Pop Goes The World
Joann Ware
Before my employment at The News-Gazette, I had a variety of jobs in the area. Just out of college, I was an interpreter at the Jackson House for three years. During that time I also worked at a couple of art galleries downtown part time. Right before I was hired at the paper, I was the credit/SOS coordinator at Lowe’s. My position entailed signing people up for store credit accounts and researching profit margin losses on special order sales. It was just as exciting as it sounds.
For many years I worked at the front desk of the Hampton Inn-Col Alto. I started as the night auditor, working the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift for three years before becoming the front desk manager. Even after taking the job at Lowe’s, I remained a part-time employee at the hotel.
I encountered a number of famous people during my time at the Hampton Inn front desk. One night I checked in actor William H. Macy who was in town with his father doing some sight-seeing. He was so incredibly nice to all the employees.
I got a short side view of Bruce Springsteen and his wife when they were guests. Their daughter, Jessica Springsteen, is a talented equestrian who was competing at the Virginia Horse Center.
Very late one cold winter’s evening, a pretty, petite blonde with a Tennessee twang stopped in with her husband looking for a room. They wanted one of the rooms in the manor house, but at the time those rooms were available through reservation only, so I booked her into one of the nicest rooms in the modern hotel addition. Since it was so late, I gave her a discount. The next day, the manager called me and asked about the woman I had checked in the night before. I thought she was going to be mad at me for discounting the room rate. But apparently the woman was country singer Deana Carter and her then-husband Brandon Malone. I had not recognized her, but everyone in the breakfast room the morning after her stay did and she was the talk of the hotel.
The one time I was truly star struck was the night Robert Duvall checked in.
Robert Duvall was visiting Lexington to do some research on Gen. Robert E. Lee, whom he was playing in the film “Gods and Generals.” The actor, then in his early 70s, arrived in a buff-colored button down shirt and a pair of faded jeans. He was accompanied by his young Argentinian wife, Luciana Pedraza, whose espresso colored eyes sparkled in the light.
The general manager checked in the Duvalls, which was a good thing. The moment I saw Robert Duvall in the entryway of the Col Alto manor, I found myself robbed of words. I just stood there with the look of someone who had been told “The test results are in and they’re not good.” I know that because there was a mirror directly across from the front desk.
I wasn’t just seeing Robert Duvall. I was seeing all the wonderful characters he has portrayed over the years, from the mute Boo Radley in “To Kill A Mockingbird” to Corleone family consigliere Tom Hagen in “The Godfather” to mercurial cattle driver Gus McCrae in the television miniseries “Lonesome Dove.”
To my horror, while my coworker was on the phone, Duvall approached the desk and asked me for a dinner recommendation, in particular a place where he could soak up the local color.
I couldn’t say anything. My words were trapped behind immobile lips. My frozen face was beginning to flush. I’m sure the actor thought he was witnessing someone having a medical emergency.
The general manager was off the phone by then. He said to me in a fierce whisper, “Joann, Mr. Duvall is asking you a question.”
Under pressure by both my boss and Mr. Duvall, I finally did manage to speak. But what came out did not resemble any kind of standard English.
I said, “We dun eee ow, we awe eee ah home.”
Duvall blinked a few times in confoundment and his wife looked at him as though asking for a translation. I was trying to say, “We don’t eat out, we all eat at home.”
The manager, realizing my impaired state, referred the Duvalls to the hotel’s concierge. I don’t know what restaurant she recommended, but they both requested antacids upon their return.
Three months later, I was down in the housekeeping department looking through the lost and found items. Our hotel guests often left behind nice clothing and we were obligated to keep the clothing for three months before employees were allowed to sift through the boxes and take home whatever appealed to them.
In one box I found the light yellowish brown shirt Robert Duvall had been wearing when he checked in.
I still have it to this day. It’s in a sealed plastic storage bag and occasionally I will come upon it and remember that day when seeing Robert Duvall turned me into Boo Radley.
