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View Full Version : What is the farthest distance you ever hitch-hiked for fun or out of necessity?



Hardrock69
07-28-2006, 01:08 PM
Mostly I would hitch to go see concerts.

I was living in Wichita, Kansas, and it is out of the way in Bumfuck Egypt, meaning not many major concerts ever came there.

In the early 80s I hitched to Denver to see the Rolling Stones, to Kansas City to see a rock festival at Royals Stadium, and to Oklahoma City 2wice...once for Pat Travers/Rainbow and again for Judas Priest in 1986.

I set my all-time record in 1980, when I decided to move to L.A., as I had a friend out there with an apartment who offered to let me stay with him.

So I announced to my parents (I was 20 at the time and unemployed) that I was moving to L.A. the next day. I did not own a car, so they wanted to know how I was going to get there.

I said I was gonna hitch-hike. Then they asked how much money I had.

"10 dollars".

Needless to say they were not thrilled with the idea.

But they let me go, as I was an adult.

It took me 3 days. Had a ton of misadventures along the way. Ya never know what kinda freaks you will run into. But you always run into some really cool people as well. People bought me a meal on several occasions, got me high, etc.

One buncha people was in a pickup truck (3 guys and 2 girls) that I got a ride with in Amarillo. They were going to Flagstaff Arizona for the annual 4th Of July Indian Pow-wow. We musta stopped at a liquor store every hundred miles or so. Talk about a buncha hardcore party animals! They were from Sedalia, Missouri.

The next ride I got was some guy in an early 50s Chevy pickup with no AC. He had gotten drunk the night before, got into an argument with his wife in San Bernardino, and driven all the way to Flagstaff. When he gave me a lift, he was driving back home.

July in the Mojave Desert.

In 1980...one of the hottest years of the 20th Century.

What a ride that was.

I arrived in L.A., and had $1.50 left. I spent that on a map of the city, so I could find my friend's place. This was LONG before Mapquest ever existed lol. And it took me another 24 hours to get to where I was going.

My friend lived in El Segundo right across the Imperial Highway from LAX.

After I got dropped off at the freeway exit nearest his apartment, I saw a Silver Shadow Rolls Royce coming up the on ramp to get on the 405, and to my surprise it was Burt Reynolds!

He waved and drove on....I made it to my friend's apartment, and slept like a dead man.

I resolved to never do something stupid like that ever again.

End of story.
:cool:

MERRYKISSMASS2U
07-28-2006, 01:24 PM
Damn dude, that would make a movie!


Originally posted by Hardrock69

My friend lived in El Segundo right across the Imperial Highway from LAX.



Hey! I left my wallet there!

blonddgirl777
07-28-2006, 01:24 PM
A couple blocks, when in high school... public transpo. strike.

The first guy who stoped was a Guido in a Camaro and looked way too happy...
I said "no thanx" and waited for an old couple to pull-off.

Ozzy Fudd
07-28-2006, 01:35 PM
I was about 16 or so in the 70's and i met this girl at a party i was at, i wound up walking 40 miles one way got a ride back. she was cute and worth the haul:D

blonddgirl777
07-28-2006, 02:14 PM
Originally posted by Ozzy Fudd
... i wound up walking 40 miles one way got a ride back. she was cute and worth the haul:D

Franksters and my husband used to to insane stuff like that, for girls...
I think it's really cute and nice... big turn-on!

blonddgirl777
07-28-2006, 02:15 PM
Can someone explain to me, what a "Toastmaster" is?

MERRYKISSMASS2U
07-28-2006, 02:27 PM
George Jessel (actor)
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George Jessel (April 3, 1898–May 23, 1981) was a U.S. actor, singer, songwriter, and movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" (a parody of Postmaster General) for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.
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Biography

Jessel was born in the Bronx. By age 10, he was appearing in Vaudeville and on Broadway to support his family after his father's death. His mother, who worked as a ticket seller at the Imperial Theater, helped him form The Imperial Trio with Walter Winchell and Jack Wiener, using the stage names Leonard, Lawrence and McKinley. At age 11, he was a partner of Eddie Cantor in a kid sketch and performed with him on stage until he outgrew the role at age 16. He later partnered with Lou Edwards and then began a solo performer. His most famous comedy skit was called "Hello Mama" or "Phone Call from Mama", in which he portrayed a one-side phone conversation. In 1919 he produced his own solo show, "George Jessel's Troubles" and appeared in his first motion picture, the silent movie The Other Man's Wife. He co-wrote the lyrics for a hit tune "Oh How I Laugh When I Think How I Cried About You" and performed in several successful comedy stage shows in the early 1920s. In 1921 he recorded a hit single "The Toastmaster". He sometimes appeared in blackface in his vaudeville shows.

In 1925 he emerged as one of the most popular leading men on Broadway with the starring role in the stage production of The Jazz Singer. The success of the show prompted Warner Brothers to adapt the show as the first "talkie" and to cast Jessel in the lead role. When the studio refused his salary demands, however, he turned down the movie role, which was eventually played by Al Jolson. His second movie role was in 1926 in Private Izzy Murphy. Whereas Jolson's career skyrocketed after the 1927 release of The Jazz Singer, Jessel remained in smaller movie roles, often intended for Jewish audiences.

