.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} When I think about interviewing celebrities, I recall the time Gordon Jump, star of Maytag commercials and “WKRP in Cincinnati,” put his arm around me as we walked across the city park in Newton. I have that effect on some guys.

But obviously it would be a much better story if it involved the arm of, say, Sharon Stone. Sharon comes to mind because I held a door open for her once. Couldn’t think of a single thing to say. Well, one thing, but I hate getting slapped.

The point is, my star-meeting experience has been modest, by journalism standards. The numbers are low and some of the names are already starting to fade from America’s memory.

But it’s fun and easy to do without training or practice, because the long-famous know exactly what’s going to happen.

Jesse Jackson, for example, is a master of the form. I found it doesn’t matter what question you ask him, because he just answers whatever question he wanted you to ask.

He pontificates for a while, you jot down some quotes, and everybody goes home happy.

A journalist is always looking for more than that, though, always hoping for insights only he or she could extract. I was excited to get some great anecdotes from Doug Henning back when he was a well-known magician. A few weeks later, I read somebody else’s article about him and realized that it doesn’t matter if you’re a good interviewer or a terrible one; celebs tell the exact same stories to everybody.

Still, some immortals can be down to earth. Pee Wee Reese, the baseball Hall of Famer, asked me if it would be OK if he threw part of a hot dog into the bushes on the golf course where we were standing. I thought it over and gave him permission.

That was when I was writing Kentucky Derby-related feature stories for the Louisville Courier-Journal, the only time I’ve ever been knee-deep in celebs.

It was interesting but rough on the ego – then-White House Chief of Staff John Sununu, Prince Albert of Monaco and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky all seemed to think they were better than me.

Looking back on it now, with the wisdom only the years can provide, I’m confident in saying that Gretzky really was way, way better than me.

The 1993 flood was a good time, too, because I got to meet media hotshots such as Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather, who dished out an excellent down-home Texas quip that I’ve forgotten.

I also accidentally kicked Wolf Blitzer’s microphone cord just as he was about to go live, and I haven’t been able to break into network broadcasting since. Do not anger Wolf Blitzer, is my advice to you.

When I met former “Cheers” star John Ratzenberger the other day, he brought to mind other comedians I’ve met or talked to on the phone. They share one trait: They’re determined to be taken seriously.

Al Franken was like that while being pestered by me and a couple of other local reporters. We could have ushered in Rush Limbaugh wearing an evening gown, and Franken still wouldn’t have let loose with what we really wanted to hear.

A colleague here at the paper, Steve McIntire, reports that he once accidentally walked off with Chuck Norris’ sunglasses after an interview. Surprisingly, he lived to tell about it.

A former co-worker interviewed Mick Jagger when the Rolling Stones played in Ames, and I believe he urged Mick to say something negative about Nebraska. Always sound advice.

Less glamorous fields have celebrities whose fame is just as real, but only now and then. Once I interviewed a man who is a major figure in, of all things, the world of woodworking. At seminars, he’s surrounded by sawdust-covered men in their 50s and 60s who treat him as if he were Elvis with a table saw.

Then he goes home and, “right away, my wife is nagging me to mow the lawn,” he said.

I wonder if Jesse Jackson ever has that sort of homecoming. I wonder if his response has anything to do with lawns or mowing.

Late in his long life, I met Edward Bernays, a big shot in the world of public relations who once counted Thomas Edison among his clients. As I shook his hand, I thought about him shaking the hand of the Wizard of Menlo Park, and it gave me a warm feeling.

But just between you and me, he was no Gordon Jump.