August 5, 2024 • 39 mins
Morgan White Jr. for NightSide:
Who doesn’t love Hollywood drama? From Robert De Niro’s political outbursts to Gisele Bundchen's remarrying rumor…it’s all happening in the hills, and joining Morgan with the Hollywood scoop was Entertainment Reporter Will Keck.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!
Who doesn’t love Hollywood drama? From Robert De Niro’s political outbursts to Gisele Bundchen's remarrying rumor…it’s all happening in the hills, and joining Morgan with the Hollywood scoop was Entertainment Reporter Will Keck.
Ask Alexa to play WBZ NewsRadio on #iHeartRadio!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w BZY Boston's
new video.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nicole, thank you very much for the quick intro. And
I'm going to be here almost every day this week.
I am going to be here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Phillion
for Dan obviously, I'm here tonight Tuesday. Ben Parker will
be here. That's tomorrow night. But I've got a great
(00:27):
show plans for you, and tonight I've got a couple
of people I've never interviewed before. You know, I tend
to lean on a regular core of people movers here
in the Greater Boston area, and I've got some of them,
like Bill and Bow Winnaker. They'll be here tonight at
ten o'clock. Next hour, Well, i'll tell you about next
(00:52):
hour a little bit later on. I want to deal
with the first hour. And I've got some names for
you to think about. Walter Winchell, Ronna Barrett, Dorothy kill Gallon,
Kitty Kelly. In Boston, we had in the seventies and eighties, Norma,
Nathan the I people who are columnists and they write
(01:14):
about the people in the public eye, whether they're movies, TV, authors,
what have you. And this gentleman has done that job
for years. I mean, he has written for people The
National Inquirer, Entertainment Weekly, US say Today, and others. So
(01:37):
I'm about to welcome in mister William Keck and that's
K E C K and William. Do you want to
be called will or William?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Hi, Morgan, you can call me William. That'll be
just fine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I always make a clarification with people's names. I want
to pronounce it the way it should be pronounced. And
if they have a situation like that, I want to
call you the way that you prefer to be called
a supper.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, I appreciate that, I really really do. People have
gotten my name wrong many times. I remember Milton Burrough
used to call me William Peck and I was black
him and I'd say, sir, it's William Peck and he'd say,
I'll call you a pack if I want to call
you a pack Peck. I do appreciate it, Morgan, thank
you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Wait. Wait, here's memitation of Milton Burrough. One word makeup. Okay,
get that out the way.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
If only I had a giant powder pup, I'd clasped
the heck out of you there in Boston.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Oh my good, that's a three thousand mile reach from
where you are. You've got a new book out called
When You Step Upon a Star. Thank you to Disneylands
for that title, When You Wish Upon a Star, and
you've got the World's Most Unforgiving job.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You've got to know you mentioned in those other journalists
that you were comparing me to Yes Dorothy kill Gallen,
and she was actually murdered. So I mean, I think
I came. I came pretty close a few times, and
I'm lucky that I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I'm happy to hear you weren't right now to be
dead air if you were.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you know, I'm going to tell you something, Morgan.
I've been so excited about this interview, but I had
an appointment afterwards. So I'm in my car and I
decided to pull over wherever I was wherever I was
going to be at five o'clock. I gets at o'clock
your time, and it turned out where I pulled into
was Forest Lawn Cemetery. So I'm talking to you at
(03:41):
a place where I was so many times crashing funerals
and getting into all sorts of horrible shenanigans. So it's
very appropriate that I'm talking to you here from Forest Lawn.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, it should be quiet and the sun the sun
is still up over where you are, so the eerie
feeling of a military when it's dark.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, it's a beautiful sunny day and it's very quiet.
It's dead quiet. And hopefully they won't kick me out,
but if they do, it won't be the first time
I've been kicked out of the cemetery.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, I grew up in upstate New York, and I
knew I wanted to be part of Hollywood in some way,
and I really wanted to meet the Golden Age stars.
Well I still could, and I remember I was in
New York City when Lucille Ball died and it really
rocked my world. She was just a huge, huge, huge
(04:39):
idol of mine, maybe top of my list of all
celebrities I wanted to meet. And when she died, I
withdrew from college. I was going to Hobart College in Geneva,
New York. I transferred to USC I ended up getting
an internship with the Johnny Carson Show, The Tonight Show,
and through a series of circumstances that me to the
(05:01):
national Inquirer, and I knew the Acquirer would be a
way that I could meet all those Golden Age stars.
The problem was the way I met them was crashing
their weddings and funerals and bar mitswas and brusses. So
be careful what you wish for, Morgan.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I have been, and I'll tell you the equivalent story
when I got into this business. And it's a story
I've told before, So I'm not going to bore my
audience by, Oh, Morgan's going to tell those stories again.
But I wanted to meet the people who were dominating
(05:40):
my attention growing up, and almost anyone who was on
radio or TV when I began in nineteen eighty, I've
made sure I had a chance to speak to I've
got some photos on my wall and I'm looking at
a photo with Rex Trailer. They had a birthday party
(06:02):
for him about twelve years ago, and I was fortunate
enough to be able to kind of see that party.
And I'm looking at all the various celebrities that were
at one time Boston's Kitty Show hosts Boso played by
Frank R. Rush and Major Mud. They had some sort
(06:24):
of event where they all attended and They're about eight
or nine of them in this one photo, and I
interviewed maybe seven of those nine people. And the people
on radio legends like Don Kent, Jess Caine, I've had
(06:45):
on my show over the years. And when I think
back on the once, I was lucky enough to get
and very lucky to get because in one case a
gentleman passed away one week after I had him on
the air. It meant something to me to speak to
these people and to offer them to my audience.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So, yeah, aren't we lucky? Aren't we fortunate that we
got to brush shoulders with these legends? And you know
you were going through that list, and I want to
ask you, I, like I mentioned, grew up in upstate
New York, and I guess it was the mid eighties
when we got cable television, early eighties, and one of
the first channels we got, I correct me if I'm wrong.
I thought it was from Boston channel thirty eight.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
WSBK originally started in nineteen sixty five and the call
letters then it was involved with Boston's Catholic radio and
TV WIHS, which stood for in His Service, and they
eventually changed to SBK channel thirty eight and it's still
(07:53):
a major powerhouse now.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yes, And there was a character, a children's clown called
Willie Whistle.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Beach played Willy Whistle and he spoke. I don't know
if he did it with his real voice, if he
had some sort of device. That's as close as I
can approximate the voice of Willy Whistle.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
That was pretty good. Did you ever interview Willy Whistle?
Speaker 4 (08:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Unfortunately, a woman who was a friend colleague, make Lavigna,
who was in their programming department, was going to get
Willy for me, and he had a flu with something
that ruined that date that we had scheduled, and we
(08:41):
never rescheduled another one. And need I say it, I
lost out on my opportunity when he passed away.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Oh, Willie Whistle is no longer with us, stopped flowing.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I don't know. I don't know how redid that voice.
When I was younger, when I was in high school,
I could do that voice, but that high school was
decades ago, and decades to Beg's.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I could do that Beg's high pitched voice, and I can't.
