Less than a year ago, our friend Jeanine Kasun suffered a completely unexpected brain aneurysm. She was alone in her mountain home at the time and if she hadn't been on the phone with her friend (in the romantic sense) Stu Shostak at the time, I would have had one more obit to write that month. Fortunately, she was talking to him when it happened. He was at their home in Chatsworth and he quickly called for help and emergency services were dispatched.
Jeanine was in a coma for many weeks. When she woke up, she couldn't talk, she couldn't walk, she couldn't make any part of her body do what she wanted it to do. She had no memory and no ability to retain information. Eventually — thanks to good doctoring, therapy, surgery and sheer determination, some of that started to come back. All of that was made possible by the heroic and selfless efforts of Stu Shostak. If you ever had a medical emergency like that, you couldn't do better than have someone like Stu as your advocate and protector.
I helped him out a few times but it was 99% Stu arguing with doctors, double and triple-checking hospital arrangements, dealing with the insurance companies, being at her bedside and watching her back.
(One moment that stands out: Jeanine was well enough to receive and remember visitors one of the days when Ed Asner — yes, Mister Grant — stopped in to see her. While he was there, a rather inconsiderate doctor speculated out loud that Jeanine might not ever get any better…and he said this in front of her so she could hear it. I'm not sure if Stu or Ed spoke first but one of them said loudly to the other, "Okay, you hold him while I belt him.")
That thoughtless doctor was wrong, by the way. Jeanine got a lot better and continues to do so. She's doing so well now that yesterday, she was able — with a little assist — to walk down the aisle and marry Stu. Ostensibly, this is so it'll be easier for one to care for the other in event of another medical emergency. But I think it also has something to do with being in love.
It was a ceremony that no one present will ever forget. Stu, who used to do warmups for TV tapings, started things off with one of his old warmups. Jeanine entered on the arm of Stu's father. The ceremony was performed by Lauren Dow, who is the wife of Leave It to Beaver star Tony Dow. Tony was Stu's Best Man.
The audience was…well, I may have been one of about nine people present who can't be seen regularly on TV Land or MeTV. In addition to Tony, I saw Marvin Kaplan, Jane Withers, Wink Martindale, Murray (The Unknown Comic) Langston, Ed Asner, Rose Marie, Dick Van Dyke and his wife Arlene, Larry Matthews, Jackie Joseph, June Foray, Teresa Ganzel, Billy Van Zandt, Lydia Cornell, Margaret O'Brien, Jimmy Garrett, Larry Anderson, Francine York, Bart Braverman, TV writer Bob Schiller, TV writer Ken Levine, Hank Garrett, Sherry Jackson, Randy West, Shelly Goldstein, Jimmy Weldon and I'm leaving a lot of people out.
For the reception, Carolyn and I were seated at a table with the Van Dykes, Rose Marie and her daughter, Ed Asner and his daughter, Larry Matthews and his spouse, Rick Scheckman (my soon-to-be-unemployed buddy who works for David Letterman) and Shelly Goldstein. Ed did not punch anyone. Dick did not get to eat two consecutive bites of brunch without pausing, graciously, to pose for photos with guests. Rose Marie, who is still one of the funniest people on this planet, gave a hilarious toast/roast of the newlyweds.
I don't have much more to add except to say that a great time was had by all. Rose closed by saying, "I give this marriage two years." I hope she's right. And then I hope Stu and Jeanine get married again and have another party just as good as this one.