PO
Are we on?
LR
We're on? Go. Where'd you meet him [Buckley]?
PO
Where did I meet him? I met him on Seventy-First Street [in New York City], on the West Side when he had a little apartment with his wife and two children and the baby sitter was a dwarf named Lenny. He had a little dwarf baby sitter, yes sir.
LR
Yeah.
PO
That's where I met him. And, oh, Charlie Parker used to take ballet lessons from her.
LR
Lady Buckley.
PO
Lady Buckley got Charlie Parker into tights and made him take ballet lessons from her.
MM
Now, how did she do that?
PO
Oh, I don't know how that happened. But, I know that it did happen. I wasn't there at that time.
LR
Well, Buckley hung with all these jazz people, all the black jazz people and Birdland and he got to know Bird and he was forever inviting people [imitates Buckley] "Come to The Castle, aye!"
PO
Yeah, that was The Castle on Seventy-First Street for a while.
LR
His home was always a party, there was always somebody there, something going on.
PO
Yeah, it was there that I first met him. I was with Larry Storch and a great hoofer.
LR
Ray Malone.
PO
Ray Malone.
LR
And his brother Howie.
PO
Howard?
LR
Howie.
PO
Yeah, Howie, right, yeah. And we had some night there that night. Four of us, Lady Buckley and Lord Buckley. And he - should I tell him what happened?
LR
Oh, tell the story. It's funny.
PO
And he [Buckley] enjoyed us so much that he said, "Gentlemen, I've enjoyed your company immensely." He says, "I would like to give you a special treat." He said, "I want you beggars to stand up and face the wall. And when I tell you to turn around you'll turn around and my darling wife - "
LR
Elizabeth.
PO
"Lady Buckley, Lady Elizabeth will do some poses for you."
LR
She was a ballerina.
PO
So, she took off all her clothes and - I don't know if I should be saying this, you know?
LR
It was very innocent and sweet the way they did it really.
PO
So, he says, "I would like to share with you my wife's body." [Prince Owlhead laughs] and he made us face the wall. And she laid on the couch and was doing art poses. I mean no sex involved, no sexy things, just art poses. And we were facing the wall and he was at the light switch and he [said], "All right you beggars, turn around." And he'd turn on the light for two seconds and turn it off. And he'd say, "OK, Elizabeth, another pose!" And she would get into another pose. And we'd face the wall and he'd say, "All right you beggars turn around." And he'd turn the light switch on and she'd be in another pose. And that went on for about five or six minutes and that was the end of that and we left. And that was -
LR
One of Buckley's things.
PO
Yeah, one of Buckley's things.
MM
Well, what was your impression of him. Do you remember your first impression?
PO
Madman, completely mad, a complete madman. He was mad. He was completely mad. He was a maniac. A lovable maniac.
LR
Yeah, he overwhelmed you. He really was overwhelming. And like I say. He'd sit there and things could never get - if they'd start getting very quiet and people would start sitting around [Buckley would say] "OK!" He'd get up and say, "And now, we will have, tonight we will have a little concert." And he wouldn't let anything [get], you know, too boring.
PO
[imitating Buckley] "And you'll do that. And he'll do that. And we'll do that."
LR
He was the ringmaster, man. He took over and everybody [Lady Renaissance imitates everyone doing Buckley's biding] and things started to - and everybody was going.
PO
It was from that house [on Seventy-First Street], by the way, that Lady Buckley went to Birdland completely naked.
LR
With a mink coat on.
MM
It sounds like it was one long improvisation.
LR
Always, the mind was always clicking: "What'll we do next? What'll we do next? What'll we do next?" I mean he was the ringmaster. He was. I met him - I was fourteen years old [in 1939]. I was living in Brooklyn and I would run to New York City because, you know, in those days in all the theaters there was a movie and a vaudeville show. And I went to The Strand theater and I saw the movie and the show came on and Buckley was on the show. And he did his Amos and Andy thing. I never saw anything like this man in my life. You know, he was in the tails and I flipped! And I went backstage and I just waited at the stage entrance until he came out and I just, you know, I'm a fourteen year old kid. And I said, "Oh, Lord Buckley, I love you. I'm a singer and I'm going to be in show business. And I just - you're the greatest thing I've seen since I don't know what and - I just love you." And [he said] "Well, my dear, welcome to the club, aye." And he was very sweet. And then during the years I'd see him and I'd say hello and he'd graciously say hello to me and all that.
PO
His theater appearances were something to see. He used to come out with [hums "Pomp and Circumstance"] and very tall and erect. He was about six foot three. And tails and white tie, holding a cigarette. And would get to the front of the mic [hums Pomp and Circumstance"] And the band would cut off and he'd be right center stage in front of the mic. And he'd say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to do for you now, an impression of one of the greatest American singers around." And he would go into Louis Armstrong and I mean he did a great impression of Louis Armstrong. And then he went into his commercial act bringing four people on the stage. Once I saw him bring about thirty guys up on the stage and he - they built a pyramid. He had thirty guys on the stage climbing on top of each other [laughs] Climbing on top of one another!
LR
He made them take their shoes off.
PO
Made them take their shoes off, coats off, you know. And they would just climb. It was hysterical. The audience was hysterical.
LR
I think that was at the Paramount Theater.
PO
Yeah.
MM
From what you told me, he was very good at commanding people.
PO
Yes.
LR
Ringmaster.
PO
Yeah.
LR
Like in the early days, in the '30s, he played the Walkathons, you know, the Marathons, and those are the - like Red Skelton did it too. And they'd get up on the mic just to keep things moving and going and talking and rattling.
PO
Yeah, Anita O'Day was on that too.
LR
That's were he met Anita. Depression Era, you know, just to make a buck. And whatever came into their heads they'd do just to keep entertaining the people, keep the people in there. It cost a dime to get in, you know. And that's how he started out and then he went to Chicago and the nightclub scene, you know.
PO
So then, shall we go on to-
LR
The early '40s, and then, well, later on, it was 1954 when I - well, you [Prince Owlhead] were already in Hollywood.
PO
Tell him how Buckley greeted the day in Hollywood.
LR
Well, yes, he would wake up and she'd [Lady Buckley] always have his big mug of black steaming coffee ready for him in the little nook. And Richard [Prince Owlhead] had paintings on the wall, he painted the wall with flowers and -
PO
Yeah, I did a mural in the kitchen.
