Rose Savala

ROSE'S DAD

My dad worked as a gardener in Hollywood. He worked for Warner Brothers. His work was gardening with another man. They used to go and cut trees and flowers, out in the mountains, all over, with a permission to go and do it, and bring the trees and whatever, just to decorate stages, to make movies. He got so close to Jack Warner, the owner, he once gave my dad a suit. You won't believe it, he did. He gave him a suit, a beautiful suit. We asked him, "Where did you get it, Dad?" and he says, "Jack..." -- he used to call him by his first name, he knew him so well -- he says, "Jack gave it to me." My Dad was a big guy, he was a big man. Have you ever seen John Wayne? The same exactly my Dad was, a big man. And he used to wear a belt with little bullets around, made out of silver, and a hat. He used to come home and tell us stories that went on in the movies. My mom never worked, she always took care of the house and of us. We had five, I have two brothers and three sisters -- well, with me it's three, three girls and two boys. We are all alive yet, all five of us. They're all scattered, but we're still alive, all alive. I'm the oldest, I'm eighty - I'm gonna be eighty in August.