A La Mode

When my friend Merritt Blake is out of town I go in to The Blake Agency in Santa Monica and "look after the store" for him. Now I'm about as far from a clothes horse as one can be. In the semi-darkness of my bedroom I throw on whatever I get my hands on first in the morning and let it go at that. The agency shares a back alley with a homeless shelter, and there's always a crowd of them standing around out there smoking cigarettes, drinking coffee, and jaw jacking. The other day I parked in the agency's designated parking space, got out of my car, and was about to go to work when it suddenly hit me, here I was about to spend the day being responsible for a well-respected Hollywood "boutique" talent agency, and the loitering indigent and down-and-out were dressed a lot better than I was. I suppose there's a lesson to be learned here, but I'm darned if I know what it is.