She’s the real thing

Living on a remote island, I hadn’t heard about Britney Spears, who I think is an actress [No: apparently she’s a singer. –Ed], getting $65million to promote Pepsi until I read it in the on-line Daily Telegraph leader column.
But 40 years ago, as a young reporter, I heard a possibly better story from David Niven about Sophia Loren doing it for nothing.
La Loren was hosting a live - remember that: it’s important - concert on TV called something like A Night Of A Thousand Stars, sponsored by Coca Cola (remember that, too).
At rehearsals the director said that, at the end of the show, she should go on stage, clapping. She should kiss Frank Sinatra, who was top of the bill and would still be receiving applause, then take the mike off him and ad-lib. It always sounded better if it was unrehearsed, he told her.
All she had to do, using her own words, was thank all the performers - she didn’t need to remember all their names - and thank the sponsor, also in her own words, for making it all possible, then say good night.
So she did that. She went on stage and kissed Sinatra, and took the mike and thanked all the stars “too many to name individually” then said:
“And a special word of thanks to our sponsor, without whom this wonderful night would not have been possible. I have to say that, all my life, I have been a great fan of Coke. I drink it every day... Although in Italy, of course, we call it Pepsi. Good night, everybody!”
Like a lot of Niven’s stories, it might not have been totally accurate. But one would dearly like to believe that it was.
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