I was on this show. I was 22 years old and Random House had just published my book "Living on the Earth," which became a bestseller. I was the hippie poster child. I met the great writer/actor/director James Leo Herlihy, whose book "Season of the Witch" had just been published. We became good friends for the rest of his life, and he mentored me as a writer. I met musician Johnny Rivers, who was very sweet, and took me out to dinner a few days later (along with a large retinue of his business people). We exchanged Christmas cards for a few years after that.
The show had a great jazz band backstage that would play any song you wanted when you walked onto the stage. I suppose they were expecting me to request a Joni Mitchell tune. I did not. I requested Take Five, because I knew that I could really dance in my long dress with a fringed piano scarf as a shawl over it. So they played it, and I danced up a storm. It was a while before I would sit down.
I enjoyed sitting next to Carol Channing. She was warm and charming, and a big promoter of organic farming. Really ahead of her time!
David Frost had been my hero for many years. My family had all been fans of That Was The Week That Was, and I told him so.
They let me play my guitar and sing a song I wrote on this show, too. I was not a professional musician then, so they were pretty brave to let me do this.
Definitely, this night changed my life, and I will never forget it!
