Forward

From 1934-1974, my grandfather Leonard Lyons wrote a society column for the New York Post called "The Lyons Den."  Six days a week, he made his rounds at various restaurants and nightclubs in Manhattan...going from table to table to chat with movie stars, poets, politicians, painters, musicians, comedians, athletes, composers, producers, playwrights, directors, novelists and more.  Grandpa Leonard knew them all, and not just professionally.  Ernest Hemingway was a good friend of his, as was Marc Chagall, Otto Preminger, Sam Spiegel, W. Somerset Maugham, William Saroyan, Orson Welles and President Harry Truman.  Lauren Bacall was at my uncle's bar mitzvah.  Joe DiMaggio, Red Buttons, and Phil Silvers were all guests at my parents wedding.  Alfred Hitchcock was also invited, yet could not attend.

Sadly, I never got to really know Grandpa Leonard well.  I have very vague memories of him holding me when I was 3 or 4 years old, taking me to the circus perhaps.  Yet as his health declined, I would visit my grandparents apartment and see this frail, sad, wheelchair-bound man.  My parents would make me sit in his lap, to pose for pictures.  I remember feeling his leg shake a little as I sat down.  As I child, I didn't understand what was going on, and felt afraid.  By this point, he couldn't really speak, so I wasn't able to communicate with him.  In my fragile young mind, I just figured Grandpa Leonard was an old man, suffering from "old man's disease."  Yet the truth was, he was not old.  By the time he died, on October 7, 1976...Leonard Lyons was only 70.  As my father would often say "too young...too young."

Inspired by Grandpa Leonard, his son Jeffrey become a well-known film critic on WCBS AM radio, WPIX and NBC television, as well as a successful author.  Jeffrey's son, Ben, is also a celebrity in his own right, writing his own "Lyons Den" blog to go along with the movie reviews and celebrity interviews he does for the E! channel.  I also have dabbled in the world of celebrity and entertainment, having worked in the movie business for a number of years... meeting movie stars, rock stars, producers, directors, writers, comedians, etc...

With this blog, I not only honor my grandfather (and his column), yet also my father...George Lyons.  Both men surrounded their lives with the best.  They married the best women.  They had the best friends.  They lived the best lives.  They gave their children the best the world had to offer, and they told the best stories...