Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w BZY Boston's
Speaker 1: new video.
Speaker 2: Nicole, thank you very much for the quick intro. And
Speaker 2: I'm going to be here almost every day this week.
Speaker 2: I am going to be here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Phillion
Speaker 2: for Dan obviously, I'm here tonight Tuesday. Ben Parker will
Speaker 2: be here. That's tomorrow night. But I've got a great
Speaker 2: show plans for you, and tonight I've got a couple
Speaker 2: of people I've never interviewed before. You know, I tend
Speaker 2: to lean on a regular core of people movers here
Speaker 2: in the Greater Boston area, and I've got some of them,
Speaker 2: like Bill and Bow Winnaker. They'll be here tonight at
Speaker 2: ten o'clock. Next hour, Well, i'll tell you about next
Speaker 2: hour a little bit later on. I want to deal
Speaker 2: with the first hour. And I've got some names for
Speaker 2: you to think about. Walter Winchell, Ronna Barrett, Dorothy kill Gallon,
Speaker 2: Kitty Kelly. In Boston, we had in the seventies and eighties, Norma,
Speaker 2: Nathan the I people who are columnists and they write
Speaker 2: about the people in the public eye, whether they're movies, TV, authors,
Speaker 2: what have you. And this gentleman has done that job
Speaker 2: for years. I mean, he has written for people The
Speaker 2: National Inquirer, Entertainment Weekly, US say Today, and others. So
Speaker 2: I'm about to welcome in mister William Keck and that's
Speaker 2: K E C K and William. Do you want to
Speaker 2: be called will or William?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Hi, Morgan, you can call me William. That'll be
Speaker 3: just fine.
Speaker 2: I always make a clarification with people's names. I want
Speaker 2: to pronounce it the way it should be pronounced. And
Speaker 2: if they have a situation like that, I want to
Speaker 2: call you the way that you prefer to be called
Speaker 2: a supper.
Speaker 3: Well, I appreciate that, I really really do. People have
Speaker 3: gotten my name wrong many times. I remember Milton Burrough
Speaker 3: used to call me William Peck and I was black
Speaker 3: him and I'd say, sir, it's William Peck and he'd say,
Speaker 3: I'll call you a pack if I want to call
Speaker 3: you a pack Peck. I do appreciate it, Morgan, thank
Speaker 3: you very much.
Speaker 2: Wait. Wait, here's memitation of Milton Burrough. One word makeup. Okay,
Speaker 2: get that out the way.
Speaker 3: If only I had a giant powder pup, I'd clasped
Speaker 3: the heck out of you there in Boston.
Speaker 2: Oh my good, that's a three thousand mile reach from
Speaker 2: where you are. You've got a new book out called
Speaker 2: When You Step Upon a Star. Thank you to Disneylands
Speaker 2: for that title, When You Wish Upon a Star, and
Speaker 2: you've got the World's Most Unforgiving job.
Speaker 3: You've got to know you mentioned in those other journalists
Speaker 3: that you were comparing me to Yes Dorothy kill Gallen,
Speaker 3: and she was actually murdered. So I mean, I think
Speaker 3: I came. I came pretty close a few times, and
Speaker 3: I'm lucky that I wasn't.
Speaker 2: I'm happy to hear you weren't right now to be
Speaker 2: dead air if you were.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I'm going to tell you something, Morgan.
Speaker 3: I've been so excited about this interview, but I had
Speaker 3: an appointment afterwards. So I'm in my car and I
Speaker 3: decided to pull over wherever I was wherever I was
Speaker 3: going to be at five o'clock. I gets at o'clock
Speaker 3: your time, and it turned out where I pulled into
Speaker 3: was Forest Lawn Cemetery. So I'm talking to you at
Speaker 3: a place where I was so many times crashing funerals
Speaker 3: and getting into all sorts of horrible shenanigans. So it's
Speaker 3: very appropriate that I'm talking to you here from Forest Lawn.
Speaker 2: Well, it should be quiet and the sun the sun
Speaker 2: is still up over where you are, so the eerie
Speaker 2: feeling of a military when it's dark.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a beautiful sunny day and it's very quiet.
Speaker 3: It's dead quiet. And hopefully they won't kick me out,
Speaker 3: but if they do, it won't be the first time
Speaker 3: I've been kicked out of the cemetery.
Speaker 2: How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3: Well, I grew up in upstate New York, and I
Speaker 3: knew I wanted to be part of Hollywood in some way,
Speaker 3: and I really wanted to meet the Golden Age stars.
