Gary'sGlimpses

I met Patrick in The 22 and asked him what he was doing? This was his answer. We chatted for a couple of hours. I think he had just finished Scanners. The Club 22 at the Windsor Arms was an amazing place in 70's & 80's. It was like the hub of movie business in Toronto. Every day there was an adventure of some kind. Robert Miller was a writer for McLean's Magazine and CTV and had recently turned to novels like Dreadlock and some movie biz with Bill Marshall. I had bravely written my first screenplay and had given a copy to Bill Marshall. So we are sitting at the producers table with a few cronies at the mostly empty Club 22 and Bobby says come here I want to talk to you. he leads me to the empty piano bar. He tells me he picked up my script at Bill's office and read it. He than told me I shouldn't be in the movie business and picked my script apart line by line. He was good, he had a photographic memory and a grounding in writing and English and literature that w...

This is me with Keenan Wynn during the shooting of 'The Ballonist' a "Littlest Hobo" episode shot in my parents home in Uxbridge Ontario in the Summer of 1980. It was directed by Allen Eastman (Alien) and Keenan enjoyed tormenting him a bit.  Keenan and I spent the breaks talking about movies like 'Dr. Strangelove' etc. it was a fun afternoon. Keenan had the shakes a bit and didn't want to sign autographs, he always had the continuity girl around to take poloroids and gave out pictures instead .

Went to the premiere of Scanners with Michael Ironside and Alberta Watson, I brownbagged a bottle of Mum's champagne to celebrate Mike's first big movie. We drank it in the men's washroom and it was hilarious how many guys couldn't pee with Alberta in the room.

The Club 22 at the Windsor arms used to be a fabulous place and every night was an adventure. So I am sitting with a few of the gang at the producer's table when in walks this girl with really strange make up and very exotic dress. We look as she slinks to the bar. Wow she IS interesting "I wonder what her story is " somebody says. "Let's find out" I say and head for the bar. I drift on to the stool beside her and throw out a line. "Care for a champagne cocktail with me." A few drinks later I know she is an exotic dancer and her gig got cancelled. A few drinks later she tells me that she has entered photos of her pussy in Penthouse's beaver contest and if I go home with her she will show me the photos. This does sound interesting. (If her eyes are any indication) So I agree until she tells me that she lives like in Mississauga and boondocks. Hmm I say a little too casually "That is kinda far couldn't you give me a little peek here....

Larry Zolf  (July 19, 1934 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian journalist and commentator. Zolf was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba Larry introduced me to Moses Znaimer." Do you know Ledrew I got him out of jail" Larry wrote a letter to the parole board when I was busted and never let me forget it.  I met Larry at the Old Pilot back in the 60's. We used to have a few drinks occasionaly and had many late dinners at Kwong Chows. The barbs were obligatory. You had to have thick skin to dine with Larry but what a treat. He knew politics inside and out and he had all the real stories. I last talked to him just after Peter Czowski died.I called to find out if knew anything about the funeral. "LeDrew where the fuck you been? "Czowski! whatta calling me for I never hung out with those guys."  "So you Ok?good, Keeping out of jail, good. I gotta go I'm writing. Larry Zolf  (July 19, 1934 – March 14, 2011) [1]  was a  Canadian  journalist and commentator. L ARRY ZOLF...

  I`m a little foggy on the the time frame but I think your bar`s era was around 76/77.  Not the best time for my career as a blues musician.  Disco had taken out a number of live music clubs, punk and new wave were gaining a foot hold. Looking back, I think I was floundering with not much direction or creativity.  My music of choice was blues but I couldn`t get a good gig to save my life and I was burned out from being the band leader of Dollars through 74/75.  Making money was a challenge and hanging out in an after hours bar wasn`t a wise choice for a guy with a family.  When I did get a gig, I`d spend a good chunk of my pay drinking at your place. I guess that bar offered something more interesting then some of the places I`d play during regular bar hours.  The cast of characters was a pretty interesting mix of rounders, actors and musicians, some of whom had happening careers and others who like me were waiting for something good to fall out of th...

Bernie Fieldler brought her to the club one night and she couldn't have been nicer.We sat and talked for awhile and then  she asked if I would like to hear her new record and She borrowed Roy's guitar and got up and sang a whole set to my patrons. what a treat. She broke 2 strings on Roy's guitar and I bet he is still complaining about it.

Cathy Smith I liked Cathy from the first time I met her in 1965 she was Paul  Donnelly's  girlfriend. We were social friends always glad to see each other. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Cathy Evelyn Smith  (born 1948 in  Hamilton ,  Ontario [1] ) is a former  backup singer  and  rock  star  girlfriend ,  groupie  and  drug dealer , who served time in the  California state prison  system for the manslaughter of  John Belushi  in 1982. Smith had been paid for a front page headline story in the  Hollywood   tabloid  the  National Enquirer , [2]  where she stated she was the person who injected the actor with a fatal drug overdose. In 1984, Smith co-authored a book entitled  Chasing the Dragon [3]  which told her life story. The title is an allusion to Smith's heroin addiction. Smith appeared prominently in the  Bob Woodward  book  Wired: T...

Cayle was a dear friend for many years. TORONTO — Actress Cayle Chernin, best known for appearing in the seminal Canadian road movie, "Goin' Down the Road," has died. She was 63. Going Down the Road. When I was living at Hazelton Ave. in Toronto (we had a commune)  there was a premier or preview of 'Going Down the Road' at the New Yorker. I went with Melinda, Carla and Helen and Pauline. Pauline and i were going together at the time. We were knocked out by the movie and afterwards we went to the Pilot and we all raved about it. we felt it was a big step for Canadian Movies. Pauline really liked it. anyway they wanted to go back to Hazelton and i stayed on for a few more drinks.  so I am sitting there and who walks in but Paul Bradley. We hit it off we were friends from almost the first moment we met. We had a couple of hours of drinking and story telling and somewhere in  this haze i got a great idea. it was Pauline's birthday on Friday and we were having a pa...

 Jackie came to the club once in a while.  I  Fondly Remember Sitting with Jackie at the Club22 (Windsor Arms) in the early seventies she was between jobs. So what are you doing jackie? She suddenly becomes a wide-eyed teenager " I am running away to New York and becoming a waitress" she says very convincingly. She was intelligent, incredibly talented and charming and will be sadly missed. 

Robert and Marlene by Krash   In 1965, Markle paintings shown in the exhibition Eros ’65 at the Dorothy Cameron Gallery were seized on a charge of obscenity, drawing considerable media attention. In the mid-1960s Markle began to write for magazines such as the Toronto Telegram Showcase, Maclean’s, and Toronto Life, publishing widely on topics as diverse as striptease, hockey, childhood Christmases, and Gordon Lightfoot. Markle also worked extensively as an illustrator, contributing images to magazines and literary journals. His work asan educator included terms at The New School of Art (1966-1977) and Arts’ Sake (1977-1982) as well as OCA and the University of Guelph. From the early 1960s, Markle played tenor saxophone and piano in the Artists’ Jazz Band. In 1970 the Markles moved to a farmhouse outside of Holstein, Ontario, although Robert re-established a studio in Toronto from 1979 to 1982. In 1979, he won a commission to decorate a Toronto hamburger restaurant, which was named ...