#186 Car 54, Where are You and Hank Garrett?

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Jeff Dwoskin 0:30

All right, Sophia, thank you so much for that amazing introduction, and you get the show going each and every time and this was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 186 of classic conversations. As always, I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Great to have you back for a truly classic episode. What's that? There's old up in the Bronx, Brooklyn's broken out and fight car 54 Where are you? A little abridged version? I didn't want to subject you to me singing the full theme song to car 54 Where are you but we have a special guest today. Hank Garrett, the surviving member of that classic sitcom car 54. Where are you is with us Hank Garrett, legendary actor, wrestler, speaker, author of his memoir Harlem hoodlum to Hollywood heavyweight. We're talking about his book, his life car 54 That time he broke Robert Redford's nose. Oh, so many stories await you. And that's coming up in just a few seconds. And in these few seconds, I want to remind everyone of episode 184 Basically my love letter to the Sharknado franchise an amazing interview with screenwriter thunder Levin, who wrote Sharknado 123 and four definitely check that out. If you need some TV binge watching suggestions, check out a bonus episode featuring segments from crossing the streams so much so much. All right. Let's go back in time with his classic sitcom actor Hank Garrett. He's got a handful of amazing inspirational stories and I can't wait for you to hear them. Enjoy. All right, ladies and gentlemen, my next guest actor comedian, wrestler PowerBuilder. Karate Hall of Famer author loved him in Three Days of the Condor Serpico, Max Headroom, Colombo car 54. Where are you in a million other things author of the book Harlem headlong to Hollywood heavyweight. Welcome to the show. Hank Garrett. Welcome.

Hank Garrett 2:36

Thank you. Thank you for having me on your show.

Jeff Dwoskin 2:38

Oh, I'm so excited to have you on the show. There's there's so much to talk about. Oh my gosh. So it's always good to talk to someone with so much rich history. I just can't wait. The thing I found most interesting about all your stories is they kind of all overlap a little bit like the wrestling the karate the what's the hoodlum part I know growing up in Harlem and and some of those issues and then we can pivot at some point to the renaissance of view as a comedian and an actor. I know a kind of all starts with the hoodlum face.

Hank Garrett 3:12

Yeah. My folks were immigrants from Ukraine. They came to the United States and they became vegetable peddlers of pushcart. I was born very late in life to them. My mom was in her 40s And my dad was in his early 50s. And because they were pushcart peddlers, they had very little time for home. I lived on the street. In fact, I actually slept in cardboard boxes on the street, because my most my folks are spending 1516 hours a day just trying to make enough money to live. So I was on my own, always in trouble. And in fact, I became a hoodlum. I hung out on the street, I had a 25 caliber pistol, when I was 12. And always fighting. I got my nose broken at the age of nine gang member came over and punch me in the face. I was standing in front of my building. I never forgot him. I'm fact that met up with him. Later on in life. The street became my mother. My father became my family. And there were other kids pretty much in the same fixed that I was in. There was a gentleman who was my mother's customer. And he was the mayor of Harlem and my mother's crying to him that I was always in trouble. And he was and so he came to see me. I was standing on a street corner with my Fellow Hoodlums and smoking at 12. And he said, Your mother wants me to take you out. And I thought my mother's putting a hit on me. No, dummy. He said we're gonna I'm gonna take you out tonight. Do you have a suit? I said you have got a suit. He said well, before you put that suit on and take a bath. Well, I did and I met him. He took me to the Apollo Theater and in Harlem, 125th Street. It took me to meet Sammy Davis Jr. He didn't take me to see his show. He took me into his dressing room. And he said, Sam, this is the kid I was telling you about. And Sam said, Sam, I said, he said, tough guy, as Yeah, tough. He said, Well, tough guys usually wind up with broken bones and scars, but you're bad. Feel bad. You're way behind them. Yeah, that shit, you're gonna wind up going to prison or you're gonna die. And I thought that's it. He said, Yeah, the way you're going. That's it. As he started talking to me about what's going to happen to me, that gun was getting heavier and heavier in my pocket. I thought it was going to tap through, well wound up getting me a job with an all black orchestra. And he said, you're going to be a band boy. And I said, I don't play an instrument. He said, No, no, you're going to put the music out for the different musicians. And at the end of the gig, the end of the job, you put everything back together and put it in this case, I did and at the end of the evening band was lucky millander lucky came over and he said you did a good job, and he gave me $50.50 bucks. He said Get yourself some new kicks shoes. My shoes were torn to shreds. In fact, the left shoe was being held on the soul was held on by a big rubber band to fit 50 and ran to Florsheim shoes, and I bought a pair for $15 and they gave my mother 35 more money than she had seen all year. And that was the thought Sammy Davis then got me a couple of gigs up in the Catskill Mountains. He said I want you to watch the other comics isn't because they told me you're pretty funny. I said, Well, I was funny, entertaining when I was being ready to be jumped by another game. And I watched Buddy Hackett people that caliber and 20 some odd years later, I was at the sands. I was opening for Tony Benn I was Tony Bennett's opening I for four years. That's amazing. And in the audience, ringside Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr. And Peter Lawford. And when I got through my show, Frank gave me a standing ovation. And what Frank stands up

