Toronto's leading 'bootlegger' I owned an after-hours club that was
basically for musicians but I expanded it to the famous. I was notorious
in the '60s for my lavish parties and I slowly built up an illegal
business it was a lot of fun and very profitable and I met everybody and
their dog. Mike was a student at the Art College of Ontario and had made
this acclaimed 8mm film thought he was somebody. I was the King of
Toronto underground scene and we clashed. It took a couple of years for us to become
friends but when we did we were good friends. Mike got his scar before I
met him. He was sitting in his girlfriend's house having a beer and
waiting while she changed as they were going out, suddenly there was a
hammering at the door and when he opened it up this drunk guy attacked
him screaming that he was stealing his girlfriend. in the course of the
brawl the guy broke the bottle and gashed Mike face Mike thought he had
lost his eye and he freaked out he actually tore one of the guy's eye
out. After the police and the ambulance and everything was sorted out
the guy had the wrong house his girlfriend lived next door.
I got into the movie business after the after-hours business. I got into
the movie business by phoning a producer twice a week for 2 and half
years. I wrote 5 screenplays (none were produced) and made movies with
Richard Burton, Tony Perkins, Susan Clark, Howard Duff, I actually wrote
a great true story about Lunch with Richard
. These stories about Michael seem rather wild and there is
lots to tell but there are even some I can't tell. Mike's ex-wife is a
policewoman named 'Ironside'
Yes, he has a daughter but I haven't seen her for years. I have a
daughter a few years older than Mike's. Nice kid many many years since I
have seen her.
I went to Peterborough with Mike just after the release of 'Visiting
Hours". His father had a heart attack and I went with Mike to visit
him. It was quite an experience a lot of people in that hospital had
seen visiting hours and you should have seen the looks on their faces
when Mike walked by.
I talked on the phone to Mike last year and he sort of brushed me off.
Which was a little disappointing as we were such close friends and our
list of adventures together read some like sort of weird underground
action-adventure. I understand why. It was a part of his past that he
doesn't particularly want to remember. He is has been clean and sober for about
12 years and this is probably good as he would most likely be dead or in
jail if he had kept on. I wouldn't say that I liked him better as a
drunk but he certainly was interesting and we had a lot more in common
then we do now. A mike story: We used to drink at Club 22 at the
Windsor Arms in Toronto. One night my friends Johnny Hart and Jack
Caprio who draws the cartoon BC were in town and I joined them for a few
drinks with Mike in tow. Michael got fairly hammered. I got up to meet
another old friend Catherine O'Hara from SCTV she had her parents with
and introduced them to me as I shook hands with her mother, I gave a
bit of a bow, as I did Michael came up behind me and bit me on the ass
and wouldn't let go. It was unbelievable I jumped and hollered and leaped
around the room but he wouldn't let go. It took Jack and Johnny and a
a couple of waiters to get him off of me and I don't know why he just
thought it was funny, and when it stopped hurting I laughed too. Mike
was barred for that but I managed to get him reinstated and the next
afternoon we drank $400 of margaritas between us.20
I remember the next morning after that we went for brunch at Joe Allens
with lady friends, Mike ordered a triple Bloody Caesar with a shot of
Vodka on the side. This is Mike's favorite story at AA
Back in the mid-seventies, I used to own an after-hours club and Mike
spent a couple of bad years drinking himself into the ground. As often
as not he would pass out in the club and I would just put a blanket over
him and leave him there. I lived over the bar and one night I wake up
with this horrible thumping through the floor. I go downstairs to find
Mike with his face stuck to the bar. He had managed to get a hold of a
pool cue and thumped it on the ceiling. I had just put in a new bar and
got this guy to put a plastic top on it. He made a mistake and the bar
the top of it didn't set properly. Michael in his stupor crawled up on the bar and
fell asleep on it. It was quite a job to pry him loose without anymore
damage.
Mike and I had several pretty good fights. Like one night Michael and
Winston Rekert (Neon rider) went to see Willie Dixon at the El Mocambo.
This is after both of them had made a couple of good movies and things
were beginning to happen for them. We had met some interesting young
ladies and wanted to party later. Well I have this very fussy friend who
had gone to Poland for a month or two and had left me the key to his
apartment. So I invited everyone back to his place which was just down the street.
lots to tell but there are even some I can't tell. Mike's ex-wife is a
policewoman named 'Ironside'
Yes, he has a daughter but I haven't seen her for years. I have a
daughter a few years older than Mike's. Nice kid many many years since I
have seen her.
I went to Peterborough with Mike just after the release of 'Visiting
Hours". His father had a heart attack and I went with Mike to visit
him. It was quite an experience a lot of people in that hospital had
seen visiting hours and you should have seen the looks on their faces
when Mike walked by.
I talked on the phone to Mike last year and he sort of brushed me off.
