We all love celeb spotting but crossing paths with them when they are doing something normal is even more exciting. Random chats with both Marianne Faithful and Vidal Sassoon come to mind, but that was at the Chateau Marmont so I don’t feel it really counts. However when I stood behind Sidney Poitier at my local Bristol Farms I did feel like I had a glimpse of a star being ‘normal’.
With Los Angles being a bit of a mecca to many celebrities it is not surprising that barely a day passes without stumbling upon someone who has been on the telly at some point or another. One of my all time favorite moments of this pastime happened many years ago. Please forgive me if you’ve heard it before…I was idling at the traffic lights on Sunset Boulevard very early one Sunday morning, when all of a sudden the door swung open of the car ahead of me and out hopped Dustin Hoffman. Holding a camera, anxiously trying to take a picture before the signal changed. I looked up to see what he was capturing and laughed when I realized it was a massive billboard of his latest movie plastered in prime position on the west facing wall of 9000 Sunset Blvd. For a second I wished I too had a camera handy to record the moment, but was immediately glad that I had let him keep this one for himself.
When you actually think about it, celebrities don’t get to have much privacy in public spaces. Think of all the things you get to do privately as a non celebrity – like taking out the trash in your dressing gown without having to put a full face of make up on, or going for a hike up Runyon Canyon and getting red faced and sweaty without a care in the world, or going to work without a photograph of you doing your job being shared with a tabloid…..
The third one is exactly what happened to actor Geoffrey Owens this week. He appeared on the Cosby show (from 1985 – 1992) and has had several cameos on successful shows since then. But to make ends meet he took a job as a cashier at the supermarket Trader Joe’s. One of his customers took it upon herself to take a covert snap of Mr Owens whilst he was ringing up her groceries. But that wasn’t enough for this amateur paparazzo (the ironically name Karma Lawrence). She then took said photographs and offered them to several tabloids, not surprisingly the notorious Daily Mail snapped them up and published them with the accompanying headline ‘From Learning Lines to serving the long line’.
It is obvious that the purpose of this was to shame Mr Owens, who in their eyes had fallen from grace. However, the plan backfired and Owens, who was initially embarrassed, managed to pick himself up again after receiving a huge flood of on line support. Many fellow actors were tweeting the long list of day jobs they had worked along with the hashtag #GeoffreyOwens . Tyler Perry also offered him a role in his new television series. He was even invited on the national breakfast show Good Morning America to discuss the story. He embraced the attention wholeheartedly whilst cheekily wearing his Trader Joe’s name badge!
I know lots of you take on side jobs whilst you are between your main gigs. We all know you didn’t travel thousands of miles to be a bartender/waiter/uber driver/dogwalker/personal trainer etc but we admire you for pursing your dreams and doing whatever it takes to get there. Many of you feel terribly embarrassed by the fact that your chosen career path doesn’t yet pay the rent and do your best to keep it on the down low, but please remind yourself that there is no shame in doing an honest day’s work. No job makes you a better person than another. It is just daft and delusional to look down on someone who doesn’t have a fancy job; in some ways I think that was Geoffrey Owens thinking as his first response after reading the story was devastation but fortunately he soon realized he had nothing to be ashamed off.
Sadly, he still chose to leave his cashier position at Trader Joes, as couldn’t bear to face the unwanted attention. However that is great news for those of you who are still looking for a job as I hear they are a fantastic company to work for. Not only do they give staff 10% off their products, they also offer low cost medical, dental and vision plans (currently starting at $75!!!). Visit traderjoes.com/careers to see if they have a position for you.
We would love to hear your thoughts on this subject – you can contact us on our social media platforms @BritsinLA or via email at info@britsin.la
Lastly there is no Breakfast Club next Tuesday ( September 11th) but we will be back as usual on September 18th. So hopefully see some of you then.
Cheers!
Eileen