I can't do it anymore. I just I'm too old
to do it. But I miss it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, let me take my first break of the hourl William,
and when we come back, I'm going to I'll give
the phone number anyone out there who'd like to speak
to mister William Keck his book When You Step upon
a Star, Get Get It Tongue in cheek six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty. This is night Side. Dan Ray is off
(09:35):
this week. I'm here for four nights this week and
Ben Star will be here tomorrow. The I've got the
rest of the week. Time and temperature here on night
Side it is eight seventeen seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now back to Dan Ray line from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
It is off tonight, and I'm speaking to one individual.
If you are an eight year old young lady and
you're calling from South Carolina, listing in South Carolina, and
your name is Baby Ryan, it's almost your bedtime. But
I did promise your mother and you that I would
say hello to you. So Hello to Baby Ryan. And
(10:23):
for the rest of my audience across thirty eight states
and parts of Canada, I've got mister William keck k E.
C K who is an author, a calmnist. He's written
a book called When You Step Upon a Star, Confessions
of a Tabloid bad Boy. He spoke and reported about
(10:44):
one hundreds hundreds of public personalities and spied on some too.
Some feared him, others hated him. And I want you
to give me a quick story because I read a
quote from Kelsey Grammar. Oh, yes, he's not a fan
of yours.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
No, And what was the.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Little bump in the road that caused Kelsey not to
be you a number one fan?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Well, you know, I wish I could say it was
one bump, but it's the whole rocky road that continued
for about thirty years. You know, Kelsey's a fine guy,
but back in the nineties when I was working for
the Inquirer, I was a bad boy. But he was
also a bad boy. He was getting into a lot
of trouble and I was assigned to sort of expose
(11:37):
his secrets, okay, and that meant feeling his garbage. His
fiance at the time was my source giving me stories
on him. His own brother was giving stories on Kelsey.
So when it came time for Kelsey to write his
own memoir. He devoted two pages to me, and you
(11:57):
can actually still order the audio version, and you can
hear Kelsey in his frasier voice saying, William Keck, a
despicable piece of flesh from the National Inquirer. Your mother
must be very, very proud. I invite you to burn
in hell. So I did share my chapter with Kelsey.
He chose not to respond, but his people gave me
(12:21):
the sign off to continue. But his ex fiancee, who's
still a friend of mine, she did contribute a page
to my book, and she talked about kind of some
secrets about the relationship and how he called off their
wedding by using their therapist. The therapist broke the news
that they were done.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Oh now there's one for the books.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Literally. So I don't think Kelsey is going to be
happy with that either. I don't know. I'd love to
make amends with him, but I don't see it happening.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Of all the things he has done, whether he's wearing
blue makeup and being the beast in the franchise for
X Men or being a barfly here in Boston and Seattle.
I liked the Chicago mayor role that he portrayed. I
think that was closer to the real Kelsey and Boss. Yes.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, he's a great actor, isn't he.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yep. Well, you know they put these words on a
piece of paper, then they want you to bring that
character to life. And that's what all actors are paid
to do. Tell you what, You've got some phone traffic,
So let me take a couple of phone calls before
I have another break to take.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Oh fabulous, I would love that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Let's go to Belmont, Massachusetts and speak to Joe. Joe,
You've got you got William Keck.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
I got a question for William all right, when you
wish upon a Star the Disney movie. Does that have
anything to do with your title of your book?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think you thank you? Play on words?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Joe. Well, you know, I
am a big Disney fan, and I did love Pinocchio,
and I loved when Jimminy Cricket saying when you wish
upon a star, and Jimmy Cricket was all about following
your conscience, and for a few years I didn't really
follow my conscience. I made some bad decisions. So I
thought when You step upon a Star was sort of
(14:27):
an appropriate play on words. But it also kind of
represents the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
and I stepped on a lot of stars, both figuratively
and literally.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Yeah, and uh, you know you mentioned the word conscience,
and I think when you wish upon a star, you
should wish upon God instead of a start, because that's
for astrology.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
All right, Well, Joe, thank you for the call. I
think we're giving a little subject.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It can't it can't hurt. It can't hurt. I hear
you' we need God right now. So thank you for
that call, Joe.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yes, and I've got a few words to say to you,
and it's based on how we started this conversation. I
love Lucy and she loves me. Where's happiest too, can
be sometimes we quarrel, but then how we love making
up again. Lucy kisses like no one can. She's my
missus and I'm her man. And life is heaven you see,
(15:23):
because I love Lucy. Yes, I love Lucy and Lucy
loves me. You mentioned.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I love that you got every word. I feel like
I'm talking to DESI arnez right now.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, don't go that far.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Well, you know I did. There was there was a
photo that appeared today. It was the first photo in
years of Desi Arnez Jr. And he had a big
old beard. He was with his sister, Lucy Arnez, and
I did have the opportunity to interview. I didn't get
to speak to Lucy, but I spoke to the children,
Lucy Arnez and Desi Arnez Junior together and that was
really a point of my career.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And you want to know what they were in the
perfect catbird seat to see all sides of Hollywood, in
front of the camera and behind the camera. And anytime
I've seen them interviewed on a game show or anything
that they did in public, they were always respectful of
(16:25):
both their mother and father.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Oh yes, absolutely, they've done a wonderful job securing their reputation.
And I remember when I was interviewing them, they said
one of their main jobs in running the Luci o'
ball Foundation was fielding offers for products that people had,
and they said they would just hear every possible idea
(16:48):
for a Lucy and Desie merchandise right tie in. And
they said one of the pitches that they had to
turn down was Lucy Desi toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, I'm sure there are many many add concepts account
to mind for that. And this is a real quick
thing before we take another phone call from New Jersey.
One of the last shows produced at Desi Lou Studios
(17:21):
was Star Trek. And I feel that that's kind of
a thing that makes you say, hmm, that that show
was shot on Desilu.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Property, isn't that cool? And I'll tell you My publisher
a company called Jacobs Brown Media. They have published many,
many Star Trek books, So I think that they were
really intrigued by my fascination with Lucy, because yes, Lucy
greenlit Star Trek. There wouldn't be a Star Trek without
(17:52):
Lucille Ball giving her go ahead to finance that. And
I actually do have a chapter in my book about
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I had a couple of
run ins with them that I talked about in the book.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, Leonard Nimoy is a Boston boy and his father, ironically,
this conversation came up on My weekend show just last weekend.
His father's barbershop, Max Demoy's barbershop, was almost at the
intersection of River Street and Blue Hill Avenue in the
(18:27):
Mattapan section of Boston, and it's a section that had
been heavily Jewish and in the sixties evolved into an
inner city community. But his father stayed at that barbershop
even as his son was on TV having those ears
pointing straight up. Let me let me take the break
(18:49):
and get it out the way, Gary, New Jersey. You've
called in. You will get a chance to speak with
William Keck anyone else who wants to do that. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, eight,
eight nine to nineteen thirty. This is Night Side without
Dan Ray. Tonight, I'm Morgan White Junior filling in. Let's
take our break. At the bottom of the hour time
(19:09):
eight thirty seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Is Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I'm filling in for Dan. You know me. I've been
around busy since nineteen ninety five and ninety six. Morgan
White Junior, front and center, filling in for Dan Ray.
I'll be here all week except tomorrow. Ben Parker will
be here tomorrow, and yes, that's what I said. Ben Parker.
