My titillating encounter with the great Debbie Reynolds

In November 1996, while I was free-lancing for NBC affiliate KRRC-TV, I drove to Austin to cover the junket for Albert Brooks’ Mother – and had a brief one-on-one sit-down with Debbie Reynolds. 

Funnily enough, I had asked her a question during a press conference for the very same movie a few weeks earlier at the Toronto Film Festival: “How would you compare working for Albert Brooks to working for Oliver Stone?” (Afterwards, I had to remind more than a few of my quizzical colleagues that she had played a supporting role in Stone’s Heaven & Earth.) And she was very gracious while saying nice things about both gentlemen. 

But in Austin, she displayed — well, a delightfully bawdier side of her character.

As I walked into the hotel suite where the videotaping would take place, Reynolds was talking with the production crew about her… her… well, OK, her breasts. Specifically: She was discussing how she had maintained her figure despite the passing of years — she was 64 at the time, the same age I am now — and the laws of gravity. And she wanted everyone within earshot to know: “I’m very proud of my tits.” When she realized a newcomer had entered the interview zone, she turned her gaze to me, and bluntly asked: “Don’t you think I still have great tits?”

For a second, I thought: “Just how does one respond to a question like that?”

And then I figured, what the hell, say what you think.

So I answered: “They look terrific, ma’am. And your ass looks pretty good, too.”

She laughed, but demurred. “Oh, no, that’s gone to hell. But my tits…”

I have dined out on that anecdote many times over the past two decades. And I thought about it again yesterday, when I learned of Carrie Fisher’s passing, and recalled how she was a fabulously and fearlessly funny woman who never shied away from making herself the butt of her own jokes. (Pardon the pun.) Tonight, I grieve for Debbie Reynolds, and find myself painfully reminded of the classic explanation of the difference between plot and story. (Plot: “The queen died. And then five days later, the king died.” Story: “The queen died. And then five days later, the king died — of a broken heart.”) At the same time, however, I take some solace and amusement in my happy memory: Like mother, like daughter.  

A free peek at George Bush's home away from home

Can't wait for Oliver Stone's W.? Then click on Crawford, David Modigliani's surprisingly even-handed and occasionally poignant account of the impact on the citizenry in the small Texas town chosen by George W. Bush to be the site of his co-called “Western White House.” (Yeah, that's right: The place Harold and Kumar dropped into in their last movie.) Filmed over several years, the documentary plays like a rise-and-fall drama populated with colorful, contrasting characters who have profoundly mixed feelings about being used essentially as props in Bush’s political stagecraft.

From the New York Times: The stars shine in Shreveport

Shreveport? “From what I was told to expect, I pulled up looking for a dirt road and a McDonald’s, and it was nothing like that,” said Jerry Jacobs, a producer of Disaster Movie. Several other producers also have discovered the many advantages of shooting in the North Louisiana city where, no kidding, I was gainfully employed during the late 1970s as entertainment editor for The Times. Indeed, Oliver Stone currently is shooting his eagerly awaited W on location there. (Because they wouldn't let him shoot in Texas, maybe?) (Just kidding, just kidding!)

'Mindset' tip No. 34: They were introduced to Jack Nicholson as The Joker.

Each year, Beloit College publishes a “mindset list” to clue professors into what incoming freshmen may know or assume – and, just important, may not know or assume – about life. As a part-time academic, I must admit to frequently referencing this cheat sheet. My favorite entry on this year’s list is No. 45: "They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee." Yeah, probably.

Cash for candidates

George Clooney has backed Barack Obama. Oliver Stone is putting his money behind Obama and John Edwards. Steven Spielberg has contributed to Edwards, Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. But Jerry Bruckheimer thinks John McCain is the man. Those are just some of the revelations offered by a Wilshire & Washington report on campaign contributions by Hollywood notables.