2008DianeReports

DAY ONE – THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2008

The alarm rang at the ungodly hour of 4 a.m., but there was no time to waste. I had to be out of the house by 5:45 a.m. in order to make the long trek to LaGuardia Airport from my home, which is a good two hours away. Since I’d be heading into rush hour traffic, there was no time to waste.

The trip down wasn’t as long as I’d anticipated, so I arrived at the airport with a good three hours to spare before my flight left at 10:50. Since I’d only had one cup of coffee in the car, I decided to grab a cup at the airport. There’s a neat shop called Au Bon Pain, which means Good Bread in French. They sell coffee, croissants, bagels, sandwiches, soda and little snacks. To my surprise, the coffee was both good and not too expensive. Sitting at my little table, I just enjoyed watching the other travelers grabbing a quick breakfast before their flights. Too, I wondered if any of them were festival bound as I was.

After the coffee, it was outside for a cigarette and a quick call to Lali. When we spoke, Sunny was running around, getting ready for her flight from Tampa, so we spoke only briefly as Lali helped her get ready. It was hot that day, so I didn’t linger too long. I went back into the airport and began wandering through the various airport shops. There was one cool shop with lots of silver jewelry that intrigued me. Although I don’t really wear silver jewelry, I figured I could find a reasonable facsimile of a Barnabas ring. To my delight, I did! The price tag wasn’t too clear, and I thought it said $14.95, which I considered quite reasonable. Alas, when the woman behind the counter began to ring it up, it was $74.95. No dice – I wasn’t going to blow that kind of money before I even got to the festival.

I gave myself 45 minutes to get through security and to my gate, and when I arrived at the gate, it was a full half hour before the flight would take off. Not hearing any announcements about boarding, I asked the person behind the Continental counter at the gate when we’d be boarding. To my shock, she said they’d already announced the final boarding call. In a panic, I ran onto the plane. Phew! Made it!

This first flight was the long one, my first layover being in Houston. When we landed in Houston, some three or so hours later, I had to change my watch back one hour. I also decided another cigarette would be in order, so I went outside the airport doors for a smoke and another quick call to Lali. It was really hot and humid, but anyone who’s ever been addicted to nicotine knows that’s no deterrent. Re-entering the airport, I had to go through security again, a small sacrifice for my tobacco fix.

I walked to my gate, waiting for the next flight which would take me to Phoenix. While there, I met a nice man who was on his way to Florida, but I forget which city. We chatted a while, but then it was time for him to board. I boarded minutes later, and it was off to Phoenix.

The flight to Phoenix was short, maybe a little under two hours. Walking through the airport, I found that Phoenix has designated smoking areas – yippee! They were outdoors, but covered over so the smokers are out of the sun. Thank goodness, because it was 110 degrees there. However, there’s no humidity, a treat for this Northeasterner, so the heat wasn’t too bad. Also, you don’t have to go back through security to get back to your gate, a blessing. I called Lali again, just to let her know I was getting through my journey okay.

In no time, I boarded my flight for my final destination – Burbank and the festival! However, right before I got on the plane, I heard from Mike, and then Lali. Sunny’s plane was delayed, and she was stuck in New York due to bad weather. Darn!

This was a short flight, about an hour, and I got to Burbank a little after 6 p.m., California time. Once again, I had to adjust my watch for the time difference. Conveniently, the Marriott provides shuttles to the hotel for free, and I boarded it. I was the only passenger, and the driver was so nice. We chatted about the weather and were at the hotel in about five minutes. By this time, I had actually been traveling for 15 straight hours. I should have been exhausted, but I was too excited for that. It was festival time!

I checked in and was told that Judy and Di were already in the room, which was on the second floor. When I got there, Di was sleeping, and Judy was just about drifting off. Mary was also there. However, there was a problem. The room was tiny. We requested a rollaway, since there’d be five of us altogether, but it wouldn’t fit. The housekeeper suggested I call the Front Desk and ask for a bigger room. When I did, the clerk informed me that he had no other rooms, just a suite, which would be more money than the festival rate. I flatly said, "That’s not acceptable." Gee, wouldn’t you know? In about two minutes, he came up with another room on the fifth floor which was much bigger and did accommodate the rollaway.

