Now, I didn't know Robin Williams personally. I so wish that I had. But if you want to talk about "six degrees of so-and-so" I was actually; literally, within six feet of him. Maybe even six inches. Wait a second...that doesn't sound right.
I've been writing a lot about "mean people" lately; particularly Show Business mean people. So, I wanted to counter that with a little story about someone who struck me as "not mean enough." Oh, so, "one of the good ones."
I've been writing a lot about "mean people" lately; particularly Show Business mean people. So, I wanted to counter that with a little story about someone who struck me as "not mean enough." Oh, so, "one of the good ones."
It was 1992 and the movie Toys was about to be released by 20th Century Fox--December 18th--one day before my 27th birthday. (Keep an eye on that jacket Robin is wearing in the above photo). At the time, I was working for a catering company called: Along Came Mary. Thinking back on all this Hollywood stuff, I'm kind of amazed at how many angles I was able to view the Entertainment Industry from in my various endeavors to feed myself. Maybe I should write a book about it. Wink-wink. But before we get to dear Robin W.--a little background. No, wait...before we get to the background; I just have a few words about one more mean person and then I'm done writing about them:
Ms. DeGeneres is the very worst kind of mean person. She is the wolf in sheep's Gucci kind of mean person. The really mean person who has everyone fooled they're a really "nice" person. Certainly, we know now that Ellen deserves some kind of award for keeping up the appearance for so long. But time will out, will it not?
I used to be a huge fan of hers. But when her show Ellen's Game of Games debuted four years ago; her mask started to crumble for me. I remember staring at the TV aghast as Ellen gleefully toiled over her torture control device to send innocent people shoosting through trap doors and falling down chutes and basically being treated like ants by a particularly sick child with a magnifying glass. I mean look at her in the above picture. She looks deranged. Around the same time she started pranking her guests on her talk show. But these weren't pranks. They were attempts to terrify people into shitting their metaphorical pants. I recall watching Game of Games and turning to my husband and saying: "This is kind of disturbing..." "No," he said, "it's sick." I caught a segment the other night while I was channel surfing. It seemed Ellen had upped her game of "Get the Guests." The contestants were now further humiliated by having to wear demeaning costumes. Just had to get that insult layered on the injury I suppose. Ellen must've been getting bored. I'd love to see her get strapped into one of her devices and let other people have a go. We could start with Dakota Johnson. Yeah, Ellen definitely strikes me as the type who can dish it out but can't take it--in the least.
Coincidentally, isn't it interesting that Kate McKinnon's "Ellen" disappeared from SNL around the time the game show came on? I think we're all due for an SNL "Game of Games" spoof. How about Ellen's Game of Thrones?
I used to be a huge fan of hers. But when her show Ellen's Game of Games debuted four years ago; her mask started to crumble for me. I remember staring at the TV aghast as Ellen gleefully toiled over her torture control device to send innocent people shoosting through trap doors and falling down chutes and basically being treated like ants by a particularly sick child with a magnifying glass. I mean look at her in the above picture. She looks deranged. Around the same time she started pranking her guests on her talk show. But these weren't pranks. They were attempts to terrify people into shitting their metaphorical pants. I recall watching Game of Games and turning to my husband and saying: "This is kind of disturbing..." "No," he said, "it's sick." I caught a segment the other night while I was channel surfing. It seemed Ellen had upped her game of "Get the Guests." The contestants were now further humiliated by having to wear demeaning costumes. Just had to get that insult layered on the injury I suppose. Ellen must've been getting bored. I'd love to see her get strapped into one of her devices and let other people have a go. We could start with Dakota Johnson. Yeah, Ellen definitely strikes me as the type who can dish it out but can't take it--in the least.
Coincidentally, isn't it interesting that Kate McKinnon's "Ellen" disappeared from SNL around the time the game show came on? I think we're all due for an SNL "Game of Games" spoof. How about Ellen's Game of Thrones?
See, mean people get all the attention, don't they?
So, back to sweet, kind, nice Robin Williams. And those qualities are just assumptions on my part. But I think in this case I'm correct.
