Who Is That With Jeremy?
 In many respects, Jeremy is your average five-year-old New Yorker. He's got two outgoing parents, he loves the carousel at the zoo, and he has a burgeoning career in acting. But unlike most young Manhattanites, Jeremy has also grinned and posed with the masters. Everyone from Bill Clinton to P. Diddy has stood for a photo with the blond little boy.
Since Jeremy was very young, his father Michael has snapped Jeremy's photo with a glittering roster of actors, athletes, musicians, artists, politicians, children's book authors, and Watergate masterminds. The proud papa has uploaded the photos to their web site, Who Is That With Jeremy?, and the site has zipped around the world. Michael doesn't keep track anymore, but two years ago he'd logged 60,000 visitors. We reviewed the site in 2004 and it made our list of the best Picks of the year. Now, we check in with Michael about what got him started, what Jeremy thinks of all this starry action, and who, if anyone, has refused to pose... Have you always collected celebrity pictures—or is that something Jeremy brought out in you? While I was an actor when I was younger, the site was born by accident. I was at the opening of an electronics store with Jeremy when he was maybe 5 or 6 month old and the Barber brothers, Tiki and Ronde, were signing mini football helmets for charity. I bought one and took a picture of Jeremy in his car seat between them. When it was developed… I sent it around to friends with the subject line "Who is that with Jeremy?" A month or so later, we went to a signing of a new book by Jamie Lee Curtis. While she was holding the book, a photographer asked her to pose with a child. I was nearby so I handed Jeremy to her and the picture ended up in the paper (I took one as well). I sent that around with the same subject line and a friend told me that I should do a web site. I purchased the name "who is that with jeremy" and built a small site. I began to look for signings and people on the street and quickly had 20 or 30 shots. After a year we had about 1,000 hits from friends and family, but then we got picked up by Yahoo! Picks and suddenly the number jumped to about 15,000. We were asked to be on CNN Headline News and several other news outlets picked up the story. After that, searching for shots became a real hobby. We love the photos all the more as Jeremy gets older. Seeing Denis Leary hoist him upwards is awesome. How do the celebs respond to your requests? Almost every celebrity we asked was nice enough to pose with Jeremy. We had a few say no, most notably Paul McCartney, Mikhail Gorbachev and Howard Stern. But since we see many on the streets or just walking around, I certainly hold nothing against them. It is their time after all. I do, however, think that the people who did pose were incredibly kind to do so and certainly thank them for their kindness. Has anything changed over the years? As Jeremy has gotten older he has many more obligations: school, camp, play dates, classes, and just the general running around that a five year old does. I truly have not even thought of having him pose recently as he is always on his way to something or someplace. He would not have the patience to wait around these days and with a 17 month old (his sister, Diana) it would really be impossible. We love the look on baby Jeremy's face when he posed with Eric Carle—and the shot of him climbing over Matthew Modine's head. Does Jeremy have a favorite celeb encounter? Jeremy really does not remember these encounters, though he can now name a number of the people he posed with as he has seen those photos a number of times. What about you? Personally, I love the shot with Bill Clinton, taken just before Jeremy turned one. Clinton could not have been nicer to us, especially as his security people wanted him to keep moving. Madonna was a blast and Jeremy fell asleep about ten minutes after that one was taken. I am happy to have the shot of him with Ringo as I love the Beatles and Jeremy loves several of their songs as well. Was anyone a real jerk when asked to pose? We were fortunate enough not to have any real jerks. Even when saying no to him, Paul McCartney tossled Jeremy's hair and said he was a cute one. It seems like Kirsten Dunst was the most awkward. Jeremy's pose with Kirsten Dunst looks bad but that was his fault. Jeremy was being a squirmy worm that day and would not stay still. I was happy that she posed and was able to hold him. When dealing with a kid, you take what you can get! Has anything surprised you about how people respond to the site? I guess that the thing that amazed me is how my son touched so many lives. There were plenty of emails that commented on just how cute Jeremy is... However, the ones that surprised me were the ones that told me how Jeremy touched them: the father who had lost a son and enjoyed the time I spent with Jeremy and seeing how happy he was; the mother whose son was deployed to Iraq and went to the site when she needed a smile. On the other side were the people who sent Jeremy e-cards on his birthday and holidays or who sent us gifts from interesting places, some CDs from Australia, a football Jersey from Oklahoma, a beautiful cowboy hat from Texas, as well as items from companies that we promoted on the site. In recent years, there's been such an explosion of baby blogs and parents chronicling every moment in their kids' lives. Do you have any others that you follow or like? I do not blog. With two kids and running a household, I don't have time. Equally, I don't have time to follow any of those sites as well. What about favorite celebrity sites? I have no favorite celebrity sites. I really don't follow any of those sites. What are you plans for the site as Jeremy gets older? Will Diana soon be "the petite who meets the elite"? Since he was very (little), Jeremy has been modeling and auditioning for commercials and such. Recently he has been auditioning for actual acting jobs and recently booked a job for a new show on Fox playing the son of the lead actress. As for Diana, she is also modeling, and we will see what happens, but Who Is That With Jeremy? came about very organically. I would never try to catch lightening in a bottle twice! Thanks, Michael! And say hi to Jeremy for us. If we ever seen him on the street, we'll be the ones asking for a photo!
| 
