Gary'sGlimpses

Wilde said people shouldn't be judged on whether they are bad or good but whether they are charming or tedious. The CBC nickname for Peter was Saint peter and Peter was no saint but he was charming. I met Peter when he was doing his TV Show. I guess it put him under a lot of pressure. He would come to my bar a couple of times a week to unwind. We spent many a night just the 2 of us in my backroom playing pinball for 20 bucks a game. We talked about a lot of things. One morning for some reason we were both chasing the same lady and neither one of us would give in. We ended up back at his place, with the lady making breakfast or  At eight o clock in the morning we were sitting at his kitchen table on Yorkville Ave. with a bottle of wine on the go. We were very very drunk. Out of the blue he stops and says. "Want to know what is the most important thing I ever did in my life?" Of course, I said "Sure." he proceeded to tell me about a hockey game he had played. Some...

 I met Lee Majors at the 22 in Toronto in 1980. He came in with Chris Makepeace who was still a teenager. they sat at the producer's table with a bunch of us. (I was actually trying to produce a movie at that time) Lee and Chris had just finished shooting 'The Last Chase" and Lee was hanging around Toronto for a bit and dating Karen Kane. Daytime Don the waiter came over to take their orders. Lee ordered a drink and Don looked at the obviously underage Chris and not wanting to be a spoilsport said"You are an actor I guess you can act 21" and brought him a glass of milk. Lee was much cooler than I had thought. he was friendly, funny, and self-effacing and I immediately liked him. He hung around over the next couple of days shooting the breeze sometimes a bunch of us sometimes just the two of us. He showed up one night for dinner at the Courtyard and drinks in the 22 with Karen. Which was all the gossip of course. One afternoon he acted as an extra in one of the mo...

I met Howard Duff making Double Negative. I was the assistant producer and it was my job to look after Howard. I met him at the airport. "Hi I'm Howard Duff and if you don't think I'm tough, Remember I was married to Ida Lupino for twenty years". Howard and I became great friends and his girlfriend Judy. We spent many pleasant hours together over about 6 weeks. I showed them around Toronto and we had many lunches and dinners together. And far too many drinks. I took them to some clubs. One night he was a bit long in the washroom and I went to check. he was being hassled a bit by some punks (not too seriously) I come in and say Ready to go Mr.Duff and flashing my genuine RCMP key chain. The punks evaporated and Howard thought that very cool and subtle. If anything like Richard I found Howard a bit fragile. I was on Howard and Judys Xmas card list until they died and I feel really privileged  

  I used to hang out with Elizabeth Ashely when she came to town, sometimes she came to my club and sometimes I was free to just hang out. We were great friends. Eating at the underground railroad and drinking at the 22. She usually stayed at the Windsor Arms. We would ride around in her limousine supplied by the movie company smoking weed and snorting you know what. She was married to a buddy of mine so we were mainly friends came close a couple of times. She was passionate about everything. (I have to leave some blank spots) She got in trouble over a couple of late nights with me made her either late or no show at the movie set. I wasn't exactly heartbroken when she broke up with my buddy but I was when she got busted at the border and couldn't come to Canada anymore. Anyway, this is a good article she is a brainy broad and has a lot of good lines. we laughed a lot.

 Catherine was a good friend she loved the after-hours scene. Her brother Marcus ran the 505 an after-ours owned by Dan Ackroyd on Eastern queen Street. We spent many nights there long into the morning with her and Mary Margret. After this  she often came to my place and always brought interesting people. One night she brought the whole cast of the Second city. One of her first movies was double negative and I was Assistant Producer. So there I was at Club 22 at the Windsor Arms. With my then buddy Michael Ironside. Michael and I were trying to break our record of drinking about 80 margaritas. When Johnny Hart and Jack Caprio the cartoonists showed up and we were really throwing the drinks back and having a great time. When I saw Catherine waving at me. She had just come from the Courtyard Cafe where she had treated her parents to dinner. She waved me over and I gave her a peck and she says Gary I want you to meet my mother and father. 'Really How nice"I said trying to be poli...

