Take Two, Mr. D:: Conversations with Mr. Pierre David, a Delightful Gentleman Who Made People His Business

By Linda Aidan and Pierre David

Take Two, Mr. D is the result of almost two years of conversations between Linda Aidan and Pierre David. They started taping them because Linda found Mr. Ds stories so interesting, and many times amusing, that she eventually convinced Pierre they should make a book out of his fabulous experiences. His one condition was to maintain the integrity of his stories and, in so doing, that of his many friends, acquaintances, and himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Sep 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781503562370

Linda Aidan

Pierre David is a French American who spent more than sixty years in the United States (by choice!). His work, personality, and background brought him in constant touch with people, many of whom were celebrities. He maintained longtime friendships with a lot of them. This book is a testimony to those friendships. Linda Aidan has lived in Paris for the last twenty-five years. She met Mr. David in Paris, and she continues to see him. In her lifetime, she has travelled much and met many people, but none who were as much fun and likeable (intelligence is a given!) as Mr. D. He made her understand that everyone, no matter what age, has something to offer.

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Copyright © 2015 by Pierre David; Linda Aidan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

All rights reserved…..as this is essentially a memoir, characters are real. However, we have to the best of our ability attempted to maintain their integrity and not make any remarks that would be considered defamatory….

Rev. date: 12/16/2015

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CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction by Mr. D

How It All Began

Post War Years

U.S.A., Here I Come!

Chicago

California

Las Vegas

New York

Florida

Switzerland

Puerto Rico

Algeria

Some Jokes

Epilogue

Pictures and Documents

Preface

My name is Linda Aidan. I live in Paris. A year ago, I quit my job of many years and decided to do other things. One thing I have always wanted to do was to get to understand better, and be of help to, persons young and old. I believe that all people have something to offer, no matter what age or what status in life… This has been proven to me by my recent experience…

As of yet, I haven’t found work with children. However, I was lucky enough to find a retirement home for the elderly close to where I live. I cut across the Jardin du Luxembourg and the home is minutes away.

I like to be with people I met there. Everybody we meet has something to offer, no matter what age or culture. I hear a piano recital from Mme Claude Eleskiwicz, I hear prayers and go for a walk with Mr. Koppel, I chat with Mme Blanchard de la Brosse about her time in Seattle, I watch Anna draw in repetition, I listen to Mr. Gahsha sing as he can’t speak French. From time to time Darina Kupka, the wonderful activities coordinator at the home, sends me to see a new person…

Among the persons I see regularly is a charming gentleman by the name of Mr. Pierre David. He is a French-American who recently moved back to Paris after having lived 65 years abroad. He would tell me about his early years in the U.S.. His stories and anecdotes were so entertaining that I began to think about noting them down for posterity! I asked him, and he was ok with that.

Once in a while he will say, If only I knew I was going to have a book written about my life, friends and acquaintances, I would have taken notes! I have to keep reminding him that his memory bank is already quite extensive. Very impressive!

This book is a compilation of Mr. D’s experiences with movie stars, and many others in the over 60 years he lived in the U.S..

What I liked about Mr. D was that from the beginning he said he didn’t want to say nasty things about people. These conversations are about the good and funny things that happened to people he knew and liked…sometimes friends, sometimes acquaintances.

What comes out in these Conversations is the personality of a man full of integrity and love of his fellow man. Mr. D is also a person with a lot of character who responds to what is necessary when necessary. He is a man who made his own way in life, loved his work, the people he worked with and befriended, and those who cared for him. He was honest with himself and with his friends, who he carefully distinguished from acquaintances many times during our conversations. The former he maintained contact with; the latter he met once or several times but no follow-up.

In these conversations, Mr. D sought to be truthful while keeping the integrity of his friends and acquaintances (even those he did not much appreciate!) intact. He is a genuinely humane person who, of course, can tell it like it is sometimes… I just loved listening to his life stories… I hope you will enjoy these conversations as much as I have…I have left the manuscript in the same conversation format as were our conversations…sometimes going back and forth with the same people but in different parts of the book.

The organization of the book followed our conversations at the onset. The language and grammar stays as it is unless blatantly off. As I began to see tendencies, in particular, that Mr. D lived in different cities I have tried to categorize his stories into who he met and where. Sometimes, he sees the same person in other cities. But what I have done is to put them in the city he has first cited them…just for some consistency.

Please note that from hereon in, my comments/questions are in italics; Mr. D’s in normal script. Words or comments in other languages as well as titles of films, etc., are either underlined or within brackets. I have purposely left the conversations as they were taped.

Finally, I would like to thank my sister Diana Kawkabani, who was so supportive, morally and financially, to this project.

Enjoy reading!!!!

Introduction by Mr. D

I was born into a family of four children. I was the 5th one. I had two sisters and two brothers. I was born in 1924. Nothing special until 1930!!! Then all changed, and my life began.

