My older brother Gerald came out to live with me in Hollywood in the early 1960's. He wanted to give city life a try. I took Gerald up to meet Elvis, who welcomed him like - well, like a brother. He said "Gerald's just like my cousins - country!"
Gerald decided, just because he loved me and was proud of me, to do his part to make me a success. He started visiting restaurants and bars that had jukeboxes, and with my latest record in hand, would sell the managers on the idea of trading out one of their old tunes for mine. Gerald would slip the record into the jukebox for them. Very accommodating! He went all over Los Angeles - San Bernadino, sometimes with our friend Pete Tambunga along for the fun. Gerald was my pitch man and he loved (and loves) music. Yes, especially, country music.
Gerald made some friends of his own. One of his best friends was the comic stage magician Jim Carazini, otherwise known as The Great Carazini. Jim did a lot of television, including the Johnny Carson Show, where he smoked cigarettes turned inside his mouth and blew smoke out into a spoon. Jim and Pete were two people that Gerald and I thought of as a hell of a lot of fun to have around.
GERALD I LOVE YOU!
Wes
No comments:
Post a Comment