Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [26]
I never had Cary Grant on the show, but I had his secretary as a guest along with some secretaries of other famous people. She said, “Mr. Grant asked me to compliment you on your clothes.” I thought of all the people I’d like to have compliment me on my clothes, Cary Grant is the man. Later I did have the pleasure of meeting him. One of our writers on Truth, Milt Larsen, established the Magic Castle, a popular magic club and restaurant in Hollywood. Cary Grant was always interested in magic. I emceed the annual Academy of Magical Arts awards banquet at the Beverly Wilshire hotel for twenty years. I did it every year for Milt, mainly because I’d do it for free. It was supposed to be a nonprofit organization, and they were charging $20 for a bowl of chili. Milt and his brother Bill ran the organization. I used to get a laugh by saying it’s a real pleasure for me to be back again this year doing the Academy of Magical Arts awards banquet for the Larsen brothers, Jesse and Frank.
One year I was doing this magic awards show, and Cary Grant was going to be a presenter. He didn’t arrive before I had to go onstage, but I did my introduction for him, and there he was. He came on and did his bit as a presenter. After the show, I was out in the foyer with Dorothy Jo and Irene Lyon, wife of Charlie Lyon, the associate producer and announcer for Truth for all those years. We called her Shrimp—everyone called her Shrimp. Shrimp was one of Dorothy Jo’s best friends. I went looking for Milt to say good night, and when I walked into a room, there was Cary Grant over in a corner surrounded by people and cameras and newspaper reporters.
He looked over the crowd and shouted out to me, “Hey, Bob! Bob!” He came over and started chatting with me and telling me how well he thought I had done as emcee of the magic awards.
The conversation was going so well that I had the nerve to say, “My wife and a friend are out in the foyer. Could I bring them in to meet you?”
He said, “Bob, we’ll go to meet them.”
So we went out, and Dorothy Jo was seated on a little love seat with Shrimp next to her. I came up from behind with Cary Grant and said, “Honey, look who’s come to say hello.”
Dorothy Jo turned around first and said, “Oh, my goodness.”
Then Shrimp turned around, looked up at Cary, and said, “It is… it really is!”
Cary was utterly charming. He made it an evening to remember.
A year later, there was this big dinner before the show, a banquet, and I was at a table with some guests in the giant ballroom of the Beverly Wilshire. Cary Grant comes walking in, and, of course, every eye in the house is on him. And what did he do? He walked right over to my table and said hello to me. I stood up and said, “Good evening, Cary,” and we talked for a few minutes. He knew that every eye in the ballroom was on him, and I think that he walked to my table and chatted with me for a few minutes to allow me to share the attention. He was a kind and thoughtful gentleman.
• • •
I’ll tell you about another very smooth star, who was also great at comedy, and that was Cesar Romero. We had him on as a guest on Truth or Consequences, and he loved comedy, especially slapstick. Here was this suave, well-dressed Latin lover type, but he was always up for any and all kinds of gags we did. He came on the show, sat around with all of us and talked before rehearsal, and he really seemed to enjoy himself. He always said, “Oh, that’s great, that’s great. Let’s do it.” One time we were going to fake a hot seat with him, an electrically charged hot seat, and we asked whether he could fake it like he really got jolted. And he said, “Just watch me.” When he did it, he came flying out of that seat. He could have won an Academy Award. He was a great guest.
Speaking of Latin lovers, Julio Iglesias was another star with whom I had the good