PAUL MICHAEL GLASER TO SUPPORT LOCAL HIV CHARITY, WAVERLEY CAR

Starsky and Hutch have had a special place in my life, ever since I was sent to bed just before their show started on Saturday Nights. All the naughty kids at school got to stay up late, and would play Huggy Bear in the playground and explain what Paul Michael Glazer and David Soul had been doing at the weekend. Then, at university, it became a staple of afternoon television. I would spend time with the street-wise cop team rather than attend lectures of Tacitus. 

When I got old enough to release that laughing at kitsch 1970s coppers was no substitute for a working knowledge of the Latin historian's fragmented literary style and sardonic take on the abuse of power, Soul and Glaser moved into musical theatre. Soul was in Jerry Springer: The Opera. Glaser is playing Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Ironically, I was allowed to see that as a child.

This charmless reflection on my personal history with Paul Michael Glaser, mirroring the relationship he nhas with most of my slacker generation, leads into a press release. It is churnalism time, but for a good cause. 

Press Release Begins...

Waverley Care, Scotland’s leading charity providing care and support to people living with HIV or Hepatitis C has today announced a unique fundraising event with Paul Michael Glaser, known by millions for his portrayal of streetwise cop, Starsky.

The “In Conversation” event, to be held at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh on Friday 4th October at 3.30 pm, will give Scottish audiences the opportunity for an intimate encounter with a man whose life was turned upside down when he lost his first wife, Elizabeth, and his daughter to AIDS following a contaminated blood transfusion.

Broadcaster and journalist, Sheena McDonald, who is a Patron of Waverley Care, will interview Paul Michael Glaser about his campaigning work in the field of HIV, his life on stage and screen and his passion for his new role as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, which plays at the Festival Theatre from 1st – 5th October.

Grant Sugden, Chief Executive of Waverley Care, said: “We are thrilled that Paul Michael Glaser is choosing to support us while he is in Edinburgh. As well as providing the audience with a unique opportunity to hear about his TV, film and stage work, Paul’s openness in speaking about his family’s experiences helps to challenge the stigma which people living with HIV have to face on a daily basis. Our work resonates with the aims of the Elisabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation as we work alongside our NHS partners to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV here in Scotland.”

Paul Michael Glaser, said: “I am very much looking forward to my visit to Scotland and to Edinburgh with Fiddler on the Roof. I am also delighted to be able to support Waverley Care in its important and vital work with this event. Many of us become touched by AIDS in the most wretched of ways but there is so much hope to talk about and so much we can all do to support each other. I look forward to sharing with you my experiences of my life on stage and screen on the 4th of October and supporting a great cause at the same time.”

In Conversation with Paul Michael Glaser: A Life on Stage and Screen takes place at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh on Friday 4th October from 3.30 – 5.00 pm.