LR
A lot of murals, beautiful. And right after the kitchen was the terrace. He'd take his mug and walk out on the terrace and [sings as Lord Buckley] "I love Hollywood every morning, waaaaaaaaaa! It's going to be a beautiful day today, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! Everyone get up, it's in Hollywood this morning!! Well, let's greet the day, hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!"
PO
Yeah, and before he would do that he'd say, "Well," he said, "I think I'll go wake up the hill."
LR
[imitating Lord Buckley] "Yes, let's wake up this hill now. Aye." And old time Hollywood people living there, man. [And one time] like he had like fourteen detectives -
PO
Boy, I'll tell you, man, it was -
LR
Buddy Rich would be there and everybody'd be getting high and, man -
PO
It was crazy out there, those parties, some of those parties.
LR
He threw a lot of parties, but he never got arrested, everybody let him alone, you know. They'd come up because there was a lot of noise on the hill all of a sudden. But there was just music and people having a ball and a party, just swinging together. So, nobody bothered him really.
PO
I was in there and I was -
LR
You were managing him.
PO
I met up with His Lordship again. And it was in - first of all he lived in Pasadena in a chicken coop. He moved the family in - it was actually a chicken coop, converted chicken coop that they were living in. I mean they were scuffling, man, you know, it was scuffling. And from there he went to - something about a Crackerbox Palace, that I know nothing about. I don't know what that represented, the Crackerbox Palace. All I know is that The Castle on Whitley Terrace, in Hollywood, in the hills of Hollywood, that's what I know. And how he got that was an interesting story. He - there was a little old lady living in a Methodist home. I think her last name was - she was an Irish lady, her last name was Curly. And he would call her Lady Curl. And he saw this beautiful house, it had once belonged to Barbara Lemarr.
LR
The silent screen actress.
PO
Yes, in the hills of Hollywood. Gorgeous house and with a dome living room.
LR
Grand piano.
PO
And great sound. Beautiful terrace overlooking the hills of Hollywood. And he saw this house and he wanted that house desperately.
LR
And nobody was in it.
PO
Nobody lived there.
LR
Fully furnished.
PO
He found out that the lady that owned the house lived in a little Methodist home, in one room.
LR
She was an old lady.
PO
Also in Hollywood. And he went down there and he inveigled this lady to move out of this room in the Methodist home, back into that beautiful house. And he would take care of her there. [laughter]. And he called her The Witch.
LR
With love.
PO
With love.
MM
To her face?
LR
Oh, no, no. when he talked about her. [imitates Buckley's English patios] "I hear the witch, she's after me! She wants my body!!!"
PO
And this little old lady was happy and swinging and laughing and he kept her - and they [Buckley and his family] were living there rent free, it was beautiful! They had this big mansion.
LR
It was a ball.
PO
And it was wonderful. And he called her Lady Curl. And I used to pop in and out. He loved my cooking.
LR
Yeah
PO
I used to cook for him. One day he came to me and said, "Owlhead!", he said, oh, he dubbed me Prince Owlhead.
MM
Could you tell that story?
PO
I think he considered me a wise person. [Lady Renaissance laughs] which was a misnomer anyway. Anyway, one day he came to me and he says, "Owlhead, we are going to have a great big party." He says, I'd like to have a little food for it." He says, "Would you mind making a little Italian sauce or something like that, you know." So, I said, "No, I don't mind." I love to cook anyway. So, here we were in this beautiful mansion and I was in the kitchen and the party started, people arrived. And in walks this young lady [Prince Owlhead indicates Lady Renaissance]. At that time she didn't look as good as she does now.
LR
Well, [laughs]
PO
She looked kind of dumpy, kind of chubby.
LR
I was fat.
PO
And she came over to me and I hate people to bother me while I'm cooking. And she walked over to me and said, "What are you doing? What are you making?" and I said, "I'm making sauce for pasta." She says, "Look, don't you put any meat in it?" I said, "Who the hell are you? Get out of here!!!" [Lady Renaissance laughs] And she got out and the party continued on. And it was about an hour and a half or two hours [later] when His Lordship knew that she [Lady Renaissance] was a singer. And he asked her to sing. And there was a lot of people there. I mean, it was loud, it was noisy. And this beautiful woman here, got up and sang and that room turned into a - completely sound proof. You could hear a pin drop when she sang. And her voice was glorious, the acoustics in the room were great. It had a beautiful wooden dome ceiling. The ceiling was about three stories high. The mansion was two stories and the dome went above it. And he had a beautiful Steinway piano here and this lady sang. And after she sang, I grabbed her and pulled her out onto the terrace and I said, "Who are you?" [Prince Owlhead laughs] She said, "Oh, I'm Pat Cameron." I said, "Who?" "Pat Cameron." I said, "Come on." I said, "What's your real name?"
LR
And I said, "Mildred Cohen."
PO
"Mildred Cohen," I said, "that's more like it." [Lady Renaissance laughs] I never called her Pat, I always called her Millie.
LR
That's how we met. And [Prince Owlhead said] said, "What are doing with your life with that voice? What are doing?" And I was - I stopped singing for about a year when I went to Hollywood. I had pretty much given up on a lot of things in life. I was at my lowest ebb in my life, I think, one of my lowest ebbs. And I said, "I'm not doing anything right now." He said, "You're not doing anything with a voice like that? You're not doing anything?" I said, "Yeah, I'm not doing anything. I've worked and nothing's happening and I'm tired of it and I hate it and -" all down, down.
PO
OK, so that's - let's - no downers. So at that point he [Lord Buckley] dubbed her Lady Renaissance. So, he says, "Owlhead, " he say, "I want you to take care of this young lady." And I did, I married her.
LR
Yeah, he made me sing again, he made me laugh again.
PO
Yeah, we had some laughs. Four years later. She went back to New York. I went to Vegas, I worked in Vegas and we were corresponding. And finally I went back to New York and we met. And we started working together and -
LR
But, through those years we lost track [of Lord Buckley] because -
PO
We lost track -
LR
Because then he went to Vegas with the Mattress Factory [a Buckley home on a farm near Las Vegas.]
PO
I could go back and tell you stories that happened in that mansion.
MM
Yeah, let's do that.
LR
Yeah, oh man.
PO
We were sitting around one night, [to Lady Renaissance] where you there then when Luther came in?
LR
No, no, I wasn't there.
PO
We were sitting around one night and there was a little alcove off the living room, and a whole bunch of us were there, I thought you were there with us.
LR
No, not with Luther.
MM
Who's Luther?