(19:42):
He'll be here tomorrow, and I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday. My guest this hour mister William Kick, who
is a columnist. He writes about oh an opening, when
somebody showed up and tripped over the red carpet, or
(20:03):
all those stories that necessarily don't put somebody in the
best light, but you do the other end as well.
You compliment when a compliment is too right, William.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Well, yes, and I guess I should clarify. I've really
been thinking about that that I call her Joe, and
I want to make sure that people understand that I'm
not bragging about these stories that I did. I'm a
changed man. I'm telling stories about things I did in
my foolish youth when I worked for the Inquirer and
(20:37):
when I made mistakes. I've interviewed tons of celebrities and
the interviews have gone really, really, really well. But for
whatever reason, I found out the stories that people really
wanted to hear about were the stories that didn't go well.
And we were talking about Lucy. You know, Lucy wanted
to meet all of her favorite stars, but in doing so,
she often got in deep water. She got in trouble,
(20:59):
and so did I. So all these years later, I'm
not digging up the celebrities dirt. I'm telling my own secrets,
confessing my own sins in my attempt to be a
different man, and I talked about lessons learned, and I
also apologize to these celebrities. And many of them have
written essays in my book talking about their version of events.
(21:21):
For instance, I crashed Melissa Gilbert's wedding to Little House
in the Prairie. In the year since that, Melissa and
I have become friends, and Melissa wrote a lovely one
page essay in my book. Bruce Willis was a celebrity
who threatened to burn my house down. It happened. Bruce
sadly is not in a place to speak anymore. He's
(21:44):
not verbal. I got his Moonlighting co star Sybil Shepherd
to speak on his behalf, and she wrote a lovely essay.
So I'm not doing the bad things anymore. I'm trying
to turn a new page, a new leader.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's funny you mentioned little House, because next Hour I've
got the Brady girl we all love to hate, portrayed
by Alison Ingram. She will be on Next Hour.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yes, yes, yes, you can tell her. Hi from William Tech.
I was on her show and she was one of
the stars that I stepped on, and when I did
her talk show, she forgave me for the first time
in year. So that's a perfect example of how I'm
going back and making amends to these celebrities I wrong
(22:31):
back in the day.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I will do that immediately once she and I are coreected.
Please let's take this call. Who's been holding for about
thirteen minutes, Gary in New Jersey, Welcome to inside.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Hey good show.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Look, I had a question though the movie Sweet Swell,
Sweet Smell of Success with Bert Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
How close was that to you know, walk the Waingshill
and a couple of the others, Because I remember as
a boy there was a guy who used to write
(23:06):
to the New York Post Earl Wilson, I believe that
was his name. And if that guy said you had
a good restaurant.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
It could make your business.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
If he said it wasn't too good, you might as
well close the ada business sign on it. And I'm
just wondering, how close do you think all of that
power and the personalities were for what was you know,
going on at that time?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
All right, let's hell what William has to say about
that movie versus real life William.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Well, yeah, I mean what I'll say to that is
is that folks like Walter Winchell, Lluella Parsons, they knew
all the secrets and celebrities were terrified about them. They
could literally make and break careers. These people were invited
to parties because the celebrities wanted to get on their
good side, because they knew that with one article they
(24:00):
could be done. They knew about Loretta Young's secret baby
that she had that she ended up adopting and claiming
that it was an adopted child, even though it was
her own. So the difference is when I was working
for the Inquirer, the celebrities were still terrified about being
an inquirer. But instead of the studio system which sort
(24:22):
of protected celebrities, the celebrities themselves got publicists, and the
publicists did not want the celebrities to talk to the Inquirer.
We were persona no grada. We were not invited to
any parties or award shows. So that's why I had
to use my clever imagination to speak into their worlds. So,
(24:43):
I mean, I wasn't invited to Dean Martin's funeral, So instead,
I'm not kidding. I rented a tree that grew over
a wall into the cemetery and I was perched up
in that tree with my photographer when all the celebrities
came to sign the lectern on their way into Dean
Martin's funeral, and up in that tree I heard Rosemary
Clooney singing one of Dino's classics, under the Moon. It was.
(25:07):
It was absolutely an incredible experience. So back in the day,
those reporters had way more power than they do now.
And of course now with social media, the celebrities are
breaking their own secrets.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You mentioned Dean Martin. I had to do some rearranging
of stuff in my room and I've got the original
poster from the Frank, Sammy and Dean movie about robbing
Las Vegas Ocean's eleven.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Oh Yes, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Had that poster. I've had that poster there for close
to thirty odd years. It's matted and I had to
take it down and put it back, and it's a
full size movie poster and it's kind of unwielding as
what I had to do to get it back to
its original position. And I also have that classic photo
(26:06):
of the three of them Sammy going left to right,
Frank and Dean all in tuxedos, and these are kind
of like head shots, taking it from a Las Vegas knight,
many many many years ago. And they also have another
(26:27):
picture of them all walking under the sign of the
Sands where they all worked when they were filming that
movie Ocean's Eleven. They'd filmed during the day and go
on stage at night. Don't know when they slept, but
there was something magical about those three men when they
(26:48):
work together.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
They really really were. And of course I could not
apologize to Dean Martin for crashing his funerals, so instead
I reached out to a good friend of his, Rich Little,
the impressionist, and Rich contributes two pages in my book,
and he also shared a very rare, I don't know
(27:10):
that it's seen before, photograph of Dean Martin, Rich Little,
Milton Burrell, and Frank Sinatra all talking backstage in Vegas.
So I think I think your listeners might really get
a kick out of some of these Dean Martin stories
in the book.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I had Rich about a year ago, because at that
point he was still working the Tropicana, which just closed
down within the past eight weeks, and I've got several
names here, okay, and I'm going to give you just
two minutes to talk about interactions with Britney Spears, Elizabeth Taylor,
(27:48):
and Rosie O'Donnell. I know you interacted with all three
at different points.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, let me let me take them step by step there.
So yes, the first too, you mentioned Britney Spears and
Elizabeth Taylor. I was engaged in high speed chases with
both of those ladies. That's in my Divas section. I
have four sections in my book, and they're both in Divas. Brittany,
that was sort of a dangerous situation.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
She was with her her ex husband, Kevin Federline, and
they were in the car with his child, and this
high speed chase reached I think up the ninety miles
per hour, and I could see the child's head bobbing
up in the back. It was in its child prospective seat,
but just way too dangerous to be in a car.
So I was actually a passenger in that car. I
(28:37):
was doing a story for USA Today on a day
in the life of a paparazzi, and circumstances just led
us on this chase with Britney. But In the other
situation with Elizabeth Taylor, I was back working for the Inquirer,
and we knew that Elizabeth was going to be going
in for surgery, but we didn't know what hospital. So
the Inquirer had me stake out her house, and when
(29:00):
the time came for her to leave, I followed her car,
and they saw me following, and they went faster, and
I went faster, and I talked about conscience, and this
is one of the times when I made the right decision.
And I'm like, I said, what am I doing. This
woman is not going shopping or going to a party.
