(PERKY THEME)
GK: And that music tells us it's time once again for A FACE IN THE CROWD.....a regular feature of our show when we go into the audience and interview a person chosen at random ----- and here's a lovely young lady here----- your name, please?
ER: I'm Esther Newhaven.
GK: So what brings you to the Hollywood Bowl, young lady?
ER: Actually I am 85 years old.
GK: Really? I thought you were 24.
ER: He was a fabulous surgeon.
GK: Well, 28, now that I take a closer look.
ER: He just pulled the skin taut and put in about a half- liter of collagen and there you have it.
GK: But your voice sounds so young too.
ER: It's a larynx makeover.
GK: So how does your family feel about it?
ER: Well, my grandchildren have been very accepting. My kids are still a little upset about it.
GK: So ---- are you in the movie business?
ER: Oh, no no no no. No, nothing like that. I'm in real estate sales, but I retired years ago.
GK: So this cosmetic surgery wasn't for professional reasons.
ER: No no. I just got tired of being around people in their 80s always complaining about their health and so forth and I wanted to be with younger people, so I ---- became a younger person. So I could go out to clubs and dance and hang out, so that's what I do.
GK: So how is that?
ER: Well, it's okay. Getting hit on is kind of a jolt for an 85-year-old lady. Some 19-year-old walks up and says, Don't I know you? Hard to know how to answer that question.
GK: So are you glad you did it?
ER: I don't now. I get really really tired. I sleep a lot. And my back looks old. They did the legs, did the arms, did the boobs, but my back is definitely an 85-year-old back.
GK: So are you glad you did it?
ER: And I have an old mind. It's hard to pretend you don't know what you know. You know? My 25-year-old girlfriends say things and I hear myself say, What? Are you nuts? Do you know what that could lead to???I talk like an old lady. Which is what I am. I mentioned Harry Truman the other day and they said, What show is he on?
GK: So your friends don't know you're 85?
ER: It's a lonely life. Just once I'd like to sit down and have lunch with people who know who Joe DiMaggio was and who were around for V-J Day. August 14, 1945. Remember what a glorious day that was? The news came on the radio and crowds of people ran out in the street, celebrating the end of the war. Streetcars stopped. Strangers hugging and kissing. Remember that?
GK: I was three years old.
ER: Oh you were not.
GK: I was.
ER: You are 85 if you're a day. Look at you.
GK: I'm 69.
ER: Get out of here. Who are you trying to kid?
GK: It's the truth.
ER: Fess up. Come on. You remember. We all stood around and we sang -----(SHE SINGS) Happy days are here again, the skies above---- (SS SINGS, OLD LADY VOICE) are clear again, let us sing a song of cheer again. (SLOWING) Happy days are here again.
GK: Are you okay?
SS (OLD): Something happened to my voice. I felt a twinge in my throat.
GK: You look fine.
SS (OLD): He said if it happened to just take a deep breath and let the vocal cords relax.
GK: I'm sure you'll be fine.
SS (OLD): I'm going to go back here and lie down.
GK: You do that. (PERKY THEME) And that's all the time we have for A FACE IN THE CROWD.....live unrehearsed conversations with people chosen at random.