How I met Jimmy Durante in the Ladies Room

As the house band at the Factory, in Beverly Hills, CA, we got to see and meet many famous people. One of my favorite encounters happened in, of all places, the ladies room there.

Between sets, one evening, Leah and I had to use the ladies room. In keeping with the rest of the Factory’s décor, the ladies room was a lavish affair with lots of marble and a lounge area with heavy red drapery tied back with golden cords and a couch covered in red velvet.

While Leah and I were in separate stalls, taking care of business, we could hear a commotion in the hallway outside. In a flash, the door of the ladies room flew open and a number of people entered. Hushed voices expressed concern regarding a woman, who had collapsed in the main room of the club, as she was placed on the red velvet couch to rest. One of the men, who had carried the women into the ladies room, asked where her brother might be. Leah and I both stole a peek out of our respective stalls, but not wanting to intrude, we quickly closed them again. At that very moment, the door to the ladies room flew open again and the unmistakable voice of Jimmy Durante met our ears. Apparently, the woman who had collapsed was his sister and he was anxious to see how she was doing.

Now, Leah and I had a problem, because all of this had taken a good deal of time and we had to get back on stage for our next set. After conferring, under the dividing wall between our stalls, we decided that we just had to get out of there. We opened the stall doors, walked over to the sink area and washed our hands. Then, in order to exit the ladies room, we had to walk past the lounge area where Jimmy and a few other people were still attending to his sister. We mumbled something about how we hoped his sister was feeling better and tried to work our way past him to the door. Jimmy turned, thanked us and told us that his sister seemed to be better. He then smiled and told us how much he and his sister had enjoyed the band that evening and hoped they would be able to come and see us again. He shook our hands and Leah and I left with a memory that most people would never be able to match. And that’s how I met Jimmy Durante in the Ladies Room.