She's going to have surgery in a hospital. So I
(29:24):
pulled over the side of the road to bell Air
and I let her cargo. My editors were not happy
with me, but I was happy with myself, right And No,
and Rosie O'donnald is not you know. I I have
an Ellen degenerous story in my book, but there's not
a Rosie O'donnald's story. There's a reference to Rosie, but
(29:44):
I don't know if you were maybe confusing Rosie and Ellen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
No, I would never make that. I know the difference
from one to the other, but their names are mentioned
on my bioshet of you, so I thought i'd mentioned
their name.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I will say that there was a moment when I
was in Staten Island and I was coming home from
a wedding, my college roommate's wedding, and I saw the
new cover of The Choir. I didn't know what it
was going to be because I had been on vacation, and
there were three images on the cover. There was a
photograph of Rosie O'Donnell and the newspaper was trying to
(30:23):
out her sexuality, which I thought was horrible. And there
was a photograph of Joan London from Good Morying America,
and the story was that she had lost a good
friend of hers and the twa air crash. And then
the third story was just a very sad photo of
Raquel Welch, and the headline that went along with that
photo was the sad, lonely life of Raquel Welch. And
(30:46):
they made it even worse by running a photograph of
Raquel in her glory years when she had her makeup on.
And this photograph of some paparazzi got was not flattering.
And I saw myself in all of these stories. I
suffered the loss of a loved one suddenly, and I've
held secrets about myself as Rosie has, and I certainly
(31:06):
have gone through depression like it looked like Rikeel Welch
was going through. And in that moment, I decided I
was done with the inquirer that I cannot benefit off
of the suffering and pain of others.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Okay, now I've got one more break to take. Okay,
I could wait till after the break, but I'm saying
this now because I mean this as sincere as I
can possibly sound on fifty thousand watts of radio power
from WBZ. I know your travels will bring you to Boston.
(31:38):
If that is something that's happening, you get my phone
number from Harlan call me. Lunch is my treat out
of my wallet. I will pay for us to sit
down and talk without thirty eight states eavesdropping.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
I would love that. I would love that. I was
just there last month and my cousin got married in
Plymouth and we were duct and.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Then I'm yeah, let me let me take the break
in it out of the way. Sure, if you want
to call in. I am not keeping William to the
top of the hour I'm gonna keep him till about
five minutes of so, if you want to call in,
I'll do the best I can to get you on
with mister William Keck here on WBZ with a time
(32:22):
and temperature eight forty seven seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I have mister William Keck here. He's only going to
be here for another five minutes or so. If you'd
like to call in, others have you can do the
same six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or
eight eight, eight, nine to nineteen thirty. This is nights
Side Dan. It's off for the whole week. I'm here tonight,
I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'll give you
(33:01):
a heads up on the guests I have lined up.
I will tell you next hour. For all you fans
of Little House on the Prairie, I've got Nellie Olsen here.
Alison on Grim will be joining me, who as well
crossed paths with William Keck and William talked about that
(33:24):
about five ten minutes ago. If you weren't here, you
missed out. Now William, are there any assignments upcoming that
you'd like to share with us that you're going to
be sitting down and speaking with. Oh, I'm just pick
a name out of out of the blue, Daniel Craig.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
No, I'm not doing Daniel Craig. Okay, Well, you know,
I really made a commitment to not do smut anymore.
So and I still love my nostalgia. I still want
to talk to all these celebrities that I adored as
a kid, all these TV stars. Well I still can.
So I'm doing some work now with a magazine called
(34:04):
Closer Weekly, which really celebrates classic stars. And yeah, I'm
interviewing you know who. I'm next interviewing a model named
Jane Kennedy, who was one of the most beautiful models,
yes in the seventies eighties. Remember Jane, I remember her
very well.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I had a crush on her.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Oh me too, who didn't. She was gorgeous. So she
has re emerged and I'm going to talk to her
for a four page article coming up in Closer Weekly.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'm looking forward to that. And of all the people
that you've been fortunate enough to cross paths through, so
I'll put it that way, give me two or three.
If you can that represent your best work as a reporter.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Wow, my goodness, wow wow wow wow wow. Well, you know,
a couple of things come to mind. I remember when
I was i USA Today and I was assigned to
interview Brad Garrett, Yeah, from Everybody Loves Raymond, the big
guy from Everybody Lives Raymond. It was going to be
an at home interview with his family. And so I
(35:13):
get to Brad's house and Brad takes me aside, and
he has this big voice. He says, will, I've got
to talk to you first. I got to let you
know that my wife and I are separating. So I
thought I was going to be doing a big, happy
Garrett family story for USA Today. Instead, I was going
(35:33):
to be breaking the news that he was they were divorcing.
So Brad, you know, he had a great sense of
humor about the whole thing. He actually put me on
the phone with his wife, whom he was divorcing, and
he trusted me to tell this story. And after I
ran my story, Brad wrote me the most lovely note
(35:54):
and he said he was going to be saving my
story to show to their two young children one day
so that they can see how a Bomby and death
love them when they made the decision to go their
separate ways.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
That's a very good story. And I'm going to end
here so I can get you to your next commitment.
But Brett Garrett does a great Herman Monster.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Oh yes, I remember when he played Herman. Yeah, she's fabulous.
He's great. Well listen, tell Allison hello for me, thank
her for forgiving me. And then also on she we
have a very good friend in common who who's in
the hospital. I want I want her to let me
know that he's okay. So just passed that message along Thrower.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I definitely will and we are going to do this again, sir.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
You know what I've done a ton of interviews. Hands down,
you're the best. I love talking to you. Morgan. You're amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
William, thank you for that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
And it's true. It's true, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Looking forward to a face to face one day.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I would love that. And have a read in my
book when you step upon a Star to they everywhere, Amazon,
Barnes Andnoble dot com, and let me know what you think.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You got it. Yeah, you get along because you get
another commitment. You take care all right everybody. There goes
mister William Keck. And before I do anything else, I'm
gonna tell you who I have got on Wednesday. I'm
filling in the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Obviously I'm here
tonight too. For Dan. I'm gonna have teacher Terry. I've
(37:23):
had her on many a time talking about on this
Wednesday back to school items that you should or shouldn't
think of getting for your kids, whether they are elementary age,
junior high age, high school age, or even college age.
That'll be for the first hour. Speaking of summer. Everybody
(37:51):
has a pet, almost everybody, and for those of us
who have a kiddy like I do, there goes Gray
in the other room or dog. There are things you
should and shouldn't do when temperatures get into the eighties,
nineties and above. So that's Mariel who will be here
(38:12):
to discuss pet care all busy. Buddy Bradley j Will
be here at the ten to eleven hour, and a
doctor with whom I was very familiar because he was
hands down helpful to me beating a diabetes issue back
(38:36):
around twenty twelve, Doctor David Nathan will be here talking
about diabetes issues. So that'll be from eleven to twelve
on Wednesday, and i'll tell you about Thursday and Friday
when I come back next hour. Alison andram A R
(39:01):
and gr im that's how you spell her name. And
she played Nellie Olsen, remember the braddy little girl on
Little House on the Prairie. She made that character come
to life in our TV sets. So she will be
here next hour, and I will give you other details
(39:23):
that you might find important for your WBC listening. I'm
about to throw it to my buddy where ib Rob
Brooks is our producer tonight, and I think Nicole Davis
is still doing news. I could be wrong. We'll find
out in mere minutes here on night's side. Time and
(39:45):
temperature eight fifty eight seventy five degrees
It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w BZY Boston's
new video.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Nicole, thank you very much for the quick intro. And
I'm going to be here almost every day this week.
