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  • #16
    In the 70s, I had a truly amazing experience.

    After my father passed away when I was 13, my living arrangements changed constantly, once my stepmother gave-up any pretenses about wanting me in the house. The second place I lived in, was in Downey, California. Soon after arriving there I'd felt overwhelmed by things, and decided to 'take the day off' from school.

    I was tooling around on my bike, and came to a huge, industrial type complex of buildings, behind barbed wire fences, called North American Rockwell, Space Division.

    I was totally into science, and the space program. So, I did what any 14 year-old kid (I think that's how old I was at the time) would do, and walked up to their front door, and rang the bell.

    Somebody came to answer -- for the life of me, I can't remember who -- and naturally, he asked me what I wanted. I asked if I could 'look around.'

    Now, here comes the 'amazing' part. Instead of telling me to 'am-scray,' or to beat-feet, he said: "Wait here a moment." I did, and eventually a man in a suit opened the door, and introduced himself. His name was Joe Queen, and I'm pretty sure he said (it was a long time ago, folks) that he was the Public Relations Director. He shepherded me in, and began to show me around.

    It was the most amazing place! I know there were many space-travel related artifacts there, but what I remember the most vividly was the full size mock-up of the space shuttle, which hadn't been built yet.

    This 'personal tour' was great! I thought nothing could top it -- until something did. Mr. Queen told me that a (then) popular TV show was being filmed there, and did I want to take a look at that? Did I!

    What show was this? Well, I can tell you that the main character, in the show's storyline, needed a lot of health-care, and a lot of reconstructive surgery. Oh, and the surgery was said to cost a pretty penny: somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000,000.

    He took me to a room that had one of the early space capsules in it, and introduced me to that episode's costar, who happened to be the star of the show's real-life wife. She was known for her gorgeous blond hair, and for being an 'Angel.' And then, Mr. Queen said he'd come back for me, later.

    Myself and this lovely lady talked as if we were just two ordinary people (though only I was guilty of carrying that designation). She was wearing a spacesuit, and we talked about that. She even let me feel the material in the sleeve. We talked about the space program, and about what it's like to be on TV. She was warm and friendly, and talked to me as if I mattered. I remember her inviting me to look through the window of the space capsule, and the cameraman being miffed that the back of my head had touched his camera lens.

    Eventually, Mr. Queen came and collected me. Next, he took me to see the 'hubby.' He introduced me, and Hubby looked at him incredulously, his expression saying: "What the hell is this?" I said something to Mr. Hubby, and he shot me a dirty look. I was quickly whisked away.

    Later, after I'd joined the Navy, Ms. Star had a popular poster out in which she was in a red bathing suit, that became very iconic, for the times. Many of my fellow sailors drooled over this poster. I myself had an insulated, plastic cup with the poster on it. But, I'd have to say that I never had an impure thought whenever I looked at her picture. Instead, I experienced a feeling of warm remembrance of a very nice person who was kind to me, at a time in my life when I really needed kindness.
    Last edited by SailorMan; 04-15-2015, 03:59 PM.
    Who hears all your prayers? Why, the NSA, of course!

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    • #17
      About 15 years ago I was much more into wrestling, to the point where me and a few friends used to do backyard wrestling and even rented out the ring at a local wrestling school. We met a couple of guys who were training to become pros. I won't mention their names but one did a lot of Delaware Valley wrestling and helped to start a federation, the other went on to work in the WWE for a few years.

      They were nice enough to take some of their time to teach me and my friends some of the basics so we wouldn't kill ourselves or each other in the ring, and we even did a couple of "inter-federation" matchups between our guys and their guys.

      The last time we did it, those two guys plus a couple of ECW wrestlers - one of whom is a former belt holder - were visiting the wrestling school. The four of them were nice enough to join us in a battle royal. No costumes or protective gear, just their street clothes... and it was awesome. We ended up giving the win to the ECW belt holder.

      Also met King Kong Bundy there - really sweet guy.

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      • #18
        Quoth SailorMan View Post
        Oh, and the surgery was said to cost a pretty penny: somewhere in the neighborhood of $6,000,000.

