At 6:29 AM the day of the climb, George started up the northeast corner of the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. By Ten O'clock, after signing a few autographs for police ascending in a window-washing gondola, he had reached the top. As he gestured and waved towards the crowds below, George was arrested by Port Authority police and was initially slapped with a $250,000.00 fine that was later reduced to $1.10. One penny for every story he climbed.
We did an interview with George shortly after the WTC climb and became friendly. I explained to George my connection to Marty Ingels as a free agent to his Celeb Contact service. George introduced me to Steve Lefkowitz, his agent at N.S Beinstock, a sports talent agency at the time. He steered me in the right direction and I booked George on ABC's Super-Star Show and got some nibbles back from the talent folks over at the David Letterman Show. Nibbles turned into a booking for George to appear on Dave’s morning talk show.Believe it or not, after all the preps and travel arrangements were made and expenses paid, the Talent Coordinator up & canceled George for Dave’s September 19th, 1980 morning show…while he was still in the air! This was before Air-Phones, so there was room to negotiate whereas today we’d be up that creek w/o even a flip phone. We arrived early at the studio for rehearsals and timings. We, included me, George and girlfriend Morgan Brittany, the actress. Originally scripted for the Show's opener was only David climbing up a 45 degree angle and introduce George as part of the guest list.
It was definitely a WTF moment and got us thinking - Gee, perhaps we're due some sort of credit here. Nope - nothing about George in the credits. And with that, could there be a fee for the use of the lift from WorldWide Pants, Dave's company. Just spitballing, but hey - this be CNN and HBO…Max no less. With a bit of investigation and apparently well placed messages we got a call back to discuss the matter from the production company. A win insomuch as they didn't tell us to F--- Off. Just the contrary, these guys were from Canada. Happy to report that Canadians are very gracious people.
All in time for George’s 45th anniversary!
Talk about standing on the shoulders of greatness. We would like to remind people who have access to HBO/Max that my pal Stefan Nadelman just had his George Carlin American Dream premier on the 20th. Stefan is the Animation Director on this Two-Parter TV Movie Documentary series, directed by Judd Apatow and focuses on George Carlin's career and ordeals both at home and on stage.
Here's a special Transatlantic email we just got from Stefan and thought it was worth sharing... and it reads:
(5/23/22, 4:11PM) So I got to Cannes today and just had dinner with the crew. Headed to the pre-party and then I’ll join the “delegation” of crew members and we’re gonna do the red carpet in an hour or so. It’s happening!
Tune in! I’ll hit you back when the madness subsides. Stefan
WoW ~ WoW ~ WoW, we know people. Couldn't happen to a better more talented guy! We're so proud of him.
Click the pic to view Brett Morgan's Youtube acceptance speech...and a wee bit of a glimpse of Stefan at the very beginning on the very left hand side of the frame!
No comments:
Post a Comment