Werner Klemperer — the zany Nazi from TV’s Hogan’s Heroes — just turned up in a trashy old movie on TCM, which totally reminded me:
One of the first columns I ever wrote humorously referred to club majordomo Rudolf Pieper as “the Werner Klemperer of open bars.”
I was simply saying Pieper’s the notable German in a whole other situation than the notable German I’d referenced is famous for.
It’s like saying, “He’s the Norman Mailer of trash,” or, “She’s the Queen Elizabeth of origami.”
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But Klemperer wasn’t having it.
His lawyer wrote me some very severe letters demanding a retraction because Klemperer didn’t drink and wanted no part of this association.
He just didn’t get it, wrongly interpreting the item to be saying the actor was an alkie.
But I carefully explained myself, assuring them that the write-up made no connection between him and boozing at all.
That shut them up — which confirmed my status as the Norman Mailer of trash.