Okay, crazy little story. On Labor Day weekend, I attended DragonCon, a science-fiction/pop culture convention and trade show in Atlanta. On the Thursday before that, I spoke with Eddie Carroll on the phone, and he told me a funny story:
Eddie and his wife Carolyn just recently returned from having performed "Laughter in Bloom" in upstate New York; after four performances, they then spent several days in New York City, seeing some shows and visiting old friends.
Okay, Eddie asked me, "Do you know who Rip Taylor is?" Yes, I did. "Well, Carolyn and I have known him forever, but we'd not seen him for six or seven months until just before we were leaving for New York. Then one evening we were at a restaurant and I heard Rip's voice coming from the booth behind me. I turned around and we chatted and caught up. It was fun.
"Then the NEXT night, Carolyn and I were out at one of our favorite restaurants, and there at the very next table was Rip Taylor. I kidded him a little about following us. Then on the night before our flight to New York, we went out to a restaurant...and at the next table sat Rip Taylor. I said in my best Jack Benny voice, 'For heaven's sake, Rip...STOP FOLLOWING US!'
"So we fly to New York, we do the shows, and then we go down to New York City. The first night we go out to a restaurant...and there at the next table is Rip Taylor! I told him 'This is really getting out of hand!' The next night, a dear friend of ours treated us to dinner in a very nice restaurant...and there at the next table is Rip Taylor! Again I went over and said in my Benny voice, 'Now you're STALKING me!'
"And Rip motioned the waiter over and without even looking at me, he said, 'This table is unacceptable. This strange man is annoying me.'
"So the next night we don't see him, but then on the morning that we're flying back to California, we go to the hotel coffee shop...and there's Rip Taylor! Can you believe that, not seeing him for six months, and then running into him six times in a row on two different coasts?"
When Eddie told me the story, I said, "Guess what. I'm going to a convention this weekend, and one of the guests is Rip Taylor. I'll tell him hi for you."
So...I go to the convention, and sure enough, I run into Rip Taylor. I say to him, "Oh, Eddie Carroll gave me a message for you: He said to tell you that he and Carolyn went out to dinner last night in L.A., looked over at the next table, and you weren't there. They MISS you so much!"
Taylor stared at me for a couple of seconds, then erupted into laughter. People gathered and asked, "What's so funny, Rip?" He gestured at me and said, "Tell them! Tell them!"
So I did, but of course it wasn't funny because no one had the backstory...so then Taylor had to tell the whole thing over again (and by the way he wound up by highly praising Eddie's turn as Jack Benny).
WELL...last Thursday I spoke to Eddie again, and right away he said, "Brad, you're not gonna believe this. I was having breakfast in the Sportsmen's Lodge, and I was telling four or five friends about that crazy story involving Rip Taylor, and I'd just started to say, 'Now I have a friend in Georgia, of all places, and over the weekend he--' when one of my friends pointed over my shoulder. I turn around.
"It's Rip Taylor.
"And he says, 'I'll take it from here, Eddie,' and finishes telling the story!"
It's a small, small world after all. Or maybe Rip Taylor has been cloned.
Oh, for heaven's sake!