Drops

  Here is another couple of encounters I have had with names you might recognize.  Today, we have stories about two guys named George.  I do regret never having met George of the Jungle.  You know, he is a friend to you and me, but he has to watch out for that tree.

 In 1978, I was working at Sanger Harris Department Store.  They brought in a lot of famous people to do personal appearances to promote one thing or another.  One of those people was a man named George Hamilton.  You may remember him as an actor, or that he dated Lynda Bird Johnson.  He came to the store to promote a line of skincare products.  He was very famous for his tanned skin.  When I met him at the store, he seemed a little stuck up, but he shook my hand anyway.  We talked for a couple of minutes about acting.  There were a lot of women swooning over him, which he just ate up.  Ego will do that to you.  He smiled a lot.

 In 2008, I was living in Greenville, SC.  The movie, "Leatherheads", had been filmed in that area the year before.  George Clooney was the director and star of the film.  The premiere was taking place in Greenville, and Clooney was there to get the key to the city along with his co-star Renee Zellweger.  I knew there would be autographs available, so I had gone to a bookstore and bought a magazine with both of them on the cover.  When I got to the site, there was already a crowd of mostly women looking to get an autograph or two.  The film company had passed out mini movie posters for them to sign, but I had my magazine.  George started to wander into the crowd, and I was right there.  I presented my magazine to him to sign.  He looked at it with a smile and looked at me.  He signed it, and I said, "Thank You".  He looked at me and said, "You're welcome".  I didn't see him doing that to anyone else.  We had a moment.  Renee was having some issues with her high heels, so she stopped signing right before she got to me.  I begged her assistant to have her sign my magazine.  She did, and that was the last autograph she gave out at that event.  After the ceremony, Renee went to get in the car, but George stayed to sign some more autographs.  There was some chaos at that second signing for a group much smaller than the first.  In the melee, I signed a woman's arm who was in front of me.  It was an accident, but I bet she didn't wash her arm for a long-time thinking George had done it.  As I have said before, usually the bigger the star, the nicer they are.  George Clooney was much nicer than George Hamilton.  Case closed.