CASHING IT IN ON HOLMBY STREET

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One calm nice night, I went to see a movie. I was innocently sitting there, eating my neighbor’s popcorn, watching the 2005 movie, “I WALK THE LINE” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon and about the early part of Johnny Cash’s life.

A little known scene flashed on the big movie screen, and I thought I was going to faint. I know my heart stopped, and my tiny hairs stood up on the back of my neck. I lost all color in my face, and the feeling went out of my limbs. All I could think of was the next shot would be a close up of my childhood house.

The scene was about midway through the movie. By that time in life and the film, Johnny Cash was becoming a very big deal and had sold many #1 hit songs. The scene in the movie showed Cash on stage in Vegas. He stumbled a bit, was perspiring big time, and had just begun to sing, “Folsom Prison Blues.” Just beginning the song, he leaned over slightly and in the next second collapsed right on stage. Now that’s what happened in the movie.

The rest of the true story of this scene went like this:

After Johnny Cash collapsed, the backstage medics rushed on stage and quickly got Cash on a stretcher. The medics made their medical assessment and determined that Cash had passed out on drugs & alcohol and was not in immediate danger. The medics determined that Cash just needed to sleep it off for however long that was going to take. The medics called the Sun Rise Hospital, just off the Strip. Apparently, the decision was made NOT to bring Cash to the hospital, but rather take him to a safe, quiet place where the media or other nasties could not get to him while he slept it off.

At that time, my dad was part owner of a small off-the-strip casino/bar called the Lariat Club that featured live entertainment. Sometimes some of the headliners on the strip would stop by after their shows to relax, chill, whatever. As I remember it, the place was very comfy and quiet.

And I bet you can’t guess what happened to good old Johnny after he collapsed on stage? Well, the medics decided the perfect place to stash Johnny was at the Lariat Club. To make a long story shorter, my dad decided a better place was to bring him and a couple of his right-hand men to my childhood house on Holmby Street.

Dad had just turned our entire two-car garage into a big bar with super cushy couches & loungers, and a big, big roll-out bed. The ambulance pulled up to our house just as I was walking out the front door. Now being a young teenager, I was wondering who in my family had screwed up once again. I remember the medics rolling a stretcher with someone one it into the side door of the used-to-be-garage. I ran over, and my dad sternly said, “Not Now.” That night at dinner, I learned that the guest at our family home was Mr. Johnny Cash and a couple of his friends. Well, of course the next thing on my mind was to get a peek, an autograph, a picture, a long look, whatever.

As it turned out, Johnny Cash and his extra baggage stayed with us on Holmby Street for 4 days and 5 nights. He walked out on his own and got in a nice, but not flashy Pontiac. I did get to say “Hi” to him and catch brief glimpses of him several times during those 4 days. I also got his autograph on a pamphlet that looked something like this.

Everything was really hush, hush and to my knowledge no one bothered him or tried to contact him during those days.

When he left our house, my dad said he also left Vegas and went back to Memphis, where he began his long road to recovery with June Carter’s help. As far as I know, the rest of the movie was probably fairly accurate – they just left out that little part about coming to my house to dry out. Maybe they left it out of the movie, because it was only very, very important to my family and me.

        

After the incident in Vegas and Holmby Street, as we all know, Johnny spent the rest of his life singing, writing, and acting his way to fame and fortune with June Carter. He ended up recording more than 1,500 songs and writing most of them among his many many accomplishments in his life.

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