PO
I'll tell you who Luther was. So, we're sitting around and a car pulls up into the driveway, and he [Buckley] looks out and it's a brand new Dodge, beautiful car. And out steps a man, a bald headed man, gray, very distinguished looking. He walked in, he knocked on the door. Elizabeth [Lady Buckley] got the door, and opened the door. And Buckley got up and says, "By Gad! Luther!! Where have you been?! Luther!" So, he greeted Luther, he hugged him. And he kept looking out the window. It seemed Luther just got out of Leavenworth [a Federal maximum security prison] and drove straight from Leavenworth, with the money that he made in Leavenworth. Bought this car.
LR
But you've got to say why he -
PO
I'm not going to tell that because that's the punch line.
LR
Oh, OK, excuse me.
PO
So, [Luther] drove from Leavenworth, the prison, straight to Buckley's and he [Buckley] says, "My god, Luther, that's a lovely looking car you have there." He says, "Can we take a ride?" So, he said to Lady Elizabeth, he says, "Elizabeth, wake up Lady Curl!" That's the old lady that owned the mansion. He said, "We're going to Las Vegas. And we are taking her with us!" Now, it's about three o'clock in the morning, so Elizabeth went upstairs to wake up Lady Curl. She came down in her nightgown with toilet paper, you know how they -
LR
Curlers.
PO
The curlers in their hair. And she says, "What's the problem Mr. Buckley?" He says, "Lady Curl." He says, "You've been so good to us, so wonderful to us." He says, "We're going to do something for you. We're going to take you to Las Vegas." He says, "Owlhead, start up the car." And I got in, Luther got in beside me, and we're driving down the road. It's a great car, it's a lovely car. Buckley's in the back with Lady Curl. She's asleep already. She must have been about seventy, eighty years old.
LR
Oh, yeah, she was an old lady.
MM
Sounds like she was game for these things.
LR
Yeah, you know. Well, he [Buckley] worked his magic on her.
PO
She was completely bamboozled by Lord Buckley. I mean he really bamboozled her, you know. So, we're driving down the road and man I'm doing like close to a hundred miles an hour going to Las Vegas! And the sun is just coming up over the horizon out in the desert. And we are driving along and all of a sudden Luther, who's sitting next to me says, "STOP THE CAR!!!!" And Buckley wakes up and says, "By Gad!" He says, "What's the problem?" [Luther says] "STOP THE CAR!!!! I WANT THE CAR STOPPED!!!" And I slammed on the brakes and the car swerved, I nearly went off the road, I nearly turned the car over. I mean I was going fast, you know and he scared me, man! So, he, Buckley said to him, "By Gad." He said, "Luther, what's the problem?" He [Luther] says, "Well," he says, "I want that lady in the back to get out of the car and walk beside the car." And he [Buckley] said, "But, Luther, that's very strange, it's - she's sleeping and it's strange that you should ask that kind of a thing." So he [Luther] says, "Have her do that will you, Mr. Buckley?" He called him "Mr. Buckley" he didn't call him Lord Buckley, you know, he called him "Mr. Buckley". [Luther says] "Have her do that." So, he [Buckley] woke up Lady Curl and she got out in the middle of the desert, on this lonely highway going to Las Vegas walking beside the car. And the problem was that we were just coming to the Nevada State Line and he wanted her to walk over on her own volution. Her own -
LR
Volition.
PO
Volition, over the state line. Because Luther just got out of jail for the Mann Act, which was transporting women over state lines [for immoral purposes]. And that's the end of that story. That happened! Yeah, that was great!
MM
He got her back in the car?
LR
Yeah.
PO
After she walked over the line, she got back in the car and went back to sleep! [laughter]
MM
So what did you [Prince Owlhead] do in Las Vegas?
PO
Oh, well, I don't really remember, just balled - it was a whole crazy thing. They [Buckley and Luther and Lady Curl] were sleeping in the lobby of the Sands Hotel. Lord Buckley's very close friend was called Cohen, who was the pit boss of the Sands Hotel, he loved Buckley. He would do anything for him. And he found out they [were] sleeping in the lobby, he called in and got a room for them immediately, took care of them. And that's about it, you know.
MM
Would it be fair to say that Lord Buckley was sort of a lovable rogue? I mean was he a kind of a con man?
PO
Oh, a gigantic con man, yeah.
LR
Absolutely.
PO
Gigantic.
LR
Yeah, you couldn't stay mad at him.
PO
There was a time - when Millie and I were married, we were working on the road, going here, going there, going to Chicago, and we were just doing a one niter. We were living on 77th Street [in Manhatten] and the phone rang. And it was Lord Buckley, he says, "Owlhead," he says, "I'm here at the Chesterfield Hotel, I'm going to do the Sullivan show a week from this coming Sunday, and I need fifty dollars and I want you come down here immediately!" I said, "Now, look, " I said, "You know I can't, I'm - we're just about getting ready to get in the car. And I have the wardrobe, I have the music, I can't, and on top of everything I don't have fifty dollars. I'm going to be paid on the job when I get there." He says, "Owlhead, I don't care what it is I want you to come down here immediately and deposit fifty dollars with me! I'm in trouble here, I need money. I want you to come down here!" I said, "Buckley, I just can't do it, I'm late and I've got to go!" So, [Buckley says] "Owlhead, I always knew you were a dirty bastard!" And I told her I said, "Millie, he just called me a dirty bastard!" And she said, "Hang up!" And I did, I hung up. And we took off, Millie and me. And we're driving along, and driving along, and I'm saying, "Jeez, maybe he's in trouble, maybe he needs the money. I feel bad about it." And she said, "Well, tomorrow you'll get the money and you'll wire him. And you'll call him and tell him you sent him the money." So, I did that I wired him the money and I called him the next day and the operator got on the phone and said, "Chesterfield Hotel." And I said, "Yes, please, Lord Buckley please." And he picked up the phone and said, "Ah ha, CONSCIENCE!!!" He was such a con man he must have called fifty people giving them the same line, and every time he answered the phone he would say, "Conscience!" - I'm losing my voice.
MM
You want a little something to drink?
PO
No
LR
You're doing all the talking.
PO
Yeah, go ahead, you do the talking.
LR
I don't know what to talk about.
PO
Funny story is Tubby Boots. Tubby Boots was a comedian, three or four hundred pound comedian.
LR
From Baltimore, Maryland.
PO
From Baltimore, who, [to Lady Renaissance] you want to tell him that story?
LR
Well, to start it, like Buckley played the theater circuit so in Baltimore it was the Hippodrome. And he played the theater. And Tubby saw him like I did as a kid. Tubby was sitting in the audience and there was Buckley on the stage doing his own thing and Tubby fell in love with him, he flipped over him.
