Last week I had the pleasure of having my off Broadway play, “Batboy, A Yankee Miracle,” performed by my cast in Hernando County, Florida, for the U.S. Veterans and First Responders. I also got to do two, one-man shows with the original music of the incredible Alex Martin for the Admiral Farragut Academy in St. Petersburg, Florida where 100% of the proceeds went to the area charities.
After the shows at the Academy, I had a reunion of sorts with the legendary actor George Hamilton. It was “Love at first bite!” (Title of the 1979 Horror Comedy movie that starred George Hamilton as Dracula) Actually it had been probably 40 years since the last time that we had seen each other.
The first thing out of Mr. Hamilton’s mouth was “I remember your hair well, what happened to it.” He was referring to the fact that I had a rather large Afro hairstyle in the decade of the 70s. Now I keep it short and straight. I told Mr. Hamilton that it’s called old age. He looked at me and laughed.
We got a chance to talk about how much he liked George Steinbrenner and the great relationship that the Boss had with his dear friend Cary Grant. Mr. Hamilton told me how terrific the Admiral Academy had been for his son George Jr.
My pal Aris, who is in the Batboy play, was thrilled to meet the distinguished Mr. Hamilton and actually brought him a gift. Aris asked him if he had seen the new Yankee Stadium yet and Mr. Hamilton said he had not. So Aris said ‘I have a special gift for you.’ Aris handed him a small box and inside was a replica plaque of the great George Steinbrenner. “Wow,” Mr Hamilton responded. He said that he would ‘always cherish this gift because he thought that George Steinbrenner was just a really good man.’
Mr. Hamilton said he would always have fond memories of his great Hollywood friends and him visiting with the Boss during those Championship games in the 70s at the old Yankee Stadium.
