I Could Have Eaten with Jimmy Durante

We landed in a helicopter on a pier in the Hudson, took a taxi to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, scribbled some notes for an art class assignment, headed over to Broadway to get something to eat at a deli, saw Jimmy Durante sitting at a table, gawked, and asked for his autograph.

"C'mon, girls. Sit down and have a bite with us."

We were 16 and victims of a Catholic girls' school education, so we smiled, said "No, thank you," and dashed out of there. Our brush with celebrity was just that: short, sweet, and shining.