There are a few people I am very grateful to, not necessarily in order. One of them convinced me to write about my life in the U.S., namely Linda A.. You will read about her and other in this collection of funny (I hope) anecdotes.

Now, I am at the end of all of it. As I say later on, I did it my way, and with love.

When I was in Paris at the end of the Second World War, I learned a lot through Charlie Blair Shirck. I learned to assert myself. I was exposed to people and their caprices. In the U.S., the Reid family, of course, and most of all, Marge and Gower Champion, were responsible for my start in life. I come back to these people time and time again throughout my conversations. I also speak about the many others who allowed me to live a life I loved…

Regarding this book, my friend was very kind and patient with me. I am not easy going. I’ve been very lucky experiencing what I did in the U.S… I’ve been thrown into a world I knew nothing about. Although I didn’t have any experience or certificate for the cinema, I was taken in by big stars who taught me everything. Most are dead now. Still, I learned.

One guideline I have kept since I was very young was, Keep your eyes open, ears open and your mouth shut. And you did it your way. And I did it my way (Mr. D’s eyes water). Yes, I did it my way. But I remained friends with all these people. I have a great treasure of all these friendships. Strangers are friends I have not met yet. (A small grin from Linda) Why don’t you like that? It’s nice.

Many people I met told me I should write a book. I never thought of it until my friend here convinced me. My limit was nothing gossipy. I just wanted to say nice things, some things are funny, some are funny ha ha. I didn’t want to harm anybody. I just wanted to show that people are human. I kept remarks in my mind because they were funny. Not because so and so said it. I did it because it was funny.

But you also talked about working with people when it wasn’t so funny. If I were in a market, I would know all the buyers of different products. It just happened that I worked in the cinema industry. So, I know about that. People think the industry is fun and glamorous. But it’s a job too. You sometimes get up at 4 in the morning (or earlier) and finish at 10 in the evening. You work with people who are many times capricious. No office hours.

But it was a fun job. Oh, not always. I don’t want to talk about the bad part. People in this business sometimes go crazy because they want to be a star 24/7. You cannot lead a life 24 hours a day.

That was your life. Yes, it was like I was picked out in a crowd for what I had to offer. That’s what I miss here (France). I have been here for over a year now. I tried to get into charity work. Here they look at me like I’m an old man. Yes, I am old. That I don’t argue. Old and gaga. You certainly are not gaga. You may be gorgor, grincheur (grouchy). (Ha, ha) I still know what goes on. You sure do. You are still very quick.

The other day I said I hope that through my psychologist I would be able (maybe) to help the cancer society here. Again and again, I do repeat myself not because I am gaga but because I want to clear up a point. Moral support for those who have surgery is very important. You cannot do surgery and go back on it and have the patient be all smiles when they discover that part of the body has been taken out. That is very important.

That is why I would like to do this support group. I don’t hear about such things here in France. They do. Yes, but not like I have been used to. Remember that I am from another culture. I spent 70 years in the States. People don’t think the same way from one side of the water to the other.

How It All Began

Mr. D is a French-American. He was born in Marseille, France in 1924. He was premature his reason being it was very confined. His father had a refinery called La Phocéenne in Port-de-Bouc, just outside of Marseille.

He was the last of five children. Properly raised. They weren’t lavished with love. But he didn’t have his langue dans sa poche. Like the story of the clafoutis… One day a friend of the family came over with clafoutis she had cooked. She asked him what he thought, and he told her it was a plat foutu (ruined dish). She laughed about it but never forgot his remark…

His youth was very quiet. He learned early not to make waves. His father was strict. He never displayed any love or adoration like fathers now. The first time he saw his father crying was when his oldest brother was killed in the landing from Italy to France.

I considered myself well brought up. At the age of seven or eight the children had the freedom to do what they wanted to do. Nothing out of line but we had the right to decide. Guided by my parents I think I made the right decisions in general.

What was your youth like, Mr. D? You travelled a lot with your parents? My father was in the crude oil business so we received a lot of skippers from the ships that would come into the port. That’s how I learned English. It was very important for these persons to have a home cooked meal.

I learned English with taps on the head for this is good night, etc.. You know, it’s easy for a child to learn a foreign language.

When I was seven years old I went for one year in England to a public school. Which is like a boarding school. Yea. That’s why your English is so good. You learned it before going to the States. Yes. During the War, I was an interpreter for the Americans. Were your courses in English in England? Yes. At the time I had a British accent. (He mimics accent for butter.) I was very British.

Then the War came in. There were a lot of foreigners. There were a lot of collaborators who spoke English. The Allies had to be very careful. I was allowed to enlist.

Let’s keep to your youth. I had a rather uneventful childhood. I was in boarding school in the U.K. for one year. When I came back home my brothers and sisters were all away at boarding school still. I didn’t go dancing or doing things with people my age. Why? Because the war was right there. (He was in mid-teens.)

When I came back from England my brothers and