That problem solved, we all went down to the Daily Grill restaurant in the hotel. I was pretty hungry by then, but everyone else just ordered a small snack. My cheeseburger platter was tremendous, but it was so good. Since I like my burger still wagging its tail, they cooked it to perfection, a rarity these days. As we ate, we chatted about poor Sunny. She wouldn’t be arriving until after midnight.

Frank Borzillieri, who wrote the book, "Dark Shadows and the Physics of Time Travel," came to visit us as we ate. He had gotten in Wednesday, the day before. Since we’ve all known each other for years, it was great seeing him again. He didn’t linger, though, and we all promised to get together the following day.

Dinner over, exhaustion finally set in. We all went back to the room and decided to go to bed. I kept my cell phone by the bed because we had Sunny’s room key with us, and she’d have to call to get into the room. I felt I had no sooner closed my eyes than that phone rang, and it was Sunny. She’d made it, and it was only a little after midnight. Hugs and kisses and greetings were exchanged, and it was back to sleep. Like little kids on Christmas Eve, I’m sure we all had visions of DS dancing through our heads, waiting for the official beginning of Dark Shadows Resurrected, the 2008 Festival!

DAY TWO – FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2008

Rrrrriiiiiiing! Rrrrrrriiiiiing! Struggling into consciousness from the arms of Morpheus, I realized our room phone was ringing, and it was only 6 a.m. Someone answered it, but I wasn’t yet awake enough to take note of who it was. I believe it was Sunny, but her voice was drowned out by the collective moans of all the rudely-awakened residents of the room.

Wouldn’t you know it? It was Lali, who just wanted to let Sunny know that she’d spoken with Sunny’s mother to let her know Sunny had arrived safely. When queried about the hour of her call, Lali claimed she "forgot" there was a time difference. "Harrumph," said Judy. "I’ll just bet. She’s torturing us because she couldn’t be here." Laughing at Judy’s comment, we tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but it was pretty useless.

It was decided I would shower first and get ready, followed by the rest of the crew. Then we’d all head over to Denny’s for breakfast and decide what to do for the day. Unlike most years, there was no day trip planned for Friday, so we’d be free to do whatever we wanted.

I was ready around 8 and decided to go downstairs and grab a cup of coffee at Starbucks, much as I hate their coffee. Still, I needed a caffeine fix, so off I went. Coffee in hand, I then headed out to the courtyard, which was serving as a lobby since the hotel was under renovation, and the lobby area wasn’t usable. There I met Frank once again, and we chatted for a while as I waited for everyone to come down.

Around 9:30 or so, everyone else came out, and we set off for Denny’s. Frank declined the invitation to go with us since he’d had his breakfast earlier. Denny’s was about two blocks from the hotel, not a bad walk, and we got there in no time. Our waitress was a young woman from Thailand named Lisa, and she was just phenomenal! For our entire stay, every day, we asked for Lisa because of how sweet, efficient and friendly she was.

As we ate (delicious, by the way), we tossed around the idea of going to Hollywood, but that proved to be prohibitive because of the cab fare from Burbank. Other fest-goers were going to Universal Studios and other studio tours, but that, too, was expensive. So, what to do? We decided that since Di needed some glue to fix one of her pairs of shoes and some makeup, and I think someone else needed something, we’d go to Target, which, we were told, wasn’t far at all.

The bellman called us a cab, which was a van since there were five of us, and we got to Target in just a few minutes. Our driver, Robert, assured us he’d be back to pick us up in an hour and to be in front at that time, so we left his cab feeling secure about how we’d get back. Once in Target, I decided to pick up a gallon of water because buying it at the hotel was ridiculously pricey. Di got her needed items, and Mary picked up a few things, as well as Sunny. We joked about how we’d tell everyone back home we spent our vacation at Target!

At the appointed time, we stood in front, waiting for Robert to return. That was not to be, and finally, an hour after he was supposed to arrive, Di and Mary went inside Target where a security guard was kind enough to call us another car service. That was a relief because, by then, it was already around 1:30 and we wanted to get on line for registration by 2. Registration would start at 3, but that would be too late to line up. There’d already be a cast of thousands waiting, something that happened to us last year.

After dropping off our goodies in our room, we went downstairs to line up for registration. We were first in line, which was a relief for a change. As we waited, we chatted with other DS fans who were waiting, and made it a point to let anyone we saw who was disabled in front of us. That’s the way it always works, or should work, and it was a pleasure to be able to do this. Many festival goers this year were first-time attendees, so they weren’t sure of how things worked.