        Next, he took me to see the 'hubby.' He introduced me, and Hubby looked at him incredulously, his expression saying: "What the hell is this?" I said something to Mr. Hubby, and he shot me a dirty look. I was quickly whisked away.
        With an attitude like that, I'm not surprised that he was demoted from being a relatively high-ranking officer on that show to enlisted rank (can't recall if he was a private, but I'm sure he wasn't any higher than a corporal) on Tour of Duty.

        It would be an understandable mistake if, when someone said the actor's name, bystanders thought that they were talking about multiple field-grade officers. I also recall that there was a female tennis player whose serve Connors couldn't return.
        Last edited by wolfie; 04-15-2015, 05:18 PM. Reason: Added more material
        Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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        • #19
          Speaking of wrestlers, I have a fun little story to tell from a few years ago.

          I went to a major indie wrestling weekend event, one that brings in talent from all over the world. The previous year, I'd gone with some online friends and had a great time. Unfortunately, they couldn't make it this year, in one guy's case because he'd lost his job and couldn't afford to go.

          It gets announced that a certain wrestler that had been on TV (but not for WWE) was going to be at the shows in his other, masked persona-- which everyone knew meant he'd be out in the first round and available to wrestle as his primary persona the rest of the weekend. Laid Off Friend was most displeased that he couldn't attend, because this particular wrestler is one of his all-time favorites.

          At the shows, I made a point of stopping by the wrestler's merch table and buying a t-shirt and getting his autograph, then asking him to pose for a picture, in which we'd point at the camera and laugh. He was a bit confused, but game to do it, and so...

          PWNADE(TM) - Serve up a glass today! | PWNZER - An act of pwnage so awesome, it's like the victim got hit by a tank.

          There are only Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse because I choose to walk!

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          • #20
            Back in the early to Mid 90s when I used to do alot of Sci-fi conventions. We had one con I went to, that the 'Guest of Honor' was a guest actor on 'well known sci-fi Series. His character was actually a major part to the story line of the show, but he only appeared in a handful of episodes a season. This was his 2nd or 3rd year at this convention, and one of the things he liked to do was walk around the convention area. He was known for even checking out the room parties. The hotel this con was at, was kinda of a weird one. The rooms had both an inside door to a hallway, and an outside entrance to a balcony that connected all the rooms. At the time, I also Captain of a ship for one of the 'sci-fi show's' clubs. As i walked out on the balcony going from one room party to another, I noticed my First Officer, and The captain of the ship that organized this con, talking to someone. As I get closer, I realized it was the GoH completely Snockered. The 4 of use, just spent the next couple hours or so talking with each other the hotel balcony, with other people dropping in and out of the conversion, once they relized who we were talking to. The GoH was a real nice guy sober, and even nicer(and funnier) when drunk. As it turns out, the other Captain was the 'GoH's beer boy for the night. He held a paper bag with a couple 6 packs of Michelob, and when the guest was done with a bottle, he would pass the empty to other Captian , and who would then pull out a new one out of the bag and trade the guest for the empty one. Found out later, that that was the only 'request' the GoH had. Someone to follow him around with a bag of Michelob.
            Just sliding down the razor blade of life.

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            • #21
              Several years ago, some friends encountered her at a small restaurant. One of my most-loved friends in that group is from your same era, and in fact had that poster . He reported that, even though she was obviously in poor health - as sadly, we all know - her smile was every bit as warm and dazzling and she was every bit as kind. She took several pictures with them.
              Last edited by MadMike; 04-16-2015, 04:44 AM. Reason: Excessive quoting

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              • #22
                I wouldn't have expected any less from her. Thanks for posting that.
                Who hears all your prayers? Why, the NSA, of course!

