Old Jewish comedians underscored a point by kissing you. You had better reciprocate. Male, female -- it didn't matter.

I don't know when I first met Milton Berle, which is unusual for me. Sure, in my first Manhattan job, he was a visitor to the Madison Avenue building where I worked for Rogers & Cowan, and he entertained everyone as he rode the elevator. But it was in California that he came into my life.

I had read his autobiography and wanted to know who his mystery son was. I actually asked him, and he shook his head and made an old Jewish man's tsk-ing sound, shaking his finger.

The tabloids later revealed that at least one son did exist, not in show...

We, the children of television, grew up believing in the human warmth and genuine kindness of "Sheriff Andy Taylor" of Mayberry, N.C.

His character, portrayed by former-Southern-standup-comic-turned-actor Andy Griffith, was a treasure of small-town Americana where all the Anglo-Saxon citizens were protected by the good ol' boy "sheriff without a gun" (the pilot's actual title).  

Many years later in the real life Mayberry called Lumberton, North Carolina, Michael Jordan's daddy would be shot in cold blood, targeted by two young boys from Sheriff Andy's fishing hole, primarily because he was a black man driving a new Lexus. 

(Author's note: Several commenters have reacted to my calling Lumberton the "real life Mayberry." I...

There are words of wisdom that flash before you that you don't fully appreciate until the circumstance hits you between your eyes. 

One of those aphorisms that resonates with me is "no good deed goes unpunished."  Let me explain.

Before there was Ari Emanuel, before there was Mike Ovitz, before there was Sue Mengers, there was Stan Kamen. 

Stan Kamen called. "You know Jim Stacy, the actor who had a terrible accident? He's not a client, but he's a friend of mine, and I'd like you to help him. Meet with him, OK? He has a book he loves, and maybe you can...

I grew up knowing his name. As a child I used to regularly sneak downstairs to watch "Playhouse 90" on the tube. While not the only director credited, there was something consistent with a John Frankenheimer show; a diversity of themes. One production would be a comedy such as Kay Thompson's "Eloise" so rich and memorable, the next week a sci-fi drama "Forbidden Area," a Cornell Woolrich mystery, a Barnaby Conrad adventure, Fitzgerald's "Last Tycoon" all done live. 

It was also the birth of a new reality in writing, especially from Paddy Chayefsky whose work was labeled "kitchen sink drama." It defintely...