We sailed through registration and were relieved to find out that this year, we could pick up our banquet tickets at any time during the festival. In years past, we had to wait until Sunday afternoon, which always insured there’d be a long line on which to wait for those tickets. Someone was definitely using his head this year!

We still had three hours before the official opening of events, so we walked over to Panda Express, a Chinese restaurant next door to Denny’s. To say I was unimpressed doesn’t even cover it. The menu was totally confusing, and the staff barely spoke English. You really have to worry when Mexican people are cooking Chinese food! Anyway, the food was mediocre, overpriced for the portion sizes, and just plain boring.

At 6, the ballroom doors opened, and Mary was able to secure us very good seats for the evening’s events. After the intro speech, we saw "Dark Shadows on ABC," which was just an episode, complete with commercials, of the show. Following that, at 7, Marie Wallace and Robert Rodan were set to appear as "Adam & Eve, Together Again." The problem is, Robert Rodan was a no-show, much to my extreme disappointment. Marie, though, was her delightful self, as she explained clips of scenes with her as Eve and Rodan as Adam.

Following Marie was John Karlen at 7:45 – "Willie Remembers." He was a complete hoot! He got up, looked around, and said, "Are the doors locked? Are you sure? I’m scared! You know why I’m scared? Barnabas Collins is here! Who’s going to protect me?" It was a riot! He then went on to detail how Barnabas would make him do terrible things: Go out in the fields at night, sneak up behind a cow, sledgehammer in hand, kill the poor cow (sometimes, he said, it took more than one blow), then "stick a hose God-knows-where in the cow" and drain all the blood into a gunny sack. The audience was in stitches. Clips of Willie scenes were shown, and at one point, Karlen said, "Look at that guy (meaning himself)! He was good-looking and had some nice lips. Now? That’s what happens when you get old. I have no lips." It was hilarious!

At 8:30, Lara Parker and Kathryn Leigh Scott did their presentation, which consisted of clips of Angelique and Josette together, along with the ladies’ comments. At one point, when they were talking, Kathryn turned to Lara and said, "Oh, but Barnabas loved me," which made the audience howl.

Following them, at 9:15, the pilot for the 2004 WB "Dark Shadows" show which never got picked up was shown. I’ve seen it twice, and had no desire to see it again, so I went out for a smoke. I did catch the end of it, which was SO over the top, but that’s another story which I wrote about when I first saw the pilot at a fest a few years back.

At 10, the Collinsport Players West, as I call them since they’re all West-Coast based, put on the first Players skit. A departure from the usual comedic fare, it was a serious, dramatic piece written by Jeff Thompson, who founded the Collinsport Players some 20 or so years ago. In the play, Vicki (played by our very own Prof. Stokes, Amanda Trujillo) returns from the past after the séance. Barnabas fears that she will figure out he’s the same Barnabas from the past and that he’s a vampire, so he bites her to put her under his power. It doesn’t work, much to his shock. Julia, played by Eileen Berger, hypnotizes Vicki, and a truly horrifying story emerges. Vicki remembers that she is the daughter of Dracula, and she fears he will come back to claim her. And that is exactly what happens. Jonathan Harrison, an imposing figure at well over 6 feet tall, appeared as Dracula, shouting that he would reclaim his daughter. A battle ensues between him and Barnabas, and in the end, both vampires are destroyed by sunlight, causing both Vicki and Julia to dissolve into tears. I’m not doing this justice as I tell it, but it was very well done, and Amanda was a stand-out – her performance was powerful and credible.

After the skit, movies were aired ("House of Dark Shadows," "The Norliss Tapes"), but I couldn’t have seen them had I wanted to. I had to go to rehearsal for the Collinsport Players East skit, "Another Day at Collinwood." I was to play Elizabeth in this one, and I looked forward to it.