I met Cannonball and Nat Adderley at the Colonial Tavern in 1969. Mickey Handy introduced me. Cannon and Nat became good friends and I was their Toronto buddy whenever they came to Toronto, we spent many days hanging out at the underground railroad, etc I once cooked a seafood chowder dinner for them at Grossman's Tavern. Al let me use the kitchen and was the special of the day. It sold out quickly. One night I took them to Gordon Rayner's Studio to watch an Artist's Jazzband rehearsal. they liked it but would not jam. This was very much a "Black power time and they got invited to all the Black after-hours clubs. But they would not go without me. I knew most of the black clubs and we had a lot of fun. I was on their permanent guest list at the Colonial and I got to listen to great jazz and meet their fabulous sidemen like  Louis Hayes, Ray Brown, Walter Booker, Bobby Timmons, Victor Feldman, Joe Zawinul. One night I was late getting to the Colonial, they were halfway t...

  This was in 1979 I had just quit the booze can biz and was transgressing into the Movie biz. Club 22 at the Windsor Arms was my principal milieu. I was at home there comfortable and confident. I came in one evening and not seeing any friends I got a drink at the bar. in a glance around the room There was Leonard sitting by himself and nursing a drink at a nearby table. my milieu what the hell, I walked over "hey Leonard I'm Gary leDrew, I am a friend of Lesley McDonells she talks a lot about you. Leonard's eyes lit up. "The beautiful Lesley. have you seen here lately" "Not much since she married that St. Nicholas guy,"I say. I sat down and after a mutual admiration of Lesley's conversation our talk drifted to other things. I was born in Montreal and gave my brief history there. He told me he was in town for an opening at an Art Gallery on Dundas St., and that the Artist had painted pictures of some of his released songs and he had to go. We drank ...

  A friend of mine Beau Chorney had this lawyer ( I am embarrassed i cant remember his name.)who I met on a deal we were working on.   So I ran into him in the 22 in Toronto, and after a drink, he invited me to join him for dinner at Fridays. he only said was meeting with his some of his clients. so I had no idea until we sat down with Yvan Cournoyer, Guy LaPointe, Henri Richard, and Frank Mahovlich. Peter Mavolich was late he had just bought a Rolls Royce and as he pulled up and we all went out to the street to see it. When he got out an empty Heineken bottle fell out which made us all laugh.  I was out of my league in the conversation, I was like the fifth wheel with this lot so I didn't say much just a few bon mots during dinner and mostly listened. I wish I remembered more but I guess I was a bit awed as it was such a surprise. meeting so many Hockey heroes at once is a bit much. I have always been a habs fan and peter was a favouite.

Back in the mid-eighties I’d had a few pints with Graydon Gould at The Artful Dodger. He is an icon of Canadian Television he used to be the Forest Ranger in the ’50s. I had been involved in the movie business and we had a few mutual friends. One afternoon he invited me to go with him to the 22 to meet Ned Beatty who was shooting ‘Switching Channels’, and to go to supper with them. We met in the 22 and Ned was very subdued. He was very quiet and had an orange juice in front of him and said he just didn’t feel like drinking or eating. We talked a bit but Ned excused himself.” I have just had a terrible day.” So I am going to turn in early”. He apologized to Graydon and started packing up his stuff. He reached into his shirt pocket and moved a set of darts to his kit. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my darts. “Would you like a game?” I asked. Off we went to the Artful Dodger I was a pretty good dart player at that time and we took on all comers and won every beer. We drank long d...

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 afterward, 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 storytelling and somewhere in this haze, i got a great idea. it was Pauline's birthday on Friday and we were having a party. So I talked Paul into coming and playing his character of Joey from the movie (this was not difficult). This was my idea of a crazy birthday present for Pauline. Friday night Paul showed u...

Billy Joel Cost me my Job! I loved singing the Lobsterman with Maclean & Maclean. The lobster song is the 2nd oldest dirty song written down in English in the tenth century. My last performance was at the El Mocambo. We were doing the last set and as I was getting ready to go up to the stage I saw the manager whisk Billy Joel and his band to a nearby reserved table. The Macleans of course couldn't see for the lights' there is a place in the song where you can throw in a name so I stuck Billy Joel's name into it. The Maclean's looked askance. So I told them after the song. After the show, we all got together in the dressing room and found that Billy Joel was a big fan of dirty Humour . The management provided cases of Heineken's and we drank and partied late into the night.  He raved about the show. But all that he could really remember was me. He would point at me and say how blown away he was when I picked him off. The verse goes that is the end. there isn'...

