A taste of the limelight

They gathered on Sunday night, the keepers of Hollywood’s secrets, those special souls who possess superhuman patience and Rolodexes that could run the world, for a rare self-congratulatory moment. For once, the personal assistants to stars were the award winners. They donned their sequins and carried acceptance speeches, and someone else carried the purses and gift bags.

Honoree Rosemary Hygate, whose resume includes birthing one of Patrick Swayze’s horses and sitting with his dying dog, carried an armful of roses, and her blond hair was swept off her face in a glamorous ‘do.

“I’ve had this strange detached feeling all day,” she said. “None of it seems real. It’s kind of a bittersweet thing in a way, when you’re not on that other end of the spotlight.”

It was a modest affair at the Museum of Television & Radio. There was no red carpet. There were cheese and crackers for hors d’oeuvres. During one acceptance speech, a cellphone rang with the theme from “Mission: Impossible.” And there was much made of the gift baskets -- each item was described in detail, to the delight of the 150-member audience.

The Personal Assistant Career Awards were organized by Kerri Campos, whose own career survived an early ‘90s tour with Glenn Frey and the Eagles and the breakup of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson before Sally Field christened her the “Norma Rae of personal assistants.”

Campos says it’s time the world woke up and realized that personal assisting is more than a “meantime” job -- it’s a passion. So she chose eight assistants, each with more than a decade of experience, to be the first recipients of the Kerri Campos, Inc., Personal Assistant Certificate.

“We want to show that these people are willing to be accountable,” Campos said of her certification program, the first of its kind. “We want to begin to set standards, accountability, guidelines for salaries, benefits. They deserve that respect and that recognition.”

No longer are personal assistants just gofers, those harried folks who appear just outside the paparazzo’s frame, usually bedraggled and weighed down by luggage. They’ve begun to organize. They’ve formed associations in New York and Los Angeles. They’ve written how-to books and established training programs, even internships.

In the past, people became personal assistants right out of college, for lack of a better option or because their job in show business eventually led them to one needy celebrity. Today young people are lining up to apply for the jobs that they’ve seen in action on any number of unscripted TV shows. A lucky few are chosen as interns, Campos said, to work as personal assistants to the assistants themselves. On Sunday, several interns milled among the crowd, asking guests if they could take their coats.

It’s a far cry from honoree Kathryn Sermak’s job interview with Bette Davis nearly 25 years ago. Davis recalled in a videotaped interview with Sermak: “I asked if you could boil an egg. I have one every day before I go to work. And I believe I asked you your astrological sign. You told me that you were a Libra....Almost to my own surprise, I said, ‘You have the job!’ ”

Ultimately, Sermak helped Davis write a book and stayed with her until her death in 1989, becoming co-founder of the board of trustees of the Bette Davis Foundation.

Bonnie Low-Kramen was a publicist for Olympia Dukakis’ Whole Theater in Montclair, N.J., when Dukakis was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in “Moonstruck.” Suddenly Dukakis couldn’t field all the press calls alone.

Over the years, Low-Kramen became incredibly close to her boss. She helped plan Dukakis’ son’s wedding and chose a nursing home for her mother.

“It makes me crazy when sometimes in the press, personal assistants are characterized as frivolous or luxury items,” said Low-Kramen.

While only one of the celebrity bosses attended the ceremony, nearly all sent their regards on videotape, in written statements and, in Dukakis’ case, through her brother Apollo. Each spoke of his or her assistant with the tenderness and admiration usually reserved for martyrs and saints.

Sidney Poitier called Susan Rae Garrison, his assistant of 12 years, “the most remarkable person I have ever had the privilege of working with.... I’ve always been afraid if I praised her too much I would lose her.”

Lynn Landon, the sole employer who made the trip, said that she and Deborah Johnson had worked together for 18 years, which is “better than some exes.” She quipped: “I’m glad I’m here so she can’t say anything bad about me.”

Joan Rivers spoke to her assistant, Sabrina Lott-Miller, via video. “Accept this honor, but don’t think you’re getting away from us -- ever!” she shouted. “Don’t leave or I will destroy you!”

After the ceremony ended and guests moved into the lobby for cocktails, Hygate’s words resonated. In her acceptance speech, she offered aspiring assistants the wisdom of her years with Swayze, Sammy Davis Jr. and Melanie Griffith:

“Never lose sight of who you are. Never forget that this is not your life. It’s someone else’s.”