Star Shines : Outside NBC, Walk of Fame Is to Floyd Jackson’s Shoe Stand

“Floyd Jackson is the only person who knows what it’s like to be in my shoes,” Brandon Tartikoff, president of NBC, once joked.

The truth is, since he opened his shoeshine business at NBC studios in Burbank in 1951, Jackson has worked on a lot of big shoes.

“I used to shine Bob Hope, Flip Wilson and Dinah Shore,” said Jackson, who over the years has decorated the walls of his shoeshine stand with pictures of some of his most famous customers.

After nearly 50 years of shining for the stars, Jackson himself has become something of a celebrity. “Floyd’s Place” is a regular stop on the NBC tour, and a booklet chronicling Jackson’s career at NBC is available at the studio gift shop.

His regular clientele includes most of the guests who appear on “The Tonight Show” as well as the show’s star, Johnny Carson.

Started in 1930s

Now 80, Jackson started shining shoes in the early 1930s at the swank Rice Hotel in Houston. Among his first celebrity customers was John Wayne. But many were Texas millionaires, such as former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Jesse H. Jones. Or oilman Glenn McCarthy, whose life inspired the best-selling novel “Giant” and the 1965 movie of the same title starring James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor and Rock Hudson.

It was McCarthy, Jackson said, who in 1947 offered to bring him to Los Angeles aboard his private airplane. The “King of the Wildcatters,” as McCarthy was known, had just built the $21-million, 18-story Shamrock Hotel in Houston and was coming to Hollywood to arrange for several movie stars to appear at the hotel’s grand opening, Jackson said.

“Glenn was one of the biggest fellas in Houston,” Jackson said. “He liked me to be around him because I had a sense of humor.”

Jackson said he and his family had been planning to move to the West Coast for awhile, and soon after arriving he sent for his wife, Corine, whose mother lived in Los Angeles.

For a few years, Jackson carried a portable shoeshine stand all over Hollywood hunting down business. “I used to go around to all the studios--Warner Bros., MGM, Universal Studios, ABC and NBC,” he said.

He also moonlighted as a custodian at Universal, a job he kept until 1971.

Stand at NBC

Eventually, he saved enough money to buy a regular shine stand, which NBC allowed him to set up rent-free on the loading dock of the company’s old studios at Hollywood and Vine.

When NBC moved from Hollywood to Burbank in 1951, Jackson went along. Today, Floyd’s Place is located outside Studio One, where “The Tonight Show” is taped.

“One of the things Floyd is famous for is shining the shoes of all the people who appear on the ‘Tonight Show,’ ” said NBC spokeswoman Pat Schultz. “It’s become a good luck gesture for guests to have their shoes shined by Floyd before appearing on the show.”

The late night talk show’s entire cast, including Carson, are frequent customers, Jackson said.

“Johnny never comes out and gets his shine on the stand,” Jackson said. “Sometimes he’ll be in makeup, and I’ll come in and he’ll talk to me. Or I’ll go down and pick up his shoes in his dressing room and he’ll say, ‘Howdy.’ He’s a good man.”

$100 Tip

Jackson’s most famous customers have included former President Ronald Reagan and Frank Sinatra, who several years ago gave the shoeshine operator his first $100 tip. His second came last week--from blues guitarist B. B. King.

One of Jackson’s favorite stories is about the $99 tip he got from Spanish tenor Placido Domingo.

“He was getting a shine, and an NBC tour came by and told about Frank giving me a $100,” Jackson said. “When Placido got off the stand, he said, ‘Floyd, give me a dollar.’ So I gave him a dollar, and he handed me a $100 bill.”

The singer explained to Jackson: “Me and Frank are very good friends, and I don’t want to out-tip Frank.”

Jackson said his worst tipper was former President Richard Nixon, who as vice president told his Secret Service escort to tip Jackson 50 cents. But Jackson said he doesn’t blame Nixon. “I knew the vice president never carries money with him,” Jackson said.

Over the years, Jackson himself has appeared on television. He said he has been on “Laugh-In,” “Real People” and “David Letterman,” as well as “The Tonight Show.”

No Stargazer

In light of those experiences, Jackson said he is long past the stargazing stage and doesn’t get excited at meeting celebrities.

But he has a warm place in his heart for those in the entertainment business. “Show people are the greatest people on earth,” Jackson said. “I just love them.”

NBC executives say that over the years Jackson’s joviality has brightened the lives of studio employees. “Floyd’s an institution,” said Donald Zachary, vice president of NBC’s West Coast operations. “He’s always got a smile and a good word for everybody. He’s well loved.”

Besides, Zachary said, “NBC executives have the shiniest shoes in town.”

Although he retired officially last year, Jackson said he has had a hard time finding a reliable replacement. He works whenever he feels like it.

NBC officials have promised Jackson that when he leaves, “Floyd’s Place” will remain a regular stop on the studio tour.

“I think about it, and you know I never heard of a shine man being a star,” Jackson said. “I’m not bragging about it, but I made my own self a star.”