More famous people I was privileged to meet...
JOHN RITTER- July 7, 1977 (7/7/77) was a truly lucky day for me. My family got tickets to the old Mike Douglas show in Philadelphia. I had never been to the taping of a TV show before, so it was exciting.
The show was fun. Other then Mike Douglas himself, the list of guests that day included Denise Alexander, a soap opera star back in the 70s, actor Robert Duvall, music icons Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, and a relatively unknown comic actor named John Ritter.
John was in his first season of a new show called Three's Company. The show debuted in the spring of 1977 and was picked up for the upcoming fall season.
After the show we were milling around the Channel 3 studios out front in the warm sunshine. It was crowded and noisy, traffic zooming by. John was taking pictures with a group of young females, smiling broadly in his navy blue suit, when an older gentleman looked at me and said "Would you like to meet Johnny?" I nodded ok, still not sure who John was.
"Johnny, come here for a second," yelled the older guy. I still don't know if this guy was his manager or not, but regardless, John walked over to me , shook hands and said hi.
I didn't have a camera, and the only thing I had handy for him to sign was the yellow and white ticket stub from the show. John said sure, he would sign, and joked "I hope you understand my chicken-scratch", shaking hands again. "To Greg, Best Wishes, John Ritter."
With an extra suit draped over his shoulder in a plastic cover, John waited for a cab at the curb, as he puffed on a cigarette. He jumped in the cab and was whisked away down Market Street and down the road to fame.
John went on to star in Three's Company for year, becoming a comic genius on the way. He died from an aortic dissection on September 11, 2003 at the young age of 54. He was a really funny guy, but as I personally found out, he was a really sweet guy too.
JIM O'BRIEN- The longtime Channel 6 Action News weather guy also hosted a morning show called Dialing for Dollars. Again, we got tickets for the show at the Channel 6 studios. It was cool seeing the actual newsroom where the news broadcasts from and the inside of a TV studio.Dialing for Dollars had local guests, prize giveaways and a live studio audience.
After the show, I shook hands with Jim. He was a nice guy. It was a trip because Jim was very popular in the Philadelphia area at that time. In fact, he was gradually breaking away from strictly doing weather, moving more into anchoring the news. It seemed like he could do anything.
Jim was an avid sky-diver, and sadly he died on September 25, 1983 from a sky-diving accident.
By the way, we also met organist Larry Ferrari that day. He provided the music on Dialing for Dollars. The longtime Channel 6 entertainer was very kind and friendly. In fact, he saw us walking to the car after we had met him in the studio, rolled down his window, and handed me an autographed photo.
BOBBY WINE- The former Phillies shortstop in the 1960s was my favorite player back then. A smooth fielder but poor hitter, he lived in nearby Audubon , PA. at the time. It was somewhere around 1965-66 and my dad worked with a guy who knew Bobby. Dad told him that I was a fan, so he arranged for Bobby to call me on my birthday.
The following summer we went to old Connie Mack Stadium to see a Sunday afternoon game against the dreaded Los Angeles Dodgers. It was always fun to attend a game in person, the colors, the buzz of the crowd, the smell of peanuts...who could ask for more?
To my surprise, our seats were next to the Phils dugout, on the third base side of the field. I couldn't believe how close we were, and the visiting Dodgers did their pre-game warm-ups. There was Koufax, Drysdale and the rest, all in Dodger blue, right there in front of me.
But the biggest surprise was when Bobby Wine himself bounded out of the Phillies dugout and came over to the box seat and meet me. It was an afternoon I would never forget, me and my dad together at the ballgame.
To top it off, Bobby got a hit that day. And the Phillies won.
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