I spent a couple of days with Hal Holbrook, working on a profile/preview that ran in the Detroit Free Press before what would be his final Detroit performances as Mark Twain. Ticket sales had been slow but went through the roof after the story was published. Holbrook called and left a lighthearted message offering to put my first-born child through college. A year or two later, when the kid was actually in college, my wife and I met up with Holbrook at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami and reminded him of the offer. No dice. I really enjoyed getting to know him, even on the relatively superficial subject/journalist level.