For years, I’ve been getting emails, tweets, and posts meant for Lee Goldberg, the WABC weatherman, and for Lee Goldberg, also a novelist, both of whom happen to live in New York, where Thrillerfest was held this past weekend and I was booked to be a panelist. So while I was at the conference, I decided to sneak away to finally meet my doppelgangers.
Weatherman Lee graciously invited me to the WABC studios on the upper east side. When my wife Valerie and I arrived at the front desk, I introduced myself to the security guard — “Hello, I’m Lee Goldberg, this is my wife Valerie, and we’re here to see Lee Goldberg.” The guard took our IDs, picked up the phone, and called the newsroom to let Weatherman Lee know that “his parents are here to see him.”
Valerie and I looked at each other in horror. Do we look that old?
Weatherman Lee bounded out to meet us, full of good cheer, and brought us back to the Eyewitness News set, where we took some photos and had a nice chat about the surprising parallels in our lives (for example my father Alan was the anchorman on Eyewitness News on KPIX in San Francisco). Weatherman Lee introduced us to the afternoon anchor David Navarro… and then he asked me if I’d like to join him on-camera to be a guest on his live “on the street” weather report. Of course I said yes. You can see the Facebook Live version here. It was a lot of fun.
The next morning I met up with Novelist Lee, author of The Mentor, for breakfast. It turns out we also had some interesting parallels in our lives. For example. were both published by the Thomas Dunne imprint at St. Martin’s Press (they originally published my novels My Gun Has Bullets and Beyond the Beyond). We had a great time sharing stories about our experiences in publishing and in Hollywood.
Now I’ve got to meet Lee Goldberg, the TV sportscaster in Maine, and Lee Goldberg, the technology writer…and maybe we Lee Goldbergs can figure out why there are so many Lee Goldbergs in publishing and television.
I so enjoy reading about your adventures and your books! What I especially enjoy is your unpretentiousness (I looked up this word to be sure I was using it correctly) regarding what many of us think must be a glamourous life in Hollywood and actually anything that is not where we (your readers) live or experience. Visiting with one another is one of my favorite things to do, right up there with reading, watching TV and playing with Facebook. Looking forward to hearing more of your travels, books and interests.
Grace & Peace,
Fun! I’ve found other C. M. Fleming, AKA Connie Fleming. First one is a Dr. of psychiatry or psychology, I for get which. The second is a cross-dressing entertainer. I’ve not met either. Should I?
Lee,
Last century, I was playing in a Bridge tournament in Jordan (the small town in Ontario, not in the Middle East) and we ended the afternoon session by upsetting a largely favoured opponent from Georgia (the state, not the country). That match had been tight and there was a bit of a disagreement about something that had occurred at the other table, but I was assured it was all due to the big-name team trying to find some excuse losing to we inferior no-names from Canada. Upon returning to the tournament after a supper break, I had a note to go see the tournament director. I was familiar with her as she was a prominent director in Toronto. She started off with a cross look and “Gary, you’ve been causing me all kinds of problems this afternoon.” I immediately lost my temper, a not rare thing, and started in on the sore losers from Georgia when she put her hand up, indicating I should shut up. Which I did. She was good at her job.
She continued, “Gary, I would like you to meet Gary Mugford, Gary R. Mugford.” I, of course, was Gary M. Mugford. Indeed, the tournament had two teams featuring captains named Gary Mugford!! And, as luck would have it, we played against each other in the last round to decide fifth place overall and played to an 8-8 tie that could have just as easily have been 40-0 either way. A wild, wild match. Gary R. was a fireman by vocation and we agreed to play together in the Canadian championships the next month. This caused even more trouble when opponents would arrive at our table, look at our convention cards, and then complain we were fooling around. We didn’t place that day, but we had a lot of fun. We did get the kind of cross-mail and cross-congratulations over the years that you’ve gotten. Sad to say, Gary R., who was a many-time hero, saving many lives, died young. I don’t get many emails or letters intended for him any more.
I wish that wasn’t so.
There was an Alan Goldberg in Walla Walla, I never met him, but met his daughter later. Her daughter was my age. Anyway, this Alan didn’t go to Temple or have any contact with the tiny Jewish community there. He did however, use the lay leader (non ordained Rabbi) of the temple to conduct his funeral.
I should say, his family used our lay leader.
I’ve run into two other Gary Arthurs on the web. The first was a golf pro. The second is a stunt man. It surprised me because the ‘s’ at the end of my last name made it relatively rare. Or so I thought. When I subbed for school teachers, I would sometimes ask the students of they saw me in “Captain America” or one of the “Harry Potter” movies. Of course I ended up telling them it wasn’t really me. It was a good ice breaker and made it easier to teach the classes.
I just got an e-mail telling me what a lovely kind man I was and hoe this woman would love to meet me.. Jokes on them, I’m a 70+ woman. Boy did I delete that e-mail one fast into the scammer folder. I’ve been mistaken for a man most of my life by my name not my body. I was pretty foxy in my 20’s and 30’s (6 kids). Maybe my name helped. Nah! I’m a math and computer nerd. That’s how I got to be the first woman math department chair who was not a football coach, although I was an assistant soccer coach. Funny how names are unusual first impressions.