I can happily report that I had the pleasure of attending one of his “An Evening With Cary Grant” shows about two years before he died. It’s hard to believe, unless you’re actually in the presence of someone like him, that such people exist in this world.
Seating was sold with the most expensive seats being the first five or six rows on the ground floor (as opposed to the balcony) of the auditorium in which he was to appear. They cost several hundereds of dollars each and these seats were filled with old money bluebloods. Prior to the show, those of us in the audience were all mingling in the outer foyer and there were puffed-up, exaggeratedly confident millionaires with their beautiful, well-groomed, jewelry-dripping wives everywhere. All in all, several hundred old money types were there, the men all in tuxedos.
Well, the show started, Cary Grant was introduced, he strode on stage, smiled…and outclassed the whole room! All these puffed up, showy hot-shot bluebloods suddenly looked like plain old ordinary schmucks. Whatever glamour they exuded evaporated instantly.
You truly have to be in the presence of stars like him to appreciate what extraordinary people they are. Absolutely everybody in that place fell in love with him. I saw puffed-up local politicos, old money big-shots, dreamy-eyed college girls (his appearance was at a local university) hanging on his every word and fawning over him without the slightest pretense of sophistication. It was amazing!
And of course, Grant himself was wonderful. The nature of his show was that four people would circulate through the audience with microphones and anyone who wanted to ask him a question could, and nothing was off limits. For two hours he took on all comers and I’m not exaggerating when I say that absolutely everything he said was the right thing to say and everything he did was the right thing to do. I’ve never seen so many hundreds of people–as diverse a crowd as you possibly imagine–so absolutely in thrall of anyone in my life.
And of course, his sex appeal was still intact, even at the age of eighty. I saw more than one female college student swoon over him, and I heard at least three say they wanted to go to bed with him, and they couldn’t believe it because he was eighty years old! (Much to my brother’s great annoyance, his twenty eight year old wife felt the same way and was foolish enough to say so.)
But all in all (and without seeming to try) he was the most gracious, charming and fascinating person I’ve ever had the pleasure of seeing in my life. Prior to the show I was concerned that he may not live up to my expectations and that the real life Cary Grant would be a dissappointment. But there was no need to worry. He was superb!
What a guy!
