Working conditions are extraordinary. Even in Beverly Hills.
The boss sits in the best marble kitchen. The boss’s wife toils in the satin moiré-draped dressing room. A publicist makes a call from an exercise gym. And typists pound away at their keyboards at a precious 12-person buffet table.
“This was originally a dining room,” actress Jean Kasem explains, staring at the three rented computers sharing space with gold-rimmed ceramics. “Now it’s a command center for the homeless.”
In the beginning, there were limousine liberals.
Now, music countdown king Casey Kasem and his wife have taken the concept even further.
Or, specifically, higher. They are Penthouse Progressives.
“It’s like during the wars in Europe, when Eisenhower set up his command post in the most elegant castle,” explains Jean Kasem. “We have his leadership. Why forge a new path? It worked for him, and it will work for us. After all, we are in a social crisis. I am falling.”
lack of affordable housing
The crisis, the Kasems say, is a national shortage of affordable housing. That’s why, since July, they’ve turned their $20,000-a-month, seven-room luxury apartment at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel into a headquarters for Hollywood’s Oct. 7 appearance on “Housing Now!” is. On October 1, he marched on Washington, including a mass mailing to radio stations across the country and a fundraiser on three acres in Holmby Hills, his second home.
“I never thought this would happen,” Casey Kasem admits, as he weaves his way through the maze of boxes stacked haphazardly in a hallway filled with elegant antiques. “It just kept getting bigger and bigger, and before we knew it, we were a combined shipping department, computer center, and stationery store, with 16 people working three shifts.”
It has been called the flashiest office in the world. Or you could call it just another day in the life of LA’s odd couple, the Kasems.
First, there’s the height. She is 5 feet 10 1/2. He is 5 foot 6. And then there’s their age. She has been claiming for years that she is 32, but he is 58. Plus, there’s their clothing. She’s wearing Ralph Lauren white from head to toe today. He wears Italian black from toe to head.
list of causes
And finally, there’s their list of causes, which exceeds even that of your average garden-variety wealthy Hollywood leftist. Their top 10 real-life stories include pro-Nicaraguan activism, Jerry Lewis’ muscular dystrophy video call, Danny Thomas’ St. Jude Research Hospital fundraiser, National Cancer Institute, animal rights, veganism, and the world. Includes nuclear disarmament, world hunger, and drunk driving. and Middle Eastern politics.
Casey Kasem, who has Lebanese Druze roots, maintains a personal obsession with the Middle East, but as director of the Middle East Communication Foundation, he aims to bring Jews and Arabs closer to condemning Israeli leaders. He champions Arab causes by holding workshops across the country. Menahim Begin and Yitzhak Shamir have become as much a staple of the activist scene as “terrorists” as polyurethane voices on the radio.
Whether you’re participating in Live Aid or commemorating the 10th anniversary of Nicaragua’s political revolution, planting a tree for peace on the south lawn of City Hall or feeding children in Africa. Take part in the final leg of giving and promoting UNICEF’s annual charity Halloween broadcast. Whether it’s the US-Soviet effort to end the unwanted arms race in Leningrad, or his arrest three times for civil disobedience during protests at a nuclear test site, Qasem reflects on this. It seems there is. They do everything and are everywhere.
Kasem’s “Flipside”
Mr. Qassem has spent so many years working for causes on his own that his wife compared him to Mahatma Gandhi and declared that he should run for governor. Even his own press releases speak of this “inside out” of his personality, and he’s had features in counterculture publications such as Vegetarian Times and Mother Jones, and this month Kasem has published his own He declared that it was like one of those radio anecdotes. “Come here, the son of a Detroit shopkeeper who grew up with diamonds on his fingers and conflict resolution in his heart.”
Kemal (Casey is his nickname) Kasem, who billed himself as America’s representative with a mix of corny content and a cracking voice, was an ABC radio hit until he was replaced by Shadow Stevens in 1988. He co-produced and hosted the show “America’s Top 40.” Kasem jumped to the Westwood One radio network and signed a hefty five-year contract worth $17 million. He has made millions more selling sales pitches for everything from cars to ketchup, and is also the voice of Shaggy in the Scooby-Doo cartoons and the letters and numbers on Sesame Street. Still, he’s more likely to be listening to a Malcolm X speech on a cassette player than the music of the Miami Sound Machine.
His wife, the former Jean Thompson, grew up in Guam, where her father was a civil servant purchasing military supplies, and claims her good deeds began at age 14, when she volunteered at a naval hospital shortly after the Tet Offensive. There is.
The role of “cheers”
Best known for her recurring role on “Cheers” and its short-lived spin-off as dim-witted blonde Loretta Tortelli, she wore outfits that looked like a $3,000 Hawaiian-print mermaid sheath trim. Thanks, how many over the years We’ve featured St. Jude’s “Worst Dressed” list, including the turquoise tulle she wore on her talk show one season and the outrageous cobra costume with a rhinestone in the belly button. Become a fundraiser.
Clearly, the Kasem family has learned that couples who do things together stay together. They have been married for 10 years, having been married on December 21, 1980 by Kasem’s best friend, the Reverend Jesse Jackson. (Kassem claims to have helped persuade Jackson to run for president.)
