work.
“Neat,” I said. “Have you written for any show I might have seen?” “Probably,” he answered casually. “I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy .”
My heart started beating so loudly, the sound drowned out Hendrix blasting from my brother’s room. Bob, this ordinary old man juggling in my bedroom, worked on a daily basis with my idol. I’d seen his credit roll into that I Love Lucy heart a thousand times.
“You’re Bob Carroll Jr.?”
“That would be me,” he said. “I’m learning to juggle so I can teach Lucy.”
No. Way.
“Lucy has to learn how to do something really well before she can make it look like she doesn’t know how to do it at all.”
“Like the time when she was trying to climb into the top bunk bed with the stilts?”
“Exactly.” He beamed, clearly impressed with my episodic knowledge.
“Well,” I sputtered, the wheels turning, “Lucy really could learn more effectively if I taught her directly. I could stop by the set or something.”
Bob smiled. “She’s just so busy, it’s hard to pin down a time with her. I’m going to show her whenever we can just grab a second.”
“I see.” Oh well, I tried.
Over the next two weeks Bob proved to be an excellent student. On the night of his final class he said, “Lucy’s going to be very excited. She really does want to learn how to juggle.”
A strange calm oozed through me like taking that first sip of hot chocolate on a chilly night and feeling it pulse through your veins. For so long I’d wanted to be like Lucy. Now Lucy wanted to be like me.
I saw Bob to the door, where he gave me a strong, fatherly hug. By then I felt so confident, I didn’t even care that in the foyer where we said good-bye, Monkey was humping the slipper.
1976
While attending college at the University of California at Santa Cruz, I write papers in longhand for classes such as Ritual Theater and Sexuality in the Cinema. Meanwhile, Apple releases its first computer, and a little-known company called Microsoft registers its trade name with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
I set off the fire alarm in my dorm by eating fire, and cause a full-scale evacuation.
George H.W. Bush begins his one-year stint as the director of the CIA as Charlie’s Angels begin their five-year stint as smart and sexy crime-fighters.
Patty “Tanya” Hearst is convicted of armed robbery and Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life for attempting to shoot President Ford. Though “Bad Girls” won’t be a hit for Donna Summer for a few years, her song “Love to Love You Baby” tops the charts.
My gloom over not being in a relationship is magnified when everyone else seems to be in one—Captain and Tennille, Bianca and Mick, and even Sonny and Cher, who, though divorced, reunite for the new Sonny and Cher Show .
Shortly after attending “Gay Day” at Ho Chi Minh Park in Berkeley, I meet my first real girlfriend. Finally , some “Afternoon Delight”!
O. J. Simpson gains 273 yards for Buffalo vs. Detroit while the Supreme Court lifts the 1972 ban on the death penalty for convicted murderers.
After having done the EST training I continue taking workshops, including a weekend seminar in L.A. called “Communication in Performing Arts” where, during an exercise, I am partnered with Valerie Harper, star of Rhoda .
I leave college and move to New York for six months to pursue my career as an entertainer. I perform at the Grove Street Playhouse—where I juggle and eat fire along with future MacArthur genius grant recipient Michael Moschen—as the Son of Sam terrorizes the city.
Queen of the Oddballs
I sit anxiously in a waiting room, sandwiched between an enormously overweight woman dressed like a chicken and an old toothless fiddler. A wiry, bearded man standing in front of me deeply inhales a cigar, then blows smoke rings into different shapes—hearts, squares, crosses—while a
“Neat,” I said. “Have you written for any show I might have seen?” “Probably,” he answered casually. “I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy .”
My heart started beating so loudly, the sound drowned out Hendrix blasting from my brother’s room. Bob, this ordinary old man juggling in my bedroom, worked on a daily basis with my idol. I’d seen his credit roll into that I Love Lucy heart a thousand times.
“You’re Bob Carroll Jr.?”
“That would be me,” he said. “I’m learning to juggle so I can teach Lucy.”
No. Way.
“Lucy has to learn how to do something really well before she can make it look like she doesn’t know how to do it at all.”
“Like the time when she was trying to climb into the top bunk bed with the stilts?”
“Exactly.” He beamed, clearly impressed with my episodic knowledge.
“Well,” I sputtered, the wheels turning, “Lucy really could learn more effectively if I taught her directly. I could stop by the set or something.”
Bob smiled. “She’s just so busy, it’s hard to pin down a time with her. I’m going to show her whenever we can just grab a second.”
“I see.” Oh well, I tried.
Over the next two weeks Bob proved to be an excellent student. On the night of his final class he said, “Lucy’s going to be very excited. She really does want to learn how to juggle.”
A strange calm oozed through me like taking that first sip of hot chocolate on a chilly night and feeling it pulse through your veins. For so long I’d wanted to be like Lucy. Now Lucy wanted to be like me.
I saw Bob to the door, where he gave me a strong, fatherly hug. By then I felt so confident, I didn’t even care that in the foyer where we said good-bye, Monkey was humping the slipper.
1976
While attending college at the University of California at Santa Cruz, I write papers in longhand for classes such as Ritual Theater and Sexuality in the Cinema. Meanwhile, Apple releases its first computer, and a little-known company called Microsoft registers its trade name with the Office of the Secretary of the State of New Mexico.
I set off the fire alarm in my dorm by eating fire, and cause a full-scale evacuation.
George H.W. Bush begins his one-year stint as the director of the CIA as Charlie’s Angels begin their five-year stint as smart and sexy crime-fighters.
Patty “Tanya” Hearst is convicted of armed robbery and Sara Jane Moore is sentenced to life for attempting to shoot President Ford. Though “Bad Girls” won’t be a hit for Donna Summer for a few years, her song “Love to Love You Baby” tops the charts.
My gloom over not being in a relationship is magnified when everyone else seems to be in one—Captain and Tennille, Bianca and Mick, and even Sonny and Cher, who, though divorced, reunite for the new Sonny and Cher Show .
Shortly after attending “Gay Day” at Ho Chi Minh Park in Berkeley, I meet my first real girlfriend. Finally , some “Afternoon Delight”!
O. J. Simpson gains 273 yards for Buffalo vs. Detroit while the Supreme Court lifts the 1972 ban on the death penalty for convicted murderers.
After having done the EST training I continue taking workshops, including a weekend seminar in L.A. called “Communication in Performing Arts” where, during an exercise, I am partnered with Valerie Harper, star of Rhoda .
I leave college and move to New York for six months to pursue my career as an entertainer. I perform at the Grove Street Playhouse—where I juggle and eat fire along with future MacArthur genius grant recipient Michael Moschen—as the Son of Sam terrorizes the city.
Queen of the Oddballs
I sit anxiously in a waiting room, sandwiched between an enormously overweight woman dressed like a chicken and an old toothless fiddler. A wiry, bearded man standing in front of me deeply inhales a cigar, then blows smoke rings into different shapes—hearts, squares, crosses—while a
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