By Stephen Stirling
When Betina Wassermann sent an e−mail to Mickey Rourke’s agent Paula Woods a few days before the Academy Awards, she said she did not think for a second that she would hear back.
But just two weeks later, the Flushing resident is now a bona fide jewelry maker for the stars, juggling television appearances and a booming new business.
“It’s been completely unbelievable,” she said.
Wassermann’s unlikely story began when she heard that Best Actor nominee Rourke, whose career she has followed for more than 20 years, had to put down his beloved chihuahua, Loki, just days before attending the Academy Awards.
“I know he carried that dog around everywhere for the last 10 years,” Wassermann said. “So when I heard that he died, I said to my friends ‘Oh, no. I’ve got to send him something.’ He must have had an incredible bond with that dog.”
Wassermann, an amateur jeweler and marketing representative for H&M department stores, decided that she would make him a glass and metal pendant necklace bearing Loki’s image, similar to one she wears for her dog, Igor, who died four months ago.
She tracked down Rourke’s agent, asking if she could get the necklace to him. Not expecting to hear back, she had not even made the pendant yet when she got an e−mail from Woods just 10 minutes later.
“Can you get it to me tonight?” Woods said in the e−mail.
Hours later, the pendant was on a plane to California and the next day Wassermann got a voicemail she will never forget.
“He called. He just said, ‘This is Mickey Rourke and I just wanted to thank you so much for the necklace. What a beautiful, kind gesture. I’ve got it on and I’m not taking it off,’ ” she said. “I called back and he answers the phone and I’m completely speechless. I had no idea what to say. I was just stunned.”
Wassermann became something of an instant celebrity over the next few days, as she watched Rourke walk down the red carpet wearing the pendant at the Independent Spirit Awards, where he won best male lead for his role in “The Wrestler,” and the Academy Awards the next day.
Since then, Wassermann said her small online store, where she previously sold one piece of jewelry a month, has been flooded with requests for pendants memorializing animals and loved ones.
“I’m getting so many sad stories, I’m crying as I read the e−mails,” she said. “People are asking for pendants of dogs, cats, grandmas. One girl in Germany wants me to make her one with Mickey Rourke.”
Wassermann said while she likes her health care coverage at H&M too much to consider a career shift at the moment, she said she loves the opportunity to better use her creative abilities. She has an appearance on Martha Stewart’s Living lined up and has been featured in publications across the country.
“It was just something I’ve been doing on the weekends to keep the creative juices flowing,” she said. “Who would ever think this could possibly happen? But there’s no better person to represent me than Mickey. He swims against the stream and so do I. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Reach reporter Stephen Stirling by e−mail at sstirling@timesledger.com or by phone at 718−229−0300, Ext. 138.