On a typical day, the Kasems spend around two to three hours a day on activities with relentless optimism. That’s more than the 12 hours a week Kasem himself spends recording countdown shows for radio and television. Some are interrelated. Kasem does not overlook the fact that by offering to contact 5,000 radio stations about the Housing Now march, he is securing an explosion of publicity by getting his name out to DJs and general managers. is difficult.
Nor does their compassion mean denying themselves creature comforts. They drive matching black Mercedes with car phones. They are regulars at celebrity parties and Spago. Kasem’s own press kit shows him in a crisp double-breasted tuxedo. And this summer, Mr. Kasem bought his wife a little something for her birthday — specifically, a $6.8 million three-bedroom, five-bathroom apartment with a tennis court and pool in Holmby Hills. It’s a mansion.
“Lawn Circus Festival”
“Lone Circus Festival” to raise money for the homeless — Jean Kasem has already set aside $25,000 in donations and hopes to raise a total of $100,000. – will serve as a housewarming party. Closed to the public and homeless, invitations have been sent out to 5,000 celebrities, media, or both for a bronze sculpture exhibition and art auction, in addition to entertainment by the Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was done.
“At first, Jeannie and Casey said, ‘We’ve got to have a fundraiser,’ and let’s have a yard party at our house,” recalls co-worker Valerie Harper. “It turned out to be a big celebration. .”
In the Kasem family’s view, hosting parties like this can do more to help the homeless than working in a shelter — although Mitch Snyder’s Creative Non-Community Although he is participating in the Christmas Eve dinner hosted by celebrities, – There’s violence in Washington, and Casey (without Gene), as part of his contribution to Snyder’s The Great American Sleepout, joins a small group of other stars one night at First and Spring Streets in downtown Los Angeles. I slept on the sidewalk. demonstration. (Kasem has also been known to sign autographs to homeless people when he is arrested with them.)
“We’re moving mountains so you don’t have to go there and pour soup,” says Jean Kasem, sitting in a heart-shaped peach-silk chair beneath a mirror adorned with ceramic cupids. explains. “Sending 5,000 radio packets across the country and sending 5,000 invitations to fundraisers while spending a few days in a hotel room is much more important than going to a hotel and drinking soup.” It does not make the most of proper time management or expertise.”
The Answer Woman
Jean Kasem, who points out that their intention is to “move heaven, earth, and parliament,” is a woman who always follows her Yorkshire terrier puppy Beeper and answers the constant questions of “worker ants.” is. She applied it to attractive men and women who wear rhinestone suspenders and silver sneaker laces and operate phones and computers without regard for the lavish surroundings of tassels, chandeliers, and chintz. It’s a name.
Are there enough portable toilets? “It’s okay,” she reassures. “We have toilets for 3,000 people, fresh water, stereos and air conditioning.”
What about TV producer Fred Silverman, who doesn’t want to serve junk food in his sponsored booth? “We’ll give him a tofu hot dog,” she replied. (After all, the Kasems have a copy of John Robbins’s Congress for a New America, which argues for the benefits of vegetarianism, and a speech by former CIA officer John Stockwell about the dangers of covert operations abroad. ).
Using military terminology to describe their “operations,” the Kasems give up their privacy to work alongside volunteers from 7 a.m. to 3 a.m., changing in a closet and posting post-it notes of love on each other’s mirrors. He said he left a note.
“It’s very stressful.”
“It’s very stressful. Some people work in their bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms,” says Casey Kasem. “The dog didn’t bark before, but now he’s barking all the time. The poor guy must think this is a mental hospital.”
Initially, the Kasems did not tell the hotel what was going on, but shiny silver coffee urns, pots of imported jam, and trays of carefully made pastries sat in the hallway outside the hotel. Management must have had a hunch. Penthouse.
“I didn’t say anything to them because that’s my job behind that door,” Jean Kasem declares. “But eventually I felt like it was going to get too big and they were going to start noticing incredible traffic and incredible room service bills. So what I did was asked them to join us.” Since then, the hotel has sponsored several events and offered to provide rooms and transportation for Thunderbirds performances.
“What we are doing is historic,” insists Jean Kasem. “I mean, how many times has the Beverly Wilshire been used as a bunker for homeless fundraisers? Of course, you can also have a meeting in the bistro. Yes, you can have a great conference session at Ma Maison. Sho.
envelope stuffing
“But what we’re talking about here is rolling up sleeves, opening boxes, and stuffing envelopes by hand. That’s pretty incredible.”
Still, the question remains whether the hotel would be so supportive if the Kasems’ homelessness efforts included visiting actual homeless people.
“I don’t really know,” admits Jean Kasem. “I also don’t know why homeless people are drawn here.”
Still, she herself likes to tell the story of how she ended up in the hotel when she was barely making a living as a struggling actress who had just arrived in Los Angeles.
“I was hungry and on the verge of being homeless. So I went to the Pink Turtle cafe that used to be here and ordered hot water to make ketchup soup. I had seen it in an old black-and-white movie. I knew I could do it there too.”
She thinks, “What you put out always comes back to you, and the irony of this whole thing is that I’m now living on the top floor of this hotel and helping the homeless.” ”
