President Trump never quite fit in in his hometown of New York City. But in Los Angeles, especially before his time on The Apprentice, it was even worse. Here are five remarks and recollections from Hollywood insiders documenting Trump's unorthodox time in show business, as reported by Los Angeles Magazine.
1. Trump spent a lot of time running beauty pageants, but as Susan Winston, the producer of nine of them, put it, "No one cared about Donald Trump in Hollywood. ... There were people in Hollywood who had much more power, much more money."
2. A lot of Winston's negativity stems from how, as she put it, Trump would "show up on the day of the pageant" and, despite playing no role in its production, demand he "was seen on camera three times." Winston retaliated by making Trump shake her hand even though she "knew he didn't like to touch people," she said.
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3. Jeff Klein, who owns the celebrity hot spot Tower Bar, recalled how Trump would march in with then film producer, now Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and "demand a prominent table, the one everyone can see as you come in." "It's not where real movie stars sit," Klein added, but said Trump would say hello to everyone who walked in anyway.
4. Klein also hit Trump with this zinger about his show business aspirations: "I don't think [Trump] could have been a mogul. Hollywood is like high school — they would have made fun of him."
5. Trump can't say the word "film," which seems like a hindrance to a life in Hollywood in itself. "He says 'fill-im.' He said, 'I can't say that word. I just can't say it. It doesn't come out," former Apprentice producer Jonathan Braun recalled.
Read more about Trump's Hollywood days at Los Angeles Magazine.
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