Speaker 3: Well I still could, and I remember I was in
Speaker 3: New York City when Lucille Ball died and it really
Speaker 3: rocked my world. She was just a huge, huge, huge
Speaker 3: idol of mine, maybe top of my list of all
Speaker 3: celebrities I wanted to meet. And when she died, I
Speaker 3: withdrew from college. I was going to Hobart College in Geneva,
Speaker 3: New York. I transferred to USC I ended up getting
Speaker 3: an internship with the Johnny Carson Show, The Tonight Show,
Speaker 3: and through a series of circumstances that me to the
Speaker 3: national Inquirer, and I knew the Acquirer would be a
Speaker 3: way that I could meet all those Golden Age stars.
Speaker 3: The problem was the way I met them was crashing
Speaker 3: their weddings and funerals and bar mitswas and brusses. So
Speaker 3: be careful what you wish for, Morgan.
Speaker 2: I have been, and I'll tell you the equivalent story
Speaker 2: when I got into this business. And it's a story
Speaker 2: I've told before, So I'm not going to bore my
Speaker 2: audience by, Oh, Morgan's going to tell those stories again.
Speaker 2: But I wanted to meet the people who were dominating
Speaker 2: my attention growing up, and almost anyone who was on
Speaker 2: radio or TV when I began in nineteen eighty, I've
Speaker 2: made sure I had a chance to speak to I've
Speaker 2: got some photos on my wall and I'm looking at
Speaker 2: a photo with Rex Trailer. They had a birthday party
Speaker 2: for him about twelve years ago, and I was fortunate
Speaker 2: enough to be able to kind of see that party.
Speaker 2: And I'm looking at all the various celebrities that were
Speaker 2: at one time Boston's Kitty Show hosts Boso played by
Speaker 2: Frank R. Rush and Major Mud. They had some sort
Speaker 2: of event where they all attended and They're about eight
Speaker 2: or nine of them in this one photo, and I
Speaker 2: interviewed maybe seven of those nine people. And the people
Speaker 2: on radio legends like Don Kent, Jess Caine, I've had
Speaker 2: on my show over the years. And when I think
Speaker 2: back on the once, I was lucky enough to get
Speaker 2: and very lucky to get because in one case a
Speaker 2: gentleman passed away one week after I had him on
Speaker 2: the air. It meant something to me to speak to
Speaker 2: these people and to offer them to my audience.
Speaker 3: So, yeah, aren't we lucky? Aren't we fortunate that we
Speaker 3: got to brush shoulders with these legends? And you know
Speaker 3: you were going through that list, and I want to
Speaker 3: ask you, I, like I mentioned, grew up in upstate
Speaker 3: New York, and I guess it was the mid eighties
Speaker 3: when we got cable television, early eighties, and one of
Speaker 3: the first channels we got, I correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: I thought it was from Boston channel thirty eight.
Speaker 2: WSBK originally started in nineteen sixty five and the call
Speaker 2: letters then it was involved with Boston's Catholic radio and
Speaker 2: TV WIHS, which stood for in His Service, and they
Speaker 2: eventually changed to SBK channel thirty eight and it's still
Speaker 2: a major powerhouse now.
Speaker 3: Yes, And there was a character, a children's clown called
Speaker 3: Willie Whistle.
Speaker 2: Beach played Willy Whistle and he spoke. I don't know
Speaker 2: if he did it with his real voice, if he
Speaker 2: had some sort of device. That's as close as I
Speaker 2: can approximate the voice of Willy Whistle.
Speaker 3: That was pretty good. Did you ever interview Willy Whistle?
Speaker 4: No?
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, a woman who was a friend colleague, make Lavigna,
Speaker 2: who was in their programming department, was going to get
Speaker 2: Willy for me, and he had a flu with something
Speaker 2: that ruined that date that we had scheduled, and we
Speaker 2: never rescheduled another one. And need I say it, I
Speaker 2: lost out on my opportunity when he passed away.
Speaker 3: Oh, Willie Whistle is no longer with us, stopped flowing.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I don't know how redid that voice.
Speaker 2: When I was younger, when I was in high school,
Speaker 2: I could do that voice, but that high school was
Speaker 2: decades ago, and decades to Beg's.
Speaker 3: I could do that Beg's high pitched voice, and I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't do it anymore. I just I'm too old
Speaker 3: to do it. But I miss it.
Speaker 2: Well, let me take my first break of the hourl William,
Speaker 2: and when we come back, I'm going to I'll give
Speaker 2: the phone number anyone out there who'd like to speak
Speaker 2: to mister William Keck his book When You Step upon
Speaker 2: a Star, Get Get It Tongue in cheek six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. This is night Side. Dan Ray is off
Speaker 2: this week. I'm here for four nights this week and
Speaker 2: Ben Star will be here tomorrow. The I've got the
Speaker 2: rest of the week. Time and temperature here on night
Speaker 2: Side it is eight seventeen seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray line from the Window World
Speaker 1: night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: It is off tonight, and I'm speaking to one individual.
