I am thrilled to see the talented Mickey Rourke, Phoenix like, rise from the ashes and soar back on to the big screen doing what he loves and is best at, acting. With a nomination for the Golden Globes Awards for best actor in “The Wrestler” the rumor is that his next project will see him staring in ”Iron Man 2.”
The first time I noticed Mickey’s rebellious personality, was in “Diner,” a comedy about a group of young men in the 1950s, costarring Kevin Bacon, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser and Daniel Stern, just few names you might recognize. ☺ And the first time I meet him was at Café Roma in Beverly Hills, by now he was well known as a talented actor and a rebel.
Let me take you back to 1985 for few minutes. The “We are the World” USA For Africa Aid concert won Grammys for the Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Produced, by Quincy Jones, words written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Ritchie, idea born from Harry Belafonte and Ken Kragen an entertainment lawyer and activist, was instrumental in securing the talent and what a talent that was.
Reagan’s ruled the country; glamour dictated the fashion trends and life was glorious. I was a successful image consultant, my name and my face a familiar image and welcomed in Beverly Hills.
Besides Neiman’s and Sak’s, Rodeo Drive was the place to shop. Yves St. Laurent was still there, Cartier up the street with all the jewelry one can fathom, where some amongst my favorite stores to shop in.
My mantra was and still is, “quality”, instead of quantity and with clients who love couture designs; this was and is a place to shop.
With more the conservative and corporate clients we patronized “Gucci” or “Battaglia” and for younger and hipper clients I loved “Mr. Guy”, a store owned by Guy Greenguard, a first class act and a great coach and teacher. I learned so much from him. He’s the one that said, “Don’t ever put your name in the Yellow Pages; you’re bigger than that.”
Beverley Hills, was buzzing with celebs and most of us gathered at Café Roma, owned by brothers Gigi and Orlando Orssini. (Sorry if names are misspelled). With white plastic chairs and a huge gaudy painting of the Spanish Steps on one of the walls, Café Roma was one of the few restaurants with outdoor dinning, and during lunch hours it was flooded, with foreigners and celebrities a like. We all loved the food but most of all, the friendly atmosphere. One could sit right next to Kirk Douglas, Carl Reiner, Ann Bancroft, Ringo Star with his lovely wife Barbara Bach, and Schwarzenegger, too many to list them all. Rumor was that Princess Stephanie of Monaco, a frequent patron at Café Roma co-owned Cibaud George Boutique.
“The Year of the Dragon,” like Mickey himself, sparked a huge controversy amongst Chinese Americans for stereotyping and misrepresenting them and Chinatown, but the rest of the world loved the movie and Influential French film periodical Cahiers du cinéma named it in its annual Top Ten list.
At the screening of the move I saw the side of Mickey that the public didn’t know. A shy, generous man to both me and my friend Jamie Kechmar, who eventually worked for Mickey. Talk about the odd couple, Jamie honest hard working catholic girl raised in Youngstown Ohio was as different from Mickey as two people could possible be. After the screening, he took everyone to Café Roma for dinner and picked up the tab. If my memory serves me right, Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini, another product of Youngstown Ohio and Jamie’s schoolmate, one of the nicest people you want to know, joined us that evening, he too was a regular at Café Roma.
Mickey was on top of the world and he was unstoppable, at least that is what he thought, judging by his actions.
At some point, he opened a little ice-cream parlor right across from Café Roma, with gaudy and loud signs for Harley Davidson. On more than one occasion, to the dismay of the Café Roma patrons, he would arrogantly drive his bike to the corridor just few feet from the dinning costumers, revving his motorcycle to the discomfort and disrespect of everyone. There was such an expression of disobedience. Finally Gigi, one of the dearest people, who loved Mickey, called the police and after a number of warnings, the parlor was closed.
A few years later, after flops like “Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man,” co-starring with Don Johnson, Mickey gave up acting and went back to boxing, after annoying not only the patrons of Café Roma, but the entertainment industry at large and pretty much disappeared from LA and the show bizz. Self distractive life continued, until there was no where to go but down.
Today the world, once again, is his and we all who love the work he delivers on big screen pray that he doesn’t repeat the same actions, which got him out of show business and LA in the first place.
There is such a huge lesson to be learned for all of us, if Mickey, who went through drug addiction, alcoholism and was penniless, can reclaim his place in industry that is brutal and unkind to aging, there is hope for all of us who shined in the 80’s or whoever had a dream of living huge. Just claim it.
Today Café Roma is no longer a place where we meet and gather for Saturday family luncheons. The cold and uninviting decor designed by the new owners, stark white barren walls and unfamiliar faces, estranged the old timers and most of us have moved on to more inviting atmosphere. No Gigi to welcome us with open arms and friendly kiss and his staff is all but gone. At times you can still find Governor Schwarzenegger, surrounded by muscly body guards, playing chess there.
