America is going celebrity crazy.

We go ga-ga over the most unusual people.

Just reflect on how Monica Lewinsky and Donald Trump grabbed our attention in 1999. Andy Warhol's prediction of "15 minutes of fame for everybody" sometimes comes true.

Let me tell you how I became involved with a celebrity in 1999.

I was watching the Knicks game. Surprisingly enough, I was not channel surfing with the remote. The Knicks must have been winning by a large margin, so I was leisurely enjoying the contest. If the game gets real tight, I tighten up and switch channels unceasingly.

In the midst of my relaxed viewing, I received a frantic phone call from my daughter Cara. "Turn to channel 7," she screamed. Cara is a lawyer and is rather sedate. She is not prone to screaming loudly into the telephone.

"Gary Levine is on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? with Regis Philbin!" was her cry.

"Gary Levine, the dentist from Baldwin who bought my dental practice five years ago?" I shouted back. Cara was my lawyer in the buyout so she recognized Gary.

Then he was on channel 7. The same mustachioed, balding dentist who took over my office on Parsons Boulevard. It was surreal! You are not supposed to be familiar and on speaking terms with television personalities.

Yet there he was, Gary Levine!

He was at $64,000 and he was going great. The questions were increasing in difficulty, but Gary was moving forward. They kept panning the cameras onto his wife, who was having the greatest time, watching her husband win a fortune.

Soon after came the $250,000 question, and Gary aced it. The half-million dollar question came next. "How many children were in the Von Trapp Family from the Sound of Music? The choices were six, seven, eight and nine. Gary narrowed it down to six or seven.

If Gary missed, he would slide back down to $32,000, a drop of $218,000. Gary was permitted to call a friend, John, an oral surgeon, who also was not quite sure. Why didn't Gary call me? I was positive the correct answer was seven, and it was.

Gary, my celebrity friend, wisely took the $250,000.

He called me the next day. Naturally he was a very happy dentist!