Sorry for the
poor quality of the picture, but it's old and taken with a bad camera.
This is a picture
of Rodney Dangerfield, and that’s me with him! That picture was taken about
ten years ago. Rodney is the uncle of a former employer of my mothers’.
So one day he came to Miami for his great nephews Bar mitzvah, and decided
to stop by my mothers’ office to visit his nephew. My mother let me go
to work with her that day to meet him.
Rodney showed up
about three hours late, and we were getting ready to leave. Finally he
walked in the door wearing a wrinkled shirt and very short-shorts. His
hair was dyed blond and he looked just like he did in the movies. And yes,
he’s just as funny in real life as he is in the movies and on stage. He
walked in and walked right up to me, not even knowing who I was and said,
"Gee you know, this place is hard to find. I got lost! So I rolled down
the window of my limo and asked this guy on a bike how to get to North
Miami Beach, and he looks at me and says, ‘Hey! You’re Rodney Dangerfield!’
so I say, yeah I know! How do I get to North Miami Beach? And the guy says
to me again, ‘You’re Rodney Dangerfield!’ so I said to the guy, Yes and
thank you for reminding me, but I need to get to North Miami Beach!"
So I posed for the
picture and my mothers’ boss came out and introduced us to him. That weekend
we went to the Bar mitzvah and Rodney was there. He wore a tuxedo and sneakers,
(I guess the guy liked to be comfortable!) and naturally everyone at the
Bar mitzvah was crowded around him. The whole twist to this story is when
Rodney discovered he had a fondness for my mother! So he kept dancing with
her and talking to her all night! At one point, he was seated at a table
with her and his family and he was holding her hand; I walked in an almost
died! He looked up at me and said, "Denise, I’m in love with your mother."
I opened my arms wide and yelled, "Daddy!" And yes, Rodney laughed.
After the Bar mitzvah,
whenever Rodney would call my mothers’ office, he would always talk to
her, and he even asked her out. My mother on the other hand was not impressed
with his ‘celebrity’, (which is probably why he liked her) and declined
every time. Finally after a month or so, he gave up. My mother’s just not
the type of person to date a celebrity, although I still wonder to this
day what it would have been like if she had dated him.
About a year later,
Rodney married a woman my mothers’ age, and who resembled her. I have no
idea if they are still married or not, for I’ve never seen Rodney after
that fabled Bar mitzvah.