Rehearsal went well with Richard Halpern, who played Barnabas, doing his usual ad-libs during the whole thing, cracking us all up. Still, we got our work done, and we ended around 12:35 or so. John Schaefer and I decided to go to the bar, followed by the rest of the cast, and we managed to order one drink before last call, which we then brought up to John and Peter’s suite. We all sat around and talked until 2:30, by which time I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

It was back to the room and blessed sleep, looking so forward to Saturday’s events

DAY THREE - SATURDAY, JULY 19, 2008

We rose early Saturday morning, somewhere around 7:30 or so. Groaning a bit, I pulled myself together, and we all got ready to go to Denny’s for another delicious breakfast. We would have to hurry since the fest events began at 11 a.m. and would run straight through the entire day.

After breakfast, there was a little time to mill around, so Sunny went about selling Judy’s wonderful festival buttons, while Mary waited on line to get us good seats. As usual, though, the ballroom doors didn’t open at 11 on the dot, but were opened somewhere around 11:15. By this time, there was a huge crowd waiting. Thanks to Mary, we got seats in the third row.

The first event was "Dark Shadows Today," which I don’t remember much about. I suppose I was preoccupied with thoughts of the skit and costume gala coming up that night. At 11:30, we were supposed to see some DS videos made by fans, but due to technical glitches, that didn’t happen either. At 12, the upcoming Johnny Depp DS movie was discussed, but I missed most of that, as well as the next presentation, Dark Shadows Reborn, presented by Stuart Manning of Big Finish Productions.

The next event, at 1, was Designing Shadows with Sy Tomashoff, who had brilliantly created the sets for the show. His was an interesting and informative presentation, particularly taking into consideration the very narrow, cramped studio space he had to work with. At some point, he was asked about the exterior shots that were so prevalent during the early days of Dark Shadows. He informed the audience that those shots came first and then the sets were built. He also told a funny story about how Dan Curtis asked Sy to go up in a Piper Cub airplane and fly up the East Coast to scout a location that would serve as the town of Collinsport. Sy said that his wife was pregnant at the time, and she insisted Dan insure Sy. Dan told Sy he was insured, but Sy confessed that he never really knew if it was true or not. In any event, that’s how Sy found the town of Essex, Connecticut, which served as Collinsport.

Next up was one of my very favorite people, Robert Cobert, who composed all the music for Dark Shadows. The man is just amazingly funny and so spry at 83! When he first got onstage, the background music playing was some Blue Whale jukebox stuff. Cobert began dancing and doing some hip-hop moves that were hilarious. He also "faux" conducted as the music played. I wish I could relate all he said, but at some point, someone asked him what his inspiration was for the music he’d composed. Bob simply replied, "I like to eat," causing the audience to erupt in loud laughter. He explained, too, that he doesn’t compose on any instrument. He simply hears the melody in his head and then puts it down on paper. As an example, he cited Beethoven, who was deaf, yet composed brilliantly without ever being able to hear his own music.

Following Bob, was the DS Memorabilia Auction I. I never usually stick around for that because items go for ridiculously high prices. Instead, I went outside with some fellow smokers and hung around. Anyway, I was due for another skit rehearsal.

During our skit rehearsal, David Selby popped in to see how we were doing, and I guess he liked what he saw because he laughed at all the right times. He then told us he was looking forward to our skit, which was nice to hear. He was hanging around, waiting for the auction to be over since his presentation, Lincoln’s Better Angel, based on the book he wrote was next. Unfortunately, although I really wanted to see that, due to rehearsal, I only got to see the very end of it. What I did see was phenomenal! Selby’s energy was electric, and the audience was wild. Great stuff! Hopefully, someone got this on video because I’d love to see the whole thing.

By then, it was around 4:30, time for Jonathan Frid to do The Growth of Barnabas, which he presented at last year’s festival, I decided to skip that. Too, I needed to find out just when our skit was going to be presented. No one seemed to know. I was hoping it was to be presented before the Costume Gala since after that event, no one would really hang around to see us perform. My other dilemma was costuming. For the skit, I was to play Elizabeth, which meant a nice tailored suit and an appropriate black wig. For the gala, in which I was to sing, I had a gown to wear and no wig, of course.

Finally, I was given the word that the Collinsport Players would go on before the gala, so I went upstairs to change. Di went up with me and was a real trouper. She ironed both my suit and my gown, and while she did so, I practiced my song. I was singing, "I Dreamed a Dream," from "Les Miserables," as Angelique, despairing of the news that Barnabas was to marry Josette. I felt the words fit the emotions very well, and Mike had come to my rescue by taking Patti Lupone’s voice out of the original recording, leaving only the music to which I was to sing. I had burned a CD of it from Mike’s handiwork, so I sang along to that as Di ironed. I had practiced at home, but I wanted Di to give me an honest appraisal: Was it good enough, or did I sound awful. She assured me it was fine, so I decided to go on with it.

