Back when I was in high school, probably 16 or 17, I was part of the high school class at Wilshire Blvd. Temple. As I wasn’t teaching, I didn’t drive all the way to WBT from Brentwood: we had bus transportation provided by the Temple. The rabbi at that time, Larry Goldmark (who is now at Temple Beth Ohr in La Mirada), had arranged a speaker program of famous Jews. This included folks like Ed Asner, Monty Hall, and many others. This particular day in question, the speaker was Marvin Hamlisch. I presume it was an interesting talk (I don’t remember any of it). What I do remember, however, is that at noon I got up and started to walk out to catch the bus. Hamlisch stopped what he was saying, turned to me, and asked where I was going. I indicated I had to catch a bus to get home. He said he didn’t like his audience to walk out on him, and said that he would give me a ride back home. So, after he finished his talk, he kept his word and gave me a ride back home. I remember that on the way we stopped at the newsstand in Westwood so that he could pick up the New York papers — it seems “A Chorus Line” had just opened and he wanted to read the reviews. When we got back to my car, I grabbed a piece of notebook paper and had him sign it for my dad.
