So the Question is, M. Jenner…

…why did you wait more than 22 years to say so?  “Caitlyn Jenner Says She Knew OJ ‘Did It’” 

Did she think so back when she was a he, sitting in the Los Angeles courtroom next to his then-wife, Kris Kardashian, who was about eight months pregnant with Jenner’s child?

Reading this article, her belief wasn’t a recent epiphany. So, why the long wait to spring the shocker now?

Oh, she’s got a book to sell.

Sideshows Spawned by Simpson “Media Circus”

This story, How the O.J. Simpson trial paved the way for all things Kardashian, published a few days ago, raises an interesting point:

Would any of the Kardashians have made it big, or even have made it small, were it not for their patriarch, Robert, who was a confidante of O.J. Simpson and a member of his defense team?

I remember Kris at the trial in one of the more bizarre events during court proceedings — and there were a lot! Here’s how I recounted it in “Anatomy of a Trial”:

“Another day of a strange star alignment occurred less than a week before the trial ended. On September 27, [Judge Lance] Ito had given the two courtroom seats he held in reserve for his use, generally for visiting judge, his parents, or other relatives, to songwriter David Foster, whom he knew, and Foster’s wife. The wife had previously been married to former Olympian [Bruce] Jenner. And there in court that same day was Jenner with his current wife [Kris], who was the ex-wife of Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian. The Jenners sat with former baseball star [Steve] Garvey and his wife, who, months earlier, had been a prosecution witness.”

While it’s unknown if the Simpson trial was the Kardashians’ soda fountain counter stool [a la Lana Turner], the Zap2it writer, Sarah Huggins, of the above referenced article did correctly label the spectacle attendant to the trial, although probably not as she intended. That label was “media circus.”  While there certainly was a media circus surrounding the the trial, hard as they tried to make viewers and readers believe the trial itself was a circus, all the circus antics were outside the courtroom — including the demeaning little joke defense attorney Robert Shapiro pulled on Deputy District Attorney Chris Darden, which occurred in the back hallway behind the courtroom.

As the two lawyers were coming out of Ito’s chambers, Shapiro pointed to Darden’s necktie and appeared to ask him something about it. When Darden looked down at his tie, Shapiro brought his finger up and chucked Darden sharply under his chin. Shapiro smirked and said something I didn’t hear, but Darden looked humiliated.

Very Strange Odd Couples

The headline, Faye Resnick Parties at Kris Jenner’s 59th Birthday Party!, which popped up in the news a day or two ago, sparked a throwback moment for me.

The day was Sept. 27, 1995. As described on page 67 of Anatomy of a Trial: Public Lost, Lessons Learned from The People vs. O.J. Simpson:

“Another day of a strange star alignment occurred less than a week before the trial ended. On September 27, [Judge Lance] Ito had given the two courtroom seats he held in reserve for his use, generally for visiting judges, his parents, or other relatives, to songwriter David Foster, whom he knew, and Foster’s wife. The wife had previously been married to former Olympian [Bruce] Jenner. And there in the court that same day was Jenner with his current [extremely pregnant with Kendall] wife [Kris], who was the ex-wife of Simpson attorney Robert Kardashian. [Yes, THAT Kris Kardashian.] The Jenners sat with former baseball star [Steve] Garvey and his wife, who, months earlier, had been a prosecution witness.”

The most surprising and totally inexplicable after glow of that trial and Kardashian-name ride was the meteoric rise of the Kardashian girls and brand.  Granted, Kim, was only 14 — about to turn 15 — when the Simpson verdicts came in and the trial ended, but I’ve often wondered what, if any, the name recognition her dad achieved, thanks to his role in the Simpson case, had to do with the fame his ex and progeny gained nearly two decades later.

Dreyfuss Bouquet Mystery Solved?

The revelation that Richard Dreyfuss is bipolar might explain something that has puzzled me since the celebrity-strewn days of the 1995 Simpson trial.

Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer, Stone Phillips, Geraldo Rivera, actor James Woods, 1976 Olympic decathlon gold medalist Bruce Jenner (better known these days as Kris Kardashian’s hubby — or is that ex-hubby now?), former baseball star Steve Garvey, and Western-stylin’ lawyer Gerry Spence are among the luminaries that made the scene.

One I never saw, but whose presence became known to me via an elaborate floral bouquet that sat on a table in my office one day when I returned from the Simpson courtroom, was Richard Dreyfuss. The arrangement included a note from him thanking me for arranging a seat for him in the Simpson trial. I was flummoxed.

One, he was thanking me for something I didn’t do. While I coordinated with the trial judge, Lance Ito, and his courtroom bailiff on the courtroom seating plan, the only seats I had anything to do with were the 24 allocated for the news media. I referred requests from everyone else, defendant’s relatives and associates, prosecution-related folks, celebrities, judges and their staff, to the bailiff and judicial assistant.

Two, I was in the courtroom every day and I never saw Dreyfuss there.

So, maybe in a manic phase, he envisioned himself attending the trial and got my name from somewhere — which was no secret those days — to thank.