I got a call in early December from Al Roker’s production company. They were producing a telethon for NBC to benefit Alzheimer’s research, and had just returned to their studios after taping a portion of the telethon with Donald Trump in his office. It was funny, because they were moderately frantic and relatively joyous to have reached me, for whatever reason. Here’s why—the entire portion of the telethon segment they taped with The Donald, he had over his left shoulder a framed cover of the Post magazine that he appeared on— back in 2007! (I founded that magazine and was Editor in Chief) Roker’s team needed my permission to use the video on the show. I had to think about it for a full one tenth of a half of a fraction of a mill-second, and then decided that, yes, Al and Donald, you may use the video with my magazine featured in it.
The photo is hilarious. He’s had to have been featured on hundreds of magazine covers in his life, and he frames and showcases this one. I remember writing the story on him and interviewing him for it. Some of the interview was via email, and one thing I remember is he’s so meticulous and efficient. Every response and quote and comment was spelled perfectly. Laid out beautifully. No slang, shortcuts or anything other than perfectly crafted words and sentences. I’ve dealt with a lot of big name stars and he was definitely one of the most professional. The cover shot we used was very cool, and along with the cover line I wrote for that issue really summed him up. He was walking out of a helicopter, on a red carpet. The caption said “The Man. The Myth. The Donald!”