MERV AND ME

From Mortal Enemies To Bosom Buddies

           

 After our contretemps over “DANCE FEVER”, Merv Griffin and I had nothing to do with one another until his son, Tony, got married.  Merv did not invite us to the wedding, but Julann, his ex-wife and mother of Tony, did. We sat at Julann’s table while Merv presided at the head table with the bride and groom, Clint Eastwood and Merv’s lifelong pals from his Warner Bros. days, President and Nancy Reagan.

    Merv greeted me like a long lost buddy. A few months later, my wife and I ran into Eva Gabor on Park Avenue.  She and Merv were an item and were staying together at The Waldorf. Eva was a wonderfully witty woman. On one of her frequent appearances on his talk show, Merv asked her, “If a woman breaks off an engagement. should she return the ring?” Eva replied, “Yes. She should return the ring. But keep the stone.”

To my surprise, Merv called to have dinner. We had tickets to fly back to L.A. in the morning, but he insisted on sending a limo to drive us to Atlantic City to be his guests at his casino, Resorts International and fly back to L.A. on his private jet.

      One day, he invited me to join him for lunch with the President of his new company. Merv simply said, “Tell Tom what you’ve done.”  When I finished, they nodded to one another and Merv invited me to join his company as Vice President for Film and Television.

For years Merv had tried to expand beyond game shows without success. He had once invested in a Broadway play and lost it all. He never again risked his own money on a TV show or movie. It made my job very difficult. Investors resisted putting money into a project when Merv wouldn’t do it himself.

      Nonetheless, in a dozen years together, we put 3 series on the air --one hosted by a newcomer named Ryan Seacrest-- produced 3 Specials, 4 TV films,  and developed a Feature Film script, “BARNES”, which was optioned by three different studios---Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros.- and never produced.

     My friends asked why I stayed with him all those years. The truth is, we enjoyed wonderful times with Merv at his Big Band parties, at the race track and on his yacht in The Mediterranean.

      People ask, What was Merv really like? I got to know the real Merv behind all the bonhomie and joie de vivre one day at his home in The Desert. Behind the desk in his office I discovered the same cartoon which hangs in my home office.

       It is a drawing by Shel Silverstein of two prisoners in a dungeon, their arms manacled to the wall, their feet manacled to the floor. Far above them is a tiny window with iron bars. A truly hopeless situation. One prisoner says to the other, “Now here’s my plan.”