Tommy Curtis, The Matchmaker Meetin and Greetin

Published: Jan. 17, 2017, 5:10 a.m.

b'Tommy Curtis on the impetus for "Meetin\' and Greetin\'"\\n\\n"You came up to me and said, \'You\'re doing a great job,\'" and I think I just had huge ratings or whatever it is. You said, \'Tom, you know. I want to say this in the way Andy would say it, because he was a legendary boss and a great guy. He said, \'Tom, I don\'t think that cruisin\' and boozin\' is so correct anymore. Can you come up with something else?" You didn\'t say, \'Stop using \'cruisin\' and boozin\'\'," but you said, \'Come up with something else,\' and that\'s how meetin\' and greetin\' began, thanks to you."\\n\\nTommy Curtis, The Matchmaker Meetin\' and Greetin\'\\n\\nA Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen and this is Our Town, and this is a special, special broadcast for me, a podcast, to introduce this man that I\'ve known for many, many, many years. The actual creator ofthe iconic American phrase, "meetin\' and greetin\'," my guest is a local legend according to the Washington Post, and according to WMALFM. He was a Yale man also, and has the unique distinction of having appeared on the front page of the Post Style section, Metro section, Sunday magazine, and a story on page one. In addition, the City Paper profiled him in a lengthy cover piece. Further, he is a subject of an acclaimed filmmaker, Dave Nuttycombe\'s short documentary, Match Me if You Can. My guest today is Tommy "The Matchmaker" Curtis, and he\'s back from Hollywood. Tommy, welcome to Our Town.\\nTommy Curtis: All of that is because of you, sir. I got to tell you, this is the man that discovered me.\\nA Ockershausen: You can\'t blame me for that, Tommy.\\nTommy Curtis: It is, it\'s true.\\nA Ockershausen: You are Hollywood royalty. Your family, they must have had great roots in New York, where your family\'s originally from. Correct?\\nTommy Curtis: Exactly. My grandfather was Gentleman Jack Cohn, and my uncle was the, what do you call it? I don\'t want to say hated, but the very controversial Harry Cohn.\\nA Ockershausen: Harry Cohn.\\nTommy Curtis: He was King Cohn\\nA Ockershausen: A studio mogul.\\nTommy Curtis: Right. \\nA Ockershausen: The first time I ever heard the word, mogul, it was about Harry Cohn.\\nTommy Curtis: Gentleman Jack, they argued consistently over the years, because he was the business end, and King Cohn was this guy that was actually, they say-\\nA Ockershausen: The creative part of the business?\\nTommy Curtis: Yeah. You know what? In the movie, The Godfather, the legend is that was my uncle Harry\'s horse, in his bed.\\nA Ockershausen: Is that correct?\\nTommy Curtis: Because he gave the part to Sinatra in From Here to Eternity, that made Sinatra\'s career. That\'s the story, I understand. That\'s a myth, or whatever.\\nA Ockershausen: Yeah, but it\'s a good story.\\nTommy Curtis: Yeah.\\nA Ockershausen: That\'s unusual to have the business side in New York and the creative side in Hollywood.\\nTommy Curtis: Exactly.\\nA Ockershausen: Your family was the New York side.\\nTommy Curtis: Right.\\nA Ockershausen: You\'ve got so much to talk about, Tommy, but I ran into your name the first time when you were running for the office. I don\'t know whether it was the school board or something with the city, and you had a place called Wayne\\u2019s Love on K street. I couldn\'t believe it. I said, "Here\'s the guy, a saloon owner, wants to be on the school board. What is this all about?"\\nTommy Curtis: May I just say one thing about that? John F. Kennedy\'s grandfather, Honey-Fitz, was a saloon owner too. I used that all the time in those days. I said, "Well, it\'s not that bad." Don\'t forget, I did go to Yale, so I\'m not completely-\\nA Ockershausen: You\'re a Yale man.\\nTommy Curtis: I\'m a Yale man. That was the little castle on K street; you\'re right.\\nA Ockershausen: What a great place thought. K street was beginning to come alive then, right?\\nTommy Curtis: Right. Of course.\\nA Ockershausen: The city was beginning to come alive.'