“I have kept her story to retell. It is one of the small legion I carry, each one extraordinary in its own right. Each one an attempt—an immense leap of an attempt—to prove to me that you, and your human existence, are worth it. Here it is. One of a handful. The Book Thief. If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story. I’ll show you something.”
—Markus Zusak, The Book Thief
Here's a Robert Downey Jr. story c. 1996-1997
An excerpt, from Peteykin’s Blogspot:
“This wasn’t an issue with Mr. Downey, however, because he was simply and utterly delightful, friendly and polite, jokey and fun. He was hardly discreet: he ran around the store looking at everything, talking to everybody. We also liked him because he’d buy every single pair of second-hand expensive designer sunglasses (Gucci, Prada, etc.), items which were often a risky buy for us, and all you’d have to do was hold up a garment and say, “Look at this insane disco shirt,” and he’d beam and add it to his pile. And all this was when he was going through utter hell.
And here’s another thing that might surprise you: Robert Downey, Jr. is a total goofball, absolutely ridiculous and dorky, completely unselfconscious (at least back then). One day he came in, and we were startled to see that he was dressed head-to-toe in green: green shirt, green shorts, green shoes, and to top it all off, a green vinyl Sanrio bag covered with “Keroppi” the cheerful frog.
Was he high? I’m so bad at telling that, but it didn’t seem like he was wasted when he came into the store. He just seemed like an affable, nutty funboy. Over the next couple of years, his comeback came and fits and starts, and he was still in and out of trouble. Some may have wondered why people kept giving him another chance, but I knew why: the guy is just magnetic, and so much fun to be around; who wouldn’t want to work with him?”
