Read Online Producer by Wendy Walker - Free Book Online
Authors: Wendy Walker
Tags: BIO022000
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was surprisedwhen Mrs. Onassis wandered over to the small makeshift garage office where I was sitting on the front stoop, going over some
lists. She sat beside me and looked at the papers I was holding. She had on a navy top and a pair of white pants held together
with a safety pin.
“Wendy,” she slowly articulated, “what plane is John on for the tournament? Who’s on the plane with him?” She looked directly
into my eyes, something she always did when she spoke to anyone. After telling myself silently,
Mrs. Jackie Onassis is sitting on a step beside me
, I pulled it together and explained the flight manifest. I still recall her apparent discomfort as she wandered away looking
less than satisfied. “I worry when he flies,” she said over her shoulder. Her son was a teenager at the time and she seemed
concerned. How could anyone have known the fate that was awaiting John Jr., as he and his wife and her sister would die in
a plane crash many years later. It feels positively eerie today when I recall how nervous Jackie was that day.
To jump ahead, I was working for Larry in 1994 when I was at the Washington bureau and bumped into JFK Jr. There was a Democratic
campaign office on the first floor of the building and John, now in his midtwenties, was leaving one afternoon as I was arriving
with one of my staff producers. We greeted each other and he said, “Since CNN is in this building, do you think I could see
the set? I always wanted to see those lights.”
“Would you like to see them now?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
I turned to the woman walking with me and said, “Please go to the set right now and make sure all the lights are turned on.
We’ll be right up.”
She took off ahead of me while John and I waited for thenext elevator. By the time we got to the set, the lights were lit and I walked him around casually, as if I did this sort
of thing every day. Like it was no big deal. The crew couldn’t take their eyes off John as he viewed the set and said, “Funny,
it looks so different on the air.” When he went behind the desk and examined each colored light separately, I said, “I hope
we get you to sit here sometime.”
And so we did. Just as eerie and foreboding as Jackie’s fear of her son flying was September 28, 1995, when Larry interviewed
JFK Jr. on the launch of his political magazine,
George.
KING: For the time being, do you want to stay with it [
George
]?
KENNEDY JR.: Well, I would hate to say that I am going to do anything until I am seventy. But I am going to be doing this for the foreseeable future.
KING: Do you ever fear for your own health?
KENNEDY JR.: Sure.
KING: There are nuts in this country. I mean, you Kennedys must think about it. How could they not think about it? Any Kennedy. In public life or not.
KENNEDY JR.: It’s not something… like walking around wondering if you are going to be struck by lightning. It’s… just not something that you really keep in the forefront of your mind.
KING: But it might affect decision making, like going into politics, mightn’t it?
KENNEDY JR.: It might. But it doesn’t.
KING: It seems not to for the five that are in it. But… if you went in, or thought about going in, the thought of being harmed by going in, would not enter into your thoughts?
KENNEDY JR.: That wouldn’t be one of the considerations, no.
I was so impressed with JFK Jr. I thought he should have his own show on CNN so I arranged for him to meet with the late Ed
Turner, a top CNN executive at the time. John strolled into the meeting holding a banana. He looked incredibly beautiful,
but the powers that be passed on putting him on the air. Big mistake! He would have been a natural. In fact, if he were alive
today, I’m sure he would have a popular political show on the air called
George,
after his magazine, which ceased publication about a year after his tragic death.
Back at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, I recall a
lists. She sat beside me and looked at the papers I was holding. She had on a navy top and a pair of white pants held together
with a safety pin.
“Wendy,” she slowly articulated, “what plane is John on for the tournament? Who’s on the plane with him?” She looked directly
into my eyes, something she always did when she spoke to anyone. After telling myself silently,
Mrs. Jackie Onassis is sitting on a step beside me
, I pulled it together and explained the flight manifest. I still recall her apparent discomfort as she wandered away looking
less than satisfied. “I worry when he flies,” she said over her shoulder. Her son was a teenager at the time and she seemed
concerned. How could anyone have known the fate that was awaiting John Jr., as he and his wife and her sister would die in
a plane crash many years later. It feels positively eerie today when I recall how nervous Jackie was that day.
To jump ahead, I was working for Larry in 1994 when I was at the Washington bureau and bumped into JFK Jr. There was a Democratic
campaign office on the first floor of the building and John, now in his midtwenties, was leaving one afternoon as I was arriving
with one of my staff producers. We greeted each other and he said, “Since CNN is in this building, do you think I could see
the set? I always wanted to see those lights.”
“Would you like to see them now?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
I turned to the woman walking with me and said, “Please go to the set right now and make sure all the lights are turned on.
We’ll be right up.”
She took off ahead of me while John and I waited for thenext elevator. By the time we got to the set, the lights were lit and I walked him around casually, as if I did this sort
of thing every day. Like it was no big deal. The crew couldn’t take their eyes off John as he viewed the set and said, “Funny,
it looks so different on the air.” When he went behind the desk and examined each colored light separately, I said, “I hope
we get you to sit here sometime.”
And so we did. Just as eerie and foreboding as Jackie’s fear of her son flying was September 28, 1995, when Larry interviewed
JFK Jr. on the launch of his political magazine,
George.
KING: For the time being, do you want to stay with it [
George
]?
KENNEDY JR.: Well, I would hate to say that I am going to do anything until I am seventy. But I am going to be doing this for the foreseeable future.
KING: Do you ever fear for your own health?
KENNEDY JR.: Sure.
KING: There are nuts in this country. I mean, you Kennedys must think about it. How could they not think about it? Any Kennedy. In public life or not.
KENNEDY JR.: It’s not something… like walking around wondering if you are going to be struck by lightning. It’s… just not something that you really keep in the forefront of your mind.
KING: But it might affect decision making, like going into politics, mightn’t it?
KENNEDY JR.: It might. But it doesn’t.
KING: It seems not to for the five that are in it. But… if you went in, or thought about going in, the thought of being harmed by going in, would not enter into your thoughts?
KENNEDY JR.: That wouldn’t be one of the considerations, no.
I was so impressed with JFK Jr. I thought he should have his own show on CNN so I arranged for him to meet with the late Ed
Turner, a top CNN executive at the time. John strolled into the meeting holding a banana. He looked incredibly beautiful,
but the powers that be passed on putting him on the air. Big mistake! He would have been a natural. In fact, if he were alive
today, I’m sure he would have a popular political show on the air called
George,
after his magazine, which ceased publication about a year after his tragic death.
Back at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis, I recall a
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