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Tony Franciosa and The Comet's Tale

by Carol Jackson


In the early 90's, I was fortunate enough to meet Tony Franciosa when he came to St. Louis, Mo. to do a play.

Back then I was working days.  I remembered I had not told my boss about a doctor's appointment I had.  I went into his office and heard Tony's unmistakable voice.

I forgot about why I was there and ran to the TV.  Tony was on a local news show talking about doing the live play "Grand Hotel."  I immediately called my mom and told her to get me the best ticket she could.

She said she was busy.  I said, "Mom, it's SEARCH!"  She knew what SEARCH meant to me.  When I got home I found one of the Comet's expired SEARCH license plates and wrote a letter to Tony explaining how much I enjoyed the SEARCH series.  (My 1969 Mercury Comet has had the personal license plate "SEARCH" since 1979, I knew there was a reason I kept those!!)

My mom took the letter and license plate to the theatre the next day.  I didn't hear anything.

The day of the play, I had my ticket for I left the house early.  I had a good seat.  I think it was like the 11th row.  I was thrilled to get to see Tony.

I was sitting there thinking silly girl thoughts like, "I'm breathing the same air he is."  I felt the old SEARCH rush.

After the play, I told an usher Tony was a hero of mine, could I meet him?  She told me I might see him if I waited by the stage door outside the theatre.

So I went there and waited.  It happened to be a sunny summer day and the weather was nice.

After a little while, he came outside with a group of people.  I said, "Mr. Franciosa, can I shake your hand?"   He gave me a big smile and came over to me and shook my hand.

I asked him if he got my license plate.  He said, "Was that you?"  I said yes.  He said he had called and left a message on our answering machine.  He said he was surprised I remembered SEARCH.

I showed him a picture of the Comet with the SEARCH plate.  He said, "You don't still have this?"  I said, "It's right over there," and pointed to the lot where it was parked.

He said he really liked the license plate and he was going to frame it and hang it in his study.  He gave me a hug and left.  He was very nice to me.

When I got home, I found he had called.  Unfortunately our answering machine cut off at about 30 seconds -- but of course, I kept the tape.  An mp3 audio file is available by clicking here.

The photo was taken on March 13, 2004.



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