I am going to be here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Phillion
for Dan obviously, I'm here tonight Tuesday. Ben Parker will
be here. That's tomorrow night. But I've got a great
(00:27):
show plans for you, and tonight I've got a couple
of people I've never interviewed before. You know, I tend
to lean on a regular core of people movers here
in the Greater Boston area, and I've got some of them,
like Bill and Bow Winnaker. They'll be here tonight at
ten o'clock. Next hour, Well, i'll tell you about next
(00:52):
hour a little bit later on. I want to deal
with the first hour. And I've got some names for
you to think about. Walter Winchell, Ronna Barrett, Dorothy kill Gallon,
Kitty Kelly. In Boston, we had in the seventies and eighties, Norma,
Nathan the I people who are columnists and they write
(01:14):
about the people in the public eye, whether they're movies, TV, authors,
what have you. And this gentleman has done that job
for years. I mean, he has written for people The
National Inquirer, Entertainment Weekly, US say Today, and others. So
(01:37):
I'm about to welcome in mister William Keck and that's
K E C K and William. Do you want to
be called will or William?
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yeah? Hi, Morgan, you can call me William. That'll be
just fine.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
I always make a clarification with people's names. I want
to pronounce it the way it should be pronounced. And
if they have a situation like that, I want to
call you the way that you prefer to be called
a supper.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Well, I appreciate that, I really really do. People have
gotten my name wrong many times. I remember Milton Burrough
used to call me William Peck and I was black
him and I'd say, sir, it's William Peck and he'd say,
I'll call you a pack if I want to call
you a pack Peck. I do appreciate it, Morgan, thank
you very much.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Wait. Wait, here's memitation of Milton Burrough. One word makeup. Okay,
get that out the way.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
If only I had a giant powder pup, I'd clasped
the heck out of you there in Boston.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
Oh my good, that's a three thousand mile reach from
where you are. You've got a new book out called
When You Step Upon a Star. Thank you to Disneylands
for that title, When You Wish Upon a Star, and
you've got the World's Most Unforgiving job.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You've got to know you mentioned in those other journalists
that you were comparing me to Yes Dorothy kill Gallen,
and she was actually murdered. So I mean, I think
I came. I came pretty close a few times, and
I'm lucky that I wasn't.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I'm happy to hear you weren't right now to be
dead air if you were.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Well, you know, I'm going to tell you something, Morgan.
I've been so excited about this interview, but I had
an appointment afterwards. So I'm in my car and I
decided to pull over wherever I was wherever I was
going to be at five o'clock. I gets at o'clock
your time, and it turned out where I pulled into
was Forest Lawn Cemetery. So I'm talking to you at
(03:41):
a place where I was so many times crashing funerals
and getting into all sorts of horrible shenanigans. So it's
very appropriate that I'm talking to you here from Forest Lawn.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Well, it should be quiet and the sun the sun
is still up over where you are, so the eerie
feeling of a military when it's dark.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Yeah, it's a beautiful sunny day and it's very quiet.
It's dead quiet. And hopefully they won't kick me out,
but if they do, it won't be the first time
I've been kicked out of the cemetery.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3 (04:16):
Well, I grew up in upstate New York, and I
knew I wanted to be part of Hollywood in some way,
and I really wanted to meet the Golden Age stars.
Well I still could, and I remember I was in
New York City when Lucille Ball died and it really
rocked my world. She was just a huge, huge, huge
(04:39):
idol of mine, maybe top of my list of all
celebrities I wanted to meet. And when she died, I
withdrew from college. I was going to Hobart College in Geneva,
New York. I transferred to USC I ended up getting
an internship with the Johnny Carson Show, The Tonight Show,
and through a series of circumstances that me to the
(05:01):
national Inquirer, and I knew the Acquirer would be a
way that I could meet all those Golden Age stars.
The problem was the way I met them was crashing
their weddings and funerals and bar mitswas and brusses. So
be careful what you wish for, Morgan.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
I have been, and I'll tell you the equivalent story
when I got into this business. And it's a story
I've told before, So I'm not going to bore my
audience by, Oh, Morgan's going to tell those stories again.
But I wanted to meet the people who were dominating
(05:40):
my attention growing up, and almost anyone who was on
radio or TV when I began in nineteen eighty, I've
made sure I had a chance to speak to I've
got some photos on my wall and I'm looking at
a photo with Rex Trailer. They had a birthday party
(06:02):
for him about twelve years ago, and I was fortunate
enough to be able to kind of see that party.
And I'm looking at all the various celebrities that were
at one time Boston's Kitty Show hosts Boso played by
Frank R. Rush and Major Mud. They had some sort
(06:24):
of event where they all attended and They're about eight
or nine of them in this one photo, and I
interviewed maybe seven of those nine people. And the people
on radio legends like Don Kent, Jess Caine, I've had
(06:45):
on my show over the years. And when I think
back on the once, I was lucky enough to get
and very lucky to get because in one case a
gentleman passed away one week after I had him on
the air. It meant something to me to speak to
these people and to offer them to my audience.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
So, yeah, aren't we lucky? Aren't we fortunate that we
got to brush shoulders with these legends? And you know
you were going through that list, and I want to
ask you, I, like I mentioned, grew up in upstate
New York, and I guess it was the mid eighties
when we got cable television, early eighties, and one of
the first channels we got, I correct me if I'm wrong.
I thought it was from Boston channel thirty eight.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
WSBK originally started in nineteen sixty five and the call
letters then it was involved with Boston's Catholic radio and
TV WIHS, which stood for in His Service, and they
eventually changed to SBK channel thirty eight and it's still
(07:53):
a major powerhouse now.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
Yes, And there was a character, a children's clown called
Willie Whistle.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Beach played Willy Whistle and he spoke. I don't know
if he did it with his real voice, if he
had some sort of device. That's as close as I
can approximate the voice of Willy Whistle.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
That was pretty good. Did you ever interview Willy Whistle?
Speaker 4 (08:18):
No?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Unfortunately, a woman who was a friend colleague, make Lavigna,
who was in their programming department, was going to get
Willy for me, and he had a flu with something
that ruined that date that we had scheduled, and we
(08:41):
never rescheduled another one. And need I say it, I
lost out on my opportunity when he passed away.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Oh, Willie Whistle is no longer with us, stopped flowing.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I don't know. I don't know how redid that voice.
When I was younger, when I was in high school,
I could do that voice, but that high school was
decades ago, and decades to Beg's.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I could do that Beg's high pitched voice, and I can't.
I can't do it anymore. I just I'm too old
to do it. But I miss it.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Well, let me take my first break of the hourl William,
and when we come back, I'm going to I'll give
the phone number anyone out there who'd like to speak
to mister William Keck his book When You Step upon
a Star, Get Get It Tongue in cheek six one, seven, two, five,
four ten thirty or eight eight, eight, nine, two, nine,
ten thirty. This is night Side. Dan Ray is off
(09:35):
this week. I'm here for four nights this week and
Ben Star will be here tomorrow. The I've got the
rest of the week. Time and temperature here on night
Side it is eight seventeen seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Now back to Dan Ray line from the Window World
night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
It is off tonight, and I'm speaking to one individual.
