President Ronald Reagan saw America as a special place, a shining city on a hill, and a beacon of freedom for the rest of the world. As 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of his birthday, celebrate the life that he led, the principles by which he lived, and the accomplishments that he achieved by purchasing Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny, hosted by Newt and Callista Gingrich.

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Ronald Reagan: Rendezvous With Destiny is a feature length documentary that focuses on the three pillars of the Reagan presidency: reviving the American economy, restoring America’s spirit, and challenging the oppression of the Soviet Union. Through interviews with historians, cabinet members, and world leaders, the film examines and celebrates the Great Communicator and his legacy.

Featuring exclusive interviews with former Presidents Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic and Lech Walesa of Poland, along with Reagan Cabinet and staff members including James Baker, Edwin Meese, Marlin Fitzwater, Richard Perle, William Bennett, and the late Jack Kemp, Rendezvous With Destiny is President Reagan’s story as told by the people who were with him on the front lines of the Reagan Revolution.

Citizens United Productions traveled across the United States and to historic locations in Europe to capture the sights and sounds that defined Ronald Reagan’s presidency. You’ll see exclusive interviews and footage of President Reagan’s greatest speeches, from his unforgettable “Tear Down This Wall” in Berlin, to the moving “Boys of Pointe Du Hoc” in France, to his stirring farewell address from the Oval Office. Shooting on location in four countries, Rendezvous With Destiny goes to unprecedented lengths to tell the remarkable tale of Ronald Reagan’s life.

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Newt Gingrich is much taller in person than he is on TV. The lovely Bride of Konig (author of I Wear The Maternity Pants In This Family – www.susankonig.com) and I were invited to a screening of the Newt and Callista Gingrich – produced documentary Ronald Reagan Rendezvous With Destiny the other night, and we got to meet the former Speaker of the House. For some reason I always thought he was on the short, roly poly side. TV’s short, roly poly is, in person, tall, barrel chested and imposing. This is, oddly, the exact opposite of me. On TV I am tall and thin, in person I’m short and fat. 

Reagan, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Boris Karloff, Gene Kelly

This rare date night out without the various Spawn of Konig, naturally coincided with a gig for me: as my wife was settling into the Director’s Guild Screening Room on W. 57th. 72nd street performing a comedy sketch with TV host extraordinaire Bill Boggs in his live show Talk Show Confidential. The cue for my sketch with Bill is the end of his Richard Nixon anecdote. Boggs tells a very funny story of being a teen-aged intern in the 1960s on a talk show, and the guest is Richard Nixon. Boggs is assigned to Nixon, to make sure Nixon gets to the set on time. En route, Nixon makes a pit stop. Young Boggs is then confronted with his first major, television talk show crisis: how to tell the imposing former Vice President that he’s not only about to go on camera with his fly open, but it’s a “Grand Mal Unzipping,” the kind where your shirt tail is hanging out of the fly. (more…)