Which was a little disappointing as we were such close friends and our
list of adventures together read some like sort of weird underground
action-adventure. I understand why. It was a part of his past that he
doesn't particularly want to remember. He is has been clean and sober for about
12 years and this is probably good as he would most likely be dead or in
jail if he had kept on. I wouldn't say that I liked him better as a
drunk but he certainly was interesting and we had a lot more in common
then we do now. A mike story: We used to drink at Club 22 at the
Windsor Arms in Toronto. One night my friends Johnny Hart and Jack
Caprio who draws the cartoon BC were in town and I joined them for a few
drinks with Mike in tow. Michael got fairly hammered. I got up to meet
another old friend Catherine O'Hara from SCTV she had her parents with
and introduced them to me as I shook hands with her mother, I gave a
bit of a bow, as I did Michael came up behind me and bit me on the ass
and wouldn't let go. It was unbelievable I jumped and hollered and leaped
around the room but he wouldn't let go. It took Jack and Johnny and a
a couple of waiters to get him off of me and I don't know why he just
thought it was funny, and when it stopped hurting I laughed too. Mike
was barred for that but I managed to get him reinstated and the next
afternoon we drank $400 of margaritas between us.20
I remember the next morning after that we went for brunch at Joe Allens
with lady friends, Mike ordered a triple Bloody Caesar with a shot of
Vodka on the side. This is Mike's favorite story at AA
Back in the mid-seventies, I used to own an after-hours club and Mike
spent a couple of bad years drinking himself into the ground. As often
as not he would pass out in the club and I would just put a blanket over
him and leave him there. I lived over the bar and one night I wake up
with this horrible thumping through the floor. I go downstairs to find
Mike with his face stuck to the bar. He had managed to get a hold of a
pool cue and thumped it on the ceiling. I had just put in a new bar and
got this guy to put a plastic top on it. He made a mistake and the bar
the top of it didn't set properly. Michael in his stupor crawled up on the bar and
fell asleep on it. It was quite a job to pry him loose without anymore
damage.
Mike and I had several pretty good fights. Like one night Michael and
Winston Rekert (Neon rider) went to see Willie Dixon at the El Mocambo.
This is after both of them had made a couple of good movies and things
were beginning to happen for them. We had met some interesting young
ladies and wanted to party later. Well I have this very fussy friend who
had gone to Poland for a month or two and had left me the key to his
apartment. So I invited everyone back to his place which was just down the street.
Mike kept trying to phone a girlfriend and In frustration picked up the phone and threw it through a screen window. I was furious and hit him. I chased him down the stairs and out on the street. he got behind a telephone pole and ducked my punches until I cooled down. We found the phone and I made him pay to repair the window.
One afternoon we were hanging out with Winston Reckert. he had just finished a movie and was flush.. So Winston and Michel Ironside and Alberta Watson and Winston's account Jerry and I are sitting around at Jerry's drinking beer smoking dope and snorting coke. We were getting pretty crazy and we thought we should order some food. the subject of ribs came up and jerry said the best ribs in the world were from Fat Willy’s Rib Shack in Chicago. So Winston says can we get some?. Jerry got on the phone with plane tickets and taxis etc we had ribs from Fat willy's in 4 hours for about a thousand dollars or so.
Winston and Michael were not good for each other. neither seemed to be able to hold their liquor and I tagged along and saved their ass from going to jail in many situations. As it was they were both barred from the courtyard, the 22, and several other bars and restaurants. I won't go into detail but they did some pretty dumb things.
The end of Michaels's wild days came with a car chase and a couple of wrecked cruisers and an indefinitely suspended license. This came about the same time as he signed a major contract and left for Hollywood. Our relationship ended over a girl that claimed to be his daughter. She was very persuasive and manipulative and tried to pry information out of me. I never told her anything of substance. i was persuaded to tell Michael he should check out their DNA. but that was it. the next thing I get a speaker call from Michael with his lawyer and agent questioning me about her. apparently, she had got his phone number (which I didn't have) and was harassing him. I was blamed for this and Michael and I have never spoken since. It turned out she had got this info from Michael's sister.
I find it amusing that Mike has such a big fan club. For me, it is just fun to remember what a
wildman he used to be and write some of these things down. Anyway, I hope
you enjoy these tales they are written just as I remember them.
The end of Michaels's wild days came with a car chase and a couple of wrecked cruisers and an indefinitely suspended license. This came about the same time as he signed a major contract and left for Hollywood. Our relationship ended over a girl that claimed to be his daughter. She was very persuasive and manipulative and tried to pry information out of me. I never told her anything of substance. i was persuaded to tell Michael he should check out their DNA. but that was it. the next thing I get a speaker call from Michael with his lawyer and agent questioning me about her. apparently, she had got his phone number (which I didn't have) and was harassing him. I was blamed for this and Michael and I have never spoken since. It turned out she had got this info from Michael's sister.
I find it amusing that Mike has such a big fan club. For me, it is just fun to remember what a
wildman he used to be and write some of these things down. Anyway, I hope
you enjoy these tales they are written just as I remember them.
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