Hi, everyone remember me? I know it's been a long time since i've posted anything new here. Between relocations, COVID, Writers Block and more COVID, I've been through the wringer to say the least! But Hollywood Jim is back with more stories to tell. Cannot thank you enough for your patience and kind emails. ENJOY!
Hollywood Jim
When I left Artists Unlimited to join the Morrison Group, AU seemed to go downhill overnight and when I returned there out of curiosity, the place was a ghost town. And Brian Murphy, my old boss, seemed like the only employee remaining. But he was sure the company could be saved and returned to its former glory, IF I returned. Instead, I sold him and Jackie Morrison on the idea of her buying up AU and merging it into her company. And it was paying off big for everyone involved. Many of the agents that had worked for AU immediately returned, old contacts came by to pitch new projects, and I got a sizable check handed to me at the Christmas party by Jackie.
Brian, on the other hand, had a much different way of thanking me for saving his Dad's company.
"How much vacation time you got saved up?" he asked as we sat in the steam room at Malibu Fitness one Saturday.
"Probably too much, why?"
That part was true, my work was too unpredictable to really plan out time away. I still had the mindset that believed paid days off were to be used for medical appointments. Not for frivolous things like beach getaways with the starlet du jour. So usually around the end of the year, I'd get a memo from HR that I'd better use my vacation days, NOW.
"You know how I'm a big Formula One fan?"
"Right."
"OK, how'd you like to go to a race with me, we can have a big drunken weekend, maybe chase some exotic ladies on yachts..."
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Yachts? Where is this race?"
"Monaco. Y'know, first race of the season."
"MONACO?" I said stunned "Are you serious?"
"Absolutely! It's the least I could do." He said casually "I owe you this, pal. You saved a company, not many people have that honor. I'm certainly not gonna drag you out to, like, Abu Dhabi."
Brian explained how he was calling in favors from some film producers in Europe who'd benefitted from his company's work for them. Not only did we have first class travel and accommodations there, but VIP tickets to several parties as well as a Dua Lipa concert on race eve.
I only had one question for him.
"Does meeting Prince Albert come with the trip?"
"Sure, I keep him in a can." He replied without missing a comedic beat. He obviously knew the old joke well.
I slept for much of the flight over there. When I was awakened by Brian, I was greeted by the Mediterranean sun and the Cote d'Azur airport.
"Whoa..." I said through bleary eyes.
"Pretty sweet, huh?" Brian said casually as he grabbed his duffel bag. He was the experienced traveler in places like this "I don't know about you, but this beats Vegas any day."
"That's because you've never been there." I replied as I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and grabbed my own bag.
An hour later, we were in the lap of luxury in Monaco, staying at the Hotel de Paris. Brian said he wanted to do a little gambling in the casino and we'd meet for dinner later.
"We might have a couple of extra guests joining us."
"Oh, yeah? Like who?"
"You'll see, Hollywood." He said with a smile and a sly chuckle.
I'd seen smiles like that before, they always meant something big was cooking up. I just never knew if it was good or bad.
The hotel was loaded with jet-setters and a constant stream of limos were pulling up to the entrance. It was hard not to look like a gawking tourist as I watched. The hotel was situated along a prime part of the race course so there was catch fencing along the route, doing a race course walk like the drivers did, wasn't likely. That's OK, there's always the casino!
I'm not the best gambler but I always got a charge out of watching the action, and in this case, watching Brian try to be cool with dice in his hand was fascinating.
"Want me to blow on your dice?" I said with a snicker.
"Don't jinx me, I'm on a roll, Hollywood!"
The dice flew out of his hand and those gathered around the craps table let out a cheer, Brian was acting like Mr. Cool even when a pile of chips was pushed his way.
"OK, one more time, baby!" he said gleefully as the dice flew out of his hand again.
"Eleven...winner." The croupier said casually in a French accented voice.
Another pile of chips came his way.
"Uh, OK, Mr. Monaco...maybe it's time to quit while you're ahead?" I didn't want to see that pile of chips disappear.
"No way, baby! I'm on a roll! I'm on a roll!" Brian replied as he jostled the dice around in his hand
"OK, whatever you say."
As I walked away from the table, I heard another big cheer, followed by Brian's excited yells. This was a side of him I'd never seen. I wandered the casino a little more until I saw a blackjack table with no players.
"Aww, what the hell..." I mumbled as I sat down at the table.
Now, all I knew about Blackjack was what I'd seen in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. And the game he played was just called "21". So, I figured if Bugs could win, maybe I could too?
Sure enough, after a couple of hands I was doing OK. I didn't even notice who sat down beside me.
"How're you doing?" a British accented woman asked.
"Uh, I guess OK. I don't think I'm gonna play much longer, I'm not a pro or anything."
"That's probably good, I don't play either...I just like to watch."
"Don't we all?" I said with a shrug "Uh, I'm Jim..."
Before she could respond, a burly man came over "We've gotta get going, they're expecting you at the sound check." He said in a deep voice with a similar accent.
"OK." She replied "Good luck to you...maybe I'll see you at the show." She said as she was hustled away.
"Uh, yes...maybe."
See you at the show? I wonder what that could mean, I never did get her name. I turned around to see if I could get a glimpse of this mystery woman but no luck.
At almost that same moment, my luck ran out at the table, too. That was fine with me, I still had a nice little pile of chips that gelt good as they clicked together in my hand. Enough to get me a good dinner. Just at that moment, Brian came by with an ear-to-ear grin.
"I'm buying you dinner, man...Hell, I'm buying the whole country dinner!" he said in a giggly voice.
"How much did you win?"
"Enough, more than enough. I don't want to brag, though...do you suppose they've got flights to Switzerland here?"
"Brian, calm down. You did well, let's not forget why we're here, OK?"
"Right, right, right." He said in that same giggly voice "I really won big, man...I really won big!"
I just stared at him as we walked out of the casino.
"Speed kills, Brian." I said calmly, trying to defuse him just a little.
Just as he promised, Brian sprang for a dinner that seemed to go on forever. Believe me, I was stuffed when we finally got out of there and limped back to our rooms.
The next day was the eve of the race and Brian took me on a tour of the course, graciously provided by one of his contacts. In the harbor were numerous yachts of different sizes.
"Who has all those yachts?" I asked our tour guide.
"Numerous potentates from around the world, hedge fund millionaires, Arab sheiks, internet influencers, you name it. I hear Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa are out there too somewhere."