In the 1930s, his personal life kept him in the public eye as much as his movies. He had notorious affairs with actresses Pola Negri, Helen Morgan and Lupe Vélez (all detailed in his 1975 autobiography The World I Lived In). It was around this time, headlining a vaudeville show, he decided to introduce The Gumm Sisters as The Garland Sisters. The three singing siblings henceforth worked under that name; the youngest sister named herself Judy and went onto become a great movie star. In 1934 he married Hollywood starlet Norma Talmadge, causing a scandal because Talmadge was married at the time that they started their affair. After their divorce in 1939, Jessel caused further scandal by breaking into her house with a pistol and firing shots at her current lover.

In the middle 1940s he began producing musicals for 20th Century Fox, producing 24 films in all in a career that lasted through the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time he became known as a host on the banquet circuit, famous for his good-natured wit aimed at his fellow celebrities. In 1946 he was one of the founding members of the California branch of the Friars Club. (A recording exists of an example of his "blue" work in front of a stag audience, although it was actually recorded at a roast hosted by the Friars' rival, the Masquers Club.) He also traveled widely overseas with the USO entertaining troops. As he grew older, he wrote eulogies for many of his contemporaries in Hollywood. He wrote two volumes of memoirs, So Help Me in 1943 and This Way, Miss in 1955.

In the early 1950s he performed on the radio in The George Jessel Show, which became a television show of the same name from 1953 to 1954. In 1968 he starred in Here Come The Stars, a syndicated variety show. His attempt to extend his career was undermined, however, by a perception that his style of comedy was outdated, as well as by his outspoken support of the Vietnam War and of conservative political causes, though he often crossed the era's stereotypical political lines with his support for the Civil Rights movement and criticism of racism and anti-Semitism. This outspokenness regarding his political opinions could sometimes get him into trouble. In 1971, while being interviewed by Edwin Newman on The Today Show on NBC, he repeatedly referred to The New York Times as "Pravda", the house organ of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, and was ejected from the show.

By the late 1960s he had gained a reputation as being overly indulgent in reminiscing about former companions who were little known by younger audiences. Walter Winchell once said of him, "That son of a bitch started to reminisce when he was eight years old." He had achieved a somewhat iconic status, representing a Hollywood of yore, such that he extended his career by playing himself, rather than characters, as in the 1967 camp classic Valley of the Dolls.

Famous in his youth for his affairs with starlets, he also became known for keeping company with a wide assortment of younger show girls, even into his old age.

In 1969 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored him for his charity work by awarding him the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, a Special Academy Award. His last movie role was in Diary of a Young Comic in 1979. He also appeared as himself as an interviewed witness in the 1981 movie Reds.

George Jessel died of a heart attack in 1981 at the age of 83 in Los Angeles and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, George Jessel has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1777 Vine Street.

MERRYKISSMASS2U
07-28-2006, 02:27 PM
Toastmaster
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This article is about the role of host at a public speaking event. For other uses, see Toastmaster (disambiguation)

Toastmaster is a general term, prevalent in the United States in the middle 20th century, referring to a person in charge of the proceedings of a public speaking event. The toastmaster is typically charged with organization of the event, arranging the order of speakers, introducing one or more of the speakers, and keeping the event on schedule. Such meetings typically include civic events, service organization meetings, and banquets of various purpose. In many meetings, a toastmaster typically addresses the audience from behind a dais or from a podium. At stage entertainment events, especially ones broadcast on live television, the toastmaster often take the form of a master of ceremonies, introducing the entertainment acts. The term has fallen of out use to a large degree. The most famous person associated with this role was George Jessel, known in his lifetime as "Toastmaster General of the United States" (as a parody of Postmaster General of the United States).

In many service organizations and businesses, the role of toastmaster was a permanently assigned role, but often rotating among members. Toastmasters were largely expected to keep the event from becoming boring, and a cottage industry arose in the middle century to cater to the desire of businessmen and other leaders to overcome the fear of public speaking. Would-be toastmasters were typically counseled to use light humor, and to have anecdotes and epigrams handily memorized. Toastmasters International is an organization dedicated to helping people in public speaking and in fulfilling the role of toastmaster.

Such was the importance of a toastmaster remaining sober in order to conduct events, he may have had a special cup, called the toastmaster's glass which, although of the same size and shape as others at the event, in fact was of much lower capacity due to an almost solid interior. Several such glasses are now displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

blonddgirl777
07-28-2006, 02:53 PM
Thanks!
Pretty clear...

Jimmy Jingles
07-28-2006, 06:47 PM
I have a story about a hitchhiker I picked up once...



While driving cross-country from Chicago to San Diego, I narrowly avoided an accident when I fall asleep at the wheel. I pick up a hitchhiker to help stay awake, but within five minutes, the guy has threatened not only my life, but also my manhood, brandishing a switchblade to my crotch and ordering me to keep driving. I manage to escape, but soon this guy begins a game of cat-and-mouse across the Texas highways, taunting me from the windows of passing cars, then leaving the corpses of his victims in their vehicles by the side of the road for me to discover. A sympathetic face arrives in the form of this chick Nash, a waitress at an otherwise deserted truck stop. Soon local police arrive, intent on hanging me out to dry for the hitchhiker's string of grisly murders. The stakes continue to mount in this guy's little game until I find myself embroiled in a statewide manhunt with Nash at my side.


Oh wait...that is a movie I saw about a hitchhiker...never mind.

MERRYKISSMASS2U
07-28-2006, 06:52 PM
Originally posted by blonddgirl777
Thanks!
Pretty clear...

The real question is why David Lee Roth refers to himself as that.