If you are an eight year old young lady and
you're calling from South Carolina, listing in South Carolina, and
your name is Baby Ryan, it's almost your bedtime. But
I did promise your mother and you that I would
say hello to you. So Hello to Baby Ryan. And
(10:23):
for the rest of my audience across thirty eight states
and parts of Canada, I've got mister William keck k E.
C K who is an author, a calmnist. He's written
a book called When You Step Upon a Star, Confessions
of a Tabloid bad Boy. He spoke and reported about
(10:44):
one hundreds hundreds of public personalities and spied on some too.
Some feared him, others hated him. And I want you
to give me a quick story because I read a
quote from Kelsey Grammar. Oh, yes, he's not a fan
of yours.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
No, And what was the.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Little bump in the road that caused Kelsey not to
be you a number one fan?
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Well, you know, I wish I could say it was
one bump, but it's the whole rocky road that continued
for about thirty years. You know, Kelsey's a fine guy,
but back in the nineties when I was working for
the Inquirer, I was a bad boy. But he was
also a bad boy. He was getting into a lot
of trouble and I was assigned to sort of expose
(11:37):
his secrets, okay, and that meant feeling his garbage. His
fiance at the time was my source giving me stories
on him. His own brother was giving stories on Kelsey.
So when it came time for Kelsey to write his
own memoir. He devoted two pages to me, and you
(11:57):
can actually still order the audio version, and you can
hear Kelsey in his frasier voice saying, William Keck, a
despicable piece of flesh from the National Inquirer. Your mother
must be very, very proud. I invite you to burn
in hell. So I did share my chapter with Kelsey.
He chose not to respond, but his people gave me
(12:21):
the sign off to continue. But his ex fiancee, who's
still a friend of mine, she did contribute a page
to my book, and she talked about kind of some
secrets about the relationship and how he called off their
wedding by using their therapist. The therapist broke the news
that they were done.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Oh now there's one for the books.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Literally. So I don't think Kelsey is going to be
happy with that either. I don't know. I'd love to
make amends with him, but I don't see it happening.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
Of all the things he has done, whether he's wearing
blue makeup and being the beast in the franchise for
X Men or being a barfly here in Boston and Seattle.
I liked the Chicago mayor role that he portrayed. I
think that was closer to the real Kelsey and Boss. Yes.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
Yeah, he's a great actor, isn't he.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yep. Well, you know they put these words on a
piece of paper, then they want you to bring that
character to life. And that's what all actors are paid
to do. Tell you what, You've got some phone traffic,
So let me take a couple of phone calls before
I have another break to take.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Oh fabulous, I would love that.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
Let's go to Belmont, Massachusetts and speak to Joe. Joe,
You've got you got William Keck.
Speaker 4 (13:47):
I got a question for William all right, when you
wish upon a Star the Disney movie. Does that have
anything to do with your title of your book?
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I think you thank you? Play on words?
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Joe. Well, you know, I
am a big Disney fan, and I did love Pinocchio,
and I loved when Jimminy Cricket saying when you wish
upon a star, and Jimmy Cricket was all about following
your conscience, and for a few years I didn't really
follow my conscience. I made some bad decisions. So I
thought when You step upon a Star was sort of
(14:27):
an appropriate play on words. But it also kind of
represents the Walk of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame,
and I stepped on a lot of stars, both figuratively
and literally.
Speaker 4 (14:37):
Yeah, and uh, you know you mentioned the word conscience,
and I think when you wish upon a star, you
should wish upon God instead of a start, because that's
for astrology.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
All right, Well, Joe, thank you for the call. I
think we're giving a little subject.
Speaker 3 (14:57):
It can't it can't hurt. It can't hurt. I hear
you' we need God right now. So thank you for
that call, Joe.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Yes, and I've got a few words to say to you,
and it's based on how we started this conversation. I
love Lucy and she loves me. Where's happiest too, can
be sometimes we quarrel, but then how we love making
up again. Lucy kisses like no one can. She's my
missus and I'm her man. And life is heaven you see,
(15:23):
because I love Lucy. Yes, I love Lucy and Lucy
loves me. You mentioned.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
I love that you got every word. I feel like
I'm talking to DESI arnez right now.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
Well, don't go that far.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
Well, you know I did. There was there was a
photo that appeared today. It was the first photo in
years of Desi Arnez Jr. And he had a big
old beard. He was with his sister, Lucy Arnez, and
I did have the opportunity to interview. I didn't get
to speak to Lucy, but I spoke to the children,
Lucy Arnez and Desi Arnez Junior together and that was
really a point of my career.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
And you want to know what they were in the
perfect catbird seat to see all sides of Hollywood, in
front of the camera and behind the camera. And anytime
I've seen them interviewed on a game show or anything
that they did in public, they were always respectful of
(16:25):
both their mother and father.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Oh yes, absolutely, they've done a wonderful job securing their reputation.
And I remember when I was interviewing them, they said
one of their main jobs in running the Luci o'
ball Foundation was fielding offers for products that people had,
and they said they would just hear every possible idea
(16:48):
for a Lucy and Desie merchandise right tie in. And
they said one of the pitches that they had to
turn down was Lucy Desi toilet paper.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
Oh, I'm sure there are many many add concepts account
to mind for that. And this is a real quick
thing before we take another phone call from New Jersey.
One of the last shows produced at Desi Lou Studios
(17:21):
was Star Trek. And I feel that that's kind of
a thing that makes you say, hmm, that that show
was shot on Desilu.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
Property, isn't that cool? And I'll tell you My publisher
a company called Jacobs Brown Media. They have published many,
many Star Trek books, So I think that they were
really intrigued by my fascination with Lucy, because yes, Lucy
greenlit Star Trek. There wouldn't be a Star Trek without
(17:52):
Lucille Ball giving her go ahead to finance that. And
I actually do have a chapter in my book about
William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. I had a couple of
run ins with them that I talked about in the book.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
Well, Leonard Nimoy is a Boston boy and his father, ironically,
this conversation came up on My weekend show just last weekend.
His father's barbershop, Max Demoy's barbershop, was almost at the
intersection of River Street and Blue Hill Avenue in the
(18:27):
Mattapan section of Boston, and it's a section that had
been heavily Jewish and in the sixties evolved into an
inner city community. But his father stayed at that barbershop
even as his son was on TV having those ears
pointing straight up. Let me let me take the break
(18:49):
and get it out the way, Gary, New Jersey. You've
called in. You will get a chance to speak with
William Keck anyone else who wants to do that. Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten, thirty, eight,
eight nine to nineteen thirty. This is Night Side without
Dan Ray. Tonight, I'm Morgan White Junior filling in. Let's
take our break. At the bottom of the hour time
(19:09):
eight thirty seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Is Dan Ray on WBZ, Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
I'm filling in for Dan. You know me. I've been
around busy since nineteen ninety five and ninety six. Morgan
White Junior, front and center, filling in for Dan Ray.
I'll be here all week except tomorrow. Ben Parker will
be here tomorrow, and yes, that's what I said. Ben Parker.
(19:42):
He'll be here tomorrow, and I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday
and Friday. My guest this hour mister William Kick, who
is a columnist. He writes about oh an opening, when
somebody showed up and tripped over the red carpet, or
(20:03):
all those stories that necessarily don't put somebody in the
best light, but you do the other end as well.
