Shortly after Sonny Bono’s untimely demise, I was having a drink with my friend Harry, a highly respected superior court judge.

He mentioned that his father had been Sonny and Cher’s chief publicist, and had stayed with Sonny after the couple’s domestic and professional breakup.

He said that Sonny had been quite bitter after the split, and had instructed his dad to cut up all the existing publicity photos so that only Sonny’s picture remained. I observed that he had done remarkably well despite his humble beginnings.

“I don’t understand,” he puzzled. I explained: “Considering the fact that you were raised the son of a Cher cropper.”