What's In A Name?
- 5 Sep 07, 07:04 PM
Some kids are named after great saints, literary heavyweights or much-loved family members. Me, I'm named after a Private Dick.
Let me explain. Back in 1961, when my parents were looking for something to call their first-born, they thought about Trevor. Thankfully, they reconsidered. Instead, they settled on the name of a detective from an American TV show. It was based on a fictional agency in Hollywood, Los Angeles, called situated on a salubrious part of the man drag, between La Cienega Boulevard and Alta Loma Road. And the king of the Strip was Stuart "Stu" Bailey, who solved the toughest cases, brandished his snub-nosed 38 and single-handedly won the Cold War in 206 episodes.
And so I became Stu Bailie. And when I made my first trip to Los Angeles it was a matter of some personal importance to locate this famous joint. Sadly, there isn't a number 77 on the road, as all of the addresses have four digits, but hey, there's a large brass plaque where the action was supposed to have happened. So I stood there and toasted my crime-fighting namesake.
Mind you, I wasn't the first to have made the pilgrimage. In 1975, Thin Lizzy travelled to America for the first time, and Phil Lynott wanted to find the very same location. He was disappointed to learn that the office had never actually existed. However, one part of the story was actually true. In the TV series, Stu's office was next door to a pizza restaurant called Dino's. And this did exist when Phil visited, part-owned by Dean Martin and by then in some need of repair. Typically, the unglamorous truth didn't bother the ever-romantic Phil, who incorporated Dino's into the lyric of his greatest song, 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. And thus, in the popular imagination, every Friday night they'll be dressed to kill, down at Dino's Bar & Grill.
There's a weird circularity in this story as I later became the of Thin Lizzy, and I had to piece this complicated story together by myself. But it was a fascinating and oddly emotional journey to make.
Incidentally, the actor who played Stu was really called Effrem Zimbalist Jr. By way of a bonus, there is a real-life Stuart Bailey in the entertainments business. He's the brother of singer Axl Rose. I wonder what his parents watched on TV, back in the day?
Stu Bailie presents The Late show on Radio Ulster, every Friday from 10pm until midnight. See his playlist here.
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I also had a narrow escape - I was nearly Toby.
I know what you mean about visiting famous locations. Last year I went to visit the site of Warhol's Factory in New York. There is no trace of it now except on maps - but I still felt a shiver of excitement.
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