You compliment when a compliment is too right, William.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
Well, yes, and I guess I should clarify. I've really
been thinking about that that I call her Joe, and
I want to make sure that people understand that I'm
not bragging about these stories that I did. I'm a
changed man. I'm telling stories about things I did in
my foolish youth when I worked for the Inquirer and
(20:37):
when I made mistakes. I've interviewed tons of celebrities and
the interviews have gone really, really, really well. But for
whatever reason, I found out the stories that people really
wanted to hear about were the stories that didn't go well.
And we were talking about Lucy. You know, Lucy wanted
to meet all of her favorite stars, but in doing so,
she often got in deep water. She got in trouble,
(20:59):
and so did I. So all these years later, I'm
not digging up the celebrities dirt. I'm telling my own secrets,
confessing my own sins in my attempt to be a
different man, and I talked about lessons learned, and I
also apologize to these celebrities. And many of them have
written essays in my book talking about their version of events.
(21:21):
For instance, I crashed Melissa Gilbert's wedding to Little House
in the Prairie. In the year since that, Melissa and
I have become friends, and Melissa wrote a lovely one
page essay in my book. Bruce Willis was a celebrity
who threatened to burn my house down. It happened. Bruce
sadly is not in a place to speak anymore. He's
(21:44):
not verbal. I got his Moonlighting co star Sybil Shepherd
to speak on his behalf, and she wrote a lovely essay.
So I'm not doing the bad things anymore. I'm trying
to turn a new page, a new leader.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
It's funny you mentioned little House, because next Hour I've
got the Brady girl we all love to hate, portrayed
by Alison Ingram. She will be on Next Hour.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yes, yes, yes, you can tell her. Hi from William Tech.
I was on her show and she was one of
the stars that I stepped on, and when I did
her talk show, she forgave me for the first time
in year. So that's a perfect example of how I'm
going back and making amends to these celebrities I wrong
(22:31):
back in the day.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
I will do that immediately once she and I are coreected.
Please let's take this call. Who's been holding for about
thirteen minutes, Gary in New Jersey, Welcome to inside.
Speaker 3 (22:44):
Hey good show.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Look, I had a question though the movie Sweet Swell,
Sweet Smell of Success with Bert Lancaster and Tony Curtis.
How close was that to you know, walk the Waingshill
and a couple of the others, Because I remember as
a boy there was a guy who used to write
(23:06):
to the New York Post Earl Wilson, I believe that
was his name. And if that guy said you had
a good restaurant.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
It could make your business.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
If he said it wasn't too good, you might as
well close the ada business sign on it. And I'm
just wondering, how close do you think all of that
power and the personalities were for what was you know,
going on at that time?
Speaker 2 (23:32):
All right, let's hell what William has to say about
that movie versus real life William.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Well, yeah, I mean what I'll say to that is
is that folks like Walter Winchell, Lluella Parsons, they knew
all the secrets and celebrities were terrified about them. They
could literally make and break careers. These people were invited
to parties because the celebrities wanted to get on their
good side, because they knew that with one article they
(24:00):
could be done. They knew about Loretta Young's secret baby
that she had that she ended up adopting and claiming
that it was an adopted child, even though it was
her own. So the difference is when I was working
for the Inquirer, the celebrities were still terrified about being
an inquirer. But instead of the studio system which sort
(24:22):
of protected celebrities, the celebrities themselves got publicists, and the
publicists did not want the celebrities to talk to the Inquirer.
We were persona no grada. We were not invited to
any parties or award shows. So that's why I had
to use my clever imagination to speak into their worlds. So,
(24:43):
I mean, I wasn't invited to Dean Martin's funeral, So instead,
I'm not kidding. I rented a tree that grew over
a wall into the cemetery and I was perched up
in that tree with my photographer when all the celebrities
came to sign the lectern on their way into Dean
Martin's funeral, and up in that tree I heard Rosemary
Clooney singing one of Dino's classics, under the Moon. It was.
(25:07):
It was absolutely an incredible experience. So back in the day,
those reporters had way more power than they do now.
And of course now with social media, the celebrities are
breaking their own secrets.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
You mentioned Dean Martin. I had to do some rearranging
of stuff in my room and I've got the original
poster from the Frank, Sammy and Dean movie about robbing
Las Vegas Ocean's eleven.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Oh Yes, and I.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Had that poster. I've had that poster there for close
to thirty odd years. It's matted and I had to
take it down and put it back, and it's a
full size movie poster and it's kind of unwielding as
what I had to do to get it back to
its original position. And I also have that classic photo
(26:06):
of the three of them Sammy going left to right,
Frank and Dean all in tuxedos, and these are kind
of like head shots, taking it from a Las Vegas knight,
many many many years ago. And they also have another
(26:27):
picture of them all walking under the sign of the
Sands where they all worked when they were filming that
movie Ocean's Eleven. They'd filmed during the day and go
on stage at night. Don't know when they slept, but
there was something magical about those three men when they
(26:48):
work together.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
They really really were. And of course I could not
apologize to Dean Martin for crashing his funerals, so instead
I reached out to a good friend of his, Rich Little,
the impressionist, and Rich contributes two pages in my book,
and he also shared a very rare, I don't know
(27:10):
that it's seen before, photograph of Dean Martin, Rich Little,
Milton Burrell, and Frank Sinatra all talking backstage in Vegas.
So I think I think your listeners might really get
a kick out of some of these Dean Martin stories
in the book.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I had Rich about a year ago, because at that
point he was still working the Tropicana, which just closed
down within the past eight weeks, and I've got several
names here, okay, and I'm going to give you just
two minutes to talk about interactions with Britney Spears, Elizabeth Taylor,
(27:48):
and Rosie O'Donnell. I know you interacted with all three
at different points.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
Well, let me let me take them step by step there.
So yes, the first too, you mentioned Britney Spears and
Elizabeth Taylor. I was engaged in high speed chases with
both of those ladies. That's in my Divas section. I
have four sections in my book, and they're both in Divas. Brittany,
that was sort of a dangerous situation.
Speaker 5 (28:15):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (28:16):
She was with her her ex husband, Kevin Federline, and
they were in the car with his child, and this
high speed chase reached I think up the ninety miles
per hour, and I could see the child's head bobbing
up in the back. It was in its child prospective seat,
but just way too dangerous to be in a car.
So I was actually a passenger in that car. I
(28:37):
was doing a story for USA Today on a day
in the life of a paparazzi, and circumstances just led
us on this chase with Britney. But In the other
situation with Elizabeth Taylor, I was back working for the Inquirer,
and we knew that Elizabeth was going to be going
in for surgery, but we didn't know what hospital. So
the Inquirer had me stake out her house, and when
(29:00):
the time came for her to leave, I followed her car,
and they saw me following, and they went faster, and
I went faster, and I talked about conscience, and this
is one of the times when I made the right decision.
And I'm like, I said, what am I doing. This
woman is not going shopping or going to a party.
She's going to have surgery in a hospital. So I
(29:24):
pulled over the side of the road to bell Air
and I let her cargo. My editors were not happy
with me, but I was happy with myself, right And No,
and Rosie O'donnald is not you know. I I have
an Ellen degenerous story in my book, but there's not
a Rosie O'donnald's story. There's a reference to Rosie, but
(29:44):
I don't know if you were maybe confusing Rosie and Ellen.