Jeff Dwoskin 7:18

the world stands. That must have been loud and long.

Hank Garrett 7:21

Oh, it was amazing. Amazing. And everybody ran back to see Tony, except Sam, same thing with Mrs. Where do I know where you're from? Your funny cat. But where do I know you from? You look so familiar. I said, Sam, I'm the kid you said was going to go to prison or die. The two of us cried, and hug. And boy, and it's been thank God uphill since then. But I never forgot those those days.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:49

It's amazing. And it's like, It's so touching. It just kind of just shows like how much impact you can have on someone's life and just change. I mean,

Hank Garrett 7:59

I try to do the same thing. Now. fact we have a thing. Well, we're starting a thing called gangsters. Kids. A place for kids to come to, to hang out. Get off the street. Get off the street. Come to me come to hates this kids. Oh,

Jeff Dwoskin 8:15

it's amazing. I saw on your website, the letters that people right back to you, too. Yeah. It must be self fulfilling to be able to do for so many kids. What Sammy Davis Jr. did for you?

Hank Garrett 8:29

Yes, absolutely. Because of the Annamarie my manager, she has set up where I actually go to prisons, and I talk to kids that are incarcerated. I'm talking about children of 1111 to 17 that are getting ready to go to prison or go to trial. And we speak to them. Don't talk down. I just talked to them. And I let them know where you are. I was I sat right there. Anything that's gone through your head now went through my head, then where am I going? How long am I going to be gone? Am I going to survive? Am I going to go to some prison and die get kill all this ran through my head and it's all all that ran through their heads. And I got letters from the kids. And one of the letters particularly outstanding, said Mr. Garrett, Sammy Davis Jr. was your angel because I talked about God sending me an angel and I tell them this an angel out there for you. But you've got to be able to listen, listen with your ears and listen with your heart. And they wrote said Mr. Garrett, Sammy Davis Jr. was your angel. You're our angel. And I've never forgotten that.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:44

That's so amazing. And it really is it's touching it's so so touching and it's special when someone like you also takes the time and recognizes that and gives back so much. It's so special.

Hank Garrett 9:56

I have learned in fact the Annamarie and I written a book about my life, and whatever we sell proceeds go to Disabled American Veterans. So far we've raised over 60,000 for disabled vets. That's incredible. It's something that I just have to do. I am so grateful for all the wonderful things that have happened in my life, like beating the atom are

Jeff Dwoskin 10:21

always angels coming in and you just have to open you open your heart and arms to them.

