The way I heard it often tells the true stories of men and women who figured out a better way to accomplish something important, people like the geniuses who figured out the magic formula that's allowed countless companies to find the right people for the right job. I refer, of course, to the geniuses at Zipp recruiter Zipp recruiter actively invites great candidates to apply to your job so you find the right people right away, no matter what. The industry zip recruiter makes hiring faster and easier.

And right now you can try zip recruiter for free at zip recruiter Dotcom Exaro. That's zip recruiter Dotcom cigarroa OWI.

This is the way I heard it.

The famous television producer thought Gig Young was perfect for the title role in his new series, the famous television producer was right.

Gig Young was a serious actor. Unfortunately, Gig Young was also a serious alcoholic. This was hardly a secret in Hollywood. Three years earlier, another famous producer, Mel Brooks, had offered Gig Young, the lead role in Blazing Saddles. Alas, when Gig Young showed up with the DTRs on the first day of shooting, Mel had no choice but to find a last minute replacement.

Good news for Gene Wilder, who went on to become the Waco kid, but bad news for Gig Young, a former Oscar winner on his fourth marriage who had blown what many believed would be his last shot at redemption.

But now, three years later, here he was again.

The famous television producer was offering Gig Young, the title role in a new TV series, a series that was guaranteed to be a hit.

All gig Young had to do was show up on time, hit his mark and say his lines. Unfortunately, Gig Young was not yet ready for his close up. He arrived on the set Friday afternoon, three hours late, too drunk to perform. Even after a dozen cups of black coffee, he was still slurring his words and stumbling through his scenes. Finally, at 11 p.m., the frantic producer like Mel Brooks three years before had no choice but to find a replacement.

Easier said than done.

This was the title character, after all, in a series that was scheduled to air in just three days.

So as Gig Young was sent home in a cab, the frantic producer made a late night phone call to a Hollywood legend, a phone call the frantic producer remembered word for word.

Sorry to call so late, but I want to run something by you. It's twelve thirty in the morning. You're going to run something by me at twelve thirty in the morning. It can't wait, said the producer. I'm in a hell of a jam. Oh, it's a problem. I have a new TV show and it's going to be a hit. It airs this Monday. Congratulations. Kind of go back to sleep now. You don't understand, said the producer.

I'm missing one element. Yeah. What's that? The title character. How can you not have a title character for a show that's about to air in three days? It's a long story, said the producer. But I need your help tonight.

Tonight? Yes. As in right now. That was the phone call that persuaded a legendary actor to climb out of his bed at 12 thirty in the morning and drive to the studio where a very grateful TV producer and a very nervous cast waited for his arrival.

According to his cast mates gig, Young's replacement strolled onto the set at one a.m., still wearing his slippers and pajamas. Glancing briefly at the script, he poured himself a cup of coffee, introduced himself to the crew and became the beloved character known today by billions of fans all over the world.

Indeed, Gig Young's replacement was so perfect for the part, he became the highest paid actor on this seminal series, a series that would challenge Hollywood stereotypes like nothing else before or since, and make everyone involved a pretty penny.

Everyone but gig young. Two years after losing the role of a lifetime gig, Young's career circled the drain faster than ever. He booked a few small parts and a few forgettable films, but by 1978, no one trusted him to remember his lines.

Ironic, all things considered, or maybe just tragic. Either way, by the fall of seventy eight gig Young was finally ready for his close up to prepare for this role. He drank a bottle of bourbon and picked a fight with his fifth wife. Then he retrieved a revolver from his desk drawer and shot Kim Schmidt in the head.

They'd been married for less than three weeks, then Gig Young blew his own brains all over the walls of his Manhattan apartment in the performance for which he is best remembered today.

As for Greg Young's replacement, the man who rolled out of bed and reported to work in his slippers and pajamas, well, he's remembered today mostly for his voice, the voice of a legendary actor who answered his telephone at 12 30 in the morning when a desperate television producer named Aaron Spelling begged him to accept the title role in his latest project, a role that didn't require him to appear on camera at all or even memorize a single line, a role that was tailor made for an alcoholic named Gig Young, but was ultimately brought to life instead by a seasoned pro named John Forsayth, who literally phoned it in as a title character named Charlie, who employed three unforgettable women we remember as his angels.

Anyway, that's the way I heard it. Please tell me you remember Charlie's Angels. Please tell me you're old enough to remember Farrah and Jacqueline and Kate, because if you're not, that story would have been most dissatisfying. That's the the challenge with the podcast.

Right. In this format, I have to have a reveal that the vast majority of listeners are already familiar with. Otherwise it doesn't work. Problem is, the older I get, the less certain I become that my reveals are going to be universally recognized. I'm pretty sure you guys all know about Charlie's Angels, but I went that way because I was also pretty sure most of you didn't know about gigging and gig young was the story I wanted to tell.

He just happens to be a lousy reveal. You can see my challenge. This is the way I talked about the way I heard it, the only spontaneous analysis of the only podcast for the curious mind with a short attention span wherein I examine the circumstances that prompted me to write the tale that you were just told in this case, the story of Gig Young called.

He wasn't ready for his close up.