Speaker 2: If you are an eight year old young lady and
Speaker 2: you're calling from South Carolina, listing in South Carolina, and
Speaker 2: your name is Baby Ryan, it's almost your bedtime. But
Speaker 2: I did promise your mother and you that I would
Speaker 2: say hello to you. So Hello to Baby Ryan. And
Speaker 2: for the rest of my audience across thirty eight states
Speaker 2: and parts of Canada, I've got mister William keck k E.
Speaker 2: C K who is an author, a calmnist. He's written
Speaker 2: a book called When You Step Upon a Star, Confessions
Speaker 2: of a Tabloid bad Boy. He spoke and reported about
Speaker 2: one hundreds hundreds of public personalities and spied on some too.
Speaker 2: Some feared him, others hated him. And I want you
Speaker 2: to give me a quick story because I read a
Speaker 2: quote from Kelsey Grammar. Oh, yes, he's not a fan
Speaker 2: of yours.
Speaker 3: No, And what was the.
Speaker 2: Little bump in the road that caused Kelsey not to
Speaker 2: be you a number one fan?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I wish I could say it was
Speaker 3: one bump, but it's the whole rocky road that continued
Speaker 3: for about thirty years. You know, Kelsey's a fine guy,
Speaker 3: but back in the nineties when I was working for
Speaker 3: the Inquirer, I was a bad boy. But he was
Speaker 3: also a bad boy. He was getting into a lot
Speaker 3: of trouble and I was assigned to sort of expose
Speaker 3: his secrets, okay, and that meant feeling his garbage. His
Speaker 3: fiance at the time was my source giving me stories
Speaker 3: on him. His own brother was giving stories on Kelsey.
Speaker 3: So when it came time for Kelsey to write his
Speaker 3: own memoir. He devoted two pages to me, and you
Speaker 3: can actually still order the audio version, and you can
Speaker 3: hear Kelsey in his frasier voice saying, William Keck, a
Speaker 3: despicable piece of flesh from the National Inquirer. Your mother
Speaker 3: must be very, very proud. I invite you to burn
Speaker 3: in hell. So I did share my chapter with Kelsey.
Speaker 3: He chose not to respond, but his people gave me
Speaker 3: the sign off to continue. But his ex fiancee, who's
Speaker 3: still a friend of mine, she did contribute a page
Speaker 3: to my book, and she talked about kind of some
Speaker 3: secrets about the relationship and how he called off their
Speaker 3: wedding by using their therapist. The therapist broke the news
Speaker 3: that they were done.
Speaker 2: Oh now there's one for the books.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Literally. So I don't think Kelsey is going to be
Speaker 3: happy with that either. I don't know. I'd love to
Speaker 3: make amends with him, but I don't see it happening.
Speaker 2: Of all the things he has done, whether he's wearing
Speaker 2: blue makeup and being the beast in the franchise for
Speaker 2: X Men or being a barfly here in Boston and Seattle.
Speaker 2: I liked the Chicago mayor role that he portrayed. I
Speaker 2: think that was closer to the real Kelsey and Boss. Yes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's a great actor, isn't he.
Speaker 2: Yep. Well, you know they put these words on a
Speaker 2: piece of paper, then they want you to bring that
Speaker 2: character to life. And that's what all actors are paid
Speaker 2: to do. Tell you what, You've got some phone traffic,
Speaker 2: So let me take a couple of phone calls before
Speaker 2: I have another break to take.
Speaker 3: Oh fabulous, I would love that.
Speaker 2: Let's go to Belmont, Massachusetts and speak to Joe. Joe,
Speaker 2: You've got you got William Keck.
Speaker 4: I got a question for William all right, when you
Speaker 4: wish upon a Star the Disney movie. Does that have
Speaker 4: anything to do with your title of your book?
Speaker 2: I think you thank you? Play on words?
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you, thank you. Joe. Well, you know, I
Speaker 3: am a big Disney fan, and I did love Pinocchio,
Speaker 3: and I loved when Jimminy Cricket saying when you wish
Speaker 3: upon a star, and Jimmy Cricket was all about following
Speaker 3: your conscience, and for a few years I didn't really
Speaker 3: follow my conscience. I made some bad decisions. So I
Speaker 3: thought when You step upon a Star was sort of
Speaker 3: an appropriate play on words. But it also kind of
Speaker 3: represents the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
Speaker 3: and I stepped on a lot of stars, both figuratively
Speaker 3: and literally.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and uh, you know you mentioned the word conscience,
Speaker 4: and I think when you wish upon a star, you
Speaker 4: should wish upon God instead of a start, because that's
Speaker 4: for astrology.
Speaker 2: All right, Well, Joe, thank you for the call. I
Speaker 2: think we're giving a little subject.
Speaker 3: It can't it can't hurt. It can't hurt. I hear
Speaker 3: you' we need God right now. So thank you for
Speaker 3: that call, Joe.