PO
He was about fourteen then.
LR
He was about fourteen but he was always obese. He was always like two or three hundred pounds, but [Tubby] just flipped over Buckley. So, he went backstage [and said] "Oh, Mr. Buckley, boop boop boop boop boop" And Buckley sized him up, you know, and says, "Why don't you be in the audience tomorrow." And you know, he'd [planned to] bring Tubby up on the stage. To do one of the Amos and Andy things - to be one of the people. And the kid wanted to get into show business. So he, you know, he'd be there. And that's how he got to know him. He worked with him. And from there he quit school I think and worked in all the striptease places and things like that and he started making a lot of money. He was very funny, very talented.
PO
Did a hoofer [routine], he was great, he was wonderful.
LR
He really was, he was a wonderful entertainer.
MM
Was he sort of in the vaudeville kind of tradition or -
PO
Yeah, he did an act.
LR
Stand up comedy, and like sang and hoofed, he did - he was just a great entertainer.
PO
He was very big in Miami.
LR
In Miami he had his own place.
PO
Yeah, his own club.
LR
And then he went - he got dirty, you know, that was the thing and he became very popular in Miami, he was doing great.
PO
There were lines to get into his room.
LR
Two shows a night.
PO
We worked there.
LR
He knew Buckley in New York, right? They were in the city then.
PO
I was getting to something. Oh, no. This goes back to The Castle. Buckley is reading Variety one day and he sees Tubby Boot's name in there, [pretends to read Variety headline] "Tubby Boots Packing Them In In Cleveland." He [Buckley] says, "By God," he says, "Tubby he must have a little money." [Lady Renaissance laughs] So he calls up Tubby Boots and, you know, Tubby was - he was obsessed with Buckley, I mean anything Buckley said or did he [Tubby] would do, you know. He would run to the end of the earth. He was that kind of a guy Tubby. He bailed us out once or twice. Yeah, he had a big heart, you know.
LR
Beautiful heart.
PO
So, Buckley reads "Tubby Boots - Cleveland, Packing Them In." So, he calls [Prince Owlhead cracks up laughing] he calls Boots, he says, he called him Princess Lily.
LR
Yeah, Boots was gay.
PO
Yeah, he called him Princess Lily and he was like three-fifty, four hundred pounds, you know.
LR
Six foot tall.
PO
Great name for him, Princess Lily, you know. He says, "Princess Lily, how are you? I read where you're doing well." [then Boots says] "Yes, I am, Lord Buckley." He [Buckley] says, "Well, listen, I have a movie for you out here. I want you to come out here immediately and I'm going to put you into a movie." So, I mean, anything Buckley said Boots ran - he ran. So, he flies out to LA, nobody's there to greet him at the airport. He gets to The Castle on Whitley Terrace and Buckley's on the phone selling him to an agent. And he's [Buckley's] going, "Yes, he sings, he dances, he does magic, he does everything." As Boots is walking in the door, he says, "You do magic don't you?" I mean Boots just left a thousand dollar a week job to come out there, because Buckley conned him into it - So, he got him a job in a couple of strip joints out there but in the meantime Prince Lily was in charge of The Castle, cleaning The Castle. He had about two or three other gay cats doing that and they would clean The Castle everyday. That's just one of the stories.
MM
And Tubby didn't mind being conned somehow?
PO
No, the love for Buckley was overwhelming.
LR
It compensated for everything he did because he wound up knowing - well, the bathtub story wasn't -
PO
Yeah, well.
LR
That was kind of cruel really.
MM
Tell that one.
LR
Well, that's when he [Boots] stopped talking to him [Buckley] for a couple of years. He was in the Seventy-First Street [apartment in New York City], and Buckley was broke and Tubby was in town. But he [Boots] got a gig at a strip joint, he was working, right?
PO
Yeah.
LR
He was working, he was making - He always worked and he had to take a bath [before] going to the job. And he was like, very, very fat. And -
PO
Hardly could get in and out of the tub.
LR
Yeah, it was a very small tub. And the plumbing controls were in the kitchen.
PO
Hot water and the cold water was in the kitchen.
LR
The tub was in the bathroom.
PO
You'd have to go into the kitchen to turn on the water for the tub in the bathroom.
LR
So, Tubby got into the tub and said, "OK". And Buckley was out there with the controls. And he put on the hot water, steaming.
PO
I mean steaming, really -
LR
Really scalding water.
PO
Burn the shit out of him [Tubby].
LR
All of a sudden, Tubby was screaming
PO
Yeah.
LR
[Boots yells] "Get me out!" He couldn't get out. And he said, "I'm burning! I'm burning! Help! Help!" And Buckley felt, "Oh, my God, that's enough!" He turns it off, he ran in, he got him out but his whole body, like he was really burnt. And he [Buckley] had to call the ambulance.
PO
He [Tubby] had to go to the hospital.
LR
He had burns, and he was in the hospital a week or so. And Buckley was coming up everyday [and saying] "Oh, my God. I feel so terrible." And at the end of the hospital stay Tubby went to pay the bill, they said, "No, it's all taken care of."
PO
The bill was taken care of and there were two tickets there, there was a ticket there for him to fly to Miami to rest and recuperate. And also there were rooms for him in Miami. He [Buckley] made arrangements to have a hotel for him [Boots].
MM
Buckley did?
LR
Yeah.
PO
In the meantime Buckley got a hold of the landlord and told him what happened and said he was going to sue his ass. So, the landlord said, "No, well, look don't, let's settle this out of court." And Buckley made about three thousand dollars on the deal. And Boots never knew how he -
LR
Paid the bill and -
PO
Could afford to send him to Florida.
LR
And then when he found out he [Boots] got very angry.
PO
Yeah.
LR
And he just stopped talking to him [Buckley] for two or three years. Until he went out to The Castle.
PO
Yeah, right, yeah.
LR
He'd forgot about it.
MM
[to Lady Renaissance] Can you tell me a little bit about the- I mean you knew him [Buckley] a little bit in Hollywood. And you knew him in New York as well.
LR
I didn't know him well in New York, because I was too young, I didn't hang out with him or anything.
MM
And you saw him sometimes - when he was drunk he was a different person, yeah?
PO
Oh, yeah, he was - we were out one night. In fact, I think it was the night that he did bad. He worked for Jane Powell's husband, who owned a night club in Hollywood. And he did certain material that wasn't proper, I thought. I told him not to do it but he went ahead and did it.
