Bill Hersey’s Partyline, June 1987

Here we are into July and, for us Americans, the July 4th Independence Day is something very special. It sure brings back memories of pic-nics with the family at a big old amusement park in Tole-do, Ohio, and dinner on a boat in the Maumee River which ran through my little hometown of Perrysburg.

Dad even set up a stand at Ft. Meigs for my brother and I so we could make a little extra cash selling fireworks. Later, while living in Arizona, I spent four or five July Fourths at the big all-Indian powwows in Flagstaff. My Hopi godfather, David, was a religious leader in that tribe, so I pretty much got in on both the public and private events. A few nights ago I watched the videos of last year’s tremendous celebration of the 100th birthday of the Statue of Liberty.

If you are American and need a boost to that feeling of pride in and patriotism for the U.S., that film will certainly do it. Here in Tokyo I have the great privilege of celebrating the 4th (on the 3rd this year) with two great and very special Americans, U.S. Ambassador Mike Mansfield and his wife Maureen. On the 4th, will join America’s top business leaders in Tokyo, their families and some of their Japanese friends in a true red, white and blue celebration at the Tokyo American Club.

That evening there’ll be more celebrating with people from all over the world at special parties at the Lex, Neo-Japonesque and Area, all over Roppongi way. A few days later I’ll be off on Delta Airlines’ big bird for the good ole USA. It’s been a little over a year since we were there, and our first stop will be the same as last year.. . Atlanta.

A year ago it was for Coke’s spectacular 100th anniversary. This time it’s to see some good friends and a little of booming Atlanta. From Atlanta it’s up to New York City where I’ll participate on a panel with Regine Choukroun (Regine’s Clubs), Ricardo Amaral of Club A in Brazil, people from the Hard Rock Cafe, Village Voice, etc. at the New Music Seminar.

Will catch up on friends, shows, new eateries and new happenings in the Big Apple before heading West to L.A. with several stops in between. If all goes well, will spend a few days with my brother Chris in Perrysburg, where we were born. It’s hard to believe there were 25,000 people at the Madonna concert I attended last week …about five times the population of the lovely little town where I grew up. Want to look trimmer than my former high school mates, so am on a grapefruit diet.

I thought it would be difficult but those Indian River grape-fruits from Florida are delicious. They always seem to help knock off a few kilo when I most need it. I’m sure the 4th of July has some great memories for all Americans, and hopefully friends from other countries as well. Happy Birthday, America. I hope it’s a good year for her and a great 4th of July weekend for you. As part of their Community Enrichment Program, North-west Airlines is flying in the Minnesota Boychoir.

The 30 members range in age from 8 to 14 and do 40 concerts a season. They participated in a boys choir festival in Vienna in 1982 and have received the highest commendation from the Governor of Minnesota. They started out this tour at Ibaraki with the Ibaraki Choir and enjoyed their home stays there, After that it was Osaka and Hakone for more performances. Tonight, the third, they’ll perform at the Tokyo American Club and on the 4th at Tokyo Disneyland. On the 5th and 6th, it’s the Tokyo Metropolitan Choir Festival.

Mel Gibson and Danny Glover in Tokyo

Warner Brothers’ Alex Ying was kept even busier than usual for a week or so showing director Richard Donner and actors Mel Gibson, Danny Glover and Gary Busey around during their promotional tour here for the action thriller “Lethal Weapon,” currently packing them in around Japan. Alex was able to get away a few days after the promotion and traveled to Shanghai with Donner and Gibson. Even taking into consideration the size of Tokyo, it’s often difficult to understand this lack of communication and coordination.

A perfect example of this was the evening of June 2. Three motion picture companies had scheduled premieres of their films that evening . . . Warner Bros. “Lethal Weapon” at the Pantheon, Toho’s release of the Watanabe-backed film, “The Shatterer” at Tokyo Kaikan and Toei’s “Drifting Class-room” at Yomiuri Hall. All had appearances by the stars, receptions, etc., and all were well worth attending. It was just a matter of no time. As Tokyo Bureau Chief for the Hollywood Reporter, I felt we should get to as many of the film events as possible …and we did make all three for a short time, at least. However, that meant we had to miss a lot of other important events that were scheduled for about the same time, the same evening.

Manfields welcome Bill Blass

U.S. Ambassador Mike Mansfield and his wife Maureen have to be one of the busiest and most in-demand couples around. Even so, they always find time for friends and recently they gave a reception to welcome the “Ambassador of American Fashion” Bill Blass and to say sayonara to columnist Jane Rees who will be spending most of her time back in San Francisco with a few months here in Tokyo — a place she loves —every year. It was a relaxed affair with a lot of interesting people.

I especially enjoyed meeting British actress Jane Seymour—every bit as beautiful off screen as on — and much nicer than some of the femme fatales she plays in the many mini-series (“The Sun Also Rises,” “Crossings,” etc.) in which she stars. Jane was in Tokyo for about ten days work-ing on a PBS series with a working title “The Japan of the ’80s.” She had just finished “a very long mini series” on locations in Spain and Argentina and, in talking with Spanish Ambassador Camil Barcia and his wife Carmela, learned that there had been a murder in the villa she was staying in while in Spain. She and her personal assistant both swore they heard strange noises there during the night. It was nice seeing Bill Blass again and, of course, we’re going to miss Jane.