For the first time in a long time, my photographer and his wife didn’t set the alarm clock. If I didn’t know better, I’d bet the wild California NASCAR group had worn them out – but even then, Tom and Vicki were up before 8:00am. After a complete day of lonely solitude during the party, I was ready to go. The day’s plan on Sunday August 5, 2018 was to visit a couple of sites near Hollywood and then get back to Tustin by 3:00pm for a rendezvous with George Washington.
When we left Tom Currier’s house, my photographer was behind the wheel while Mr. Plumber manned the navigator’s seat. Vicki and I held down the back seat of the Mustang for the 42-mile ride to Bronson Canyon. The Los Angeles traffic was a non-issue, but then again, it was Sunday morning and that wasn’t a complete surprise. It was a surprise, however, when I saw my photographer had an easy time navigating the path to the first site of the day. Although the walking surface was constructed of dirt and stone, the graded pathway was level and there was not much of an uphill grade at all. The scenery along the path was gorgeous; from the reddish-tan dirt landscape to the beautiful cacti – the entire area of Griffith Park was a sight to behold. After we had hiked about a quarter mile, we saw it – we saw the cave. But that wasn’t just any hole-in-the-wall cave, it was the Batcave. And not just any cave with bats in it, this was “The Batcave” entrance used in the 1960s television show ‘Batman’.
In 1903, the Union Rock Company founded a quarry at Brush Canyon that supplied the crushed rock for a lot of the city streets in the area. The quarry closed in the late 1920s, leaving the man-made caves behind; although it was a tunnel rather than a cave. Locals began calling the caves the Bronson Caves after a nearby street, and soon after, the canyon changed names from Brush to Bronson Canyon. Over the years, dozens of movies and TV shows were filmed at the Bronson Canyon area, including Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Wild Wild West, and The Lone Ranger. But in 1966, the Bronson Caves became most famous for its use as the entrance to Batman’s Batcave. There was no doubt that the producers of the TV show had to disguise the cave entrance with vines, brush, and other foliage because the entrance we saw looked like a tunnel through a barren stone wall. As a matter of fact, it was obvious that they also had to shoot from an angle to keep the audience from seeing completely through to the other side of the tunnel. As the four us walked through the short and rocky passageway, I heard Tom call Mr. Plumber a name that made me laugh to myself – he said: “Hey Robin, we’re inside the Batcave – isn’t this cool?” At that moment, Currier shot back with: “Right you are, Batman! Let’s jump into the Batmobile and take it for a spin to find the Joker!” While those two were pretending to be superheroes, Vicki just rolled her eyes and smiled at their juvenile behavior.
Once we had walked through the short tunnel, the backside afforded us a surprising view of the famous HOLLYWOOD sign off in the distance. It was then when I heard Tom say to his companions: “This is the third time I’ve been to L.A. and this is the first time I’ve seen the Hollywood sign.” After Tom had captured a handful of images of the sign, as well as the rugged terrain that surrounded us, we returned to the tunnel. In our final few moments at the Batcave entrance, I saw my photographer pull a hammer out of his camera case and he said to Mr. Plumber: “I need to get a piece of the Batcave for my collection”; and he began to pound at the entrance wall. Impatient with my camera guy’s lack of success, “Robin the Boy Wonder” grabbed the hammer and began to wreak havoc on the opening. Within seconds, a few large chips of rock fell into Tom’s hands and he had his souvenir. “There ya go, Batman, you’ve got your chunk of the Batcave”, said Currier with a sarcastic, semi-cocky tone. I thought to myself: “Holy Hammer Time, Batman!”
While it was only a little over 10 miles to our next site, the GPS guided us along a faster route that was a dozen miles further, but at the same time it kept us out of the Hollywood Boulevard and Beverly Hills tourist traffic. I was excited for the next stop as it was technically a Presidential site; although that description was a bit of a stretch. Either way, when we parked inside the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary, I couldn’t get to the crypt of actress Marilyn Monroe fast enough. From the Mustang, I was carried to the Corridor of Memories Mausoleum that was located in the northeastern section of the small cemetery. It was easy to locate the final resting place of the Blonde Bombshell of the 1950s and early 60s as there were dozens of flower arrangements that had been placed below her crypt. It was also the only vault that had photographs affixed to the marble face of the crypt – photos that showed exactly how beautiful and sexy Marilyn Monroe had been in life. Once my photographer had hung me by my ponytail from the permanent bronze flower vase attached to Monroe’s tomb, Tom snapped several images – all the while I had hoped I wouldn’t fall to my death. Once the pictures had been captured, my sneaky camera guy secretly pilfered a red rose from the dozen that had been placed in the vase.