MM
Could you tell that story?
PO
Well, it was a piece called "Georgia." And he would sing [sings Georgia] "Georgia, Georgia." And then he would do dialogue in-between the versus that he sang. And it wound up with a black being hung at the end of the piece and it kind of threw the audience into a shock. And that was it for that club. And that night we were - we went over to somebody's house. And they had a little bar there and they insisted on him [Buckley] having a drink. And he was, by this time he was thirteen years on the wagon and he said, "No, I'm on the wagon." They insisted, I said, "Leave him alone, he's on the wagon, he can't drink." So, they kept on insisting and sure enough he took a little shot glass and after he took that shot glass he drank a bottle. And he took off all his clothes and went into the bathtub, took a bath. [He] changed completely from a beautiful human being into a Frankenstein. I mean, I was frightened I just left. I couldn't deal with it. I don't know what happened to him that night, but I just had to leave. He got very crazy. I mean, you know, when you're on the wagon for thirteen years and you go off all of a sudden, I imagine it does something to your psyche. It must do horrible things. And I know, I saw him go through it.
MM
And, I guess that - I mean those two parts of him coexisted -
LR
Well, he was considered an alcoholic. He knew he couldn't drink. And the last fifteen years, you know, when he was with Elizabeth all those years he was completely AA, you know. He took us to a meeting, didn't he?
PO
I went to a meeting, yeah.
LR
Park Avenue Church [in New York City].
PO
In fact, I played at a meeting with - I'll tell you who was there, and they were good friends: Governor Brown. Ex - he was the governor of California was at this AA meeting.
LR
Jerry Brown's father.
MM
Edmund.
PO
Edmund, right.
LR
He was at the meeting and Anita O'Day and Buckley, they were - Oh, yeah, with the Irish lady.
PO
Yeah. [Prince Owlhead laughs]
LR
Oh, she was wonderful. She got up and she [said] "Well, I've been an alcoholic since I'm eleven months old. Born in Ireland, and now you know in Ireland the minute anything is wrong with you, bata boomp, they give you a little nip, you see. And I started to like those little nips. And I was getting sick and a cold all the time, you know, and I'd get my little nips." And she became an alcoholic. She wound up living here in New York City and she -
PO
[imitating the Irish lady] "But I always carried the New York Times."
LR
She said, "I get on the subway but I always carry the New York Times, you see, because I want people to think I'm an intellectual. I always had a copy of the New York Times under my arm at all times." She was so funny, just telling these stories.
MM
Oh, man. Well, New York is so full of characters.
LR
Oh, wonderful. Yeah, but every once in a while he'd [Buckley] go to an AA meeting and he'd take us along.
MM
You never went to - you were never at the place in Las Vegas? The place where they lived?
LR
The Mattress Factory, no. Those last years we weren't -
PO
We weren't together.
LR
We were here in New York, you know, starting my career all over again.
PO
I was with him [in] the late '40s and -
LR
Until '56 or '55.
PO
Yeah, '54, '55, and then he came to New York. We were together a little bit in New York.
LR
He came to visit us. In fact, he came to dinner one night at our home, when we lived on 76th Street off of the river. And Richard [Prince Owlhead] made his famous sauce. And I had my two sons there at the time, Robbie and Jimmy. Robbie was twelve and Jimmy was ten. And he [Buckley] flipped Robbie out - it was like an osmosis thing, he [imitates a boisterous Buckley eating the pasta sauce] "Oh, hooo, by God, that's the most marvelous thing I've ever had!"
PO
Yeah, he would moan and -
LR
[continuing the Buckley imitation] "And, oh, hmmmmmmmm, oh, Owlhead you are the greatest cook! Oh, I miss your cooking!!!!" And he was just killing these two kids were like overwhelmed with him. And from that day on, I don't know what happened, but Robbie never ever forgot Buckley. In fact, he got deeper and deeper. Then he heard some of his albums and he does the greatest impression of Buckley [that] I've ever heard in my life. But, he lives it, you know, he's on the phone to people and friends and people break up, you know - Even, like doing, just doing him [Buckley] draws people to Robbie, you know.
MM
The other night [at the Buckley 90th Birthday Bash] it seemed that there was - watching this whole crowd of people, I mean it's been almost thirty-six years since he's been dead, and here is this whole crowd that's still entranced. There's so much power in his words and in the idea of his life.
LR
Yeah.
MM
He was a quite unique character in America wasn't he?
LR
He really was.
MM
What do you think people missed by not seeing him in person?
LR
Well, they missed getting the humor out of life. No matter what happens in your life, if you get, if you can turn it into humor you'll make it.
PO
Yeah, it's like when he had a flat tire on the Hollywood, on the freeway. He tells that story about, [Prince Owlhead quotes Buckley] "I met God on a freeway. In fact, I met two gods." Two guys came and helped him and he tells that story.
LR
Yeah, [imitates Buckley] "I was looking all over and looking for the man, and couldn't find him some how, I, but then I met God on the freeway. Two Samaritans." You really feel like exuding love and laughter. That was the whole secret.
MM
In many cases, underneath the veneer of a comedian, underneath the surface, is a really tragic figure. Did you feel that with Buckley?
LR
Oh, sure. I mean he had six wives. I mean Elizabeth was the one that like straighten his whole - he finally found happiness, you know, in having the two babies - he had a son Fred. Fred looks a lot like him, his first child. Fred's still around. But, Elizabeth like really pulled him out, you know. [speaks as Elizabeth talking to Lord Buckley] "You do your thing, I'll take care of the house, and you and the kids." And that's what he needed, you know. And she was beautiful, you know. Straighten him out. But there was tragedy there. There was a darkness underneath, there had to be.
MM
Do you think that some of the pieces he did like "The Marquis de Sade" and "Nero" and stuff like that, [that] those kind of reveal some of his dark side?
LR
Could be.
MM
Are you familiar with that piece, "The Marquis de Sade"?
LR
Oh, sure.
PO
Oh, sure, yeah. [imitating Buckley] "Looked like a man with a steel rectum."
LR
Yeah, I mean look at this dark shit -
PO
What a description, [imitates Buckley again with Lady Renaissance joining in] "Looks like a man with a steel rectum."
LR
That's why you had to love the man. I mean whatever was dark he would just turn it around, man. [imitates Buckley] "My frame is bent, man! Been bent, you know, been bent from in front." Just turn it to humor. There was so much sadness in life but ba boom! Turn it around.
