You Heard It Here: I Know You!
This months’ Hollywood story is one of my more embarrassing moments, but I figure I should come clean since… well… why not. No one will care. LOL.
I first got my foot in the (Hollywood) door working as a Page at KTTV. (Channel 11.) Back then we were known as Metro Media and there were a ton shows taping on our lot. One of my first jobs was working on Hour Magazine hosted by the late – and very wonderful – Gary Collins. One of my duties was to greet the guests for that day’s taping, show them to their dressing room and make sure they had everything they needed. (That usually involved a towel in case they wanted to wash off the make-up when they finished taping. We taped one show a day and there were anywhere from 3 to 5 guests per show. Depended on the show.)
Since I’d only been in California for just over a year at that point, I was still easily star-struck so everyday was an adventure on who I was going to meet and greet. I’d get the show guest list every day when I came on duty and be so excited to see who was on it.
I have to preface this next part by telling you that I grew up in a tennis family. My brother played professionally and toured in Europe for a while. My parents belonged to the tennis club and my mom played a couple of times a week with her “bunch.” I also played for a few years until I discovered it really wasn’t my thing. (I liked running better.) My point is, when you’re in a tennis family, you also watch it on TV and you know all the players.
On this particular day at work, Pam Shriver was one of the guests and I was so excited that I was going to meet her! She was a household name for me growing up. The thing about greeting guests is sometimes they don’t exactly come at the time on the call sheet. I had just taken a guest to their dressing room and had stopped in the audience for some reason I don’t remember. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned around. I nearly quit breathing. It was HER! My eyes bugged open and I said, “You’re Pam Shriver!” She said, “Um, yes. I am. I was wondering if you could tell me where to go.”
(This was Pam in those days.)
Could I ever!! That was my job! And of course, by now I’m feeling like an idiot because I blurted out her name like that. (Yes, dumbsh*t, she knows her name!) But she was very nice as I led the way to her dressing room and babbled on about how terrific she was. Ugh. How embarrassing. I’ve had a few of those in my day. Maybe I’ll give you another one of those next time too. Or not. I can only out myself so much. LOL.
What about you? Any really embarrassing moments that you wanted to just crawl under a rug and disappear? It would be nice if you shared, so I’m not out here…alone…by myself…embarrassed. <G>
Oh! Before I forget! Today is the first day of the Against The Wall giveaway at Goodreads! Check it out!
Dee, you certainly have had an interesting career path! I did many stupid and embarrassing things in my jobs over the years (usually involving an accounting mistake) but nothing as interesting as yours!
I know what you mean about following a sport, especially if you participate in it. My daughters were into gymnastics as kids, and both have gone on to coach and judge. My husband also judged at one time. We still watch the big competitions on TV, especially the Olympics, and are acquainted with some of the top gymnasts in the world.
Hi Jana,
Oh gymnastics!! That was another sport we were into because my sis was a gymnast. She wanted to be Olga Korbut. LOL. I’m especially starstruck over musicians and athletes. I am so amazed at their talent/ability. I will almost always embarrass myself in front of them. Ugh. Thanks for dropping in!
I honestly tried to think of an embarrassing moment, but I must have buried them too deeply in my subconscious. I do have them. I swear.
Hi Kate,
LOL. I believe you. Maybe I should try and bury my embarrassing moments more often!
I do embarrassing stuff like that. Thoughts rush to my mouth and out, before I can fully engage the brain. : )
Hi Robena,
Clearly I’m the same way. At least we are not alone. We can be embarrassed together. Haha. Thanks for coming by!!
I’ll bet Pam Shriver was charmed by your reaction. After all, YOU saw stars all the time in that job, and she had you star-struck and stuttering.
Embarrassing moment for me? Hmm. So many to choose from! It all goes down at the grocery store in my life. Years ago I was standing in the checkout line at Ralphs buying one of those take-and-bake pizzas and the lady behind me asked, “Where’d you get that pizza?” I turned and it was Candace Bergen. I said, “Here! Take mine.” (Which she of course politely declined and the bagger ran and got her one).
Hi Samanthe,
LOVE this story! Weren’t you in a grocery line with Dick Van Dyke as well? Man, I need to shop at your market. Haha. Seriously, I bet I would’ve done the exact same thing. Too funny. Thanks for dropping in!
Many years ago, I had a very embarrassing moment when I walked out of the ladies restroom at work with the hem of my skirt tucked into the waistband of my pantyhose (Like I said, it was a long time ago. LOL. Everyone wore them then). Anyway, luckily I hadn’t gotten too far before one of my female co-workers alerted me that my butt was showing. When I think of how much worse it could have been, I cringe.
Hi Alison,
OMG! The same thing happened to me! But I was at a bank of elevators with at least a dozen other people – half men!! I was mortified beyond belief!
My only saving grace was knowing I wouldn’t see most of them ever again. I understand the “cringe.” Ugh. Don’t think I’ll ever forget that day. Haha.
Hmmm… plenty of embarrassing moments, but here’s my “Hollywood” one.
A few years back, I flew to LA to meet up with some online friends to watch a pilot filming together. (We all met as fans of one of the actors, so when he got the gig, we decided what the hell, let’s go watch the filming!)
Anyway, we were in the audience, waiting for the filming to start, and the warm up guy was going through his routine. Somehow, he ended up calling me up front to be interviewed. I mentioned that we were there as fans of Eric Sheffer Stevens, and had traveled from across the country to be there for the filming. So, of course, we became stalkers and crazy women and he offered to get us a lock of Eric’s hair (my response? Eww, no! That’s creepy!) and basically mocked us for the rest of the warm up part. Then he asked what I did for a living and switched his mockery to romance writers. LOL.
So, that’s only a little embarrassing, right? Well, the minute he finished his mocking and I got to sit down, the crew moved the blocking flats that were hiding the set from view – and the entire cast was standing right there. Including my favorite actor, who’d just heard the entire thing.
Color me red for the rest of the filming!
Hi Kate,
Oh man… I feel your pain!! It is kinda funny, but I’ve been in your shoes…been the butt of the warm-up’s jokes. Ugh. First, it’s very possible that the actors didn’t get to that spot until a few seconds before they moved the flats. Just FYI. They usually don’t waste time once the actors are in place. I’m curious who the warm-up was. Maybe someone I know… I was in the “Friends” audience and got ripped by the warm-up. Not fun. I ended up sneaking out before the show ended because I was tired of the guy busting me. But, at least you got a good story out of it. LOL.
Oh, good to know. That makes me feel better. 🙂
Yeah, it was a good story in the long run – plus the fact that the warm up guy kept bringing it up during the filming meant the actor actually realized we were there, and chased us down as we were leaving to thank us. It was awesome. So, silver lining!
But really, it’s possible to warm up the audience without humiliating individuals.
Kate,
In my experience, the more the warm-up has to bust an audience member, the less material they actually have to keep the audience entertained. It’s their “thing” to find someone – or several someones – to bust…in the hopes of keeping the rest of the crowd engaged. Very glad you had a silver lining to the story! Love that the actor chased you down to thank you! Very awesome!