This afternoon, the lovely Shelly Goldstein and I were in the front row for a memorial in North Hollywood for the late/looney Rip Taylor. I took the photos that adorn this posting and I would have written the text but my buddy Steve Stoliar beat me to it. That is, I logged into Facebook, read Steve's account of the event and realized he'd written just about all the same stuff I was going to write. So with his permission, I'm quoting him and then I'll be back to add a few more points. Take it away, Steve…
Just came from a very affectionate and entertaining memorial for Rip Taylor at the El Portal Theatre in North Hollywood. It was produced by Rip's longtime publicist and friend, B Harlan Boll who, by astonishing coincidence, was the publicist for the original hardcover edition of Raised Eyebrows, way back when. He did a superlative job of juggling the venue, the speakers, and the video clips.
The stage was festooned with numerous sparkly costumes from Rip's career, plus one of his wigs — and an urn containing the remains of Mr. Taylor himself! Among those sharing their funny and touching memories were wicked wit Bruce Vilanch, Marty Krofft, Julie Newmar, Johnny Whitaker, Jo Anne Worley, Kathy Griffin, and Alison Arngrin. Many of the clips were deliciously non-PC by today's restrictive, unreasonable standards, and there were also clips from Rip's one-man show where he got into some of the darker elements of his life, which added a lot of texture to the clip reel. At the conclusion, we all sang Rip's theme song — "Happy Days Are Here Again" — and — big surprise — much confetti was unleashed upon the audience.
Also in attendance were my pals Mark Evanier, Shelly Goldstein, Jeff Abraham, Kerry Ross, Hank Garrett, Geoffrey Mark and Jeremy Vernon, plus Lee Meriwether (two Catwomen under one roof, ladies and gentlemen!), George Chakiris, Charlie Brill & Mitzi McCall, Judy Tenuta — and Ann-Margret!
Afterwards, I chatted with Johnny Whitaker about The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming and when Harlan introduced me to Julie Newmar as someone who worked for Groucho, the first thing she mentioned was The Mikado, of all things! She was very impressed with that — and I was very impressed that she mentioned it. Although she now has trouble getting around, she looked remarkably well for eighty-six!
A lovely afternoon.
I agree with my friend Steve…and I should mention that the book he mentions, Raised Eyebrows, is his account of the time he spent working in the home of one Groucho Marx and it's a must-read if you want to know about Groucho's last days and the controversial Erin Fleming who, for good or ill — actually, a little of the former and a lot of the latter, in my view — managed his life in those years. You can order a copy of the new, updated paperback here and I suggest you do. I also suggest this book that Steve wrote in tandem with the fine comedian and director of funny television, Howard Storm.
Getting back to Rip: There were a lot of memories shared of a man who could perhaps be described as mercurial but memorable. Rip was a born entertainer — one of those guys who could never have been happy in any other profession. He was much-loved by the folks who turned out this afternoon and, of course, by the many who loved him on television or night clubs. Oh — and I just realized I took another photo I should share with you…
This table was on stage during the ceremony. At left, you see one of Rip's old wigs. At right is a photo of him, possibly wearing the same wig. And in the center, there was that blue urn containing Rip's ashes which will soon be scattered at sea, much like confetti.
As Steve mentioned, much confetti was strewn about the El Portal, most of it on those of us in the first row. Some people had to dig Ann-Margret out of it. I came home with a lot of it in the pockets of my sport coat. I've decided to leave it there and the next time I'm at some social engagement wearing that coat, I'll just pull out a few wads of it and toss them in the air…in honor of Rip.