Brushes with Evel greatness
Tracy’s auction chronicles post today reminded me of something — Evel Knievel owed his career to my dad. Ok, that’s an exaggeration because after all Evel had the idea, he had the jumps, he had the bones to be broken but he was working for my dad when he first got started; Evel was selling insurance with him. My dad helped him get the money for his first jump by vouching so he could get financing. My mom typed up his PR letters. (Or maybe they loaned him the money for his first jump — I’m a little high on caffeine and my brain is not remembering things properly.)
We had a framed, autographed picture of him on his motorcycle jumping over barrels that hung in our family room — our friends were impressed. But I never got to meet him. Rats. That would have raised my cool factor a few notches in elementary school.
My dad said Evel was a nice guy (my mom concurs) but crazy (my mom concurs again). He said that at the beginning he had this whole routine where he’d jump barrels and a very small man (a little person) would replicate the jump with very tiny barrels. They’d both be dressed alike.
My parents both grew up in LA and if you grow up in LA you will have stories about the rich and famous. My mom’s stories include being mauled by Denny Miller (Gilligan’s Tarzan character). I found this out while enjoying this semi-wholesome sitcom one day after school. My mom wandered by with a load of laundry and said, “I went on a date with that guy — he was only after one thing.” (Being about ten I pictured that like this: He rings the doorbell holding flowers. She opens the door. He hands her the flowers and tries to rip open her shirt.)
She also used to party with Louis Prima and his band when she and her girlfriends would head to Vegas for the weekend.
Now my dad, I’ve always thought he should have a blog called “I dated Barbie and other tales from 1950s LA” because he dated Barbie-inventor Ruth Handler’s daughter, Barbara, in high school. And he used to run around with Phil Spector back in the day.
Why did I never know this about you?! Incredibly cool.
yeah? Well my great-grand-uncle worked in the Wright brothers’ bike shop.
Okay…not nearly as cool.
Awesome! Reading about him this morning (boy, it was easy to get sucked in), your parents’ assessment is about what I was imagining nice, and yet nuts.
If your parents don’t write about partying with Louis Prima, Barbie, Phil Spector, etc. themselves, they should have you write those stories.
So cool! And now I want to hear some of the funky Phil Spector details. There is a seriously crazy story in there!
Don’t forget that they used to see Charles Bronson in the park when they took Dana there and, according to dad, he flirted with mom but mom says this isn’t so.
And he used to deliver groceries to Gregory Peck when he was a teenager. He says he was a very nice man.
Two more- Dad also worked with George ‘Spanky’ McFarland and Mom worked with Butch’s sidekick also from Our Gang.
And I once saw Jack Lalanne at an airport!