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9139 OU10 - Filming in Los Angeles
The last part of our filming for B885 was on the West Coast, in Los Angeles. In fact, we were there for just one interview -- with Jamie Kellner, the head of the Fox network. We were also supposed to be filming one of the new sitcoms being filmed on the sound stages there, but -- once more -- this never happened.
So, again, we were on-site for nearly a week for just one ten minute interview. Having said that, I suppose Los Angeles was better than Detroit. On the other hand, it actually is not one of my favourite cities. Richard, who pushed for this visit, was in his element. He knew a lot of the media people -- in particular the Jewish community who behind the scenes run much of Hollywood -- and he spent the week moving around with them. The rest of us unfortunately had to make do with Los Angeles itself.
That's not to say we were uncomfortable, because our hotel in Beverly Hills was one of best in America. It was one of the Marriott chain, but this time 'George W. Marriot' which was the name given to its prestige hotels. You can tell it was good hotel, for staying with us while we were there was the US Vice President, Dan Quayle. It was something of a strange atmosphere. When you stepped into a lift you found it half full of men in suits talking into their armpits with their other armpits bulging. The Secret Service had taken over the hotel. We later learned that protecting the Vice President there were perhaps 50 Secret Service men, with as many special agents from the local LAPD.
We never saw anything of the Vice President, and even when departing he was rushed out from the underground car park; the wrong way down the dual carriageway outside escorted by something like 50 motorcycle outriders. As an indication of the lifestyle, though, we saw the medical equipment being brought in to be set up in the room near him. They had almost a complete operating theatre installed. Since JFK the presidency, or even the vice presidency, must be a worrying prospect for anyone.
The hotel rooms were certainly luxurious. Thus, in my bathroom I had both the full-size bath -- unusual for the US -- and a walk in shower. So, I was once more comfortable doing my writing.
Best of all, first thing in the morning I was able to swim in the hotel’s beautiful pool. At least I should say pools, for they had one indoors and one outdoors. I usually started in the indoor pool and then moved to the outdoor pool. This was overlooked by a substantial office building in which Ronald Reagan had an office. He was supposedly writing his memoirs overlooking where I was swimming. I don't know what was the truth, since not long afterwards he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
The reason we had been able to afford this hotel, despite its very high list price, was first of all that Richard had managed to get us privileged status with the State Department - which meant that we could demand government rates; so that what would otherwise have cost several hundred pounds a night was only about £100. More important, the hotel was part of 20th-century city, built on the old Fox back lot, and it had its own entrance to the Fox studios. Thus, Jamie Kellner was able to walk from his office and come up to Richard's suite -- he had a much better suite than the rest of us -- to be interviewed. Had we interviewed him in his office, on the Fox lot, we would have had to use their crews and that would have cost literally thousands of pounds extra.
Anyway, once more we had plenty of time on our hands. The net result was that I and the others were able to go to the Getty Museum. This was the first Getty Museum, but it was sumptuous enough even then. I wasn't terribly impressed with its contents except for one painting. Much has been made of the Vincent Van Gogh painting of purple irises. It was just a bunch of irises. Having seen it on television, I wondered what all that fuss was about; where it had cost $50 million or so. Seeing it in the flesh, however, it was stunning. I don't know what it was that made it so good, but it sent shivers down your spine.
The Getty was of course out at Malibu beach. So I and the production assistant had to paddle in the Pacific there -- though unfortunately a big wave came in went all over my trousers. It was not my favourite surfing experience!
I also went to the travelling exhibition at the Los Angeles art gallery. It was a collection of one of the turn-of-the-century millionaires, and it had a fabulous collection of impressionists. I love the best impressionists and this collection certainly contained a number of them.
Surprisingly there wasn't much for us to do in the evening, so all we could do was eat at pretty mundane restaurants. We tried to get into Spargoes, then the top restaurant, but there was a three-month waiting-list. Thus, we ate in places which stressed quantity rather than quality. In one I ordered the starter salad, to discover that it was a meal in itself. I followed that with what was described as a bucket of ribs and to my horror I discovered that was pretty much what it was. There must have been a dozen beef ribs, which was bad enough, but they were covered in what was almost treacle. It was really unappetising.
We never went down into Los Angeles itself this time, but held ourselves aloof in Beverly Hills.
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