SINGLE LIFE
DATING DISASTERS
of the rich and famous.
JAY LECHTMAN
Special to The Jewish News
eing single means
dating. And that
means having one
date, at least, that you'd
rather forget.
But some dates are tortu-
ously recalled forever.
The one where a new ro-
mantic interest "loses her
lunch" as you are making
love.
The one where you take
your date home only to be
propositioned by her naked
mother.
Or the blind date with a
nun-to-be.
And these were dates of
famous people — writer
Spalding Gray, exercise
guru Jake Steinfeld and mu-
sic video producer Terry
Power.
"You're reminded that
you're not alone in your
fears," said Carole Markin,
who recounted the detailed
dating disasters of these and
96 other notables in her
book, Bad Dates —
Celebrities (and Other Tal-
ented Types) Reveal Their
Worst Nights Out.
Among the celebrities who
recall their worst dating ex-
perience are actress Lainie
Kazan, singer Tom Jones,
director David Lynch,
singer Alice Cooper and fem-
inist Gloria Steinem.
Ms. Kazan remembered
her date's dog chewing off
her false hair, just before the
date removed his.
"Just as the fall is about
to fall off my head, I turn to
this star and announce,
`Excuse me, your dog is eat-
ing my hair. And my hair
isn't mine,' " she recalled.
"He says without missing a
beat, 'Neither is mine,' and
whips off his toupee!"
Mr. Jones' worst date was
a hopscotch match with an
older woman. He was eight,
she was 12.
Mr. Lynch was stood up in
the first grade, after he had
made a date to walk his
"girlfriend" back to school
from lunch.
Mr. Cooper's worst date
B
was taking Linda Blair to
see The Exorcist.
"So picture this: Alice
Cooper and Linda Blair
standing in line to pay to get
in, right?" he described. "It
was sort of like the Addams
Family goes to the movies."
And Ms. Steinem's worst
date? A night out with a
male chauvinist, of course.
"Though this event hap-
pened pre-feminism, it was
one of the common experi-
ences that women had that
eventually accumulated into
feminism," she told Ms.
Markin.
Since the age of 13, people
have arranged dates for Ms.
Markin, "because they want
me to marry a nice Jewish
doctor... or lawyer," she said.
As a result, she wrote in her
book, "I've had a lot of bad
ones."
She profiled her worst in
the book — a college tryst
which she repeatedly had to
interrupt — for another
date, a dorm meeting and a
fire drill.
"I figured he'd never touch
me again," she wrote. "My
insecurity proved to be as
false as the fire alarm, be-
cause he became my boy-
friend for the better part of
two-and-a-half years."
Suspecting that she
shared this in common with
others, and that people
would be interested in
reading the romantic woes
of the rich and famous, she
began her work.
"I proceeded to write
thousands of letters, make
•
•
thousands of phone calls,
crash parties, accost people
in restaurants, beg favors,
sneak onto movie sets, and
get thrown out of baseball
dugouts," she wrote.
While Ms. Markin's ef-
forts averaged two letters
and 10 phone calls per inter-
view, some were as easy as
actress Julia Roberts' agent
calling her.
Ms. Roberts spent her
worst date — her first — in a
car eating pizza with a flatu-
lent escort.
•
.
(
•
. •
.
•
• •
.
/
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
8