According to Blogger this is the 224th blog I have written. Combine that with my age and the harsh year I have just experienced and I will make no excuses if this is a repeat. I have no intention of going through 223 blogs to see if I've told the story of Steve Allen and Sol Levy. The name, Steve Allen, is real; but I fear I have forgotten the name of the character I am calling Sol Levy.
Sol was a traveling salesman for our company. One night he found himself in Seattle without a business dinner. He was alone in a strange city and as in other similar circumstances, he decided to see the sights and have a grand dinner up on the Seattle Tower.Now Sol was often teased and accused of being a dead ringer for Steve Allen. (For those too young to remember, Steve ran the Tonight Show on NBC for a long time before Johnny Carson took over. If you don't remember Johnny Carson, you shouldn't be up this late) Sol noticed that Steve Allen was present sitting with a large group on a tier higher that his. As his dinner progressed, he saw members of Steve's party point at Sol, nudge Steve and smile. Sol soon realized that the curse of looking like Steve had caught up with him again.
After finishing his dinner and paying the tab, instead of leaving, he went up to Steve Allen. Before a word could be spoken, He said, "Sir, do you realize that you look just like Sol Levy?" Reports were that Steve went into a laughing jag such as he was known for on his show. He was still laughing when Sol got on the elevator to earth.
4 comments:
That's a great story! I can just see Steve having a laughing fit!
Your friend must have felt really thrilled for coming up with such a line on the spot, using it to turn the tables on a famous personality and getting laughs from him! Most people miss chances like that as they think of clever things they could have said only when the moment has passed!
LOL - this is so funny :-D!
Great story! We have a fond spot for Steve Allen. J backed him at a gig at a Senior Expo in Portland a few months before he died. And because he's a great player (if I do say so), he did a great job (with no rehearsal and he'd never met Steve...even before they took the stage...it was a trio + Steve.) Well, J. knew just went to do a rim shot during Steve's banter and I could tell watching the sets that he was pleased. Afterwards, we were wolfing down a slice of pizza on the break before J went on to do another set with a big band...when suddenly the stage manager pulled at him and said Steve wanted to meet him. We went into the little dressing room and he asked Jeffrey about himself, where he was from (Portland) and if he had a card (he gave him one). I asked if I could take a photo of the two of them and it hangs in our living room. When he died, we read in one of his obituaries that he was notorious for recording notes from his life...and as we walked out of the dressing room that day, we heard him talking into his little recorder...reciting J's info from his business card. :)
Post a Comment