A Slice of Orange

By Bobbie Cimo

I have a feeling perhaps in my youth, I might have spent a tad too much time watching TV and movies.

I mean, do you think it’s normal to fling yourself over a surfboard in Hawaii–ask someone to snap a picture of you, even though you can’t swim, just so you can pretend you’re Gidget for a moment?

I once owned a beige plaid coat with large fur trim around it. I bought it because it reminded me of the coat worn by Doris Day in “Pillow Talk”. She had it on when she was riding in an open convertible, driving to a weekend getaway in Connecticut with Rock Hudson sitting behind the wheel. I loved that coat, and every time I wore it I felt like Doris Day. Years later I realized that the coat looked nothing like Doris’ and the fur around my neck looked like road kill.

Then there was the time I had the Farrah Fawcett hairdo. I drove myself crazy, trying to keep those feathered sides up, just like hers. It wasn’t until my hairdresser reminded me that for every five steps Farrah took, there was a hair stylist with comb in hand, making sure she remained perfect for every photo shoot and TV scene that she did.

During the eighties I was a big fan of the series “Dallas”. And my favorite character on the show was JR’s wife, Sue Ellen (Linda Gray). I particularly loved Sue Ellen’s wardrobe. Especially the tailor-cut suits she wore with a thin camisole underneath the jacket and accessorized by a fashionable wide belt. Not only were her outfits stylish, but they were considered sexy. Back in those days, CBS would host an annual “Affiliates” conference during the month of May. This is where we would wine and dine TV station owners all over the country, with the hope that they would purchase one of our shows for their local stations.

One particular year we did a “Dallas” theme, where we took over a hotel parking lot and made it look like Southfork (the name of the Dallas ranch). And of course I did wear, as I liked to call it, my Sue Ellen suit. Two eventful things happened that day. First, the director’s wife and I swiped a six pack of JR’s Beer (not yet available to the public) and hid it in the tank of a toilet–so we could sneak it out later to split and take home. When we finally confessed to her husband, he didn’t know if he should laugh or be mad. And the other memorable thing that happened was that I actually ran into Linda Gray, who stopped me to tell me she liked my outfit. You know that put me on cloud nine.. And to this day, one of my long time friends who used to work at CBS still affectionately refers to me as Sue Ellen whenever she writes me.

Also held as an annual event was the Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon in “The Wild, Wild West” TV series) Celebrity Tennis Tournament. This was a charity event held in La Costa, California where for the admission price of $10.00 you could spend all day with such celebrities as Lucille Ball, William Holden, Merv Griffin, Michael Landon, Eva Gabor and numerous others . You were never treated like a fan, but more like a guest.. You were free to walk the grounds and mingle with your favorite celebrity, take pictures with them if you liked, or simply sit in the bleachers eating a hot dog while enjoying a good tennis match alongside of them.

One year during my visit to La Costa I met George Peppard (as seen in the picture above). Most of you might remember him, not only from the “The A Team” on TV, but also as Audrey Hepburn’s love interest in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

Ironically, many years later George’s son Brad ended up working at CBS, and when I was introduced to him, I wanted so much to shout, “I love your father”…. but I didn’t.

When my sister and I went on our first New York vacation, we made a list of things we each wanted to do: See a play, go shopping at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, take a carriage ride through Central Park, eat at Tavern on the Green and have breakfast at Tiffany’s. The breakfast one we couldn’t do, simply because there wasn’t a pastry place close enough. So we did the next best thing, we bought pretzels from a street vendor and brought them inside the store.

We might not have had breakfast at Tiffany’s, but we had our pretzels. It wasn’t long before an impeccably dressed salesman approached us to offer his assistance. Just as we took our first bite, without missing a beat, using the back of his hand in a butler-like manner he brushed away the salt that had fallen on top of his glass display counter.. Of course we apologized, but he never acted annoyed. At the end of our visit my sister did end up buying a small pair of turquoise earrings. And just like when Holly Golightly wanted to have her Cracker Jack ring engraved, Tiffany’s treated us as if we had just bought an exquisite pair of diamond earrings. Holly Golightly-ish? Well, maybe.

In closing, all I can say is it’s a good thing that “King Kong” wasn’t one of my favorite movies, or I might be writing about the time I went swinging from the top of the Empire State Building