At 6 p.m., there was a Cast Reunion with Lara Parker, Jerry Lacy, Robert Rodan, Roger Davis, David Selby, Marie Wallace and John Karlen. Jonathan Frid was not in attendance, but he’d just finished his presentation and was tired. The cast related some anecdotes, many of which I’d heard before, and then it was time for our skit.

The skit, "Another Day at Collinwood," went off without a hitch. Peter Mac, who wrote and directed it, did yeoman’s work! He was playing both Vicki and Carolyn, causing him to do a quick-change of costume and wigs. He was brilliant at both. Jack Kessler, who played Adam, was hilarious, as he chased Carolyn around, begging for some "special" attention, after which the two smoked cigarettes (not real, of course), and Carolyn burst into song, "Deep Love," from the musical, "Young Frankenstein," on Broadway. It was just too funny. The highlight of our skit was Lara Parker’s appearance as Angelique. It was an honor to have her act with us, as she had done last year, and the audience loved it when she entered the stage with her trademark Angelique laugh. Judging by the applause, everyone enjoyed our offering.

The costume gala followed immediately, so I raced upstairs to my room with Di, and she helped me change into my gown and fix my hair after having to wear the wig for the skit. Back down we went, where Judy informed me I was to appear right after her (the line was against the wall of the ballroom). Judy was to go first, singing her "Dear Angelique" parody to the tune of "Beauty School Dropout" from "Grease," then we were to both sing the Collinsport Anthem, words by Judy, and then I was to sing solo – phew! 1, 2, 3 – all in a row! To say that Judy’s song kicked butt is an understatement. The audience was in stitches! They loved the anthem, too, and my song went over fairly well, I thought. Other performers who stood out for me were Amanda Trujillo doing a parody of The Searchers’ "Needles and Pins" as Angelique, stabbing a clay figure of Josette, Julie (forgot her last name) singing a nice country and western tune, and Peter Mac as Lara Parker, lamenting being killed off on Dark Shadows.

After the gala, I changed and met everyone down at the bar. After chatting a while with my "roomies," Jack, who’d played Adam in the skit, and I went over to John and Peter’s table (John, who played Dr. Julia Hoffman in our skit, is Peter’s partner). Richard Halpern, who’d played Barnabas, was there. Richard also serves as emcee at the DS Festivals. Also in attendance were Peter’s Aunt Carol, other friends, and Lara Parker. Lara was stealing French fries from people’s plates, which I found adorable. We talked a bit about theater in general, John mentioning the shows he and I had done together when he was a kid. After a bit, I bid a graceful goodbye and headed back to the main area of the bar, where we all hung out until about 2:30 or so – time for bed and a few hours’ rest before the last day of the festival.

Arriving back at the room, I asked Mary if she had an extra pair of earplugs. It seemed there were some of us who had snoring issues (I won’t say who), and I really needed to be able to sleep. Mary gave them to me, and I tried to insert them into my ears, but no go. I just couldn’t get them to go in my ears correctly. Desperate, I jumped up and ran to the phone. Chuck answered, and I said, "Hey, Chuck, want a roommate for tonight?" He laughed and said sure, so I threw on a robe and took the elevator down to the second floor where Chuck had a suite. Michael had gone home because he wasn’t feeling well, so Chuck had all this room and a nice, cozy extra bed. Exhausted, I fell into the spare bed and immediately fell asleep.

DAY FOUR - SUNDAY, JULY 20, 2008

At around 7:30 or so, I awoke and realized Chuck wasn’t in the other bed. I walked into the suite’s sitting room, and there was Chuck, reading the newspaper. The dear man had awakened earlier than I had and had tiptoed around so as not to wake me. I asked him if it would be all right for me to shower there since it would mean one less person showering in our room of five upstairs, and he graciously said yes. I quickly showered, threw my pj’s and robe back on and went back upstairs. "Phew!" I thought. "No one saw me in the elevator."