Speaker 2: Yes, and I've got a few words to say to you,
Speaker 2: and it's based on how we started this conversation. I
Speaker 2: love Lucy and she loves me. Where's happiest too, can
Speaker 2: be sometimes we quarrel, but then how we love making
Speaker 2: up again. Lucy kisses like no one can. She's my
Speaker 2: missus and I'm her man. And life is heaven you see,
Speaker 2: because I love Lucy. Yes, I love Lucy and Lucy
Speaker 2: loves me. You mentioned.
Speaker 3: I love that you got every word. I feel like
Speaker 3: I'm talking to DESI arnez right now.
Speaker 2: Well, don't go that far.
Speaker 3: Well, you know I did. There was there was a
Speaker 3: photo that appeared today. It was the first photo in
Speaker 3: years of Desi Arnez Jr. And he had a big
Speaker 3: old beard. He was with his sister, Lucy Arnez, and
Speaker 3: I did have the opportunity to interview. I didn't get
Speaker 3: to speak to Lucy, but I spoke to the children,
Speaker 3: Lucy Arnez and Desi Arnez Junior together and that was
Speaker 3: really a point of my career.
Speaker 2: And you want to know what they were in the
Speaker 2: perfect catbird seat to see all sides of Hollywood, in
Speaker 2: front of the camera and behind the camera. And anytime
Speaker 2: I've seen them interviewed on a game show or anything
Speaker 2: that they did in public, they were always respectful of
Speaker 2: both their mother and father.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, absolutely, they've done a wonderful job securing their reputation.
Speaker 3: And I remember when I was interviewing them, they said
Speaker 3: one of their main jobs in running the Luci o'
Speaker 3: ball Foundation was fielding offers for products that people had,
Speaker 3: and they said they would just hear every possible idea
Speaker 3: for a Lucy and Desie merchandise right tie in. And
Speaker 3: they said one of the pitches that they had to
Speaker 3: turn down was Lucy Desi toilet paper.
Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure there are many many add concepts account
Speaker 2: to mind for that. And this is a real quick
Speaker 2: thing before we take another phone call from New Jersey.
Speaker 2: One of the last shows produced at Desi Lou Studios
Speaker 2: was Star Trek. And I feel that that's kind of
Speaker 2: a thing that makes you say, hmm, that that show
Speaker 2: was shot on Desilu.
Speaker 3: Property, isn't that cool? And I'll tell you My publisher
Speaker 3: a company called Jacobs Brown Media. They have published many,
Speaker 3: many Star Trek books, So I think that they were
Speaker 3: really intrigued by my fascination with Lucy, because yes, Lucy
Speaker 3: greenlit Star Trek. There wouldn't be a Star Trek without
Speaker 3: Lucille Ball giving her go ahead to finance that. And
Speaker 3: I actually do have a chapter in my book about
Speaker 3: William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I had a couple of
Speaker 3: run ins with them that I talked about in the book.
Speaker 2: Well, Leonard Nimoy is a Boston boy and his father, ironically,
Speaker 2: this conversation came up on My weekend show just last weekend.
Speaker 2: His father's barbershop, Max Demoy's barbershop, was almost at the
Speaker 2: intersection of River Street and Blue Hill Avenue in the
Speaker 2: Mattapan section of Boston, and it's a section that had
Speaker 2: been heavily Jewish and in the sixties evolved into an
Speaker 2: inner city community. But his father stayed at that barbershop
Speaker 2: even as his son was on TV having those ears
Speaker 2: pointing straight up. Let me let me take the break
Speaker 2: and get it out the way, Gary, New Jersey. You've
Speaker 2: called in. You will get a chance to speak with
Speaker 2: William Keck anyone else who wants to do that. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, eight,
Speaker 2: eight nine to nineteen thirty. This is Night Side without
Speaker 2: Dan Ray. Tonight, I'm Morgan White Junior filling in. Let's
Speaker 2: take our break. At the bottom of the hour time
Speaker 2: eight thirty seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1: Is Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: I'm filling in for Dan. You know me. I've been
Speaker 2: around busy since nineteen ninety five and ninety six. Morgan
Speaker 2: White Junior, front and center, filling in for Dan Ray.
Speaker 2: I'll be here all week except tomorrow. Ben Parker will
Speaker 2: be here tomorrow, and yes, that's what I said. Ben Parker.
Speaker 2: He'll be here tomorrow, and I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday
Speaker 2: and Friday. My guest this hour mister William Kick, who
Speaker 2: is a columnist. He writes about oh an opening, when
Speaker 2: somebody showed up and tripped over the red carpet, or
Speaker 2: all those stories that necessarily don't put somebody in the
Speaker 2: best light, but you do the other end as well.
Speaker 2: You compliment when a compliment is too right, William.