MM
You've been in the audience at his performances, and you guys are pretty hip to the language he used. But what would happen to an audience? Could he pull them in?
LR
Sometimes he could, sometimes he couldn't, you know.
PO
Yeah.
LR
In the early '30s it was hard for him. That's why he had to do a square act, his Amos and Andy. When he actually performed he had to do that act. Because the other thing, The Hip Gan and all the hip talk was ten years ahead of everybody, you know, except for people in the business.
MM
Yeah.
LR
But the actual customer going to see these shows, they didn't understand it. Just musicians did and show people and we did.
MM
Was there a preacher like quality to him?
LR
Oh, absolutely.
PO
He was in church on that stage.
LR
Oh, yeah. And he had that voice, you know, he could have been a great Shakespearean actor too, you know, because he had that magnificent voice. He knew how to use it, you know. When to holler, when to slow it down and when to - [Lady Renaissance whispers] The Nazz, when to whisper. He used dynamics.
PO
The problem was he was uncontrollable. He just didn't have any control. If he'd had control he would have been a big giant. Like the time when John Hubbly - John Hubbly created Mr. McGoo and we all became quite friendly. And if you remember how successful Mr. McGoo was. Bacus was the voice.
LR
Yeah, Jim Bacus.
PO
Jim Bacus. And then Hubbly wanted to do Captain Ahab [from Moby Dick] and he met Buckley and he said, "That's my Captain Ahab." And we got involved with some, gosh, I can't think of this guy's name. He was a Greek fellow who owned this big cartoon studio in Hollywood. And the studio was across from Warner Bros, right near Warner Bros. in the Valley. And we went to see - to meet this man. And he, Buckley really impressed this guy, I forget his name and John Hubbly was there and a few other people. And he [Hubbly] said, "I think we have our Captain Ahab. And we are going to sign contracts and so forth and so on." And we kind of clinched the deal and we were feeling pretty good. And Buckley was feeling exceptionally good. And this office was in a square, it was a square office with little cubicles in a square and in each cubicle was a cartoonist. There must have been about thirty or forty cartoonists working at drawing boards in this building in this square. Each had their own window and the square faced a mound of grass where you could see the top of the mound but you couldn't see into any other cubicles.
MM
This was in the middle of the room?
PO
In the middle of the complex.
MM
So, it was a square building.
LR
Built around.
PO
A square building.
MM
And the middle of the building was hollow?
LR
Yeah.
PO
Was a mound of grass.
MM
Yeah.
PO
A little hill, a miniature hill, you know, grass. So, Buckley eyed this mound.
MM
You've clinched the deal at this point?
PO
Yeah, we were all set, pretty close. And Buckley saw this mound and I said, "No!" and he said, [Prince Owlhead laughs]
LR
[imitating Lord Buckley] "Let's celebrate!"
PO
Yeah, he went up on the top of that mound and sat down and lit up a joint and all the cartoonists could see him. They couldn't see each other but they could see the top of that mound. And there he was smoking a joint. And that was it, that was the end. That was part of a self-destruct there. That was the end of the deal.
MM
Now, what do you think that [the self destructive tendency] came from? Because you've mentioned -
LR
I don't know -
PO
His looseness, he was so - he was just loose.
LR
He never thought of the consequences of the things he did in life.
PO
No, he never considered consequences.
LR
"Live for the moment", you know? Whatever he felt like doing "Boom! Let's do it!"
PO
Yeah. Tell him about buying the car.
LR
Oh, the Fairyland Express. Yes!
PO
He had a car named the Fairyland Express.
LR
Fairyland Express. And also, you know, like from The Royal Court everybody had, he named - he dubbed everyone.
PO
Hairhead.
LR
Hairhead and Minkhead.
PO
Cougarhead. Guy looked just like a cougar
LR
He had a head just like, I swear to God, a cougar. And he was Cougarhead.
PO
And Hairhead.
LR
And Hairhead. Minkhead.
PO
Minkhead, ohhhhh, Minkhead!!
LR
Minkhead was something else.
PO
I've got to tell you that story.
LR
Minkhead had a lot to do in our lives. And anyway, there we were sitting around and we had no wheels. We are sitting in Hollywood and he's [Buckley's] - you know, people are getting him things, and they are running errands and blah blah blah. He always had friends doing things for him. But he wanted to have his own freedom and he said [imitates buckley's voice], "By Gawd, I need a car, I need wheels, I, I, I . . ." And he had exactly two hundred dollars cash on his person. And his friend, the artist, Frank Eubank and Cougarhead and I sat in the back and we used Frank's car and we started driving around Hollywood, you know, the little used car places, to see if Buckley could pick up on a car. So, we go into this one place and we are looking around and boom, we spot this little red Symka, wasn't it a little red -
PO
Austin.
LR
Austin. A little red car. He looked at it and said, "By Gawd, the Fairyland Express, that's it!" And he wanted that car. So, we went into the office. Two young guys are there, they're the salesmen. And he says, [Lady Renaissance imitating Buckley] "How much is that little red car out there, Gentlemen?" And, [Lady Renaissance imitates a car salesman] "Well, for around six hundred dollars, you can have it." [Lady Renaissance imitates Buckley again] "Hmmmmmmm" He's thinking, the wig is going, boy. And he starts charming these two guys, making them laugh and doing things, you know, ba boop ba boop ooooooh!!! And doing his little stories. He got these guys completely mesmerized and laughing and - so he gave them a hundred bucks and drove out - off the lot and still had a hundred cash on him. And then he bought a great big American flag and he put it on the -
PO
Gigantic American flag.
LR
And put it on the antennae.
PO
On the antennae. And drove all over Hollywood.
LR
You knew Buckley was coming, the Fairyland Express. And that killed me - how I sat in that office and watched that man charm those two used car salesmen out of four or five hundred dollars, man, it was beautiful, just beautiful. Boy, my esteem went up a notch more, I looked at him and said, "Buckley, you are something else." [Lady Renaissance imitates Buckley] "Yes, I know."
PO
Then when it was the time for him to make the rounds of the agents, you know, get some work. He had two children, Laurie and Richard.
LR
And he'd always wear his jungle hat .
PO
Yeah, he'd wear his jungle hat, his pith helmet.
LR
In springtime
PO
And he would always take the kids with him to see the agents. And before he would go, he would say, "Elizabeth! Dress the props! I'm going to see the agents."
LR
[imitating Lord Buckley] "Make the rounds, you see."
PO
Yeah.
