell I took her. It was on third floor we walk up to the steel door like 6 inches thick and the eyes glare out from the peep hole. Door opens Hey Gar who is the babe? We breeze in, even in the dark the heads turn like sunflowers. I get us drinks find a table with a couple of Scotian friends and sit in., other than a couple of obvious hookers she is the only white woman. I can tell it is bit more intimating then she thought. But it was when a pimp friend dressed to the nines with glitter and fur and gold rings on every finger sits down. He looks straight at me and says wow gar where did you find her. I 'll give you 3 grand for her and I'll throw in a couple thousand for coat. That was enough for her she latched on to me like glue. Screaming under her breath “please get me out of here!” I got her out and got her a cab and and I never ever saw her again. Well except for maybe a glimpse one time in a Lamborghini.
I had a bad night there one time too
My bar was closed I was leaving the next day with Murray Maclaughlan. We had chartered Hodge’s boat for a month in the Bahamas. I was sitting at the bar alone having a drink and playing with a really stupid cheap switchblade knife Matt had brought me back from Spain. My bags were packed, I had several thousand dollars in my pocket and was all ready to go. I just wasn’t used to sleeping at night time. I wanted some body to talk to. After a couple of more drinks and without thinking I slipped the knife in my Pocket and went for a walk. There was not much going on Queen and Spadina at 2 in the morning. But I turn the corner and there is Hubert and Winston. I am the only one who dared call them that. They were known to everybody else as ‘Rocky’ and ‘Lad’ but we were good friends and I enjoyed tormenting them a little. They were going to the Elephant Walk so I joined them. It was a slow night maybe a half a dozen guys. I bought us drinks and we sat down and this shady dude slides in. The music is loud so I don’t really hear what is going on and next thing money changes hands and we got a giant splif of ganja. So we are talking and drinking and smoking. Shady dude is hanging too. The ganja hits like a sledge hammer. I have never had pot so powerful. My brain was flashing like a neon sign that said You are one stoned motherfukka. Then I said something stupid like. “Wow do you niggers ever get incredible dope.” Now I could talk like this to Rocky and Lad but shady dude went wild. He got right hostile and even threatening. Everything was spinning. Rocky and Lad were more or less ignoring shady dude but I couldn’t tell. Paranoia hit me. Black bar! Thieves and pimps! Friends Stoned! I’m Stoned, shit a got thousands of dollars in my pocket. Next thing switchblade is in my hand. I lined everybody up against the wall except Lad and Rocky who were rolling on the floor laughing. I made them open the door and I ran for home. I didn’t see those guys for a long while but they never let me forget that night. Later that knife almost caused me grief the police found it when they busted my bar one time. They were going to charge me with an illegal weapon. (I was not normally a weapon person) But it was a very cheap knife and when I told him to click the button the knife fell apart in his hands so they let it go.
From the middle of the sixties I had a lot of friends in the older black community in Toronto. Most of these families were Nova Scotia Blacks and i often went to parties and picnics and was friends of entire families. I met most of these people through the waiters at Grossman's or the Paramount Taverns. the Paramount was primarily a black bar. I swear I could go in the paramount at 12 noon sit down at a table with a dozen or so black guys and be both drunk and stoned by the time the waiter reached the table. Most of theses guys were into a lot of things from drugs to pimping etc. and it was very much a live and let live time I was not judgmental. 10 years later I had my own 'After Hours Club' across from the Horseshoe Tavern. The infamous Elephant Walk club was around the corner. it was a famous black after-hours bar and a regular hangout for dealers thieves and pimps most of whom I knew from my previous time at Grossmans.
So one night I am hanging out at my usual place the Club 22 at the Windsor Arms and this very elegant girl hits on me. Like she says Your Gary LeDrew a friend told me about you yada yada yada. She looks much like a model. Beautiful with long black hair and a full length Sable coat. I had no idea who she was but what the hell we had a few drinks she was pleasant to talk to as well. Then as closing time comes around she’s snuggles up close and says. I hear you can get me into the Elephant Walk? Now I knew she wasn't an undercover. I tried to figure out her angle. I told she was crazy it was not a place for a nice girl. She went on about just wanting to see the place it fascinated her. As it happened my bar wasn't open that night so what the hell I took her. It was on third floor we walk up to the steel door like 6 inches thick and the eyes glare out from the peep hole. Door opens Hey Gar who is the babe? We breeze in, even in the dark the heads turn like sunflowers. I get us drinks find a table with a couple of Scotian friends and sit in., other than a couple of obvious hookers she is the only white woman. I can tell it is bit more intimating then she thought. But it was when a pimp friend dressed to the nines with glitter and fur and gold rings on every finger sits down. He looks straight at me and says wow gar where did you find her. I 'll give you 3 grand for her and I'll throw in a couple thousand for coat. That was enough for her she latched on to me like glue. Screaming under her breath “please get me out of here!” I got her out and got her a cab and and I never ever saw her again. Well except for maybe a glimpse one time in a Lamborghini.