We all met downstairs when we were ready for our usual breakfast at Denny’s and then it was back to the hotel for the day’s events. Sunday is always a relaxing day for me because rehearsals and the skit are over, as well as the Costume Gala. At 11 a.m., Jonathan Frid’s 40^th Anniversary was scheduled, and we eagerly took our seats in the third row. Onstage, we could see black curtains on a frame surrounding something. What could it be? As the room darkened, John Karlen came out, in search of the Collins’ family jewels, which he just knew were buried in a coffin in the mausoleum. Pushing aside the main, front curtain on the frame, a coffin was revealed around which were chains. Eagerly, Karlen swept away the chains and lifted the coffin. Out popped (what else?) the hand of Barnabas, signature ring on his finger, wrapped around our "Willie’s" throat. The audience went wild! Frid/Barnabas then rose from the coffin. The problem was, he had a great deal of difficulty getting out of that coffin, so the curtain had to be closed while he was extracted from it. Still, it was just fabulous for us fans, and fortunately, Frid was okay. I heard later that the whole re-enactment of that scene was Jonathan Frid’s idea. How cool is that?

Frank Borzillieri’s presentation was next at 11:30. He was speaking on The Physics of Time Travel, as explained in his book. Frank was both brilliant and informative, but I was disappointed there was no Q&A session afterward. Jim Pierson had nixed that, saying there wasn’t any time for it.

After Frank, Chris Pennock took the podium. Normally, he reads something from one of his zany comic books. This year, though, he decided to show us a movie he’d done on the plight of the homeless in which he’d starred. Technical difficulties made that next to impossible until almost the end of his stint. His daughter, Tara, took the stage to sing, but I missed that.

Next up were Kathryn Leigh Scott followed by Lara Parker. I was in and out of the ballroom for that because I’d seen these ladies for many years now, and nothing, really, was new to me. Instead, I wandered into the Dealer’s Room and got myself the Barnabas ring I’d long coveted!

At 1:30, Jerry Lacy, handsome as ever, took the stage for The Many Faces of Trask. He was delightful and witty. During the Q&A, I stood up and asked him, "We had Gregory Trask and Lamar Trask, and then there was Rev. Trask. What was his first name?" Without missing a beat, Jerry said, "I liked to call him Orville," which elicited howls from the audience. Since I was the last questioner, that was it.

The DS Memorabilia Auction II followed Jerry Lacy, and Judy and I stayed for that so that Mary, Di, Sunny and Chuck could take a break while we saved the great third-row seats we had. The auction astonishes me. People bid lots of money for these items! I did bid on Shadows on the Wall, which was the blueprint for Dark Shadows, so to speak, but it went for way too much money. Oh, well!

At 3:00 p.m., it was time for the Unproduced 1968 Lost Script On Stage with the Original Actors. This script, nixed by Dan Curtis, took place during the Adam and Eve storyline. Front and center were Robert Rodan (be still, my beating heart!), Marie Wallace, Roger Davis (as Peter Bradford/Jeff Clark), and Lara Parker. Rodan’s deep, resonant voice was as sexy as ever, and his portrayal of the naïve, bewildered Adam was dead on! Marie, as Eve, was right in her element. However, Roger Davis didn’t seem to get the gist of the whole thing. It was to be performed as a radio play with the actors taking their place in front of one of three mikes on stage for them. Instead, he almost tried to act it out. As a result, he spent a great deal of time chasing Marie around the stage. When he did so, his voice wasn’t picked up by a mike, and it was hard to hear. At one point, he even knocked over one of the mikes. Oh, well! At least his heart was in it. Lara had a technical problem, too, with her mike, and she was not a happy camper. Both the sound guy and Jim Pierson jumped up on stage while she was trying to deliver her lines, leaving her exasperated. She just sighed, rolled her eyes, and said: "You know, they can put a man on the moon …" We all laughed at that, but her consternation was completely understandable. It’s hard enough to have to present a play onstage without having interruptions such as those! All in all, while it was thrilling to see this lost script come to life, it wasn’t one of the best, and Dan Curtis was right to decide not to produce it.

At 4 p.m., Jonathan Frid once again took the stage to do his various dramatic readings, again prompting me to skip this presentation. This, though, was apparently when he fell, which has been widely reported. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt, although fans were very concerned.

