{"id":20486,"date":"2015-11-02T08:48:31","date_gmt":"2015-11-02T08:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/?p=20486"},"modified":"2015-11-02T08:48:31","modified_gmt":"2015-11-02T08:48:31","slug":"tribute-jackie-collins-rip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/tribute-jackie-collins-rip\/","title":{"rendered":"TRIBUTE: JACKIE COLLINS, RIP"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>JACKIE COLLINS, RIP<\/h1>\n<p>I was as shocked as everyone else when I read that Jackie Collins had passed away last month. Even though it had been two years since we talked, I felt like I had<em> just<\/em> seen her!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20493\" style=\"width: 307px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Jackie-Collins-With-Her-Children.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20493\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20493\" src=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Jackie-Collins-With-Her-Children-297x300.jpg\" alt=\"Jackie and her young daughters, back in the day.\" width=\"297\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Jackie-Collins-With-Her-Children-297x300.jpg 297w, https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Jackie-Collins-With-Her-Children.jpg 615w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 297px) 100vw, 297px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-20493\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jackie and her young daughters, back in the day.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>It&#8217;s taken me a little while to process the news, (which is why I&#8217;m so late with this column,) but now I thought of a good way to pay tribute to her. It&#8217;s actual one of my very favorite life stories that happened many years ago, and Jackie is a major part of it. Here it is:<\/p>\n<p>In the early days of doing my show, <em>Karen&#8217;s Restaurant Revue<\/em>, I had a phone service that people could call after each episode. When I got a message saying that <em>Angie Dickinson<\/em> had called me, Mr. X and I both thought, \u201cYeah, right.\u201d But because I always called <em>everybody<\/em> back, I dialed that number, as well. And to my shock, it <em>was<\/em> Angie! [Note: She&#8217;s <em>still<\/em> one of my best friends, from that day on.]<\/p>\n<p>She said she knew that I was a member of the <em>Laugh Factory Ensemble<\/em> improv troupe, and that we performed there every Wednesday, and she really didn&#8217;t want to take me away from my gig, but she wanted to invite me to this big charity event in Beverly Hills, and could I possibly come to it with her, and her friends, too. I was flabbergasted, but unbelievably thrilled, so of course I said yes.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20490\" style=\"width: 219px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/105846846-e1446405832253.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20490\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20490\" src=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/105846846-e1446405832253-209x300.jpg\" alt=\"Angie Dickinson and Jackie Collins, but from a different night than the one we first met.  Can't you just see why these two beautiful, classy women were pals?!\" width=\"209\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/105846846-e1446405832253-209x300.jpg 209w, https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/105846846-e1446405832253.jpg 247w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 209px) 100vw, 209px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-20490\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Angie Dickinson and Jackie Collins, but from a different night than the one we first met. Can&#8217;t you just see why these two beautiful, classy women were pals?!<\/p><\/div>\n<p>When I happily accepted, she exclaimed, \u201cI&#8217;m so happy! Jackie Collins said we couldn&#8217;t get you!\u201d To this day, I still cannot believe that Angie Dickinson and Jackie Collins were sitting around trying to figure out if they could \u201cget me\u201d to come with them to a major show business event!<\/p>\n<p>Then Angie said that Jackie had told her that I have an \u201cadorable boyfriend,\u201d and Jackie wanted to know if he&#8217;d be able to make it, too. This whole conversation was OMG!<\/p>\n<p>Before we left to meet Angie, and then go for pre-event cocktails at Sammy Cahn&#8217;s house, (yes, <em>that<\/em> Sammy Cahn,) Mr. X asked if I was going to bring my camera. I didn&#8217;t want to annoy anyone, so I left my camera at home. (What was I <em>thinking<\/em>??? I guess I just <em>wasn&#8217;t<\/em>, period. What a big shame.) But as we were leaving the Cahn&#8217;s to go to the big fete, Jackie, Angie, and Sammy&#8217;s wife, Tita, all insisted on having pictures of the group! I&#8217;m the only one who doesn&#8217;t have those wonderful souvenirs of a beautiful evening. (Maybe that&#8217;s why I take multiple pictures of <em>everything<\/em> now. Or maybe just because it&#8217;s easier with modern technology.)<\/p>\n<p>Jackie and her husband, Oscar, could not have been more lovely to me the entire evening. She even told me that her daughter, Rory Lerman, was crushed when Rory&#8217;s best friend called me and came to my show by herself, without bringing Rory, who had really wanted to come. Of course, I told Jackie to tell her daughter that she could come to the show anytime she wanted. And leave her best friend at home!<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_20496\" style=\"width: 244px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-01-at-11.10.32-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-20496\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-20496\" src=\"http:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-01-at-11.10.32-AM-234x300.png\" alt=\"This was taken the last time I saw Jackie.  Photo by Lauren Clarke-Bennett.\" width=\"234\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-01-at-11.10.32-AM-234x300.png 234w, https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Screen-Shot-2015-11-01-at-11.10.32-AM.png 434w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-20496\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This was taken the last time I saw Jackie. Photo by Lauren Clarke-Bennett.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I still cannot believe that I was hanging out with the beautiful, elegant Jackie Collins! It was surreal to even <em>see<\/em> all those people so up-close and personal, which would have been enough for me. But being a <em>member<\/em> of such an amazing group of luminaries is still one of the highlights of my life.<\/p>\n<p>The last time I saw Jackie was a couple of years ago at an opening night at the Ahmanson Theater. She proudly told me that Rory is now a published author herself, and asked me to check-out her book. I just figured I&#8217;d see Jackie again soon because we&#8217;re both always out and about in LA. I was as shocked as everyone else when I read that she had passed away a couple months ago. I actually let out an audible gasp.<\/p>\n<p>I feel terrible for her daughters, sister, and great friends, like Angie. But Jackie Collins can really rest in peace knowing that she has definitely left her mark on the world.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RIP, Jackie Collins.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JACKIE COLLINS, RIP I was as shocked as everyone else when I read that Jackie Collins had passed away last month. Even though it had been two years since we talked, I felt like I had just seen her! It&#8217;s taken me a little while to process the news, (which is why I&#8217;m so late<\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/tribute-jackie-collins-rip\/\" title=\"Read More\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20489,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-r-i-p","category-tribute"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20486"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20501,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20486\/revisions\/20501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itsnotaboutme.tv\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}