Speaker 2 (29:47):
No, I would never make that. I know the difference
from one to the other, but their names are mentioned
on my bioshet of you, so I thought i'd mentioned
their name.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
I will say that there was a moment when I
was in Staten Island and I was coming home from
a wedding, my college roommate's wedding, and I saw the
new cover of The Choir. I didn't know what it
was going to be because I had been on vacation, and
there were three images on the cover. There was a
photograph of Rosie O'Donnell and the newspaper was trying to
(30:23):
out her sexuality, which I thought was horrible. And there
was a photograph of Joan London from Good Morying America,
and the story was that she had lost a good
friend of hers and the twa air crash. And then
the third story was just a very sad photo of
Raquel Welch, and the headline that went along with that
photo was the sad, lonely life of Raquel Welch. And
(30:46):
they made it even worse by running a photograph of
Raquel in her glory years when she had her makeup on.
And this photograph of some paparazzi got was not flattering.
And I saw myself in all of these stories. I
suffered the loss of a loved one suddenly, and I've
held secrets about myself as Rosie has, and I certainly
(31:06):
have gone through depression like it looked like Rikeel Welch
was going through. And in that moment, I decided I
was done with the inquirer that I cannot benefit off
of the suffering and pain of others.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Okay, now I've got one more break to take. Okay,
I could wait till after the break, but I'm saying
this now because I mean this as sincere as I
can possibly sound on fifty thousand watts of radio power
from WBZ. I know your travels will bring you to Boston.
(31:38):
If that is something that's happening, you get my phone
number from Harlan call me. Lunch is my treat out
of my wallet. I will pay for us to sit
down and talk without thirty eight states eavesdropping.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
I would love that. I would love that. I was
just there last month and my cousin got married in
Plymouth and we were duct and.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
Then I'm yeah, let me let me take the break
in it out of the way. Sure, if you want
to call in. I am not keeping William to the
top of the hour I'm gonna keep him till about
five minutes of so, if you want to call in,
I'll do the best I can to get you on
with mister William Keck here on WBZ with a time
(32:22):
and temperature eight forty seven seventy five degrees.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World
Nightside Studios on WBZ News Radio.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
I have mister William Keck here. He's only going to
be here for another five minutes or so. If you'd
like to call in, others have you can do the
same six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty or
eight eight, eight, nine to nineteen thirty. This is nights
Side Dan. It's off for the whole week. I'm here tonight,
I'll be here Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I'll give you
(33:01):
a heads up on the guests I have lined up.
I will tell you next hour. For all you fans
of Little House on the Prairie, I've got Nellie Olsen here.
Alison on Grim will be joining me, who as well
crossed paths with William Keck and William talked about that
(33:24):
about five ten minutes ago. If you weren't here, you
missed out. Now William, are there any assignments upcoming that
you'd like to share with us that you're going to
be sitting down and speaking with. Oh, I'm just pick
a name out of out of the blue, Daniel Craig.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
No, I'm not doing Daniel Craig. Okay, Well, you know,
I really made a commitment to not do smut anymore.
So and I still love my nostalgia. I still want
to talk to all these celebrities that I adored as
a kid, all these TV stars. Well I still can.
So I'm doing some work now with a magazine called
(34:04):
Closer Weekly, which really celebrates classic stars. And yeah, I'm
interviewing you know who. I'm next interviewing a model named
Jane Kennedy, who was one of the most beautiful models,
yes in the seventies eighties. Remember Jane, I remember her
very well.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I had a crush on her.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
Oh me too, who didn't. She was gorgeous. So she
has re emerged and I'm going to talk to her
for a four page article coming up in Closer Weekly.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
I'm looking forward to that. And of all the people
that you've been fortunate enough to cross paths through, so
I'll put it that way, give me two or three.
If you can that represent your best work as a reporter.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
Wow, my goodness, wow wow wow wow wow. Well, you know,
a couple of things come to mind. I remember when
I was i USA Today and I was assigned to
interview Brad Garrett, Yeah, from Everybody Loves Raymond, the big
guy from Everybody Lives Raymond. It was going to be
an at home interview with his family. And so I
(35:13):
get to Brad's house and Brad takes me aside, and
he has this big voice. He says, will, I've got
to talk to you first. I got to let you
know that my wife and I are separating. So I
thought I was going to be doing a big, happy
Garrett family story for USA Today. Instead, I was going
(35:33):
to be breaking the news that he was they were divorcing.
So Brad, you know, he had a great sense of
humor about the whole thing. He actually put me on
the phone with his wife, whom he was divorcing, and
he trusted me to tell this story. And after I
ran my story, Brad wrote me the most lovely note
(35:54):
and he said he was going to be saving my
story to show to their two young children one day
so that they can see how a Bomby and death
love them when they made the decision to go their
separate ways.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
That's a very good story. And I'm going to end
here so I can get you to your next commitment.
But Brett Garrett does a great Herman Monster.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Oh yes, I remember when he played Herman. Yeah, she's fabulous.
He's great. Well listen, tell Allison hello for me, thank
her for forgiving me. And then also on she we
have a very good friend in common who who's in
the hospital. I want I want her to let me
know that he's okay. So just passed that message along Thrower.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
I definitely will and we are going to do this again, sir.
Speaker 3 (36:40):
You know what I've done a ton of interviews. Hands down,
you're the best. I love talking to you. Morgan. You're amazing.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
William, thank you for that. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (36:48):
And it's true. It's true, and I'm.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Looking forward to a face to face one day.
Speaker 3 (36:53):
I would love that. And have a read in my
book when you step upon a Star to they everywhere, Amazon,
Barnes Andnoble dot com, and let me know what you think.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
You got it. Yeah, you get along because you get
another commitment. You take care all right everybody. There goes
mister William Keck. And before I do anything else, I'm
gonna tell you who I have got on Wednesday. I'm
filling in the Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Obviously I'm here
tonight too. For Dan. I'm gonna have teacher Terry. I've
(37:23):
had her on many a time talking about on this
Wednesday back to school items that you should or shouldn't
think of getting for your kids, whether they are elementary age,
junior high age, high school age, or even college age.
That'll be for the first hour. Speaking of summer. Everybody
(37:51):
has a pet, almost everybody, and for those of us
who have a kiddy like I do, there goes Gray
in the other room or dog. There are things you
should and shouldn't do when temperatures get into the eighties,
nineties and above. So that's Mariel who will be here
(38:12):
to discuss pet care all busy. Buddy Bradley j Will
be here at the ten to eleven hour, and a
doctor with whom I was very familiar because he was
hands down helpful to me beating a diabetes issue back
(38:36):
around twenty twelve, Doctor David Nathan will be here talking
about diabetes issues. So that'll be from eleven to twelve
on Wednesday, and i'll tell you about Thursday and Friday
when I come back next hour. Alison andram A R
(39:01):
and gr im that's how you spell her name. And
she played Nellie Olsen, remember the braddy little girl on
Little House on the Prairie. She made that character come
to life in our TV sets. So she will be
here next hour, and I will give you other details
(39:23):
that you might find important for your WBC listening. I'm
about to throw it to my buddy where ib Rob
Brooks is our producer tonight, and I think Nicole Davis
is still doing news. I could be wrong. We'll find
out in mere minutes here on night's side. Time and
(39:45):
temperature eight fifty eight seventy five degrees
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.