LR
So, when we came, we were living in the city [New York City] finally, which, you know, back in the city, about 1956, and we are trying to get started, you know, have me sing and work and get connected somewhere. And Richard met - I don't know how you did hook up with Minkhead.
PO
Oh, Minkhead, yeah.
LR
Minkhead was a tall, he was a clown in the circus.
PO
I met Minkhead through Lord Buckley.
LR
Well, he was a clown in the circus.
MM
Do you know his "Christian" name?
LR
No, Frank or something.
PO
No, Frank, yeah it's Frank, right.
LR
Frank, that's all we know. But he was Minkhead. He had a head like a mink with short gray hair.
PO
It felt just like a mink coat, yeah.
LR
And he was a clown. That's how he made his bread. And he was gay.
PO
Well, he's also on one of the albums when Buckley says, "I knew a guy that could put twelve sirloin steaks in his pants and walk out." That was Minkhead.
LR
Great thief.
PO
"My Own Supermarket" [a Buckley routine]
LR
That was Minkhead. Anyway, when he did work it was in the circus as a clown.
MM
The world was different wasn't it?
PO
The world was much different. I've got to tell you a great story. This is a story that I heard. I mean I wasn't there but I heard about this story. It happened in Chicago. He was working a club in Chicago. He hired a hearse. And, you know, in a hearse there's the platform that you put the coffin on. So, he got all dressed up in his tails, white tie, and laid up on the platform. There were shades on this hearse. And everybody could see this body laying out there exposed. And, of course [there were] all kinds of accidents and wrecks. He went down the Outer Drive in Chicago with the hearse, up and down. And all kinds of accidents. People were driving up fast to look at this body laying out there exposed. And when two cars would come up to the side of the hearse, he would pull the shades down on both sides and it said, "The body comes alive at the Suzie Q." He was working at the Suzie Q, a nightclub called the Suzie Q. [Prince Owlhead laughs]
MM
A lot of this stuff just came to him very quickly, yeah?
PO
The top of his head.
MM
Would you consider this his genius, that he was -
PO
Oh, yeah, oh yeah. He was a genius.
LR
He was.
PO
A walking genius.
MM
And then you saw him perform a lot too, yeah?
PO
Oh, quite a bit, yeah.
LR
Well, the last - we saw him four days, four or five before he died. At the Village Vanguard was it?
PO
The Jazz Gallery, yeah.
LR
In the Village. And he did a show, man, he was at the height of his powers. He was just -
PO
Oh, he was so dynamic. He was in his prime.
LR
You know, "God's Own Drunk", he did all his things and it was just gorgeous.
PO
Yeah. And that was at the time of the cabaret scene, you know, when they - First of all there's the story that's around of him being caught with possession of drugs, I don't think that's true.
LR
No, that wasn't true.
PO
He was on tour with Ed Sullivan.
LR
During the war.
PO
And they were in Washington, D.C. and he was - he used to drink, you know, he was a heavy drinker. He was drunk and disorderly and got busted for that. And now they made it out that he was - had marijuana on his -
LR
No, he was drunk. He was an alcoholic.
PO
Which is just as bad, even worse, you know. They [the New York City Police] went down to the Jazz Gallery and they actually stopped him from performing, from working, because he didn't have a Cabaret Card. And Sinatra was at the Copa, he heard about this, and Sinatra canceled his appearance because he would not go and get a Cabaret Card at the Copa Cabana. And Norman Mailer got into the whole thing.
MM
You guys had Cabaret Cards?
PO
Yeah, we had them.
LR
You had to go down to the Police Department and -
PO
And be fingerprinted and photographed. They wouldn't let Billie Holiday in.
LR
She didn't work New York for the last five or six years of her life.
MM
Was it a pretty corrupt system?
LR
It was terrible.
PO
It broke his [Buckley's] heart, really. He was done - he was one of the greatest things on stage at that point in his life.
LR
That is where he could have jumped off and really [Lady Renaissance points towards the sky].
PO
He was talking so fast and [imitates Buckley machine gun like delivery] "At tat tat tat tat!" But you understood every word. You understood what he was doing, what he was saying. You know, he was just a dynamo.
LR
Well, he had his hip thing down, it was 1960 and the whole thing was just starting to go: the hip generation. He would have been the Hip Messiah because all the kids were like digging him and knowing what he was, you know, with the black thing and - It was just coming together and he was already doing this [for] ten years. And the whole thing just came together for him. And when they took his card away it just broke his - busted him, like, wow - It was so unconstitutional actually, you know, to do that.
MM
Yeah, because it was based on someone being arrested versus being convicted too.
LR
Like, well, [it was because] jazz artists used heroin, Lester Young and [others]
PO
The day we went down to get the Cabaret Cards, Art Blakey was sitting there. Waiting to get it done, you know.
LR
If you worked a nightclub in New York you had to have - you had to be fingerprinted. And we were all getting kind of - and Buckley was too - they ask you a million questions, "Were you ever arrested?" This was twenty-five years ago [that Buckley had been arrested] and he forgot. He was arrested on a drunk and disorderly charge.
PO
Yeah, and he put down "No".
LR
He forgot. And they held it, [they said] "You lied and ba ba ba baaaaa!" and they wouldn't give him the card. And he couldn't work and that completely - and he was -
PO
Especially in New York.
LR
He was such a - he was on a roll, you know.
PO
Yeah, and he was on the road from San Francisco to Chicago to New York. And he was breaking it up all over.
LR
Yeah, he was on a roll.
PO
He was.
LR
And they [the police] stopped him.
PO
Yeah.
LR
Buckley was starving, he was getting broker and broker. And he's away from his family.
PO
Yeah, it broke his heart [to lose his Cabaret Card].
LR
And he was hanging with people that -
PO
Strange people.
LR
Strange and they didn't take care of him and that's when he died.
MM
Do you remember when you heard about his death?
LR
Oh, that story. We were working in the Catskills Mountains a lot. And that's a two hour drive from here And we had our little car and it was a Saturday and we were working. And coming home from the gig, this [particular] Saturday night, we were sitting in the car and Richard's [Prince Owlhead] saying, "Oh, man, like tomorrow's Sunday, we'll call up Buckley and he'll come over for Sunday breakfast and bagels and we'll roll a joint and we'll have a nice Sunday together. [And I said] "Yeah, beautiful baby!" And we're talking, it's about eleven-thirty at night and we're driving, and while we're talking ZOOOOM!!!!
PO
Something flew in front of the car.
LR
A bird flew in. And it was an owl.
PO
It looked at me just for an instant and it was an owl.