Now, the way this one happened, I'd like to tell you, I just sat down because I wanted to write a story about gay young. But of course, these things never start that cleanly. I'm not even sure where most of them start, really. But as best I can figure, this one started earlier that day when I was talking to Stuart Varney on Fox News. Stuart had invited me in to discuss the gig economy because I run a foundation that is focused on jobs.

He wanted to know what I thought about gigging. Now I'm a big fan of gigging. Just another word for freelancing. I've been freelancing my entire career. The entertainment business is a gig economy and currently in California, our leaders are trying to get rid of it. They they don't want to 99 years. They want tours. Easier to collect the tax, I suppose. Now they tell us, you know, the gig economy takes advantage of people, but I personally don't believe that.

And I weighed in and I shared my thoughts. And at the end of the interview, I realized I had said the word gig economy so many times it didn't sound like anything anymore. You ever do that?

You say the same word over a gig, gig, gig. It does. It just loses all meaning and relevance. Which is funny because a couple of hours later, when I was standing in the Apple store replacing my laptop, which prematurely crapped the bed, a hipster in a red shirt looked at me and asked me how many gigabytes I desired, which I thought was ironic and kind of funny.

You know, second time in a few hours I'd heard that basic word used in a different way. Gig economy, gigabyte. Is the universe trying to tell me something? Am I supposed to write a story about the gig economy or gigabytes? I'm not sure. I don't really linger too too long on that question. But I've learned with this podcast that sometimes when the same word or the same phrase keeps circling around, it can lead you to a place of passing interest.

And that's what happened here when later that same evening I got home and poured myself a sensible glass of cabernet and sat down to watch an old movie on Turner Movie Classics. I didn't care which old movie. I just wanted to see an old movie. And up popped a film called They Shoot Horses, don't they? 1969, starring a guy named Gig Young. And that's how it happened suddenly in the course of a day. I can't deny gigabytes and gig economy and gig young all at the same time.

Now, I knew enough about Gig Young to be to be curious, to want to learn more is an actor one generation ahead of me. But I do know that he was associated with the academy curse. A lot of actors and actresses who win an Oscar watch their careers go straight over the cliff. As a result, maybe not as a result, but in the wake of an Academy Award, a lot of bad things happen to a lot of talented actors, but nothing as bad as what happened.

A gig young after he won Best Supporting Actor for his work in. They shoot horses, don't they? He really never recovered. Elizabeth Montgomery divorced him over claims of spousal abuse. He married his fourth wife after that, then his fifth wife. Along the way, Mel Brooks throws him a lifeline. He can't do anything with it. Aaron Spelling offers him a great gig, which he blows, all of which I shared in the story. Then, of course, he murders his wife and kills himself.

And the whole thing is so dark and so terrible that I had second thoughts about even writing about ghiglione. Never mind the fact that I couldn't figure out how to land a reveal that would leave most of you hopefully somewhat satisfied at the end of the story. But then looking at the Mel Brooks angle and looking at the Aaron spelling angle, I wondered, well, who got the gig instead? Is there a way to make this a Blazing Saddles reveal if I somehow bend it back into Gene Wilder taking Gig Young's role, but already wrote about Mel Brooks and one of the first episodes and I didn't want to go there again.

And then I thought, well, what about Charlie's Angels? You know, I mean, I already wrote about Farrah Fawcett in an earlier episode, so I wasn't sure I wanted to go there. But then I thought about John Forsayth and wondered about the circumstances that led to him actually replacing gig. And that is when I found the completely delightful and totally true story about the phone call.

He answered it for at twelve thirty at night and the fact that he got out of out of his bed.

John Forsythe, a respected actor who's working in a gig economy, takes the call, gets out of bed in his pajamas, puts on his bathrobe and slippers, goes to the studio, box the gig, and never goes back again.

From that day on, he did everything over the phone. He just literally phoned it in. A man who is rewarded for his participation in the gig economy, even as another man who wasn't ready for his close up named gig is punished in the gig economy. See how it all comes together? For me, it couldn't be better. I'm writing about the gig economy, after all, on a new computer that has more gigabytes than I need.

Focusing on a story about a guy named Gig who didn't get the gig that turned out to be the best gig another guy got.

Plus, it's fun for me because I narrate for a living.

And so all of this is made made perfect sense. Anyway, that's how this story happened, by the way, Mike Rowe works. Speaking of gigging, I got a million dollars I'm trying to give away through the foundation between now and the end of March. One million dollars in work ethic scholarships when a new gig go to Mike Rowe works dog and apply for a work ethic scholarship or. Oh, my gosh, how about this talk about Sympatico Zip recruiter sponsors the episode.

I'm grateful to zip. You know what they do? They hook people up and all kinds of jobs. You might call them gigs. You're looking for a new gig. Go over there and find a job. And if you're looking to fill a gig and your company Zip Recruiter Dotcom cigarroa week, I can't stand it. The serendipity is calling me. Never have I had anything come together in such a fortuitous fashion during this fake segment called The Way I talked about the way I heard it, which may or may not continue.

Next week, we'll see how it goes. In the meantime.

Have a good one.