In December 1968, when I was 12, I went to Europe with my mother for 3 weeks. We flew from NYC to Rome, via Madrid, on a PanAm 727 which had 3 seats on each side of a center aisle, and my mother and I both had aisle seats in the same row because the flight was packed and they couldn't seat us together.
In December 1968, when I was 12, I went to Europe with my mother for 3 weeks. We flew from NYC to Rome, via Madrid, on a PanAm 727 which had 3 seats on each side of a center aisle, and my mother and I both had aisle seats in the same row because the flight was packed and they couldn't seat us together.
And I ended up sitting next to Tom Smothers and his manager. He was flying to Paris for Christmas with his family, and apparently they overbooked First Class and so he and his manager sat in Tourist Class, as they called it then, right next to me. I recognized him immediately but I was much too well brought up to say so, and he did not introduce himself. It was a 7-hour flight, and we chatted for most of it. He was absolutely delightful and charming and not at all bored by the conversation of an intelligent 12-yr-old who was deeply into history, archeology and literature. We had a long conversation about where we both were when we heard that JFK had been assassinated. As he was getting ready to get off the plane in Madrid to transfer to a flight to Paris, he asked me if I knew who he was, and I politely said "I watch the "Smothers Brothers" TV show every week and you look exactly like Tom Smothers, so I thought you might be him." He just smiled and shook my hand and left. His manager, who had the window seat, was very nice too, and he let me switch seats with him as we were preparing to land because it was only the 2nd time I had flown in a plane and I wanted to look out the window as we landed.
Halfway through the flight my mother told me that we were NOT going to be meeting my father in Rome, as had been planned, because his job in Zambia had had a crisis and he couldn't get away. She showed me the telegram he sent. She had held off telling me until we were actually on the flight. I was devastated as I hadn't seen him in 6 months, and I struggled to hold back tears. Tom naturally overheard the conversation and he did his best to cheer me up, telling me a lot of silly jokes, some of which I later heard him use on his TV show.
In December 1968, when I was 12, I went to Europe with my mother for 3 weeks. We flew from NYC to Rome, via Madrid, on a PanAm 727 which had 3 seats on each side of a center aisle, and my mother and I both had aisle seats in the same row because the flight was packed and they couldn't seat us together.
And I ended up sitting next to Tom Smothers and his manager. He was flying to Paris for Christmas with his family, and apparently they overbooked First Class and so he and his manager sat in Tourist Class, as they called it then, right next to me. I recognized him immediately but I was much too well brought up to say so, and he did not introduce himself. It was a 7-hour flight, and we chatted for most of it. He was absolutely delightful and charming and not at all bored by the conversation of an intelligent 12-yr-old who was deeply into history, archeology and literature. We had a long conversation about where we both were when we heard that JFK had been assassinated. As he was getting ready to get off the plane in Madrid to transfer to a flight to Paris, he asked me if I knew who he was, and I politely said "I watch the "Smothers Brothers" TV show every week and you look exactly like Tom Smothers, so I thought you might be him." He just smiled and shook my hand and left. His manager, who had the window seat, was very nice too, and he let me switch seats with him as we were preparing to land because it was only the 2nd time I had flown in a plane and I wanted to look out the window as we landed.
Halfway through the flight my mother told me that we were NOT going to be meeting my father in Rome, as had been planned, because his job in Zambia had had a crisis and he couldn't get away. She showed me the telegram he sent. She had held off telling me until we were actually on the flight. I was devastated as I hadn't seen him in 6 months, and I struggled to hold back tears. Tom naturally overheard the conversation and he did his best to cheer me up, telling me a lot of silly jokes, some of which I later heard him use on his TV show.
What a nice man.
"What a nice man!" is a very fitting epitaph.
F.T.C.
Thank you for sharing that!!!
His memory is already a blessing! May we all be remembered that fondly!
I'm not crying. Everyone is.
What a great story! Wow.
That's a lovely story. Lucky you to get to spend so much quality time with him.
Good things often happen to good people. (Not often enough.)
They seemed to happen much more often when I was a girl than they do now.
Thanks for sharing that story.
What a delightful memory to have.
I think he was one of those people who, if you ever met them, you never forgot them.