LR
In front of the windshield.
PO
I never saw an owl fly before. But this was an OWL! I didn't hit it.
LR
[And Prince Owlhead said] "Mildred, did you see that?" I said, "Yeah, wow, an owl, far out." So, we went home and Richard [Prince Owlhead] had this one little joint ready and said, "OK, let's stick it away and wait for Buckley."
PO
Buckley gave it to us. We saw him perform the night we did at the Jazz Gallery. And we went back to his apartment, he was living at somebody's apartment in Greenwich Village or Gramercy Park around there. And he laid a joint on us. And this is three or four days before he died. And I got home and I undressed and reached in my pocket and there was a joint and I said, "Look what I found." And she [Lady Renaissance] said, "Let's smoke it!" [laughs] I said, "No, we'll hold it. We'll invite him for breakfast and we'll smoke it then", you know.
LR
It was the joint Buckley laid on us. Four nights -
PO
No, he didn't. I found it in my coat pocket.
LR
Oh, that's right. Anyway, the next morning we are ready to call Buckley, but we get a phone call. And it was this kid - Did you call or did they call?
PO
I called to tell him to come to breakfast.
LR
[They said] "Oh, you didn't hear. His Lordship passed last night."
PO
At about the time that owl flew in front of the car. Is that far out?
LR
A little spiritual thing there. I kind of connected with that.
MM
What did you feel like when -
LR
Oh, we were -
LR
It was over.
PO
That was, yeah, that was it.
MM
Were you sad?
LR
Very sad. Oh, boy, shocked.
PO
Yeah.
LR
Shocked.
PO
And we had a funeral and Sid Gould was there, a great comic, a very funny guy. And his brother Oscar, the two brothers, Sid Gould became, was in -
LR
Lucille Ball.
PO
Yeah, yeah. Lucille Ball loved him. And got him into the -
LR
He did all the bit parts in -
PO
He did bits on Desi and Lucy, you know. And they laid a joint in - they put a joint in his [Buckley's] pocket while he was laying out, Sid did, in the funeral home.
LR
And this disc jockey, who was playing his albums every night, Mort Fega, he did the eulogy.
PO
Yeah. And we asked Elizabeth [Lady Buckley], "Where - how we going to do it?" She says, "I think we'll fire His Lordship up." And that's what we did, we cremated him.
LR
Yeah, with Tubby and -
PO
Yeah, we went out there, Tubby, Lady Buckley, myself and Lady Renaissance.
LR
Went to the crematorium.
PO
Yeah.
LR
And sent him on his way.
MM
So, I guess that joint went up with him.
LR
Oh, yeah.
MM
You know, some people have talked about, well, Richmond Shepard the other night - He said he saw Lord Buckley in his coffin and said he looked really good.
LR
He did. Now, Elizabeth said this, she went the first day.
MM
Lady Buckley?
LR
Yeah, and he [Buckley was] looking like this [makes an angry face] Very angry, his face looked very angry. Second day - just a little less, just a little less, you know, the lines - and the last day with the eulogy, he looked beautiful.
PO
Yeah.
LR
He accepted it. He was mad. [imitates Buckley] "Why now? I wasn't ready! The Bugbird -"
PO
And I'll tell you the world lost a charming, talented, mad person when he died.
LR
One of the bright lights died. Really it changed.
PO
Oh, he could charm the pants off you, man. He really could that's how he did it.
LR
If you knew him you never forgot him. You just never did, he just touched you. You couldn't forget him. It was impossible to forget him.
MM
If you had to say what his message was, if you could distill it down.
LR
Just love each other babies. Love and laugh. Laughter - turn it all to laughs if you can. You know, let's make it a family. That's what he wanted, that family, The Royal Court. And if he dug you, you're in, come on baby, follow me. That was it. That was the message I got from him. Because all I ever got was love vibes.
PO
OK, I think that's it, right, don't you?
LR
[shouting to the heavens] His Lordship? Forever in my heart, I hope I see you in the next life, my darling, and Your Ladyship, my love. I talked to her a few weeks before she left.
PO
Yeah. She stayed here, oh, about how many years ago?
LR
Oh, gee, David [trumpeter David Buckley Zalud, son of Prince Owlhead and Lady Renaissance] was on the road. About three, four years ago.
PO
She would get up in the morning and put her leg up on the refrigerator.
LR
You know, like the stretching, the ballet dancing. And she was in her sixties. Yeah, [her] leg would go all the way up. Get up in the morning and do her stretching, [imitating Lady Buckley], "Come on, Lady Mill!"
PO
[imitating Lady Buckley] "Posture! Posture! Posture!"
LR
[imitating Lady Buckley] "Posture, Lady Mill, Lady Mill! Squeeze the buttocks! Squeeze them, come on, darling!" And she looked gorgeous. She'd always - I mean they never had any money but, like she always managed. If you went out [with her] she was so striking, she'd always put together some kind of an outfit. When she walked in boom! She got you. She came with some kind wild looking hat and - she put clothes together, you know. She was always erect and carried herself so beautifully. And she was a beautiful lady, with her long, you know, from Finland, with the long blonde hair. She was stunning. But she just knew how to put it together.
PO
You never met her right?
MM
I just talked to her on the phone.
LR
She was delicious. And I'll tell you - like the years when she had the cancer. I mean, the attitude was, "I'm fighting it, I'm fighting it, Lady Mill. I'm doing -" And she went to work every day, every day until finally, the last thing hit her and she just - it just got her. I know they are together. He's been waiting on her. And I know they are together.
MM
Well, Prince Owlhead and Lady Renaissance, thank you so much.
LR
Our pleasure.
PO
Thank you, Prince Michael.
LR
Yes, he would have loved you, baby!
PO
Yeah, oh he would have loved you.
LR
You would have been in The Royal Court immediately.
PO
Ooooooh, yeah.
LR
Immediately. He would have had you [taking] pictures. He would have used you. [imitating Lord Buckley] "Go take a picture of that over there, take a picture over there, Aye!!!" Whoever had any talent he made them use it. He did that too. He did that.
MM
And I thank you for carrying on his spirit.
LR
Ah, thank you.
MM
You've kept it in your hearts and -
LR
Always.
MM
And you share it with people generously and added to that your own personalities and - I'm in love with you, I can tell you that.
PO
Terrific!
LR
Bless your heart.
PO
The feeling is mutual.
MM
Thank you very much.
LR
Thank you, sweetheart.
MM
I'll turn this off.
LR
Go ahead.
MM
OK
LR
Bye! |