Speaker 3: Well, yes, and I guess I should clarify. I've really
Speaker 3: been thinking about that that I call her Joe, and
Speaker 3: I want to make sure that people understand that I'm
Speaker 3: not bragging about these stories that I did. I'm a
Speaker 3: changed man. I'm telling stories about things I did in
Speaker 3: my foolish youth when I worked for the Inquirer and
Speaker 3: when I made mistakes. I've interviewed tons of celebrities and
Speaker 3: the interviews have gone really, really, really well. But for
Speaker 3: whatever reason, I found out the stories that people really
Speaker 3: wanted to hear about were the stories that didn't go well.
Speaker 3: And we were talking about Lucy. You know, Lucy wanted
Speaker 3: to meet all of her favorite stars, but in doing so,
Speaker 3: she often got in deep water. She got in trouble,
Speaker 3: and so did I. So all these years later, I'm
Speaker 3: not digging up the celebrities dirt. I'm telling my own secrets,
Speaker 3: confessing my own sins in my attempt to be a
Speaker 3: different man, and I talked about lessons learned, and I
Speaker 3: also apologize to these celebrities. And many of them have
Speaker 3: written essays in my book talking about their version of events.
Speaker 3: For instance, I crashed Melissa Gilbert's wedding to Little House
Speaker 3: in the Prairie. In the year since that, Melissa and
Speaker 3: I have become friends, and Melissa wrote a lovely one
Speaker 3: page essay in my book. Bruce Willis was a celebrity
Speaker 3: who threatened to burn my house down. It happened. Bruce
Speaker 3: sadly is not in a place to speak anymore. He's
Speaker 3: not verbal. I got his Moonlighting co star Sybil Shepherd
Speaker 3: to speak on his behalf, and she wrote a lovely essay.
Speaker 3: So I'm not doing the bad things anymore. I'm trying
Speaker 3: to turn a new page, a new leader.
Speaker 2: It's funny you mentioned little House, because next Hour I've
Speaker 2: got the Brady girl we all love to hate, portrayed
Speaker 2: by Alison Ingram. She will be on Next Hour.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, yes, you can tell her. Hi from William Tech.
Speaker 3: I was on her show and she was one of
Speaker 3: the stars that I stepped on, and when I did
Speaker 3: her talk show, she forgave me for the first time
Speaker 3: in year. So that's a perfect example of how I'm
Speaker 3: going back and making amends to these celebrities I wrong
Speaker 3: back in the day.
Speaker 2: I will do that immediately once she and I are coreected.
Speaker 2: Please let's take this call. Who's been holding for about
Speaker 2: thirteen minutes, Gary in New Jersey, Welcome to inside.
Speaker 3: Hey good show.
Speaker 5: Look, I had a question though the movie Sweet Swell,
Speaker 5: Sweet Smell of Success with Bert Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
Speaker 5: How close was that to you know, walk the Waingshill
Speaker 5: and a couple of the others, Because I remember as
Speaker 5: a boy there was a guy who used to write
Speaker 5: to the New York Post Earl Wilson, I believe that
Speaker 5: was his name. And if that guy said you had
Speaker 5: a good restaurant.
Speaker 3: It could make your business.
Speaker 5: If he said it wasn't too good, you might as
Speaker 5: well close the ada business sign on it. And I'm
Speaker 5: just wondering, how close do you think all of that
Speaker 5: power and the personalities were for what was you know,
Speaker 5: going on at that time?
Speaker 2: All right, let's hell what William has to say about
Speaker 2: that movie versus real life William.
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, I mean what I'll say to that is
Speaker 3: is that folks like Walter Winchell, Lluella Parsons, they knew
Speaker 3: all the secrets and celebrities were terrified about them. They
Speaker 3: could literally make and break careers. These people were invited
Speaker 3: to parties because the celebrities wanted to get on their
Speaker 3: good side, because they knew that with one article they
Speaker 3: could be done. They knew about Loretta Young's secret baby
Speaker 3: that she had that she ended up adopting and claiming
Speaker 3: that it was an adopted child, even though it was
Speaker 3: her own. So the difference is when I was working
Speaker 3: for the Inquirer, the celebrities were still terrified about being
Speaker 3: an inquirer. But instead of the studio system which sort
Speaker 3: of protected celebrities, the celebrities themselves got publicists, and the
Speaker 3: publicists did not want the celebrities to talk to the Inquirer.
Speaker 3: We were persona no grada. We were not invited to
Speaker 3: any parties or award shows. So that's why I had
Speaker 3: to use my clever imagination to speak into their worlds. So,
Speaker 3: I mean, I wasn't invited to Dean Martin's funeral, So instead,
Speaker 3: I'm not kidding. I rented a tree that grew over
Speaker 3: a wall into the cemetery and I was perched up
Speaker 3: in that tree with my photographer when all the celebrities
Speaker 3: came to sign the lectern on their way into Dean
Speaker 3: Martin's funeral, and up in that tree I heard Rosemary
Speaker 3: Clooney singing one of Dino's classics, under the Moon. It was.