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                • #23
                  When I worked at Big Craft, Fabric and Curtain shop at the counter nearest the door, I had a celebrity customer. My workmate rushed up to me, starstruck, to inform me that a local actress known for portraying a Warrior Princess was shopping in our store, and since I was on front counter, could I please please get her autograph!?!
                  Well, I ended up serving her alright, but I chickened out. Towards the end of her transaction, I looked aaaall the way up at her (tall girl, she is) cocked my head quizzically, and said,
                  "Has anyone ever told you you look a lot like (Character)?"
                  She gave a wry smile and said, "I get that a lot, yeah."
                  But she was just a regular, nice, friendly mum that day, shopping with her daughter for school holiday craft supplies.
                  Is it Asshole Day or what? - MoonCat
                  It's ALWAYS Asshole Day. - Jay2KWinger

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                  • #24
                    My claim to fame is kinda lame compared to the rest of the stories. We had some of the Dateline crew in my hotel during an incident that involved a certain DC millionaire. I personally checked in one member who was famous for having his own segment and invited guests to take a seat. Nice guy, wasn't a SC.
                    To right the countless wrongs of our days... We shine this light of true redemption, that this place may become as paradise...Oh, what a wonderful world such would be...

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                    • #25
                      My mom several times while whizzing around NY ran into, bounced off of and got variously picked up off the ground by Howard Keel Their 'relationship' covered several years of bruises and dirt

                      I have variously fallen off a ladder and landed upon an actor who was known for playing Dracula when he was coming to check out a formal evening cloak [my cousin owned a vintage clothing shop back in the 1970s] gone out drinking with a fair number of musicians and not as a groupie, served as formal dinner companions to a fair number of scientists and notables [between helping organize BoyPower dinners and a series of scientific symposia] and gaming for a number of years from tabletop through MMORPGs with a fairly wide and diverse bunch of maniacs.

                      My favorite? Probably the people I have run into over the years in the SF/fantasy and gaming communities.

                      Though one of the oddest is being on fairly good terms with a man who was sent to the Eastern Front, and survived it all because he refused to turn Nazi and they wouldn't let him return to the US when war broke out [everybody else in his family was already in the US, 2 sisters were nuns and a brother was a priest over in Western NY and he had gone back to Germany for university.] Oh, and the SCA murderer.
                      EVE Online: 99% of the time you sit around waiting for something to happen, but that 1% of action is what hooks people like crack, you don't get interviewed by the BBC for a WoW raid.

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                      • #26
                        I had a job, 20 + years ago, in which I interacted with quite a few entertainers. Many of them in the Rat Pack, including the blue eyed leader, and other personalities of that era. I found that the more actual talent they had, as a rule, the more kind and gracious they were. It was the folks of limited talent who were very insecure, demanding, and rude.

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                        • #27
                          I met Walter Koenig at Gen Con one year and thought he was a nice guy. Met Garrett Wang at the same Con by nearly knocking him on his ass . . . totally by accident, I swear! We were both running in opposite directions and took the same corner very close . . . and ended up walking into the same panel by different doors
                          They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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                          • #28
                            My only claim to fame has been that I know one of the guys who appeared in Danger 5 personally .

                            The other claim (?) I had was that when I was processing enrolments for students at the college, I came across someone with the last name Micallef. Not a very common name I figured...he may not be related to the comedian, but here's hoping! (I believe Shaun micallef is Melbourne based and the application was for a nsw address)
                            Last edited by fireheart; 04-18-2015, 11:24 PM.
                            The best professors are mad scientists! -Zoom

                            Now queen of USSR-Land...

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                            • #29
                              As a teen i did a weeks work experience at a talk radio station. In that week I met the commodores, nice guys but a bit demanding. I also met a certain Victorian premier with a spotted dress (she had just come into power when the existing premier quit) who was very nice.

                              My favorite person I met a conventions was Majel Barrett. There wasn't a thing she wouldn't do for the fans even when she was exhausted. The woman would sign everything and anything for the fans. (she signed the dashboard of the guy do drove her around. his car has an enterprise number plate to boot!). I lovely lady who was loved the fans and they loved her.Still much missed.

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                              • #30
                                Quoth wolfie View Post
                                My guess is that the first one, based on his name, is definitely NOT Kosher. As for the second, it would HAVE to be someone portraying him (if the actual person, he'd be over 200 years old - anyone that old would not only no longer be composing, they'd have finished decomposing). Since identifying the composer wouldn't actually identify who showed up (any more so than the modern equivalent "An Elvis tribute artist was in attendance" revealing who the tribute artist actually was), could you let us know which composer?
                                Chances are it's the guy who does P.D.Q. Bach. The whole thing is actually the guy, but kayfabe, it was all written by a "lesser known" Bach.

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