Toys has gone down in Hollywood lore as one of the biggest disasters of all time. It cost about 95 million dollars to make in today's money. It was the pet project of writer/directory Barry Levinson. It was one of those bottom drawer scripts that probably should've stayed in the drawer; but since Levinson, in the early 90's, was coming off a slew of hit movies (particularly Rain Man) he was able to basically get a blank check from 20th Century Fox. Robin Williams was at the height of his stardom too. He had done Good Morning, Vietnam for Levinson. That had been a hit. Toys seemed like a great idea. A sure fire hit. The Big Christmas Release of 1992. I'm certain they all thought they were going to create a mega-smash movie. Oh, it was a smash all right.
So, back to sweet, kind, nice Robin Williams. And those qualities are just assumptions on my part. But I think in this case I'm correct.
Toys has gone down in Hollywood lore as one of the biggest disasters of all time. It cost about 95 million dollars to make in today's money. It was the pet project of writer/directory Barry Levinson. It was one of those bottom drawer scripts that probably should've stayed in the drawer; but since Levinson, in the early 90's, was coming off a slew of hit movies (particularly Rain Man) he was able to basically get a blank check from 20th Century Fox. Robin Williams was at the height of his stardom too. He had done Good Morning, Vietnam for Levinson. That had been a hit. Toys seemed like a great idea. A sure fire hit. The Big Christmas Release of 1992. I'm certain they all thought they were going to create a mega-smash movie. Oh, it was a smash all right.
It had an inauspicious opening week-end. It ranked at #6. Opening at #6 for a movie this expensive and anticipated was not a good sign. Interestingly, Robin was competing against himself; as Aladdin after six weeks in theaters, was still at #2. And it was all down hill from there...
Yeah, it was a smash. Like the Titanic going full speed ahead into the Rock of Gibraltar. It got smashed by bad word of mouth. I saw it at the theater and recall squirming in my seat after about fifteen minutes. And it was a two-hour movie. I stuck it through though. I happened to be seeing it with a co-worker (Fred) who I was kind of smitten with. Being less than six inches from him was enough for me to suffer through the off-putting and nearly incomprehensible mess that was Toys.
But I wasn't surprised. I had been at the Toys premiere after party. You see, Along Came Mary specialized in Hollywood movie premiere extravaganzas. Over the top parties that would put ancient Rome to shame. These events were usually held in circus tents. The Toys party was no exception. The massive tent was decorated like a giant toy store, with props from the movie and whimsical touches everywhere. It was like a giant Toyland for adults; and instead of getting to play with toys, the grown-ups got to play with food. Food glorious food! It was everywhere. Station after station of amazingly prepared foods. Meat stations and salad bars and finger-foods and soup stations and truckloads of cookies and cakes and pies...
Yeah, it was a smash. Like the Titanic going full speed ahead into the Rock of Gibraltar. It got smashed by bad word of mouth. I saw it at the theater and recall squirming in my seat after about fifteen minutes. And it was a two-hour movie. I stuck it through though. I happened to be seeing it with a co-worker (Fred) who I was kind of smitten with. Being less than six inches from him was enough for me to suffer through the off-putting and nearly incomprehensible mess that was Toys.
But I wasn't surprised. I had been at the Toys premiere after party. You see, Along Came Mary specialized in Hollywood movie premiere extravaganzas. Over the top parties that would put ancient Rome to shame. These events were usually held in circus tents. The Toys party was no exception. The massive tent was decorated like a giant toy store, with props from the movie and whimsical touches everywhere. It was like a giant Toyland for adults; and instead of getting to play with toys, the grown-ups got to play with food. Food glorious food! It was everywhere. Station after station of amazingly prepared foods. Meat stations and salad bars and finger-foods and soup stations and truckloads of cookies and cakes and pies...
Not to mention whatever you wanted to drink! Except, this Toyland was empty. Yeah, there were some kids running around. Probably the offspring of movie executives who had somehow thought Toys was a kids movie. It wasn't. It was some kind of muddled anti-war statement. Real fun for the kiddies. But it didn't matter. The caul of failure had already unfolded over the movie. The word was out. Toys was a stinker. It just simply wasn't an enjoyable movie. Sure, it was fine to look at with it's clever and colorful production design; but a movie at its most basic has to have a good story. Toys most assuredly did not. And Robin Williams couldn't save the movie either. In fact, he was given too much free reign and delivered a confusing and underwhelming performance.