I was extremely excited to pose for photos at Marilyn Monroe’s tomb because of her connection with President John F. Kennedy. While it had been rumored over the years that JFK and Monroe had a lengthy affair and numerous encounters during Kennedy’s presidency, that was simply not true. As a matter of fact, high-end investigations have proved that the President and actress only had a one-time fling on March 24, 1962 at the Palm Springs, California home of Bing Crosby. Less than two months after the amour, however, Marilyn Monroe attended a fundraiser and early birthday party for Kennedy at New York’s Madison Square Garden where the actress sang “Happy Birthday” to JFK. The two met briefly at an after-party celebration in movie executive Arthur Krim’s house, but JFK turned a cold-shoulder to the actress – which may or may not have broken her heart and sent her spirally into a deep depression. Then suddenly, just seventy-eight days after the event at MSG, Marilyn Monroe was found dead at the age of 36 in her Brentwood apartment of an apparent suicide. While an autopsy revealed that she indeed had a lethal amount of prescription drugs in her system at the time of her death, there were no capsules found in her digestive system – which looked fishy. It was later revealed that Bobby Kennedy, who also had an affair with the actress after his brother cut ties with her, had visited Monroe’s apartment the morning of her death. Investigative evidence showed little doubt that Bobby Kennedy ordered Dr. Ralph Greenson, who was Monroe’s psychiatrist, to murder the movie star – and he did so around midnight on August 4, 1962. As I hung from the vase and looked at her nameplate right in front of me, a song popped into my resin-filled mind: “Goodbye Norma Jean, though I never knew you at all; you had the grace to hold yourself, while those around you crawled.” John F. Kennedy had crawled away from Marilyn after a one-night stand, and then Bobby fell in love with her – only to break off their relationship abruptly on the day she died. “And it seemed to me you lived your life, like a candle in the wind. Never knowing who to cling to, when the rain set in.” For Marilyn Monroe, America’s biggest sex symbol and movie star, the rain set in on August 4, 1962. Although her candle was extinguished by the Kennedy’s, the brothers could never douse her legend. “Goodbye Norma Jean, from the young man in the twenty-second row; who sees you as something more than sexual; more that just our Marilyn Monroe. And I would have liked to have known you, but I was just a kid. Your candle burned out long before, your legend ever did.”
After we said goodbye to Norma Jean Baker, the four of us spent the next half-hour touring the famed cemetery where we saw numerous celebrity grave sites. The first marker that we came upon was one that was very special to my photographer; it was the grave of Don Knotts. Tom’s a huge fan of the Andy Griffith Show and when he saw the final resting place of Mayberry’s deputy sheriff Barney Fife, all my photographer could do was smile as he thought about Barney’s favorite saying: “Nip it. Nip it in the bud!”
I found it ironic that soon after my photographer had mentioned Barney Fife’s saying that began with “Nip it”, we stumbled upon a grave site that also reminded Tom of someone associated with “nip” – it was the final resting place of the ’70s sex symbol Farrah Fawcett. There likely wasn’t a teenage boy alive in 1976 who didn’t own the Farrah poster that pictured her wearing the one-piece red bathing suit. That poster, which became the best-selling poster in history, came out just before the start of her one-year stint as Jill Munroe in Charlie’s Angels. With her flowing blonde locks and perfect smile, Farrah Fawcett was without a doubt viewed as the most beautiful woman in the late ’70s.
While there were a lot of famous celebrities who were buried or entombed at Westwood Village Park Cemetery, we winged-it blindly without a map. Some of the other celebrity graves that we stopped at were Rodney Dangerfield, Florence Henderson, Jack Klugman, Brian Keith, Walter Matthau, and Dean Martin. Just after we had paid our respects to the person who never got any respect, my photographer captured an unexpected image of Marilyn Monroe as she walked through the burial ground. The Marilyn look-a-like was dressed in period clothing and walked silently alone through the cemetery – and then she seemed to vanish into thin air. Mr. Plumber and my camera man thought perhaps the woman had dressed like Monroe to pose for photos at Marilyn’s crypt, especially since it was the day after the 56th anniversary of the actress’ death, but she wasn’t at the crypt either. Once we had discovered that the woman was nowhere in the cemetery, my photographer was convinced that he had captured an image of Marilyn Monroe’s ghost. At that moment, I was happy that I wasn’t a John Kennedy bobble head – or better yet, a Bobby Kennedy bobble head.
