Twenty Two Years Ago Today

Helaine and I were married 22 years ago tomorrow, but one of our most memorable moments happened 22 years ago today.

Most of the out of town guests were staying at a hotel near Philadelphia. Helaine was there, in my room, with a group of friends. One of them, my friend Paul, had just produced a video, “Do It Debbie’s Way,” an exercise video featuring Debbie Reynolds.

OK, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time.

This was 22 years ago, before PCs and DVD players. Even VCRs were a little uncommon, but I managed to borrow one. We all sat and watched.

Debbie Reynolds was in the video (obviously) along with Dionne Warwick, Teri Garr and a number of moderately well known names. As I remember, the production looked like it cost about $12 to produce.

As we watched, eyeing the exercising celebs, Helaine turned to Paul and asked, “Is that Jackie Joseph?”

Paul was obviously amazed. It was Jackie Joseph!

OK – this begs the question (and Jackie, if you’re reading this, my apologies) who is Jackie Joseph? She is, maybe was, an actress of modest success. At that time her biggest claim to fame might have been she was the ex-wife of Ken Berry.

To Paul, purveyor of everything show business, Helaine’s amazing recall was nothing less than magical. He knew I was marrying well before – now I had hit the motherlode of wives!

Jackie Joseph. Who knew? Even today I’m astounded she pulled that out of the ether. Though part of the fun of our marriage is, she never ceases to amaze me.