Hank Garrett 10:26

Right. Exactly. And recognizing that's,

Jeff Dwoskin 10:29

it's incredible. And when you said that you wrote the book, we're talking about the Harlem hoodlum to Hollywood heavyweight book? Yes, yes. So anyone that wants to help support and find that book on Amazon, or any anywhere books are sold, and I never

Hank Garrett 10:43

know what is happening with Amazon. So what we do is, if they contact the people contact, we can get an autographed copy, www ball of google.com.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:54

Excellent. I'll put a note to that in the show notes as well that people can get to that really easy. Awesome. So Hank, being a stand up comic myself, I'm interested in these Catskill years and, and the whole kind of becoming a comedian. Like, it sounds to me, like from what you said in the story about Sammy Davis that they use that Jewish humor to kind of as a more of a self defense mechanism and to kind of calm the areas when people when things could get rough. There's that natural intent, that natural instinct of funny that kind of runs in the How did you pivot that to kind of like a routine and, you know, being in front of people and kind of developing that voice

Hank Garrett 11:39

listening to radio and hearing, there was a show called, can you talk this, and there was several performers telling jokes. And I would remember a good portion of the funny jokes. I started performing on the street, I did it as a savings because there were times that I was going to get beat up by a gang. And so I started telling jokes. I was telling jokes about the neighborhood. And it saved me from a couple of beatings, even though I was a tough guy. I remember well, Sammy Davis sent me up to the Catskills, and I watched some of the wonderful, wonderful performers, and I borrowed a joke or two. And then I started writing my own material. And wow, it started. And when you start getting the laughs, what are the jokes, which I told and it's been used by a zillion people, but it was, it was based on truth. And my father driving along, and my mother called him and she said, Sam, please be careful driving on the 405. I heard that there's a car going in the wrong direction. And he said, one car, there are hundreds of cars going in the wrong direction. And all the jokes I do is about family, about my ex wife, my kids and people identify. That is

Jeff Dwoskin 13:05

amazing. So I had Robert Klein on not too long ago, and he was talking all about the Catskills and it's just fascinating to me. Have you ever seen the marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

Hank Garrett 13:17

No, I haven't. Oh, I just got a word. Yes, I

Jeff Dwoskin 13:22

were just in. My wife says I have seen the marvelous

Hank Garrett 13:26

voice in my head. And yet

Jeff Dwoskin 13:30

I was I think, second season. I think they had a bunch of episodes in the Catskills. I've always been, I tried to find someone who's been there like yourself to find out how accurate those were Dirty Dancing was obviously in the Catskills as well during that time. If you can't recall, that's fine. You may have only seen a couple episodes. So I was just curious. Sorry. Take a quick break from this amazing conversation with Hank Garrett. I will continue to look for someone who was at the cascos who can corroborate Mrs. Maisel, for me, anyway, want to take a moment. Thank you for your support of the sponsors. When you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here classic conversations. And that's how we keep the lights on. And we're back with Hank Garrett about to dive into some more comedians, he was fortunate to see while at the Catskills, and we're back. What other comedians, because I read in a book, like Sid Caesar, there was like a bunch of other you must have been up there and like some of the heyday so they're probably some big names singers or comedians that were coming through. I snuck

Hank Garrett 14:31

into watch Sid Caesar's show. He had a television show, and I snuck into the theater. I went cross the roof down fire escape, to watch the rehearsal. Now I sat up in the last seat in the balcony, and there was Sid Caesar, rehearsing his show his television show, which was incredible. I was such a big fan of the greatest comedian I ever saw in my life. And I laughed out loud at one of the things he did and he stopped and said who was up there, I stood up and he said, come on down. I came down, I thought they're gonna have me either arrested or thrown out of theater. He said, Sit here, sit, okay. And I sat there. And he said, you only laugh when I say something funny. Forget the rest of the cast. So I sat there, and he said, after the show, he said, What are you doing here? And I said, Well, I'm a big fan of yours. And one day, I want to be comedian. He said, Do you do gibberish at all? And I said, I don't know what you're saying. And then he started doing an accent gibberish, no real words. And I learned to do gibberish. With said, and we would have conversations gibberish conversation, for example, he would say, All right, so what tight ends meet on the street. And that's bullshit. Dubois if he said no to two Hoosiers. So so we'll look at budget to total paying. And he would respond. And we will walk down the street and heavy contact, well compensations gay, Javor, Japanese, Italian, whatever is selected, and it became an important part of my act. I wound up in London at the David Frost show. That was the week that was and I would do gibberish every week, and then David would translate what I was saying.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:28

That's amazing. He had me

Hank Garrett 16:31

running through the audience with a huge bag. And I was a Chinese delivery man.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:37

Yeah, an act that would not go over today. Nothing like that. Now that's so funny. I mean, if you're gonna learn gibberish from someone said Caesar is the guy to learn it from there is no greater master. He was the master. Oh, was he ever so many stories? Not a great story. But I mean, because it was a car accident. But how you met Jerry Lewis ultimately. But that was an interesting answer, though. Did you know Jerry Lewis at the Catskills because he was a Catskills comedian.

