HOLLYWOOD - Iconic former talk show host, game show producer and hotel magnate Merv Griffin knows more stories about Hollywood's golden era than practically anyone alive, and in the old days he'd regale anyone who'd listen with those tales for hours on end.But lately, Griffin has noticed that he doesn't reminisce nearly as well as he used to.
"Nothing's as good as it used to be -- the movies, the air, the water," Griffin said from the Coconut Club of the Beverly Hills Hilton, a landmark show biz destination that Griffin bought several years ago as a way to preserve the posh Hollywood of old. "And that would include reminiscing," he said wistfully. "Damn it, people just don’t reminisce as well as they used to in the good old days, me included," he said.
"Take this building we're in. I used to sit around in L'Escoffier and tell stories all night long about the glory days here, about Conrad [Hilton] and Zsa Zsa [Gabor], and about how this place was the western White House when . . . ." He strains to remember a once familiar name. "What was that fellow's name who got shot? . . . Kennedy! When Kennedy would stay here."
Griffin leans back with a bittersweet smile. "Oh, you should have heard me reminisce about the past in the old days! Thirty years ago, when I would reminisce about thirty years before that! I’d reminisce about this . . . I’d reminisce about that . . . on and on I’d reminisce, into the night. Wasn’t that a time!"
Griffin's eyes glistened at the thought of a wonderful era that has all but passed away. "I only wish I could reminisce about reminiscing half as well as I used to."
