Manny The Hippie

Thursday, Sept. 5, 1996 · Page A 8		© 1996 San Francisco Examiner

Manny the Hippie has Ohio court date

Letterman pal faces the judge Sept. 17

Jim Herron Zamora
OF THE EXAMINER STAFF

Manny the Hippie, who is enjoying freedom in San Francisco and working hard on his show-biz career, has arranged to appear in court in Ohio in less than two weeks.

Manny, who was made famous when David Letterman found him in the Haight, faces as much as a year in state prison for violating probation by leaving his hometown in Ohio in March and heading to California without permission.

Attorneys for Manny, whose real name is Micah Papp, told authorities in Greene County, Ohio, that he would turn himself in to authorities, probably on Sept. 16. He is scheduled to appear the next day before Greene County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Rose - the same judge who sentenced the 20-year-old hippie to five years' formal probation.

Manny's San Francisco attorney, Doug Rappaport, hopes he can cut a deal that will allow his client to serve out his probation in San Francisco. Manny is now free on bail.

Rose has not said what he'll do. "I have to look at what would be appropriate for him and society in general," he said.

But the judge added that Manny's television career may be sending the wrong message to others on probation, encouraging them to flout the system.

"If you give somebody the opportunity of probation and you just ignore the system, it gives the system a bad reputation," Rose said. "It encourages others to not take the system seriously."

State prison would seriously interfere with Manny's booming career. His agent, Mitchell Solarek, said Wednesday that "we're pursuing a number of development deals. He's read for some TV shows and hosted some shows. He may be endorsing a clothing line."

Solarek declined to give specifics and Manny could not be reached. The agent would not confirm Manny's earlier statements that he may host "Saturday Night Live" and make a guest appearance on "Nash Bridges."

Solarek would only say: "Letterman is definitely planning to have him on again."

It was on "The Late Show" that Manny achieved his first 15 minutes of fame and enriched the American lexicon with such slang as "schwag" (bad), "dank" (good) and "diggity dank" (quite good).

More Manny The Hippie