Hank Garrett 17:09

He was up in the Catskills long before I got there. His dad was a master of ceremonies at one of the club, one of the hotels and he started doing an act with his dad, Danny, then he Lewis and Jerry was at his side though making faces and then he started doing pieces. And that's how Jerry started up in the Catskills. Oh, you

Jeff Dwoskin 17:34

know what I think I heard that story recently when a documentary I as a comedy goes to schools, Catskills documentary, it was something like a light bulb exploded and so he said something. Right and then and then he got this laugh and it was just it just was that moment. Yes. Interesting thing about every one of your stories, Hank, is that you always managed to turn lemons into lemonade like it whatever happened you went up you leveled up from that Sammy came to you boom you meet said he gives you this becomes part of your ACT get this opportunity as a as a band boy, ever that comedy. Just an interesting like you always you always moving forward. So that's the crash that you talked about in the in the book where they didn't even think you were gonna live. That was just that's like one of my greatest fears. Because I was just reading something about there's a turn in California where people go straight and it just drops right off. And they find by people like that, because nobody ever put up a banner like dropping all of a sudden in a car or defeat. I must have been was that like, that had to been the scariest thing ever, or did you even realize it was happening or it was just like next thing you're hanging from a tree. We

Hank Garrett 18:45

I hit fall asleep. My friend was driving. And he also fell asleep. We hit the divider onto the oncoming traffic. And he pulled over to what looked like a level side. We just saw grass. But there was a opening that you could not see from the road. And we went and we dropped 40 feet. We hit and I was catapulted right out. I wound up wrapped around a tree backwards. He he was killed. I won't go into description. I was at the height of my wrestling career. Aside from being a comic, I was also wrestling professional. In fact, I was being groomed to go for the Championship Wrestling Championship, which meant that the proceeds would be so much greater. Well, I woke up in the hospital and I heard two interns and one said if you if he lives he'll never be walk again. Which point I want to throw myself out of a window and I was in a body cast for eight and a half months. I won't go into the description but a lot of things are broken and really messed up. My cousin who was a nutritionist came to see me and the next day you got this huge box of supplements, and he labeled everything, how much to take and when to take it. And they were going to have him arrested. They said he was practicing medicine without a license. He said, I'm a nutritionist, and he said, but you're not an MD. And he says, Well, these are not medications. They're food supplements. They confiscated the entire box. Well, he came back the next day, with a box even bigger. And he said, This is all chocolates. On top. The supplements are on the bottom. I want you to do not touch any of that candy. You give that to the nurses. I followed everything to a tee. I was doing exercises, taking the supplements. The nurses kept flocking to my room for the candy. Well, I was able to walk out of the hospital and everybody's patting themselves on the back thinking they perform this miracle. And all the nurses had put on weight and they had big zits. Oh, and they kept coming by and take Can I take some of this candy? Oh, of course, every day, or every few days, he would come by with another box of candy to feed the nurses and I became a big favorite with my cousin sai Seymour saved my life.

Jeff Dwoskin 21:23

That's incredible. That's a lot of angels in your life kind of swoop in when you need that. Yeah. It was in the book it talks about there was a boy that actually saw you in that tree. And they didn't realize two people were even in the car. Thankfully, he knew and that's how they were able to find you. So little hills, little angels everywhere.

Hank Garrett 21:43

Oh, this little boy who saw me in the tree. Yeah, this was it didn't see. I was wrapped around the tree backwards. I know. It's covered with all the green, the greenery. And the kid came and just yell, mommy, there's a man in the tree. And when she looked up, she saw me and the ambulance had picked up my friend. They left she called and another ambulance came and got me out of the tree.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:09

Incredible. Absolutely. And then Jerry Lewis visited you while you were in the hospital? You got an autograph? Right?