During this presentation, I took advantage of the shorter autograph lines. The only autograph I hadn’t gotten from years past was that of Roger Davis, whom I’d never seen at any festival I’d attended. His line was rather long, but that was fine with me. I stood there with Di and Helen Samaras, who works closely with Jim Pierson on making sure festivals go smoothly and as planned. Helen also helps us Collinsport Players with our skits, as well as helping the Costume Gala run well. While on line, I noticed two disabled ladies waiting behind us. I informed them they could go to the front of the line, but they were reluctant to do so. I then asked them whom they wanted to see, and they mentioned Marie Wallace and Roger Davis. I brought them over to Marie’s table first, since there wasn’t a long line for her. As the ladies and Marie chatted, I walked to the front of Roger’s line and told the people there that two disabled ladies would be coming over and needed to go first. This very rude woman told me, "Oh no! That happened to me twice yesterday! I’m not letting anyone in front of me. Yesterday, my brother-in-law got so disgusted about it, he just left." I was shocked, to say the least, but I stopped short of slapping her. I calmly said, "That’s too bad, but the disabled take precedence." She actually snorted at me as I walked away. Di, however, when hearing about this, said, "Oh, yeah? Where are the ladies now?" I told her they were still with Marie, so Di walked over, waited till they were finished, and personally escorted them to the front of Roger’s line. Believe me, no one was about to tell her no. She is a force to be reckoned with, so it was a pleasure to let her take over. Back once again in my place on Roger’s line, Di, Helen, Judy (who joined us) and I discussed this. We decided that it would be a good idea for this policy about the disabled to be more widely publicized in the future so something like this couldn’t happen again. Ultimately, I got to Roger’s table, got his autograph and a picture taken with me.

Now it was time to get ready for the banquet. We five women scrambled into our finery, each admiring the others’ outfits, and off we went. Once again, Mary was to get into the ballroom first and secure us a good table. And what a table! Normally, we’re sitting way in the back. This time, we were right in front at Table 4! I could have kissed Mary! Besides the five of us roomies and Chuck, there was a woman named Marnie there and a couple, Deana and Gary. All three were delightful! Deana had gone blind five years after DS ended, and Quentin was her favorite character. She related to us how she’d waited 40 years for "Quentin" to hug her, and he had that day when she got his autograph and a picture with him. Judy then told her, "See? In your mind, Quentin will never age. He’s as handsome now as he was when you last saw him." Deana giggled at that and admitted that it was true.

The dinner itself was inedible. I made a lame attempt to taste this gloppy concoction that was supposed to be veggie lasagna, but to no avail. There was no way I was going to eat something that seemed like it was put together with Elmer’s Glue as the main ingredient. Ugh! As we ate, or pretended to, Jim Pierson, Chris Pennock and Jerry Lacy gave out the various table prizes that are tradition at every banquet. Our very own Mary even won something, a first for any table I ever sat at. We were thrilled. Alas and alack, though, the banquet and festival came to an end at 9 p.m.

Ah, but it’s never the end for us diehards. Changing back into more comfortable clothes, we fest-goers gathered at the bar and partied well into the wee hours. I did get to eat, too, having ordered a cheeseburger platter at the bar. Yum!

Even Di, Mary and Sunny hung out until late, even though their flights were early the next morning. My flight wouldn’t take off until 9:15 p.m. the following evening, so I could sleep in, as could Judy, who wasn’t leaving Burbank until Wednesday. After Di, Mary and Sunny went up to pack and go to bed, Judy and I hung around with John and Peter, my fellow Collinsport Players, as well as Richard, a friend of Jim Pierson’s. At 2:30, John and Peter called it a night, and Judy and I decided to go up to our room as well. At the door of the room, I actually had the key in the slot when Judy said, "I don’t want to go to bed yet! Let’s go back downstairs." By this time, I was finding it hard to keep my eyes open, but okay, yes, let’s go back down. So, down we went. Everyone was gone by then, so we decided to go to Denny’s for coffee. There we sat, sometime around 3 a.m., ordering coffee. With it, we decided to go for some cake. We ordered a Hershey’s Chocolate Cake as well as Carrot Cake. Between us, we alternated with our forks as we savored a forkful of one and then the other. The problem was, I was so tired, I practically had my face down in my coffee cup. Giving up the ghost, we left Denny’s and finally went up to our rooms to sleep.