I had a bad night there one time too
My bar was closed I was leaving the next day with Murray Maclaughlan. We had chartered Hodge’s boat for a month in the Bahamas. I was sitting at the bar alone having a drink and playing with a really stupid cheap switchblade knife Matt had brought me back from Spain. My bags were packed, I had several thousand dollars in my pocket and was all ready to go. I just wasn’t used to sleeping at night time. I wanted some body to talk to. After a couple of more drinks and without thinking I slipped the knife in my Pocket and went for a walk. There was not much going on Queen and Spadina at 2 in the morning. But I turn the corner and there is Hubert and Winston. I am the only one who dared call them that. They were known to everybody else as ‘Rocky’ and ‘Lad’ but we were good friends and I enjoyed tormenting them a little. They were going to the Elephant Walk so I joined them. It was a slow night maybe a half a dozen guys. I bought us drinks and we sat down and this shady dude slides in. The music is loud so I don’t really hear what is going on and next thing money changes hands and we got a giant splif of ganja. So we are talking and drinking and smoking. Shady dude is hanging too. The ganja hits like a sledge hammer. I have never had pot so powerful. My brain was flashing like a neon sign that said You are one stoned motherfukka. Then I said something stupid like. “Wow do you niggers ever get incredible dope.” Now I could talk like this to Rocky and Lad but shady dude went wild. He got right hostile and even threatening. Everything was spinning. Rocky and Lad were more or less ignoring shady dude but I couldn’t tell. Paranoia hit me. Black bar! Thieves and pimps! Friends Stoned! I’m Stoned, shit a got thousands of dollars in my pocket. Next thing switchblade is in my hand. I lined everybody up against the wall except Lad and Rocky who were rolling on the floor laughing. I made them open the door and I ran for home. I didn’t see those guys for a long while but they never let me forget that night. Later that knife almost caused me grief the police found it when they busted my bar one time. They were going to charge me with an illegal weapon. (I was not normally a weapon person) But it was a very cheap knife and when I told him to click the button the knife fell apart in his hands so they let it go.
This me in that era
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Keenan Wynn
This is me with Keenan Wynn during the shooting of 'The Balloonist' a "Littlest Hobo" episode shot mostly in my Dad's basement workshop in my parents home in Uxbridge Ontario in the Summer of 1980
Keenan must have acted in a hundreds of movies and I spent the breaks talking about movies like 'Dr. Strangelove' etc. it was a fun afternoon
My sister Gaillle worked
on Hobo at the time. With the money he got from the show my dad built a shed in the back yard. He called it his hobo shack.
Friday, September 16, 2005
Ned Beatty
Back in the mid eighties I’d had a few pints with Graydon Gould at The Artful Dodger.
He is an icon of Canadian Television he used to be the Forest Ranger in the 50’s.
I had been involved in the movie business and we had a few mutual friends. One afternoon he invited me to go with him to the 22 to meet Ned Beatty who was shooting ‘Switching Channels’, and to go to supper with them. We met in the 22 and Ned was very subdued. He was very quiet and had an orange juice in front of him and said he just didn’t feel like drinking or eating. We talked a bit but Ned excused himself.” I have just had a terrible day.” So I am going to turn in early”. He apologized to Graydon and started packing up his stuff. He reached into his shirt pocket and moved a set of darts to his kit.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my darts. “Would you like a game?” I asked.
Off we went to the Artful Dodger I was a pretty good dart player at that time and we took on all comers and won every beer. We drank long dark pints and ate meat pies long into the night. You know he said you guys will be making movies no matter what the dollar is. You guys got the best crews I ever worked with. Trading movie stories and playing over our heads it was just a wonderful evening He was really a brilliant, erudite, interesting and knowledgeable guy, he seemed to enjoy himself immensely and I was told he came back a couple of times over the next year looking for me. What a fun night.
Tuesday, August 2, 2005
Dame Edna and my friend Harvey Cohen who played Edna's gay son Kenny
While I met most celebs socially through some sort of bizI have accidental meetings too. I was in this huge cocktail bar in Clearwater Florida with my brother Jack when this gent asked me about my hat."Where did you get that lovley hat he asked? Believe it or not at the drugstore I replied. I went to dozens of clothing shops but only walgreens has any decent hats I told him. "Thank you for that."he said. I looked at him closely, " hey aren't you Dame Edna? "Oh you have seem me on the telly," he said. But then refused to admit he was Dame Edna. Which Barry Humphreys does of course. I called Jack over and we had a bit of a conversation with him and his wife. i tried to introduce him as Dame Edna but he still wouldn't admit anything. "Where are you from?" he asked me. I told him Toronto. You must be from Canada too he asked Jack. No said Jack I am from here now I got kicked out of Canada for over tipping. We parted laughing.
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