We were 50 miles from Tustin and Mr. Plumber kept reminding my photographer of our 3:00pm appointment with George Washington. As we headed out of Westwood Village Park Cemetery, I kept an eye out for the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, but I never saw her. The L.A. traffic south was light and we arrived at Tom Currier’s house at 1:50pm. After we grabbed some leftovers from the NASCAR party for a quick lunch, we (including Macy) arrived at the nearby Tustin apartment of Gary Beard at exactly 3:00pm. Once Gary’s wife Joann invited us into their home, we waited for a few minutes before we got our first glimpse of Beard in his full George Washington uniform. I was blown away – George Washington had come to life and I was in his presence. As a former pastor, Beard had a booming voice that commanded attention when he spoke. The 83-year old Gary also sported a full head of snow-white hair and he wore an identical replica of Washington’s Revolutionary War uniform – including the 76 golden buttons. The only difference between the Tustin George Washington and the one who lived at Mount Vernon was Gary had better teeth than the Father of our Country had in his mouth.
For over 30 years, Gary Beard has portrayed George Washington in hundreds of classrooms, assemblies, and churches throughout Southern California. But the gig he seemed most proud of was portraying the Father of our Country at the Richard Nixon Library and Museum on President’s Day and the Fourth of July for the past 20 years or so. Gary loves children and he says it’s important to let kids have a “hands-on” experience with his George Washington artifacts. The best part of all is Gary Beard doesn’t just dress up in a George Washington costume to play the character – he transforms into the General himself. When I first met Gary, the first thing that immediately popped into my resin-filled mind was: “I wish Gary would’ve been at Washington’s tomb when I was there in 2014 instead of the crabby old lady that ridiculed my photographer. I have no doubt in my mind that he would’ve let me stand on Washington’s sarcophagus – Gary understands what my photographer and I do and he appreciates our love for the history of our Presidents.”
Reverend Gary Beard first portrayed George Washington in a Bicentennial Parade in 1976 and has been to Mount Vernon roughly 25 times in his life. He has studied the first President by reading a countless number of books and is a leading expert about the General who won American Independence. But it was his passion about the first President that impressed me the most. While Beard doesn’t claim to be a reincarnation of George Washington, he does do an amazing job of bringing the Father of our Country to life so that visitors can better understand him. And at 83 years young, there is one thing that Gary Beard had over George Washington – the first President died at the age of 67. Sadly, the General lived only two years after leaving the presidency, even though some of his inaugural buttons were etched with the words “Long Live The President.” As we left Gary’s apartment and headed back to Tom Currier’s house, I left with a greater appreciation for our first President – as well as a newfound friendship with Gary Beard. As I stood in the camera case and replayed the visit in my resin mind, I thought to myself: “Long Live Gary Beard – The First President of Tustin, California!”
When we returned to Tom and Rhonda’s house, my photographer, his wife, and Mr. Plumber wanted to watch some of the NASCAR race that Currier had recorded. To save time, Currier fast-forwarded through the boring part of the race (which was most of it) and we saw that Chase Elliott had won the GoBowling at The Glen race that was held in Watkins Glen, New York. While my camera guy went to work on his Road Hog League stats, Tom Currier, Vicki, and Macy went to the back patio for a well-deserved nap.
After dinner, I was placed back on the bedroom shelf where my thoughts immediately turned to George Washington and Gary Beard. While the 90-minute visit at Gary’s home went by extremely fast and I was sad to see it end, I couldn’t wait for the next day. My photographer had planned to dump his excess baggage as the Currier’s were taking Vicki to the beach; while Tom had scheduled a full day of Presidential sites for me. And the cherry on top of the sundae was Gary Beard planned on hanging out with us. That’s right – George Washington himself had arranged a private tour at the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace and we had the entire day to enjoy each other’s company. It doesn’t get any better than that!
