Celebrities I have seen in my lifetime

I have lived in some interesting places after leaving my hometown of Hammond, Indiana, when I was 18, including Chicago, Miami Beach, and New York, before finally settling down in the backwoods of Kentucky. I have also been blessed with the opportunity of traveling to a few nice places along the way.

While living in these interesting places, or visiting them, I have come across some celebrities in unusual spots. For example, I used to work at CBS in New York and Chicago. Celebrities frequently came to the corporate offices on Park Avenue to discuss, I imagine, big business deals. I had the pleasure of seeing General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Jack Valenti, Peter Falk (in his famous trenchcoat), Danny Kaye (rode down an elevator with him), David Wayne (rode a subway train and actually had a conversation with him before I got off), and Jackie Kennedy (who was all dolled up and getting out of a taxi with an equally snazzy male companion). I saw all the early astronauts, including Alan Shepherd and John Glenn, riding down Broadway in a tickertape parade.

During the 1960s, I met Frank Gifford, Jack Stroud, Y.A. Tittle, and coach Allie Sherman of the New York Giants (that's football) at their spring training camp in upstate New York. While living in the Village in New York, a movie company was filming Two For The Seesaw a couple of blocks away from my apartment, so I had a really good look at Shirley MacLaine and Robert Mitchum. I saw jazz greats Herbie Mann, Jack Teagarden, Gene Krupa, and Gerry Mulligan at clubs in New York. In New York, I sat in on the Ed Sullivan Show. In Chicago, I danced to David Lee Roth and his band at a swinging bar. In 1968, I saw all the activists demonstrating in Lincoln Park before, during, and after the Democratic National Convention, and probably before they got their heads bashed in by the police. I enjoyed Ravi Shankar from India and Tony Bennett from San Francisco in concert. I was entertained by Victor Borge, Robert Morse, and Carol Burnett as they performed on Broadway. At a hotel in Las Vegas, we were honored to shake the hand of comedian Marty Allen.

One night, while husband and I were walking in the Loop in Chicago, we saw the boxer Muhammad Ali and several others exiting a long, black limo. He stopped to wave and smile at us.

While sitting poolside at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami Beach with husband several years ago, we saw a bunch of mafia guys and gals (who looked like they just stepped off the Sopranos set).

The most exciting celebrities I have ever seen were the one and only Beatles in concert in Chicago. I was working at CBS and we heard that one of the CBS Radio DJs was on the air giving away tickets to the upcoming Beatles concert at Comiskey Park (baseball stadium). A friend and I went down, actually got on the air and were given four tickets. So two friends, my sister, and I had the thrill of our lives one summer day in 1965. The noise in the stadium from all the screaming fans drowned out most of the band's music, but who cared. We were seeing the Beatles live and in concert.

I'm sure there are more celebrities that I have seen during my lifetime given the places I have lived and the entertainment venues I have visited . But, they were probably unknown at the time, so who knew? I could have stood next to Donald Trump and never knew who he was (especially if he had normal hair at the time)!

It was fun remembering all these close encounters with greatness. Maybe one of these days I will meet someone who contributed something to the world besides entertainment or politics -- maybe someone who made the world a better and safer place to live.