Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/784242
Records, Astronauts, Concours d'Elegance Michael "Mickey" Kapp's Life Among the Star s B Y M I C H A E L C H AT F I E L D n the 1983 film "The Right Stuff," Mercury astronaut and practical joker Alan Shepard (played by Scott Glenn) has a lot of fun reciting popular 1960s comedian Bill Dana's "Jose Jimenez" character, a hapless astronaut with an exaggerated Mexican accent. Once scene in the film depicts a Hispanic male nurse demonstrat- ing his dislike of Shepard's portrayal. While that encounter may be fiction- al, the fact that Shepard and the rest of the "Mercury 7" were well aware of Jose Jimenez hijinks is not. America's first men in space were given complimentary copies of Dana's record by its producer, Carmel Valley's Michael "Mickey" Kapp. "I sent eight copies, one to each astronaut and one to NASA's PR guy," Kapp recalls, "and promptly forgot about it. Then Wally Schirra said a line from the album while in space. I subsequently went to Florida and got to be great friends with those guys." A framed photo, inscribed to Kapp and signed by all seven original astronauts, occupies a place of honor in his office. The Carmel Valley home that Kapp shares with his wife Joyce is a virtual Curriculum Vitae, tracing the arc of his life and career. The walls of the n the 1983 film "The Right Stuff," Mercury astronaut and practical joker Alan Shepard (played by Scott Glenn) has a lot of fun reciting popular 1960s comedian Bill Dana's "Jose Jimenez" character, a hapless astronaut with an exaggerated Mexican accent. Once scene in the film depicts a Hispanic male nurse demonstrat- I 170 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • W I N T E R 2 0 1 7 Mickey Kapp rubbed elbows with many of the greats in the music business, including Tony Bennett, pictured here at an early Grammy Awards banquet. Photo: Courtesy of Mickey & Joyce Kapp