Hank Garrett 22:14

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. Yes. I still got that picture.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:21

Probably worth a lot, maybe, to the right person. All right. So from there, you went back to comedy. Then we went back to the Catskills after you recovered and walked out of there.

Hank Garrett 22:33

Yeah, I worked a little club in New York, called the living room. And I wound up having a lifetime contract. I was just reminded before that, when I came back, and I was in good shape, I was pumping iron, which I love working out, I became a cop. I thought I could make a difference. Because I have encounters with the police. One time, they dragged me and they beat me up looking for a friend of mine. And I need they really, really went to town on me. And I swore I thought if ever, I could do anything, I would become a cop because I'm gonna make a difference. I became a cop and knew immediately that I could not make a difference. It was set in their ways. It was the way they operated. That's the way it was going to stay. Well, that was still on the force. A friend of mine who was a fellow comic guy named Mickey demes. His wife. Her name was Gertrude worked for NAT Heiken, who created the Bilco show and called 50. She was the secretary and she got me the audition. And I went met with that hike and sat down. He looked at me and he said, You're Ed Nicholson said, Oh, no, no, I'm Hank Garrett. And he said, I'm just the kind of dummy I'm looking for. He said Nicholson is the character I want you to play on the show cough if before where are you?

Jeff Dwoskin 24:00

That's a great introduction.

Hank Garrett 24:03

That opened up the world. Oh my god. And now I'm the only one left from the show.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:10

You were pretty young at the time, though, when you're on the show, right? Oh, 19 You were probably the youngest at the time on the show.

Hank Garrett 24:16

Oh, yeah. I was 19 years old when I got on the show.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:19

That must be surreal to kind of think back being the only one left from that entire job because it's it's such a classic. There's so many recognizable names that were starring or came through that show

Hank Garrett 24:31

red Gwen Joey Rawls, Lewis. Lewis was my partner on the show. And we argued at all

Jeff Dwoskin 24:40

half the cast of the monsters was on that show, right? In the book, you talk about you audition for a role there and then they went a different direction. It could have Carpathia for Redux.

Hank Garrett 24:56

Yes, I was. I thought I was gonna wind up playing the game. Uncle so funny because the scene was where Lily looks at me and it's full moon, and I start turning into a Wolfman. And she says, Oh, Uncle, please go upstairs and shave.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:17

Man, it's Sorry to interrupt this amazing conversation with Hank Garrett, but we have to take a quick break. And we're back with legendary guests, Hank Garrett are about to discuss American radio and television writer that Heiken talk to me more about NAT Heiken. It was sort of a ingenue, right. I mean, he was I mean, he was he died very young. He died right. Shortly after carpet before it went off there. Right, not too long after and then. But he had done some classic classic stuff. I mean, one of those cases where the short time your hair just shine so bright, but the comic genius of the writing and all that and any stories you could share along those lines.

Hank Garrett 25:59

Well, he was a heavy smoker. But he was brilliant. He would walk down onto the set. We shot in the Bronx, it was an old studio called Biograph gold metal studio, we took over and he would walk onto the set as we were shooting, and he just asked for a moment, and we'd stop shooting. And he would change the scene because of what he just saw. And it became probably one of the best scenes in the show. He was that quick witted, and yet very, very quiet, man.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:32

Yeah, that's incredible. That's as you can probably appreciate to being a comedian on stage having that kind of a 360 view where as the inputs are coming in, you can you can output much faster and your creative element.

Hank Garrett 26:45

Well, as a comic, you know, picking up a thread of one thing and just making a whole scene. That was the genius of that hike. Wow,

Jeff Dwoskin 26:56

that is a talent. So it took 50 years to get coffee before on DVD. It wasn't until like the late 80s That it was kind of resurgence on Nick at Night. Is it because there were only 60 episodes? Was there just not enough because it didn't have this indication that a lot of the other very popular shows and this one, quality wise stands with the best of them.

