The GH Fan Luncheon
Click to make the pictures bigger
The next day was a “hurry up and wait” thing.
We had to be there to check in for the luncheon at 8:30am, so I showed up
at 8:00am. We all got together and
went down to register, which took all of about 15 minutes.
We walked around, looking at the multitude of tables of things up for
auction (like the dress Gia gave Emily to wear for the prom, and the one Emily
gave Gia, scripts that were signed by the staff, giant pics of the stars, etc). There were also items for sale from the fan clubs, nice
glossy pics, etc. Abbie bought a
NICE b/w pic of Tony Geary. I had a
really fun talk with Brad Maule’s people, who are very cool folks. I ended up not buying anything.
I knew if I got pics, they’d just get destroyed in my house.
We got to go into the luncheon at about 11:30.
Eating came first and fortunately, Tracey had warned us about the food.
The salad was OK and the bread was really good.
The vinaigrette that they served with the salad smelled like feet, so
only about half of us went for it. The
main course was something like a BK Broiler without the bun and about a half
teaspoon of gravy drizzled on it. There
were also some steamed veggies. Dessert
was a kind of weird frozen orange, hollowed out with sherbet in it, then
refrozen. It wasn’t moving me, so
I passed. Once the food was gone,
they started the door prizes, which took about an hour (zzzzzz).
No one at our table won. L
After the door prizes, (Being the old hippie I am, I kept
expecting that over the din of voices, I’d hear Constance Towers warning
people not to eat the brown acid because it was bad) John Ingle was introduced
and he came up to the podium to introduce everyone else. There was an aisle sectioned off, sort of a great white way,
where the stars entered after he called their name. They then went up onto a dais behind him and sat in long rows
of seats. It would be easier to
tell you who was NOT there, being Leticia, Maxie, Skye, Audrey, Felicia, Luke
and Laura. As far as I can tell,
everyone else made it, but for a complete list if you are interested, CLICK
HERE.
Once everyone was on stage, Constance Towers and Landon
Wine (Landon Wine, Landon Wine, he’s so fine, he blows my mind, Hey LANDON!)
presented awards. The list of
awards and their winners are available HERE
if you are interested.
Next, John J York and Brad Maule acted as emcees and asked
each person one question. These
questions were garnered write ins from the audience and I truly hope that the
people who put on the luncheon write their own questions next time or maybe just
ask me. First of all, the questions
should not be ones that can be answered with one-word answers.
Secondly, they should not be stupid questions like “Is there more to
Angel than meets the eye?” or “Would Elizabeth ever betray Lucky?” or
“What is it about Melissa that attracts Roy.”
A list of some of the more interesting comments made at the
luncheon and other events is on our comments page, which you can find by
clicking HERE.
After the Q&A, the stars were escorted to their seats
around the room and the lines formed for their autographs and photos to be
taken. Since I’m not much into
autographs or necessarily having MY pic taken with someone (much less standing
in nasty lines), I just slunk around and took candid pics and pics of my girls
with the stars.
One time that I found to be of particular interest was when I was just finished talking with Ron Hale (SUCH a cool guy) and Maurice Benard got up from his table and started giving Ron THE BUSINESS about something.
I don’t know what got up his butt or if he was yelling to
or about Ron, but I took pictures of it, you can belieb dat chit!
Sorry about the weird light behind them.
It really threw off my pics. Another
REALLY nice time was chatting with John Ingle.
I told him I had watched GH for more than 30 years, but when I heard his
voice, after 6 kids, I still though of Little Foot.
He laughed and said that Cera’s dad was really just Edward Quartermaine
with scales. I found Shell Kepler
to be REALLY uptight, bordering on bitter.
Maybe I just caught her at a bad time.
Little Logan O’Brien and Breck Bruin were there, signing their photos,
which was really cute. Denise
Alexander seemed SO glad to be there and was very nice, genuine and super
gorgeous. Anyway, I’m just going
to throw up some stars candid pics and talk to you about a few.
Shell looked unhappy every time I saw her
Brad Maule is waaay skinnier than he looks on TV
I've said it before, I say it again: Denise Alexander is a BABE.
THIS P.O.S. we dubbed Nefarious Ed, the LINE CUTTER,
who cut in every line he went through. If you go to a fan
event, hunt down Ed and kill him.
Little guys, hard at work
More of Vanita Harbor than I've seen
in the past three years
The most beautiful, nicest woman in the world
And I'm not even that big of a fan.
Super nice guy!
Ah, Landon. Yeah. He wants me.
After the Q&A, I didn't see Stuart Damon or
Stephen T. Kaye any more.
Don't know where they got off to.
I'm sure Anna Lee was not up to the rest of the day's events.
Check out how teeny Billy Warlock's head is next to mine!
And doesn't he look thrilled to be cuddling me?
My lucky girls!
More hot than cold! My favorite frozen guy.
Gimme an "A," Baby
Amber, a little testy that weekend
Coltin, dressed like a street urchin.
A VERY pretty lady! TV doesn't do her justice.
In a really weird error, John Ingle introduced Tamara Braun
as Sarah Brown when he announce her entry. Yikes!
Ron Hale with me, Heather and Abbie. We wuv him.
This was before Maurice got a hold of him.
Jensen Buchanan is SO beautiful and was dressed very elegantly.
She's about the size of one of those little ballerinas inside a jewelry box.
I had the honor of interviewing Loren Freeman before the event (will
post soon) and he was a pleasure to meet.
Maurice had the longest line of anyone and left 2 hours before
the luncheon was over. I think his M-D got to him.
Scott Egan...a real sweetie, with Heather and Abbie.
I ended up leaving out about an hour before the luncheon was over. I was getting tired of fighting the crowd and all the stars were starting to look alike to me and I wanted to be sure and keep the magic of the day alive. I sat at the Patio Cafe and had some iced tea and relaxed for a while. At 4:15, my girl Stephanie, from Sounds of Stephanie on EOS, popped in to say hi for a while. Kate joined us and we had a great AMC talk. They are both so fabulous. Kate managed to sneak away without letting me get a picture, but I did grab Stephanie:
As much fun as it was to see all the stars, I have to say that the biggest joy was meeting the wonderful people on my staff and to laugh and talk with all of them as if we were old friends who had known one another for years. I don't imagine I'll get to go to another fan event for a while because it was tough on my family, but I'm thrilled to have done this and I'm glad to share it with you. The other girls will no doubt be sharing their stories and pictures. If I think of any other things to share, you'll be sure to hear them. Right now, my head is still spinning!
I have to say that the prevailing atmosphere of the event was one of what I would called enforced optimism. People pasted on plastic smiles and encouraged us to continue watching and hope for the best. The things they said and didn't say showed signs of extreme dismay, overt and subtle, on the parts of many of the actors, but they for the most part, all worked hard to keep the fans optimistic. Jill Farren Phelps, executive producer, was there, but never showed herself. A 3x5" card was enclosed in our welcome packet and we were encouraged to write our ideas for the show on the cards to be passed on to her. I didn't bother because I figured she had enough kindling for her fire already. I'll write my letters higher up. Many of the stars, Real, Wally, NLG, Stephen, JJY and Brad in particular, beseeched fans to write to the powers that be and directly to them. Word is that the fan mail is counted and tallied to help determine a character's continued future on the show. Specific requests should go to Felicia Behr, c/o ABC-TV 4151 Prospect Avenue Hollywood, CA 90027. Viewers really do count, but only if they make the effort to write!