Speaker 3: It was absolutely an incredible experience. So back in the day,
Speaker 3: those reporters had way more power than they do now.
Speaker 3: And of course now with social media, the celebrities are
Speaker 3: breaking their own secrets.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Dean Martin. I had to do some rearranging
Speaker 2: of stuff in my room and I've got the original
Speaker 2: poster from the Frank, Sammy and Dean movie about robbing
Speaker 2: Las Vegas Ocean's eleven.
Speaker 3: Oh Yes, and I.
Speaker 2: Had that poster. I've had that poster there for close
Speaker 2: to thirty odd years. It's matted and I had to
Speaker 2: take it down and put it back, and it's a
Speaker 2: full size movie poster and it's kind of unwielding as
Speaker 2: what I had to do to get it back to
Speaker 2: its original position. And I also have that classic photo
Speaker 2: of the three of them Sammy going left to right,
Speaker 2: Frank and Dean all in tuxedos, and these are kind
Speaker 2: of like head shots, taking it from a Las Vegas knight,
Speaker 2: many many many years ago. And they also have another
Speaker 2: picture of them all walking under the sign of the
Speaker 2: Sands where they all worked when they were filming that
Speaker 2: movie Ocean's Eleven. They'd filmed during the day and go
Speaker 2: on stage at night. Don't know when they slept, but
Speaker 2: there was something magical about those three men when they
Speaker 2: work together.
Speaker 3: They really really were. And of course I could not
Speaker 3: apologize to Dean Martin for crashing his funerals, so instead
Speaker 3: I reached out to a good friend of his, Rich Little,
Speaker 3: the impressionist, and Rich contributes two pages in my book,
Speaker 3: and he also shared a very rare, I don't know
Speaker 3: that it's seen before, photograph of Dean Martin, Rich Little,
Speaker 3: Milton Burrell, and Frank Sinatra all talking backstage in Vegas.
Speaker 3: So I think I think your listeners might really get
Speaker 3: a kick out of some of these Dean Martin stories
Speaker 3: in the book.
Speaker 2: I had Rich about a year ago, because at that
Speaker 2: point he was still working the Tropicana, which just closed
Speaker 2: down within the past eight weeks, and I've got several
Speaker 2: names here, okay, and I'm going to give you just
Speaker 2: two minutes to talk about interactions with Britney Spears, Elizabeth Taylor,
Speaker 2: and Rosie O'Donnell. I know you interacted with all three
Speaker 2: at different points.
Speaker 3: Well, let me let me take them step by step there.
Speaker 3: So yes, the first too, you mentioned Britney Spears and
Speaker 3: Elizabeth Taylor. I was engaged in high speed chases with
Speaker 3: both of those ladies. That's in my Divas section. I
Speaker 3: have four sections in my book, and they're both in Divas. Brittany,
Speaker 3: that was sort of a dangerous situation.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 3: She was with her her ex husband, Kevin Federline, and
Speaker 3: they were in the car with his child, and this
Speaker 3: high speed chase reached I think up the ninety miles
Speaker 3: per hour, and I could see the child's head bobbing
Speaker 3: up in the back. It was in its child prospective seat,
Speaker 3: but just way too dangerous to be in a car.
Speaker 3: So I was actually a passenger in that car. I
Speaker 3: was doing a story for USA Today on a day
Speaker 3: in the life of a paparazzi, and circumstances just led
Speaker 3: us on this chase with Britney. But In the other
Speaker 3: situation with Elizabeth Taylor, I was back working for the Inquirer,
Speaker 3: and we knew that Elizabeth was going to be going
Speaker 3: in for surgery, but we didn't know what hospital. So
Speaker 3: the Inquirer had me stake out her house, and when
Speaker 3: the time came for her to leave, I followed her car,
Speaker 3: and they saw me following, and they went faster, and
Speaker 3: I went faster, and I talked about conscience, and this
Speaker 3: is one of the times when I made the right decision.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, I said, what am I doing. This
Speaker 3: woman is not going shopping or going to a party.
Speaker 3: She's going to have surgery in a hospital. So I
Speaker 3: pulled over the side of the road to bell Air
Speaker 3: and I let her cargo. My editors were not happy
Speaker 3: with me, but I was happy with myself, right And No,
Speaker 3: and Rosie O'donnald is not you know. I I have
Speaker 3: an Ellen degenerous story in my book, but there's not
Speaker 3: a Rosie O'donnald's story. There's a reference to Rosie, but
Speaker 3: I don't know if you were maybe confusing Rosie and Ellen.
