CHUCK NORRIS AND THE WALL

After the party n Washington, Fred and I were in the lobby of our hotel (Marriott) along with my dear friend (or was it fiend), Studibert, while waiting for our shuttle to the airport to fly up to New York City, when Chuck and Aaron Norris (of celebrity fame) walked up to our group (they knew Studibert from the Bush-for-President campaign). Studibert introduced Fred and I, and we exchanged pleasantries and then began to talk about the foray into Poland and Hungary and our participation in tearing down The Wall.

Chuck Norris was particularly interested in The Wall, and the work I was doing to try and get western businesses into Poland. He expressed the desire he had to find out more about the film-making capabilities in Poland, as we recounted seeing Wilem Defoe and Donald Sutherland when we were there in March. I told Mr. Norris that I would be happy to explore any and all possibilities, including locations, equipment, personnel, sound-stages, and all film-making capabilities the Poles might have available for him.

Mr. Norris then asked if I had a business card. I didn’t – because I was not a real business, yet. But I remembered I was lugging a huge chunk of The Berlin Wall around in my purse with the intent of giving it to Senator Hatch’s wife. It was weighing me down quite a bit, and I thought it would be great to unload it on to someone who might appreciate it. I told Mr. Norris that I did not have a business card, but I did have a piece of The Wall he could have. Chuck was thrilled to be offered this piece of history, and so he exchanged his contact information at Pathe’ Entertainment for that hunk of cement, with the plea to get any and all info I could find back through his agent. His brother Aaron expressed a desire to have a piece of The Wall, too if I could get him a piece. I told him I hoped to get back to The Wall on my next trip, but didn’t know when that would be. I also offered him and Chuck a spot on the next trade mission we were trying to put together with the “Foundation For Free Markets.”

We soon parted, and Fred and I flew to New York. There, I met with Andrjez Krakowski, a screen-writer (who happened to have written the screenplays to the 2 movies being filmed in Poland in March, 1990: Eminent Domain, with Donald Sutherland and Triumph of the Spirit, with Willem Dafoe). It was an interesting meeting, because the man we met at his apartment was an older man, and conversed with us about his many scripts. Then in walked a much younger man, and the older man introduced him as Krakowski. Many years later, when attempting to collaborate with Krakowski on another project, he confessed that he used the younger man many times to try and find out the true nature of a visitor’s intent. He was making sure we were not crazed fans (for a screenwriter? really?).

I was given the names of film studios in Warsaw and Krakow and their staff, directors, producers, etc. in order to do the research for Norris on a return trip. I was thrilled, mostly because this gave me the perfect excuse to go back to Poland, but also an additional business to bring back with me.