HOW TO TALK TO FAMOUS PEOPLE

Born in rural Oklahoma and later traveling west to the multi-cultural environs of the California Bay Area Marianne Gage encounters a profusion of notable personalities: a famous cartoonist an art professor several well-known actors (including one musical comedy star) a presidential candidate a young black revolutionary a celebrated blind pianist a jazz musician and many more. Some of these meetings are pleasant and friendly; others are blundering and gauche. But they all add up to a lifetime of noteworthy experiences spanning the 20th century and leading into the 21st. In the final chapter Gage and her husband host a fantasy party with all the luminaries in attendance both living and dead. Noel Coward meets Huey Newton Maria Tallchief gets to know Mercedes Ruehl and a good time is had by all. * * *Marianne Gage has published The Wind Came Running The Putneyville Fables All Kinds of Beauty and The Quirky Kids of Sunshine Hollow. Gage a former teacher in the Oakland public schools is a portrait artist and printmaker. She was married for sixty-eight years to San Francisco illustrator Ed Diffenderfer.