Mike Silverman, 91, the silver haired Malibu raconteur has passed on. Mr. Silverman died on April 17, 2010.
My earliest memory of Mike was in the 1950’s as a dashing, handsome young man and seeing him at Santa Monica State Beach having his lunch of yogurt and cottage cheese while working on his tan. You couldn’t help but notice this “Jewish Cary Grant,” which many people called him, because I, or anyone I knew, especially in my twenties, never ate such healthy food. We were having our usual greasy pastrami on rye sandwiches.
I remember seeing him out at the best night spots, sometimes three different restaurants in the same night. Not dining, just “schmoozing.” After reigning as the “realtor to the stars” in Beverly Hills for 30 years or so, and after being featured on “Sixty Minutes” with Mike Wallace (he was ferrying clients in a helicopter showing properties from the air) and dating stars like Joan Crawford he bought a beachfront home in Malibu Colony and became our neighbor. Single all his life except for the last few years, he had parties every weekend during which he sometimes napped, often reappearing in an outrageous hat or shoes. However, since his guests were very civilized, neither he nor we were disturbed. Many of you might have seen him ‘work the room” at the now closed Granita or Coogie’s, Guido’s, Tra Di Noi and Tony’s, sitting with strangers meeting and greeting and holding court, acting like he owned the place. He loved the spotlight.
Mike was the perfect, considerate, thoughtful neighbor. A situation we recall which exemplified his concern occurred when a friend of his owning two dogs was visiting Mike every weekend. The friend let his dogs run loose and constantly terrorized our puppy. When I asked the guest to control his dogs he made no effort. After speaking to Mike about this problem, Mike spoke to the friend. After that conversation we noticed that this guest was no longer speaking to us and would avoid any eye contact. (Which is a good trick when you have adjoining decks) When I complained about the discomfort and stress this caused, especially from a guest, Mike did what an outstanding neighbor would do. We never saw the guest and his dogs again…
Mike loved Malibu and the beach. He always managed a big hello with a laugh line right until the end. We will miss him…
Alan and Margery Specht