A Sacramento shoe shiner has gotten his first taste of Hollywood little more than a week after his story was told in The Sacramento Press.

The sidewalk entrepreneur named A. Gee has been featured on local TV news and interviewed live on Good Day Sacramento. But that's not all.

He also bagged his first TV show credits Friday, when he was recruited to play himself during local filming for the CBS prime time series, The Mentalist.

"I'm just having fun right now," Gee said Monday, his first day of work in a new location at 816 H. St.

For five years, he plied his trade in Roseville. Two months ago, he set up shop downtown at a black metal bench at I and 14th Streets. Now he shines shoes inside a building near the county courthouse.

Gee first appeared on the front page of The Sacramento Press Thursday, Aug. 6. He admitted shining shoes is a way to survive and he might pack up for Hollywood one day.

That Friday, a CBS13 KOVR news crew including anchor/reporter Kris Pickel filmed him at work. The piece aired on the 10 p.m. news, leaving Gee ecstatic.

A few days later, the articulate, photogenic Sacramentan got a call from CW31 KMAX asking him to appear live on Good Day Sacramento.

"I just went, 'Oh, wow,' " he said.

Gee pounded the pavement and gave out 500 business cards in three days last week to let people know he was moving. Meanwhile, he meditated and focused on having a confident mindset for the Sunday show, he said.

Arriving early, Gee checked in with security but U-turned back out to the parking lot to touch up his shoes. They'd picked up early morning dew and grass on his way inside.

"I told the security guard, 'I don't dare walk into the studio like this,' " he said. "I'm the shoe man. I'm not going in and represent like this."

On the set, Gee went with the flow during the fast-paced interview. Three cameras rolled while co-host Cody Stark knelt and gave Gee a shoeshine.

"I don't know if I want to bust Cody out: They (the shoes) were already done. But it's television -- so it's all good," he said. "The show was the bomb."

Gee was shining shoes late Friday morning when a parking ticket guy rolled up and said a camera crew was looking for him near the Capitol. Gee finished his customer and another who'd been waiting, then headed over in his black shoe-shining apron.

"I didn't know who they were or what they wanted," he said. "I wanted to see for myself that they weren't just blowing smoke at me.

"I was like, 'Is this the media, or is this the big one?' " he added.

The guy on the set who'd been looking for Gee said he wanted a shoeshine. Gee obliged. He was asked to wait with the crew behind barricades as a crowd grew. Friends who recognized Gee asked him if he was going to be in the show. He said he didn't know.

Gee was kept in suspense for hours after being told only that "a couple other guys" wanted to talk with him. Those guys turned out to be cinematographer Geary McLeod and director Eric Laneuville.

He was asked to set up his kit at a bench and give an actor a shine on camera. Gee was told he'd have one line. The actor would ask, "How much for a shoeshine?" and Gee was supposed to tell him how much. Gee -- a man known for his flaming shoeshine -- couldn't pass up the opportunity to put on a little show.

"When I was buffing the shoe with my brush, I gave my brush a twirl, let it spin and caught it in the air," he said. "I'm hoping they caught all that."

Gee was told he'd be paid several hundred dollars for his work and time. The segment is expected to air in September or October.

"It's all been crazy," said Gee, who shrugged off a new label as Sacramento's celebrity shoe shiner.

"I don't know about the celebrity stuff," he said. "I'm feeling a little wowed by the whole thing."

See the original story: www.sacramentopress.com/headline/11555/Shoe_guy_shines_as_bright_as_his_shoes


Photos by Jonathan Mendick and Suzanne Hurt, staff reporters for The Sacramento Press.