A little show & tell from Phil
We just lost Phil Donahue. He began in Ohio, 1967, and told me “sponsors canceled me first week on the air.” He also told me that “politicians are the worst guests.”
Also, there’s the time his unseen hand kept squeezing wife Marlo Thomas’ behind at the opening of “The Front Page.” I watched. Was better than what was happening onstage.
Hideaway in the hills
The prime minister of the Kingdom of Bhutan — this Buddhist kingdom high in the Himalayas — was coming to me for a visit. Quickly my pushy New York-style dog — a Yorkie — got told to mind his manners and whatever else he need mind.
Forget expecting a visitor in saffron robes. In comes a black T-shirt under a black suit. Suave. Handsome. Young. (To me whoever wasn’t at Theodore Roosevelt’s inauguration is young.) He says “I’m Tshering Tobgay. Just call me Tshering.”
Noticing my Yankee championship ring, he says, “I spent four years getting my BA at the University of Pittsburgh and I fell in love with baseball.”
Then came Harvard. No wonder his pristine English eclipsed mine.
He describes Bhutan as “calm, blue sky, clean air, mountains. We’re the only carbon neutral country in the world.” Not sure what that means, but I figure it’s like maybe easier to breathe there than in the Holland Tunnel.
“It’s also valleys. Fortresses. Everyone speaks English. Americans are our No. 1 source of overseas tourists. You should come,” he says.
He tells me about Gelephu, the new city they’re building. Like Brasilia. Some of the world’s most famous architects and landscapers are working on it. It’s called the City of Mindfulness.
“We don’t have presidents,” he says, “we have a king. Many countries depose kings so they can have democracy. Bhutan did it the other way around — the king insisted we become a democracy. And my party won the last election.”
So how does one get there? “Simple,” he says. “Fly to Delhi, then it’s two more hours to Bhutan.” Having visited a hundred countries, only Cleveland’s left on my bucket list. So I’m adding Bhutan. If I can summon strength for the long flight, I want to go.
And I know what to bring my new friend, Prime Minister Tshering. A baseball signed by the Yankees.
Classic novel
Got nothing to do Labor Day weekend? Try TCM host Dave Karger’s new book “50 Oscar Nights.” He burbles with legends — he calls them legends. They’re all legends. Plumbers out there are called legends. He’s written about Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry, Julia Roberts, Elton John, Meryl Streep, Dustin Hoffman.
If he didn’t call you, fire your agent.
Actors love the book because if it becomes a movie, they’ll all play themselves.
Cash goes cold
Got to give credit to NYC’s credit. Because that’s what New Yorkers are living on — credit.
A busy crowded NYC restaurant? Nobody’s unleashing cash. Everyone hands out a credit card.
Hands glittery with gold bracelets and rings they unload $100 a month to the credit card and let the big bills ride.
In our USA, the dollar’s worth nothing. These days the buck is so low it hardly pays to even steal a Democratic badge.
Cops caught one guy passing counterfeit bills. So they gave him a ticket — for loitering.
Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
