CelebShowAndTell

Neither Burnett nor Korman would speak with us. Burnett, in particular, seemed absolutely appalled and angry she had to share a room with such long-haired and rather scruffy-looking characters.

I immediately recognized Keith Emerson, as I had one of their albums at home and had always admired his talent on keyboards. Not wanting to come across as awestruck, I asked what seemed to me to be a reasonable question: “How was the audience tonight?”

We found her in the gift shop and again she smiled at us. I asked her if we could have her autograph. She said don’t you have a camera, it would last longer! We each took our picture with her and she was so lovely.

There we were, sitting in this lounge, all alone and in walked the lady of my dreams. I had always dreamed of meeting her, but at that moment my brain chose to freeze up, and with my mouth wide open, I was totally reduced to a stammering idiot.

He was charming. He was warm. He seemed genuinely interested in me and in the answers I gave to his questions.

I approached him, handed him my CD and told him my name and how to spell it. All he could comment as he signed my CD, was “CIA.” (Referring to how I told him to spell my name M-A-R-C-I-A) “That sounds so important.” (Referring to government organization, CIA of course).

I remember being so “WOW! Katharine…within two feet of me” that when she looked at me and smiled, all I could do was ask her if working on the original Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? with her aunt had been fun.

My father realizes too, and our suspicions are confirmed when he says his name is Bill. He can tell in the change in our tones that we know who he is.

About 30 or so years ago, my husband and I went out for dinner to a local pub. As we looked around, we realized that sitting at the bar were Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin.

At one point, as we were walking from room to room, then President Lyndon Johnson walked past us in the hall. The adults on our tour said the respectful, “Hello Mr. President.”