I met him, I worked briefly on Death wish 5, My sister Gaille was the production secretary, I set up their computer with the accounting program. it wasn't easy first I had to download it on a 90 baud modem over the phone from L.A. it took hours. My sister met Charles when she had to go to the Airport in the middle of the night and rescue  Charles (who she called mister B) Charles had told the Pakistani Immigration agent to fuck off and he was about to be deported. Gaille had lots of experience with this and managed to get him in the country with some inside contacts. Charles took a liking to my sister and phoned our parents home a few times looking for her. Much to the delight of my mother. Charles ruled that nobody could talk to him on set he didn't like small talk. My sister got a small part she got beat up in the movie.  I got an old friend a job in accounting. He had been working for the government and wasn't ready for the movie biz. He phoned me one day said He couldn...

Harold Town (not Harry, its Harold) I met Harold one night at the Pilot Tavern he was not a regular there. We got into some long hot discussion and he invited me back to his place. We go in to his den and he takes two bottles of Scotch out of the cupboard and  hands me one and a glass. We tour around the house looking at works of Art, Mostly his, and they are really impressive. We end up in the basement sitting on carousel horses which he collects. He also shows me an old x-ray machine he was experimenting with. (I think it might have killed him) And so we talked and argued until the scotch was gone. He got me some blankets and a couch to crash on. Not much to talk about next morning heavy hangovers just a coffee and I was gone. "Toronto is a one Town Town". I dropped in on Harold several times after midnight always welcomed with a bottle of Scotch. I remember some people being there the next morning like wife kids? I was never introduced.One night after the Pilot ha...

I first met Jack Bush a few times a week for about six weeks before I even knew his name. It was 1965 and I had just been rejected by the OCA. Feeling lost and unsure of my next steps, I remembered reading that artists often gathered at the Pilot. So, I made my way there, usually a bit too early in the day due to my factory shift. Sitting at the bar, I noticed a dapper man in a grey suit with steel grey hair and a perfectly groomed mustache. He was sipping on a martini, and something about him caught my attention. We struck up a conversation, and I was immediately taken aback by his profound insights on art. This was a level of conversation I wasn't used to, and I found myself thoroughly enjoying it. We ran into each other several times, and each encounter left me with a newfound appreciation for this man. It wasn't until a couple of weeks later that I discovered the real artist hangout at the Pilot - the big, dark back room where they rarely appeared before 5pm. It took som...

In 1993 I was a software buyer for Wiseguy computers (5 stores) I was in Los Vegas for the computer Show and I was invited to meet Berkeley Breathed at the opening party for his screensaver in Las Vegas in 1993. it was at a hotel cottage type thing. About 50 people all ad men, promoters and other 'suits' and a dozen or so gorgeous models. Berkeley had not much interest in any of them and either did I . I was there for the week at the computer show and was glitzed out. Anyhow Berkeley and I ended up ducking out of the main room and we chatted for an hour or so and quaffed a few nice cold beers. I remember him as sort of nicely outre type guy that would come across as standoffish but we had a pleasant conversation.it was not long after this he went into a self-imposed exile for a few years.

  I was always glad to run into the most eccentric Clem hambourg in my Yorkville days. always great conversation and I heard him play at many clubs. he was the real McCoy. CLEMENT HAMBOURG (b. London 1900 – d. Toronto 1973) Clement Hambourg Affectionately known as the “black sheep” of the family, Clem grew up in the surroundings of the Hambourg Conservatory in London and Toronto. Trained by his father Michael, he made his concert debut in 1925 and collaborated with his brother Boris in many concerts throughout Canada. Clem was married in 1928 to Kathleen FitzGerald, a writer, with whom he had one son, Klemi, (Dr. Klement Hambourg). His second marriage was to Ruth Hopkins, a singer and connoisseur of fine art, and together they founded in 1946 the House of Hambourg, one of the first after-hours jazz clubs in Toronto, Originally located at Bloor and Yonge Streets and later in the basement of the Ward Price Galleries, it became the musical home of many jazz artists such as Norman Amad...

