Sunday, December 01, 2013

Blind Items Revealed

September 27, 2010

This weekend my mom and I were at a garage sale. I could not convince her to drive all the way out to see Octomom's house, but we did do some early morning hunting. It was so hot here this weekend that even my mother, who can usually go for hours without a break called it quits after three houses. Anyway, at the first house we went to, there was a carpet rake for sale. I have not seen one of those in many years. For those of you who have no idea what a carpet rake is, let me explain. Back in the day, houses had two common denominators. Wood paneling and shag carpeting. If you had the shag, you had a carpet rake which is basically a plastic version of a real rake.

When I saw the rake for sale, it triggered in me a story the late great Johnny Grant told me about how the coke industry used to work in LA. Back in the late 70's and early 80's, coke took off in LA much like the rest of the world. At the time, the dealers for celebrities were divided within industries. It was really strange. You had dealers who sold to people on television, others for movies and others for the music industry.

This item involves the television dealer. He operated out of some apartments near Sunset and Vine which are gone now, but at the time was coke central. Because of his location, our dealer could service the entire television community. Although many television shows are not filmed in LA anymore, back then most were filmed in LA and they had fairly regular hours.

Actors and actresses would stop by the dealer's house on the way to work and generally on their way home after work. The truly addicted would often get away at lunch and rush over to the dealer's apartment. When they did so, the actor or actress often did not have time to change out of their wardrobe before coming to the dealer.

#1 This Emmy nominee/winner actor would often show up wearing surgical scrubs from his show.
#2 This Golden Globe nominee/winner actress would show up often at lunch. One of the dealer's best customers. Often she would forget to remove the name tag she wore on her show with her character's name.

Although the television users generally stuck with one person, the movie actors and actresses would sometimes stop by although the dealer would charge them almost double because that is what they were paying the guy who usually sold to them. #3 Anyway, one time, this still A list Academy Award nominee/winner actor who has also done lots of television called the dealer at 3am and begged the dealer to come to his house and bring some more coke. The actor was having as huge party and someone had spilled a huge bag of coke onto white shag carpeting. Apparently a bunch of drunk and high people had all tried to use a carpet take to gather up the coke, but were so f**ked up they did not realize it was just sliding right through the rake. One person was do desperate for the coke that they vacuumed it up but this was at a time when they still had vacuum bags so they cut open the bag and the coke was all mixed up with lint and other stuff. Did not stop the people from trying to snort it though. Eventually the dealer came out and charged enough from that one sale where he managed to buy a car just from that one night.

Eventually the dealer got chased out of the business by people tougher than he was and he worked on some shows as a consultant for people who had been his customers. He died about 15 years ago.

Lauren Tewes

45 comments:

  1. And the others? My guess is #1 is Quincey, Jack Klugman.

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  3. Enty already revealed #3 as Robin Williams

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  4. Linda Lavin from Alice (played a waitress so would have a name tag) won a Golden Globe in 1980

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  5. Oh Julie. Yeah, she's spoken about her addiction. I used to adore her when I was little.

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    1. And I love this blind. Thanks Ent!

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  6. She was on the Love Boat.

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  7. @zelda, Lauren Tews was on Love Boat and would have had the name tag. Gawd I'm getting old.

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  8. I miss the Ent who wrote this. These stories are so great!

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  9. I think the Scrubs guy is Trapper John from M*A*S*H. Dude had to be on something to be stupid enough to leave the show. Maybe Lt Col. Henry Blake.

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  10. Lauren Trees never got a GG nom or win but okay.

    I'm thinking it was Chad from Medical Center as #1.

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  11. I like the Quincy guess.
    I initially thought Richard Chamberlain/Dr Kildaira but it turns out it filmed in the 60's

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  12. haha it's Dr Kildaire [damn autocorrect!]

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  13. I wonder if #1 was Chad Everett from Medical Center?

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  14. Duh Sherry beat me to it :(

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  15. @Count You really can't blame him for wanting to leave the Alan Alda Preachy Liberal Half Hour Dramedy Extravaganza.

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  16. @Rowdy: I was a lil kid, but I loved M*A*S*H. Not so much the Charles Emmerson Winchester years, though. He was M*A*S*H's Shemp.

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  17. @Sherry - Tewes had a Golden Globe nom 1982 - Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for Loveboat

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  19. Howie Mandel for the guy in the scrubs? He used to play Fiscus on St. Elsewhere starting in 1982.

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  20. Def chad Everett for #1

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  21. The Hoff played a doctor on the Young & the Restless, which is a lot closer to Sunset & Vine than the Paramount Ranch where they shot MASH.

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  22. I'm with French Girl. Who?

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  23. I'm old enough to remember when Lauren Tewes got fired from Love Boat because of her drug use. It was big news. She was on the cover of People back then and talked about her rehab. So this isn't a shocking blind. She also did the Love Boat reunion shows I think. And the Robin Williams one was definitely revealed before.
    So this is all late 70's early 80's. There were a lot of medical shows on back then.

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  24. I think Blogger got it for the guy. It was Howie Mandel.

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  25. I loved Love Boat too. Fantasy Island reveal next!

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  26. Btw, carpet rake makes me think of Get Him To The Greek, furry walls could have really used one of those.

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  27. I love the "old" blinds, damn I'm old....

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  28. Ha! For once I'm not the one saying, "Who?"

    Love Boat trivia: Gopher later became an Iowa Congressman.

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  29. Hey, we are NOT old!! If we can remember that far back still, we haven't reached the ranks of OLD!!!

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  30. Well I just turned 31 so if it doesn't have anything to do with folks named "Mike Seaver" or "Michelle Tanner" I have no clue.

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  31. Lauren was a big coke casualty.

    I'm guessing Greg Harrison on Trapper John...

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  32. This is an interesting blind but Lauren Tewes is not a shocking reveal. She was one of the biggest TV stars in the country during Love Boat's early run, but eventually her coke addiction got so out of control they axed her. Her departure was a big story at the time,, and she was one of the first big stars to talk on the record about her addiction. Haven't heard anything about her in years, hope she's somewhere living clean and happy.

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  33. Yes, I'm thinking Gregory Harrison from Trapper John, MD. He was a big coke head at same time as Tewes.

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  34. Dont know if she is still a coke head but she is living in Seattle, working at a grocery store in the cheese department.

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  35. Anonymous6:31 PM

    I can't, enty. That ginormous blind is too much.

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  36. Gregory Harrison is a good guess, but so is Howie Mandel. Hell, anyone from St. Elsewhere. Or Quincy. Or Emergency!

    I think Julie banged everyone from Capt Stubin to Gopher to Doc to Isaac, on the Lido Deck. It was some wild days, fo sho. Makes me giggle when ppl are shocked by celeb antics today. Things used to be off the chain insane.

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  37. Anonymous5:26 AM

    Thank fuck for google.

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    1. Anonymous5:51 AM

      I have accidentally snorted pocket lint when my eat & sleep baggy leaked into my pocket.

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  38. My guess was Gonzo, too.

    I just watched "The Love Boat" on MeTV on Sunday. Good stuff.

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  39. I was convinced this was Beth Howland. I think 1 is either Alan Alda or Denzel Washington.

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  40. Going with the off the hook theme, can you imagine the shenanigans on the original Match Game. They used to get drunk on the set.

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