Hank Garrett 27:17

Yes, we knew we were gonna have a long run. But that hike in itself interfered. There was no one else that can pick up where he left off. He had that he wasn't an incredible, incredible genius, comedy genius. He had written the Martha ratio prior to coffee before, hysterically funny show. And when he created coffee 54 So many people said, You know what's funny about the police department said I'll show you he looked at us and the characters he selected was so outstanding.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:55

So outstanding. So what was it like? What was Fred Gwynne like or and Joey Ross?

Hank Garrett 28:00

Fred was wonderful, very client. We had some terrible experiences. He lost a baby while we were on location. Oh man. Yeah. His child fell out of the you had a nanny with the child. I don't know what she was doing but the child fell out of a crib and rolled down a hill and fell into a poor water

Jeff Dwoskin 28:26

oh my god yes.

Hank Garrett 28:28

We were all aghast we just could not talk and so we stopped shooting until Friday got back boy

Jeff Dwoskin 28:37

that's a rough that's a rough rough rough on Louisiana his family and his car 54 family

Hank Garrett 28:43

Oh absolutely. But people on the show was so understanding that we should take as much time as that you need will be here and no one took a job doing something else we were so such a solid family on cautious before we waited for Eddie came back we went back to work

Jeff Dwoskin 29:06

yeah, it's touching just how it's nice how much support you guys you guys all gave him so carpet before now you're like everyone knows you now like if they didn't know you before right now everyone knows Hank right? If they didn't know you as the wrestler karate champion or a comedian in the Catskills. Now you walk down the street and you're the carpet the poor guy, right?

Hank Garrett 29:31

It's so funny, but it's like way too. I know you.

Jeff Dwoskin 29:37

There's so much interesting stuff too. I do want to say three days of the concor Three days Condor, the fight with Robert Redford. I just I wanted to go out of my way to say how impressed I was. You know, you watch something you're like, Oh, wow. Alright, to get your foot that high up. Knock off that mantle. I just when I watched that I'm like it's such an impressive fight scene but that I was like, damn.

Hank Garrett 30:02

In fact, I'm talking to a gentleman about turning my book into a movie or series. Now the guy is an award winning writer. And so he and I were talking, he said, Okay, so kind of business like matter of fact. He said, What is your doing Three Days of the Condor? I said, Well, I was the killer mailman. He said, You're the mailman. I said, Yes. How did you do that kick where you took the mantle? Fireplace, I said, it's called a reverse heel kick. And here's all my god that's in good. Now. He says, that's the best movie that's ever been done my god and blah, blah, blah. Stop talking. And he said, How did you do that? And I said, just did.

Jeff Dwoskin 30:52

Right. Yeah, here. It's wrestling and karate training. So after I learned that, I'm like, Oh, okay. So you broke Robert Redford's nose during that? Actually got like, of course, yeah. You don't go out of your way to break Robert Redford. Robert Redford's nose

Hank Garrett 31:13

was a terrific guy, a really nice, good hearted guy. To give you an idea. When we were shooting a scene. And this, they're going to do a close up of a hand picking up the pot of coffee, there was a pot of coffee that was cooking, and throw it in my face. So it's a tight closeup of my face. And here comes the coffee. Bob came out of his dressing room. And he said, Well, what are you shooting? And they said that, and he looked at the coffee, and he saw the smoke coming out of the pot. He said, Wait a minute, you're not gonna throw a hot coffee and X rays. And the guy special effects guy said, no, no, no, no. It's not really hot. It's a chemical diluted with mineral oil. He said, Well, it's an acid. He said, Wait a minute, acid. You're going to get it in his eyes. And he said to the director, he said, Sydney, Sydney Pollack. Let me throw the coffee. And Sydney said, Well, you're not even in the shot. It's a tight closeup of Hanks face. He said, then it's okay. Then I'll never see me. And he called me on the side. He said, Hank, I'm going to hit your waist high with the coffee. Just throw your hands up in front of your face as though that's where I pitched and it worked. Then they found out had they gotten that acid in my eyes. It would have blinded me. Ouch. Oh, do I repay Robert Greg for for saving my eyesight. Break his nose.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:45

Well, Hollywood karma got you back when? Then later OJ Simpson clocked you and Kirk Douglas.