Speaker 2: No, I would never make that. I know the difference
Speaker 2: from one to the other, but their names are mentioned
Speaker 2: on my bioshet of you, so I thought i'd mentioned
Speaker 2: their name.
Speaker 3: I will say that there was a moment when I
Speaker 3: was in Staten Island and I was coming home from
Speaker 3: a wedding, my college roommate's wedding, and I saw the
Speaker 3: new cover of The Choir. I didn't know what it
Speaker 3: was going to be because I had been on vacation, and
Speaker 3: there were three images on the cover. There was a
Speaker 3: photograph of Rosie O'Donnell and the newspaper was trying to
Speaker 3: out her sexuality, which I thought was horrible. And there
Speaker 3: was a photograph of Joan London from Good Morying America,
Speaker 3: and the story was that she had lost a good
Speaker 3: friend of hers and the twa air crash. And then
Speaker 3: the third story was just a very sad photo of
Speaker 3: Raquel Welch, and the headline that went along with that
Speaker 3: photo was the sad, lonely life of Raquel Welch. And
Speaker 3: they made it even worse by running a photograph of
Speaker 3: Raquel in her glory years when she had her makeup on.
Speaker 3: And this photograph of some paparazzi got was not flattering.
Speaker 3: And I saw myself in all of these stories. I
Speaker 3: suffered the loss of a loved one suddenly, and I've
Speaker 3: held secrets about myself as Rosie has, and I certainly
Speaker 3: have gone through depression like it looked like Rikeel Welch
Speaker 3: was going through. And in that moment, I decided I
Speaker 3: was done with the inquirer that I cannot benefit off
Speaker 3: of the suffering and pain of others.
Speaker 2: Okay, now I've got one more break to take. Okay,
Speaker 2: I could wait till after the break, but I'm saying
Speaker 2: this now because I mean this as sincere as I
Speaker 2: can possibly sound on fifty thousand watts of radio power
Speaker 2: from WBZ. I know your travels will bring you to Boston.
Speaker 2: If that is something that's happening, you get my phone
Speaker 2: number from Harlan call me. Lunch is my treat out
Speaker 2: of my wallet. I will pay for us to sit
Speaker 2: down and talk without thirty eight states eavesdropping.
Speaker 3: I would love that. I would love that. I was
Speaker 3: just there last month and my cousin got married in
Speaker 3: Plymouth and we were duct and.
Speaker 2: Then I'm yeah, let me let me take the break
Speaker 2: in it out of the way. Sure, if you want
Speaker 2: to call in. I am not keeping William to the
Speaker 2: top of the hour I'm gonna keep him till about
Speaker 2: five minutes of so, if you want to call in,
Speaker 2: I'll do the best I can to get you on
Speaker 2: with mister William Keck here on WBZ with a time
Speaker 2: and temperature eight forty seven seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1: Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Speaker 1: Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2: I have mister William Keck here. He's only going to
Speaker 2: be here for another five minutes or so. If you'd
Speaker 2: like to call in, others have you can do the
Speaker 2: same six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or
Speaker 2: eight eight, eight, nine to nineteen thirty. This is nights
Speaker 2: Side Dan. It's off for the whole week. I'm here tonight,
Speaker 2: I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'll give you
Speaker 2: a heads up on the guests I have lined up.
Speaker 2: I will tell you next hour. For all you fans
Speaker 2: of Little House on the Prairie, I've got Nellie Olsen here.
Speaker 2: Alison on Grim will be joining me, who as well
Speaker 2: crossed paths with William Keck and William talked about that
Speaker 2: about five ten minutes ago. If you weren't here, you
Speaker 2: missed out. Now William, are there any assignments upcoming that
Speaker 2: you'd like to share with us that you're going to
Speaker 2: be sitting down and speaking with. Oh, I'm just pick
Speaker 2: a name out of out of the blue, Daniel Craig.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not doing Daniel Craig. Okay, Well, you know,
Speaker 3: I really made a commitment to not do smut anymore.
Speaker 3: So and I still love my nostalgia. I still want
Speaker 3: to talk to all these celebrities that I adored as
Speaker 3: a kid, all these TV stars. Well I still can.
Speaker 3: So I'm doing some work now with a magazine called
Speaker 3: Closer Weekly, which really celebrates classic stars. And yeah, I'm
Speaker 3: interviewing you know who. I'm next interviewing a model named
Speaker 3: Jane Kennedy, who was one of the most beautiful models,
Speaker 3: yes in the seventies eighties. Remember Jane, I remember her
Speaker 3: very well.
Speaker 2: I had a crush on her.
Speaker 3: Oh me too, who didn't. She was gorgeous. So she
Speaker 3: has re emerged and I'm going to talk to her
Speaker 3: for a four page article coming up in Closer Weekly.
