A portrait of William J Russo circa 1930
Before Poppy, my father, died in 1976, he visited me in L.A. My favorite memory of that last visit was Tony Lopez’s birthday party. Tony was seeing a man influential in the film industry, who threw a huge party at his mansion in the Hollywood Hills. Important show business personalities attended.
Poppy, enjoyed bars and parties. During his visit we spent the late mornings in a neighborhood bar in Silver Lake. Then, we’d take a bus to Echo Park and watch the other old men play bocce ball. He’d nap in the afternoons. I’d spend that time with my partner, Joey Garcia, and other friends. Most evenings Poppy would join us at one of L.A.’s many gay bars. He thought they were to dark and too noisy! He didn’t get the point.
Tony’s birthday party was at a fancy home high in the Hollywood Hills. There were hundreds of people coming and going. My father never saw anything like it. We arrived early, spent some time with Tony before the chaos started. Poppy’s idea of a party was to find the most comfortable seat in the house and have me wait on him. I didn’t mind. I loved my father.
He really stood out that evening. Here was this little old Italian man in a simple suit tailored in the 1950’s. He was sitting in this huge overstuffed chair by the mantel in a sea of exotic Hollywood types. They weren’t used to seeing people like my father, everyone noticed him. Poppy enjoyed all kinds of people and watched the outrageous exchanges between this Hollywood crowd.
At one point, I looked in his direction. He was surrounded by dozens of people. I couldn’t even see him. This little crowd kept a discreet distance from Poppy, trying to act detached, but obviously vying for his attention. It was a puzzle? It went on most of the evening.
The following day, we had drinks with my prankish friend, Gary Mullett, a popular stage hand at the studios. Gary started a rumor that Poppy was a big Hollywood producer looking for new talent. That made sense to dozens of partygoers who were looking for a break. That explained the attention! Poppy laughed and said, “I thought they wanted my chair!”