I think your pictures came out beautifully Mona. Thank you for the thoughtful and detailed report. Yes, the whole celebrity phenomenon is fascinating, and I certainly don’t claim to be totally immune. Your description of yourself wandering back and forth in front of his table, trying not to be conspicuous certainly resonated! I have done it too, maybe not for as long or as well, but I have done it.
There is an undeniable fascination upon seeing some of these folks. One example for me was Arlene Martel. A couple of years ago she was signing at San Diego Comic-Con (they maintain a large celebrity autograph area in the “Sails Pavilion” on the roof of the convention center). I think I developed sort of a crush on her as a young teenager when I first saw her in “Demon with a Glass Hand” with Robert Culp. So I walked by her table a few times and stood a safe distance away and contemplated her. I couldn’t come up with any compelling reason to go talk to her, and feeling conspicuous, I finally moved on.
Even in my encounter with Robert Culp back in February when I went to see a screening of Hickey and Boggs up in Santa Monica, I had to be pushed into engaging him. Fortunately “Ms. Clavell” came along. She describes herself as a professional groupie and she made the necessary overtures. Otherwise I would have walked right past him with only a nod, by way of greeting and recognition. (But of course in the murky and mysterious world of male bonding, a nod can convey so much!) He certainly responded to the requests graciously and signed my Cushman & LaRosa book and posed for a photo (should I send him 15 bucks?). He did initially assume (or wished) that it was Ms. Clavell who wanted the autograph and I made some lame joke about it to straighten him out, for which he had absolutely no reaction. He had been talking to a couple of guys from the theater when we accosted him, so I didn’t try and engage him in further conversation. (My questions about the pole vaulting scene in “To Florence, With Love” will have to wait for another time.) He very pleasantly wished me well by name as we moved on to our seats. I felt really good about the encounter—so good that I felt guilty about it, like I had suddenly become incredibly shallow. Why should a brief encounter with the guy give me such a buzz? I don’t know. But there you are.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed reading your impressions Mona.