Speaker 2: I'm looking forward to that. And of all the people
Speaker 2: that you've been fortunate enough to cross paths through, so
Speaker 2: I'll put it that way, give me two or three.
Speaker 2: If you can that represent your best work as a reporter.
Speaker 3: Wow, my goodness, wow wow wow wow wow. Well, you know,
Speaker 3: a couple of things come to mind. I remember when
Speaker 3: I was i USA Today and I was assigned to
Speaker 3: interview Brad Garrett, Yeah, from Everybody Loves Raymond, the big
Speaker 3: guy from Everybody Lives Raymond. It was going to be
Speaker 3: an at home interview with his family. And so I
Speaker 3: get to Brad's house and Brad takes me aside, and
Speaker 3: he has this big voice. He says, will, I've got
Speaker 3: to talk to you first. I got to let you
Speaker 3: know that my wife and I are separating. So I
Speaker 3: thought I was going to be doing a big, happy
Speaker 3: Garrett family story for USA Today. Instead, I was going
Speaker 3: to be breaking the news that he was they were divorcing.
Speaker 3: So Brad, you know, he had a great sense of
Speaker 3: humor about the whole thing. He actually put me on
Speaker 3: the phone with his wife, whom he was divorcing, and
Speaker 3: he trusted me to tell this story. And after I
Speaker 3: ran my story, Brad wrote me the most lovely note
Speaker 3: and he said he was going to be saving my
Speaker 3: story to show to their two young children one day
Speaker 3: so that they can see how a Bomby and death
Speaker 3: love them when they made the decision to go their
Speaker 3: separate ways.
Speaker 2: That's a very good story. And I'm going to end
Speaker 2: here so I can get you to your next commitment.
Speaker 2: But Brett Garrett does a great Herman Monster.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, I remember when he played Herman. Yeah, she's fabulous.
Speaker 3: He's great. Well listen, tell Allison hello for me, thank
Speaker 3: her for forgiving me. And then also on she we
Speaker 3: have a very good friend in common who who's in
Speaker 3: the hospital. I want I want her to let me
Speaker 3: know that he's okay. So just passed that message along Thrower.
Speaker 2: I definitely will and we are going to do this again, sir.
Speaker 3: You know what I've done a ton of interviews. Hands down,
Speaker 3: you're the best. I love talking to you. Morgan. You're amazing.
Speaker 2: William, thank you for that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: And it's true. It's true, and I'm.
Speaker 2: Looking forward to a face to face one day.
Speaker 3: I would love that. And have a read in my
Speaker 3: book when you step upon a Star to they everywhere, Amazon,
Speaker 3: Barnes Andnoble dot com, and let me know what you think.
Speaker 2: You got it. Yeah, you get along because you get
Speaker 2: another commitment. You take care all right everybody. There goes
Speaker 2: mister William Keck. And before I do anything else, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna tell you who I have got on Wednesday. I'm
Speaker 2: filling in the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Obviously I'm here
Speaker 2: tonight too. For Dan. I'm gonna have teacher Terry. I've
Speaker 2: had her on many a time talking about on this
Speaker 2: Wednesday back to school items that you should or shouldn't
Speaker 2: think of getting for your kids, whether they are elementary age,
Speaker 2: junior high age, high school age, or even college age.
Speaker 2: That'll be for the first hour. Speaking of summer. Everybody
Speaker 2: has a pet, almost everybody, and for those of us
Speaker 2: who have a kiddy like I do, there goes Gray
Speaker 2: in the other room or dog. There are things you
Speaker 2: should and shouldn't do when temperatures get into the eighties,
Speaker 2: nineties and above. So that's Mariel who will be here
Speaker 2: to discuss pet care all busy. Buddy Bradley j Will
Speaker 2: be here at the ten to eleven hour, and a
Speaker 2: doctor with whom I was very familiar because he was
Speaker 2: hands down helpful to me beating a diabetes issue back
Speaker 2: around twenty twelve, Doctor David Nathan will be here talking
Speaker 2: about diabetes issues. So that'll be from eleven to twelve
Speaker 2: on Wednesday, and i'll tell you about Thursday and Friday
Speaker 2: when I come back next hour. Alison andram A R
Speaker 2: and gr im that's how you spell her name. And
Speaker 2: she played Nellie Olsen, remember the braddy little girl on
Speaker 2: Little House on the Prairie. She made that character come
Speaker 2: to life in our TV sets. So she will be
Speaker 2: here next hour, and I will give you other details
Speaker 2: that you might find important for your WBC listening. I'm
Speaker 2: about to throw it to my buddy where ib Rob
Speaker 2: Brooks is our producer tonight, and I think Nicole Davis
Speaker 2: is still doing news. I could be wrong. We'll find
Speaker 2: out in mere minutes here on night's side. Time and
Speaker 2: temperature eight fifty eight seventy five degrees