ARUN RATH, HOST:
For the past year, we've brought you career triumphs big and small. This weekend, our series My Big Break turns 1-year-old. And our own producer, Daniel Hajek, is here to talk about the series. Hi, Danny.
DANIEL HAJEK, BYLINE: Hey, Arun.
RATH: So Danny, over the last year, we've had you regale us with stories about some of the wild characters that you've had the chance to meet. What are some of your favorites?
HAJEK: Well, I interviewed Danny Trejo, the actor in movies like "Machete" and...
RATH: Yeah.
HAJEK: ..."From Dusk Till Dawn," and actually met him at his house. He lives here in Southern California. And we talked for, like, an hour-and-half about his back story. It involves, as he'll tell you, you know, being in every prison in the state of California. So after this long interview, he wants to take me on a tour of his house. And so here's...
RATH: And you don't say no to Danny Trejo.
HAJEK: No, no. You know, he's this character - he's this tough and rugged guy in these movies. And you should know that he's a really big fan of John Wayne. And if you ever go to his house, you'll see these pictures of John Wayne on the wall. And so anyways, we go outside and his dog Cash runs up to him. And this is what he says to his dog.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
DANNY TREJO: Watch this, watch this - Cash, do you like John Wayne? Hey, do you like John Wayne? Tell me if you like John Wayne.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOG BARKING)
TREJO: (Laughter) Come on.
HAJEK: So we end up going into his garage, where he has these classic cars - a lowrider pickup truck, there's a motorcycle and this really awesome polished, black 1976 Cadillac Seville.
TREJO: This was the car that the doctors and the lawyers in the 1960s - they all got it because this was the car that said, you made it. This is mint - absolute mint condition.
HAJEK: And I think it had hydraulics on it, too.
RATH: Nice, he sounds awfully excited.
HAJEK: Yeah.
RATH: You also met with - without question - my favorite of the Golden Girls.
HAJEK: Yeah, Betty White. And I was in her dressing room. And she wasn't there yet, so I was getting my microphone out and my recorder. And then all of a sudden, I hear the sound of these little heels clicking down the hallway. And I look up and there she is, you know, Betty White. And you never really know how these initial interactions are going to go. But she offered me some Twizzlers and a Diet Coke, and she was just so welcoming and really nice, so it was great.
RATH: That's nice. Betty White was just the way you'd want her to be.
HAJEK: Exactly.
RATH: So comedian Ken Jeong was here at NPR West, sharing his big break - going from medical doctor to an actor. And you got a little serenade out of the deal.
HAJEK: Yeah, I found out that back in his high school days, he sang Lionel Richie's "Three Times A Lady" at his talent show. And so I asked him to sing it for me in studio.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
KEN JEONG: Danny, (singing) you're once, twice, three times a lady. And I love you. Danny, you're once...
HAJEK: And it was so hard not to laugh. And you can hear we both just lose it.
RATH: He likes the tremolo there, doesn't he? (Laughter).
HAJEK: He's a good singer.
RATH: So the behind-the-scenes stories with celebrities are great. But I've got a say, my favorites are the ones who are the people who are not the celebrities.
HAJEK: Yeah, I mean, we've talked with a National Geographic explorer, we've talked with an ER doctor, the inventors of the Post-it Note, a fashion designer, a former NBA player, so we even get some listeners who contribute. And it's just a really fun series to work on.
RATH: And we want more of those, so, people, please send us your big breaks. NPR's Daniel Hajek - our very own Daniel Hajek. Thank you, Danny.
RATH: Thanks, Arun.
RATH: So let's get back to our very first My Big Break that we aired last year. Washington Post photographer Bill O'Leary's story begins almost exactly 25 years ago, when Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested for possession and use of crack cocaine during an FBI sting. O'Leary, at the time, was just an intern at the Washington Post when he heard the breaking news.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED BROADCAST)
BILL O'LEARY: So a month into this internship, an editor comes running in and says there's a rumor that the mayor has been arrested. For this to be happening was a monstrous local story.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
O'LEARY: It's true - the mayor has been arrested. He's being held at the FBI Buzzard's Point center. And we are going to flood the zone. We're going to have people at every intersection and every corner of the building. And we're going to get the mayor when he comes out of that building. So they dispatch all of the heavy hitters off to their assignments. And there's two or three people left - just me and one of the older photographers who had been going through a divorce and had asked for light duty. So my boss looks at us and he says and you two guys - why don't you go out to his house, just in case we miss him?
It's now close to midnight. It's January. It's very cold and dark and quiet. My colleague takes the front of the house and I take the back. And sure enough, vehicle pulls up - SUV with smoked windows. And the door opens, and four men get out. And damn, there he is, there's Marion Barry. So I raise my camera, but before I can take a picture, this big, beefy FBI agent blocks me, puts his hand on my lens and starts pushing me back. At that moment, I hear a commotion. And at the end of the alley, a competitor - Joe Johns of Channel 4 News - he's arrived at the end of the alley. He's seeing that he's missing it, so he's taken off on foot. And he's yelling at the top of his lungs, Mr. Mayor, you know, what were you doing in that hotel room? Something like that.
Well, this alarms the FBI agent, who stops worrying about me and turns to intercept this new threat. At that instant, I get off this one picture - bam - with a punch flash, direct strobe, hideous in the middle of the night. So I get in the car and I go rushing back, go running into our dark room, close the door and lock it, begin the process. When I finally start to unwheel it from the spool, hold it up to a light box, and there it is. It's clear. It's sharp. It's properly exposed. And it's the mayor. It was our lead picture - an incredible scoop. Everyone wanted it. We got picked up by all the wires, all the magazines. It was - it was magic is the only way to describe it, I think. And that's what happened. That's - that was my big break.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
RATH: That's photographer Bill O'Leary, our very first My Big Break segment that aired one year ago.