Steve Stevens and Annette Funicello
For young men of my age, the preppy/Ivy League look was both fashionable and stylish. Button-down blue, pink and white oxford-cloth shirts from Brooks Brothers; narrow rep, regimental or knit ties. I'd recently purchased a pair of slim-fitting Cambridge gray flannels; a narrow-lapelled, three-button Harris Tweed sport jacket without shoulder pads; and cordovan Bass Weejuns penny loafers with Argyle socks from Zeidler & Ziedler, a trendy traditional-style men's shop next to Schwab's Drugstore on Sunset and Crescent Heights.
And that's how I looked when the (Hollywood Brown Derby) hostess led me back to find Mickey (Cohen), passing George Burns and Gracie Allen in one booth and Burt Lancaster and a party of studio types in another. Mickey and Joe were sitting in a large and very private back booth. As they moved over for me, I could see people leaning out of their booths, hoping to catch a glimpse of Mickey. His love of notoriety and publicity had obviously been given a boost since the Whelan murder.
Mickey, however, was appraising me.
"Nice threads, Kid. That's a very good look on you; very sharp."
Source:
The King of the Sunset Strip: Hangin' With Mickey Cohen and the Hollywood Mob, Steve Stevens, 2006
From Publishers Weekly:
Stevens traded Mickey Mouse for Mickey Cohen in 1959, after the mob mogul saw him play a "tuff guy" onscreen and sent a fan letter. Only 19, Stevens, who'd worked with Annette Funicello on The Mickey Mouse Club, was making the transition from child to adult actor, and under the tutelage of Cohen, he grew up fast in a world of guns, gambling, strippers and celebrities.
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