Meanwhile, I was assigned to a meat carving station. A massive leg of lamb. I had one customer. Blythe Danner. As for me, a starving young artist, I had never had lamb before. But I sure did that night! I wasn't crazy over it; but it filled my stomach. And mint jelly. What's that all about? Maybe to kill the taste of the lamb? Kinda gamey if you ask me.
Meanwhile, I was assigned to a meat carving station. A massive leg of lamb. I had one customer. Blythe Danner. As for me, a starving young artist, I had never had lamb before. But I sure did that night! I wasn't crazy over it; but it filled my stomach. And mint jelly. What's that all about? Maybe to kill the taste of the lamb? Kinda gamey if you ask me.
Hmmm...was Gwyneth there that night? Maybe she was.
Here's Robin in that jacket again, discussing Toys with Arsenio Hall:
Here's Robin in that jacket again, discussing Toys with Arsenio Hall:
This jacket must've been some kind of talisman for Robin. I believe it's a costume from the movie. He was also wearing it the night of the ill-fated Toys party. I recall it lighting up...interesting how the memory works.
So that night Robin was literally on his own. I don't remember seeing Barry Levinson or Joan Cusack (I don't think I would've known who LL Cool J and Robin Wright were at that time) or anyone else from the movie. The massive tent, like I said, was nearly empty which made poor Robin running around, talking to the few people who were there and clowning for the kids all the more humiliating. I think his wife was with him (well, there was a woman with him and I assumed at the time it was his wife). Watching him, I could tell that he felt responsible for everything. Here was a 95 million dollar movie riding on his shoulders. He was Atlas and Toys was the globe. And the globe was already hopelessly cracked. He stayed until the very last person was gone. At some point, like I said, he was standing right next to me. I so wish I had said something. I know he would've chatted with me. But I didn't. One of my few Hollywood regrets. And I often wonder what happened to all of that uneaten food.
I always suspected that Robin's hyperactive act was just a cry for attention to his parents. Probably, mostly, his dad.
And in doing a little research, sure enough, it seems that was exactly the case. He came from money, I'm assuming, as his dad was a big-time automobile executive and Robin went to all kinds of swanky schools. But I also read that he worked as a bus-boy at a restaurant during the summers when he was attending Julliard (huh, I've been misspelling Juilliard all this time Oh, who cares? That extra "i" is pretentious). I highly doubt it was out of necessity. I've been a bus-boy. Something else Robin and I could've commiserated about. Yes, he was one of the "nice" ones. Nobody of his stature would've endured that party if they weren't.
So that night Robin was literally on his own. I don't remember seeing Barry Levinson or Joan Cusack (I don't think I would've known who LL Cool J and Robin Wright were at that time) or anyone else from the movie. The massive tent, like I said, was nearly empty which made poor Robin running around, talking to the few people who were there and clowning for the kids all the more humiliating. I think his wife was with him (well, there was a woman with him and I assumed at the time it was his wife). Watching him, I could tell that he felt responsible for everything. Here was a 95 million dollar movie riding on his shoulders. He was Atlas and Toys was the globe. And the globe was already hopelessly cracked. He stayed until the very last person was gone. At some point, like I said, he was standing right next to me. I so wish I had said something. I know he would've chatted with me. But I didn't. One of my few Hollywood regrets. And I often wonder what happened to all of that uneaten food.
I always suspected that Robin's hyperactive act was just a cry for attention to his parents. Probably, mostly, his dad.
And in doing a little research, sure enough, it seems that was exactly the case. He came from money, I'm assuming, as his dad was a big-time automobile executive and Robin went to all kinds of swanky schools. But I also read that he worked as a bus-boy at a restaurant during the summers when he was attending Julliard (huh, I've been misspelling Juilliard all this time Oh, who cares? That extra "i" is pretentious). I highly doubt it was out of necessity. I've been a bus-boy. Something else Robin and I could've commiserated about. Yes, he was one of the "nice" ones. Nobody of his stature would've endured that party if they weren't.
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