Hank Garrett 32:51

Oh my god. Yeah, I've gotten beat up by the best.

Jeff Dwoskin 32:59

Find the story you tell about Sofia Loran, and your first ex wife I guess the. But it was worth it. If you're

Hank Garrett 33:14

maybe worth it to you

Jeff Dwoskin 33:17

for this story. Oh. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. From a karate point of view. It's interesting. You got to spar with Elvis, also a black belt. Oh, yeah. You've crossed paths and worked with white the list of people. Oh, this

Hank Garrett 33:32

was a terrific, terrific guy. What a gentleman. I had gotten a call. I was appearing at the sands got a call from someone who said he was one of Elvis's people. And would I do Elvis the honor of sparring with him? And I said you want me to do Elvis the honor? Well, all right. I'll give the kid a break. And they record rue the ballroom at the sands and here comes Elvis with his entourage. And I look at what he's wearing. It must have cost $25,000 The Jack the pants spangles and beads and I look at one lakes had Elvis the other said Presley. I'm wearing my dollar 95 outfit, you know and I'll say okay, I got my GI which is torn to shreds because I've been fighting for years. Elvis takes off the outer layer and he's got his workout. Now he comes to me and he says sensei called me teacher. And I said to Elvis. Elvis. You don't refer to me as sensei because you and I are both of equal rank. So he says okay, Sensei, then he says to be sensitive. Can I ask a favor, please? I said sure. He said try not to hit me in my face. Because I've got a show to do tonight. I said Elvis, don't hit me up. my face because I do have a show to do tonight. He said, since if I hit you in the face, it will be an improvement.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:08

Elvis could sing and make jokes boom.

Hank Garrett 35:11

And I looked at him and I said, Elvis, you know, I'm gonna kill you. You know, I got to show he's gonna go bursty I've got to kill you. And we sparred. And he was very good. Oh, he was wonderful. And a gentleman at all times. Wow.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:27

Is it surreal when someone like Elvis is in your presence, and he's impressed that he's in your presence? Not that he shouldn't. Maybe you're not a man, like someone that you have such high regard for. And they're like, regard of you. It's gotta be like, Whoa,

Hank Garrett 35:41

I truly, truly keep saying to myself, I'm gonna wake up, because this is a dream. Sophia Loren. Elvis and I'm going where? I'm from the streets of Harlem. I was a Hold on. What am I doing with these credible people? Wow, God is good.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:01

Oh, that's a life. Hank. Anything you want to know how the jazz singer Neil Diamond? Oh, my God.

Hank Garrett 36:09

Yeah, I played a cop. It's so funny. That boy a boy meeting meeting these people. And I say to myself, how people that I grew up with are asking themselves as well. Is this the guy that is from 100/11 Street, living in a condemned building? Wow. To give you an idea of the kind of living, I was home. I came back from a wrestling tour. My mother didn't know that I was a pro wrestler living on a fifth floor walk up. There was a fire on the second floor. Didn't know think of that. My mother sees the firing Asian. She had. She was selling fruits and vegetables and a little stand in the public market. She ran out. And they stopped her. And they said, Where are you going? And she said, My baby's upstairs. She's running into the building to fire him and says Come on. Now. He took her hand. And they're running up the stance. They'd knock on the door, and they'd wake me up. I was 240 pounds. That's when I was wrestling and pumping iron. I also competed as a power lifter. The fireman weighed about 145 pounds. And he banging on the door. And he says what's going on? Hawaii? I said, I mean, I said that my mom. He said you're the baby. Cuz she keeps screaming have babies in it. And then she said them. Don't carry him. You'll hate yourself.

Jeff Dwoskin 37:39

Our kids are always our babies. Right? Oh, you know, I did have one one more question. Paris, the TV show Paris. A you did with James Earl Jones? Earl Jones?

