Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday…no stress…no frantic “Black Friday”…just time to reflect on all the good things in my life. I realized that I actually started the holiday early when I began this “Friends” blog series. My book is full of people I am thankful for and certainly deserve their own blog…but I also realize I bit off more than I could chew. At what point does it become self-serving? These blogs (in case you didn’t know) are supposed to be somewhat entertaining and I realize that many of you may not know the people I have spotlighted. So for now this will be the last in the series. I hope you have enjoyed meeting these special people and how they influenced my career and life.

If you can bear with me, I’d like to at least mention a few more who helped make it happen:

Susan Alcott Jardine was there for a nearly twenty year ride from our first offices in the Hollywood Taft Building to our last on the Sunset Strip. She served as office manager, publishing administrator, public relations department, VP of the corporation and wore more hats than we could find a hat rack for. She was there every day and helped build the dream into a reality.

Charles E. (Chuck) Sellier hired me in 1976 to do the music for a film for his newly formed Sunn Classic Pictures. He liked what he heard and we became his “in house” music department for 17 years. His loyalty was unbelievable and lasted through his later stints with Taft/Hanna-Barbera, Universal, NBC and CBS. In all, over the years, we did an astounding 46 features and Movies of the Week for TV and five network series. I would have had to close my doors on several occasions had it not been for this incredibly talented man.

Industry pioneer Morris Diamond, had an office for his label, Beverly Hills Records, down the hall from us in the Sunset-Cahuenga Building. His door was always open to offer advice to a young music producer. He was a walking encyclopedia of the music business and he shared his knowledge generously. We released several records on his label and he recommended me for outside production projects. I enjoyed working with him throughout my career. He set the deal for us for the soundtrack to the cult classic film, “Night of the Comet”,which is still being played today and when we decided to dissolve the corporation, Morris negotiated the sale of our publishing companies and got us twice what we had been offered on our own.

So, you see my dilemma. Every page.. every story in my book… is filled with people who helped me live the dream for nearly thirty years… and I didn’t realize how much they helped until I actually finished it.

I hope they know how grateful I am. That was the point of this series of blogs. Sadly, too many of these wonderful people are gone. What I hope you can take away from this is to look back on your life and remember all the people who have helped you along the way. None of us can do it alone. Thank them while you can and pay it forward. That’s the spirit of Thanksgiving and that’s what friends are for.