DAY FIVE - MONDAY, JULY 21, 2008

It seemed Judy and I had no sooner closed our eyes than the alarm rang at 4:30. Di, Sunny and Mary had to be up and out for their early flights. I tried to stay in bed, but it was impossible. Anyway, I wanted to get in my goodbye hugs and kisses. After the three ladies left, Judy and I went back to sleep until about 9 or so.

When we got up, we decided we’d get ready, pack, bring our bags down and then go to Denny’s for my last breakfast with lovely Lisa as our waitress. I had found out that the bellman would hold our bags for us, so I didn’t have to worry about lugging that thing around with me until it would be time to catch the shuttle to the airport, which wouldn’t be until 7:15 or so that evening.

We checked our bags and walked to Denny’s. It was another hearty, delicious breakfast, and Lisa was her usual cheerful, efficient self. After breakfast, Judy and I decided to fill out a comment card, praising Lisa to the hilt! Really, what we said was true. Denny’s has a real asset in Lisa, and it’s our hope she goes on to bigger and better things.

We went back to the hotel and just parked ourselves in the courtyard, too tired to do anything else. As we did so, we found ourselves moving our chairs away from the sun until we were just about sitting on top of the glass partition of the other building where all the fest events had been held. Finally, when the sun was just right and not directly overhead, we sat at a table in the shade. We saw a few fest-goers who were still there and chatted as they passed by or sat with us.

Amanda, Brian and Sally soon joined us, so we decided to get some last-minute pictures with them. I had my banana necklace from the skit, so I put that on, and Judy took the two bananas which had fallen off the necklace and put them on her hat. We also chatted briefly with the sound tech people, who were on their way to visit relatives in northern California.

A few times, when I went back into the hotel to use the rest room or get some cold water, I’d see Jonathan Frid milling around with Jim Pierson. As I found out later, Jonathan was still in Burbank through Wednesday. He seemed tired, so I simply nodded and smiled at him, not wanting to bother the man.

At around 5 or so, I decided I should probably eat something since I’d be flying through the night. Judy and I went to the Daily Grill, the hotel restaurant, and our poor waiter was limping. When we asked him what had happened, he told us he had a broken toe but couldn’t afford to take off from work. We sympathized, and he then told us he was an actor. That was no surprise, given where we were in California, right near Hollywood. Apparently, he’d done a German car commercial, and he regaled us with how he tricked the director into believing he spoke German. The guy was personality plus, and it was easy to see why he chose acting as his profession.

Linda joined us outside again and gave Judy the details on the schedule they’d be following the next day on their trip to Disneyland. Apparently, she had it all planned out. Listening, I was kind of glad I decided not to do that trip. I was too tired to even hear about it at that point.

Finally, it was time to catch my shuttle. I hugged Linda and then hugged and kissed Judy goodbye. Poor Judy started getting "verklempt," as she put it, but I staved off my own tears. After all, I didn’t want to sit at the airport with runny mascara on my face!

The shuttle ride was too quick, and I was at the airport in no time. I wandered around a bit, grabbed a quick smoke, and then proceeded through security to my gate. My first flight was a short hop to Las Vegas, and we were there in no time.

Walking through the Las Vegas airport, I was surprised to see it actually had slot machines. I’m no gambler, so I simply checked them out due to curiosity. I didn’t play one, though. At the gate for my flight to Boston, the next leg of my journey, I fought off tears as I recalled the wonderful time we’d had at the festival. A whole year has to pass before another one and being reunited with my dear, dear friends.

Once on the plane to Boston, which was packed, I settled in and just fell asleep. I was so exhausted, I didn’t care how cramped I was. However, when I awoke upon landing in Boston, I paid the piper for that. My right foot was swollen, and my right knee was killing me. I don’t know what position I’d been in all night, but it caused a great deal of pain when I had to get up and move.

Fortunately, my next flight, back to LaGuardia, was only a half hour. When we touched down, again, sadness flooded through me. I hate when the festival ends. It means getting back to reality after a wonderful flight of fantasy and fun times.

Back home after the two-hour ride to my house, I unpacked and just crashed. I slept the entire afternoon away, still dreaming of my great trip. Next year, I’m hoping not to have to fly anywhere. It seems the rumor is, it’ll be in Brooklyn. Yay!