Hank Garrett 37:49

Yes. I was co starring with James. Oh, we were the hottest show on the air. It was the first show television show that James had done. This is this first series. We had the world watching. And then he came to us we would we have word number one. And they said, We're going to have to move your show because there's another show called Trapper John. not doing too well. So we're going to give him your space and move you Saturday night. It's opposite a new show called Heart to Heart. The number one show they destroyed us. And we stayed on the number one show on Thursday, we would still be on the air. In fact, the producer came called me and sent me a telegram. I am so sorry. We moved you. Oh, please forgive us. We were canceled. travellish on cancel, and Heart to Heart was the number one show for a few years.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:49

That's so maddening. It's maddening to hear like, why did they just put you back then it took the number one show and then oh, you couldn't beat heart to heart? Well, in their defense when they met it was murder. No. But anyway, but the but he just seems like they could have put you back. Why did they just do something? They got you James Earl Jones. I mean, it's like, come on. It's like that's Foster. It's frustrating with it, like good quality and things that people love. And then they cancel it. But you tell a story about your son? Because James Earl Jones was at the house and did Darth Vader to your son.

Hank Garrett 39:22

Ah, true. Absolutely true story. We had a party for the cast at my house. I had a big house and everyone was there. James, everybody on the show. My son My oldest son was a little boy. He was in his room. Jimmy was famous for doing the voice of Darth Vader. He went to say hello to my son. And he saw my son had that Darth Vader helmet. James put it on. My son sat there and he did the voice my son. Well, I look in my son's room. It is watching James that has gone this mouth is wide open. Next day my son goes to school. I get a call from his teacher, Mr. Garrett. Yes, Your son Brandon has a vivid imagination. What is it? Well, he's downright lying to the other children. He said that Darth Vader was in his room last night. And I said well he was I heard click

Jeff Dwoskin 40:25

I love this woman now watch TV Did she not know that ran his dad would start in the number one show with James Earl Jones Come on.

Hank Garrett 40:35

Said the whole family is nuts.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:37

Man. That's a great story to end on. And I've kept you so long. I Hank, thank you so much for spending all this time with me and sharing all these amazing stories can't get over it. Such an eventful life. You have lives. And thank you for spending a little bit of it with me.

Hank Garrett 40:52

Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to share.

Jeff Dwoskin 40:55

I appreciate it. Thank you so much. They will and God bless. All right, everyone. How amazing was Hank Garrett check out his memoir Harlem hoodlum to Hollywood heavyweight full of amazing stories, some of which we touched on in this episode, but a lot more for you to dive into. If you love TV history. That book is for you. All right, well with the interview over that can only mean one thing. That's right. It's time for another trending hashtag and the family of hashtags that hashtag around up download the free always free hashtag roundup app at the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store. tweet along with us and one day one of your tweets may show up on a future episode of Classic conversations fame and fortune awaits you the hashtag for this episode #TVCopProblems of course, inspired by Hank Garrett, legendary role and sick calm car 54 Wow, you #TVCopProblems a game brought to us by tag assassin or weekly Game On hashtag roundup tweet your own #TVCopProblems tag us at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter. We'll show you some Twitter love in the meantime, here are some #TVCopProblems tweets to inspire you too many commercials. I know how can you be expected to solve a crime if they keep cutting to a tide? Commercial people getting you confused with police academy movie cops? I mean, there should be a clear difference. They're having to solve crimes in 45 minutes. I mean, isn't life hard enough? Come on. Give some of these TV cops to pada All right is a great kickoff to #TVCopProblems. Almost every trip ends in a chase blue just isn't your color. That would be a horrible problem for a TV cop. Never time to finish your doughnuts. Trying to find the baddest looking sunglasses. You need a good pair of sunglasses to be a TV cop drinking all that coffee during stakeouts definitely a #TVCopProblems. And our final #TVCopProblems tweet Batman touching all the evidence. Oh, oh, what's a cop to do? All right. Well, these were some fun #TVCopProblems. All these tweeters were retweeted at Jeff Dwoskin show go show him some Twitter love. Oh, the hashtag over and the interview over that can only mean one thing. That's right, we've come to the end of another episode, Episode 186. As I come to an end, I want to thank my very special guest, Hank Garrett. And of course, I want to thank all of you for coming back week after week. It means the world to me, and I'll see you next time.

CTS Announcer 43:41

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