I had a friend Beau Chorney who I met through Ratch Wallace. We were social friends for a few years and he came to my club a few times. He had 3 gold seats at Maple leaf Gardens which he let me have 4 or 5 times a year. Just after I closed my first after-hours club Beau Chorney phoned and asked if I was interested in managing  a bar for him. He invited me to meet him and his lawyer for lunch. We were to meet at a Greek restaurant just off the esplanade on Market St in Toronto. The big feature of the place was that they had a belly dancer. And Beau raved about the octopus. Beau had reserved  a special table almost in the middle of the dance floor. It was a hot summer day and no air conditioning just fans, I ordered a moussaka and salad. Our meal was no sooner on the table when the music started and  the belly dancer appeared. It was not a great place for a business lunch with the music blaring and the Belly Dancer swirling around our table. Through the din Beau was insisti...

  MacLean and MacLean The MacLean’s came to my club one night and we immediately became fast friends. I joined them in performing sing the second oldest recorded song in the English language. It is an old Scottish Ballad called the ‘Lobster’ and I was known as the Lobsterman. I couldn’t sing that well but mostly got through it. To begin with I took it very much in stride. But eventually I begin to care about how I did. That is when I ran into trouble and got stage fright and I actually used to sweat before I did my bit. Then one night I did it, I forgot the words. They waited through a chorus and then Gary Looked at me. “Did you forget the words?” I nodded my mind racing trying to find the words. “You Arsehole!” says the ever-helpful Gary. Somehow I found the words and finished the song and never really had much trouble again. One of my favorite memories of the boys is with Murray McLaughlin. Murray was a good friend and I used to drag him along when I sang. He didn’t like to go, n...

I was soon good friends with Jerry Santbergen who was at least a bit of a media star. He had moved to Toronto with his girlfriend Kaaren Blatchford. Jerry rented the former Bohemian Embassy as his studio. I worked with Jerry a lot of the time and we moved a little dope to pay the bills One of the more fun things was The Electro Magnetic Spectrum Band also known as the silicon control or the Solid State Waste Removal Company orchestra and chorus.the rule was you wern't allowed to have ever played a musical instrument So tom Sinew was kicked out and I took his place. Bart Scoales. Ziggy Blazer, Jerry Santbergen, Moses Smith and me had an avant-garde band in 1967 We  played Tape recorders, movie and slide projectors and strobe lights and a wind machine and incense etc. Sam The Record Man let Jerry and I use any of his records we wanted to tape.We had Philips 2 track tape recorders and taped differnt music on each track and blended it. We played one gig at McGill University in Hamilton...

Gary's Glimpses #1 Donnie Downchild I was one of the early habitues of Grossmans I became great friends with Al and he let me make and sell my Grossman's T Shirts (I made up to $300 a week off them) One of the first articles Richard Flohil wrote was for the Toronto Star Weekend. It was about Grossmans but he interviewed me so it ended up mostly about me and my T shirt etc. I don't really remember when Downchild showed up, It seems like they were always there. They were a fun band to know and hang with and Donnie would play anything you wanted for a shot of Jameson's Scotch. I organized a small baseball league Grossman's, Pilot, Paramount, Vagabonds and anybody else that would play us. I did this for fun and to sell T-shirts. This was the 60's and I umpired in a dashiki and wearing a Fez.I usually smoked quite a bit of reefer before the game to keep me calm and slow the ball down. I remember Donnie sitting in the outfield with a dixie cup full of Jameson's. ...

Lady Luck is a song by Murray McLauclan it begins. I remember shooting craps at Gary's Bar where the money disappeared on every roll. So I had a drink on someone else's paycheck and Lady Luck stayed with me no more. Murray showed up on Friday night with Jim McCarthy. Jim was an old friend and married then to Elizabeth Ashely. They were having so troubles and here I am on a busy Friday night. Murray says Jim is very depressed and I think a crap game would cheer him up. I didn't have crap games anymore. But what the hell find a room up stairs. I 'll find some guys and we will have one. So I round up a couple of rounders and we have it. Jimmy is on a lucky streak and soon it is down to the 3 of us. Murray has his weekend money. Jimmy makes 6 straight passes and cleans him out. I cover. 7 passes he cant do it again I run down to the bar and get a couple of hundred dollars more. He makes 8 straight passes. I quit. Jimmy must have taken us for about 2 thousand dollars. We ha...

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.