"The Importance of Being Wilde" An Evening to Remember (Before I Forget!) thanks to Naomi Whabbitt@aol.com It was suggested to me today that I had better write down the events of November 11, rather than to trust it to memory. Ah, my friends know me so well. "The Importance of Being Wilde" was a dramatic reading of the trials of Oscar Wilde, who, I must admit, I knew very little about. The attraction was that Scott Bakula would be half of the dramatic team. Malcolm McDowell was the other half, playing Oscar Wilde himself. The reading was held at a theatre in Thousand Oaks, and was to benefit the school that Scott's daughter attends. Now, since the information is out of the way I can get to the fun stuff. I, of course, had to have new clothes, and a new bag, one large enough for my camera with it's zoom lens. So, once I found the perfect dress, I sent my mind on losing a few pounds, but that wasn't difficult. I was so excited and nervous the 4 days previous that I hardly ate a thing. So Saturday morning, when I stepped on the scales and saw I lost 5 pounds, I was tickled pink. The dress fit great! I drove to a friend's apartment, and then we rode in together. She seemed pretty calm, but since she went shopping that very day for a different outfit, I think she was a little nervous too. We talked about eating first, but settled on snacking on a couple of bananas. Once we were all ready, we took off, and it wasn't too long before we found the place. There were very few cars there, so we got up-front parking. We didn't check, but were told when we walked in that Scott's car was already in the 'private' lot. Sigh of relief, he really was there! When we first walked into the lobby of the theatre there were perhaps 40 people milling about. Several familiar faces, fan wise, and a few 'celebrity' wise. Diamond, who is perhaps only a celebrity in QL fandom, was the first person I recognized. Ted Danson was there as well. I didn't approach either of them, instead I started saying hello to the people that I did know. We had at least 20 minutes to kill before the show, but went in to get our seats. Because I had ordered my ticket alone, I wasn't sitting by anyone I knew. In fact, once the show started, there were two empty seats between myself and people I did know, and on the other side was an aisle. This was a great seat. The stage was decorated very simply. There was a large rug, and on the rug was a table, two backless stools, and two black lecterns. On the table sat two black top-hats, a water pitcher, and water glass, and a book. I was watching off to the wings of the stage, and I immediately saw Scott when he came through the door. It was 2 or 3 minutes before a woman came out on stage and explained why we were there and what we would be seeing. When she was done, she introduce the men, and they took the stage . Both men were dressed in black. Scott wore a black long sleeve sweater tucked into black pants, (with a white piece of fuzz on his 'left back-side cheek'), black belt and black shoes. His hair is still very short, no white streak, but an ever so slight amount of graying around the temples, very nice. Malcolm was also wearing black, but he had on a black jacket over a white shirt, black pants and shoes. He wore glasses, and would take them off several times during the reading, just to put them back on again. Scott stood on the right side of the stage if you're looking at the stage, and he was standing just to the left of me. Like I said, it was a great seat. And I did my best to actually look at Malcolm when Malcolm was talking. I was proud of myself for that. I was so close, that if Scott had looked down, he could have seen if I wasn't looking where I was supposed to be looking, and I didn't want that. I did notice that he looked down at the woman that I rode in with, and smiled at her, so I did want to be on my best behavior. (For instance, saying, "Scott, you have lint on your butt." would not have been a good thing.) Malcolm spoke first. The reading lasted about 75 or 80 minutes, so there was a bit of time between shows. (Didn't I mention I had tickets for both, front row each show?) It was sooo nice to listen to Scott, to see him preform in person, even if there was no singing. He did scare me for a second. He was backing up, for the most part they stood in the same spot, but at one point as he was backing up, he bumped into the stool, and he quickly steadied it. What a drag if he were to take a 'header' or crash the stool. Messy, noisy. Anyway, he didn't, and since Malcolm was talking at the time, most people I think just ignored it. There was a cute sequence that had Malcolm and Scott putting on the top hats. After both times, Scott did this 'finger-combing-messing up-the flattened hair' thing. His hair is so short though, that he really didn't need to worry about it. I was actually touched, to the point of tears, with the story. Oscar Wilde was certainly put through some awful times, and betrayed by 'supposed' friends. Malcolm played the anguish well, I thought. Scott played several characters, and at the second reading, the distinction between the characters was more refined. Scott would put on different accents to accomplish this. After the first reading ended, the guests left the area and either went out to the lobby, or left. It was at this point that I was able to socialize more and meet a few new people. And a few friends showed up that hadn't gone to the first reading. I should have been starving at this point, but I was too excited. When people said that they had stopped for dinner first I was amazed! How could they possibly have calm enough stomachs for food? Well, I got restless, so I followed some friends into the theatre to take my seat for the second reading. This time I was to the far left as you face the stage, instead of just to the right of center like I had been before. This seat, still front row, was good too. Because I was off to the side, I needed to face both gentlemen at the same time, so I could watch Scott all I wanted, without being obvious! Scott did have at least 2 security guards inside the building. There may have been more outside, I'm not sure. This reading was more touching than the first, or perhaps I was able to concentrate more, now that Scott wasn't a mere 6 feet away from me. After it was over, the gentlemen got a standing ovation and flowers. It was all very touching too. Two children were brought up on the stage and introduced as students at the Oak Grove School. Raquel Welch was in the audience. I was impressed, but I didn't gawk, I promise. She is beautiful! We left the theatre and needed to show our tickets to get into the reception area. This was just roped off until all those not paying for the reception had left the lobby. Then the ropes came down. About 20 minutes or so afterwards, Malcolm came out and that was my cue to get out my camera and wait for Scott. He came out a few moments later, but he didn't have the success at getting as far into the lobby as Malcolm did. I sort of laid back until Scott landed before I moved in for some closer pictures. What ended up happening for the first 10 minutes was that people would give me their cameras to take their picture with Scott, and then I would use my own too. I would say, "Scott, we are over here" when he would ask the person, "Where's the camera?" Before I took too many pictures, I noticed 2 drink tickets at Scott's feet. When we came into the roped off area, we were given tickets to redeem for drinks at the bar. Well, I had used one of mine already, so I knew that the ones on the floor didn't belong to me. I said, "Drink tickets on the floor." Not very loud, but Scott heard me, bent down, picked them up, and said something like, "Well, you don't want to lose these." I said, "Those aren't mine." Well, Scott got busy doing something else, and he was still holding the tickets out in his left hand. No one was taking them, so I said, "Shoot, I'll take them." So I did. And, I promise this to be true, I 'accidentally' touched his fingers as I took the tickets. So, I've got a souvenir, and he's rid of the tickets. I did hand off my camera to a trusted friend, (it's a very expensive camera!) and finally went in for my 'first physical encounter with Scott.) ((I've talked to him before, and seen him in person before, but never touched him before, at least before the finger thing.)) As I slid into Scott's 'space' I said, "It's my turn!" and he said, "You're turn, huh?" I slid my arm around his waist, and stood as 'my photog' took the picture. She asked, "Do you want another one?" and I said, "Please, I think I blinked." So as she was getting ready, I was rubbing his back a little and putting my head against his shoulder, then I looked back up and she took another one, and as Scott was saying, "Thanks for coming" I turned towards him slightly, (I was to his right) and said, "Can I give you a squeeze for Joann?" Well, he pulled me in tight and said, "For Joann?" and as I pulled away, (What a fool, I should have let him pull away when he was ready, but he was squishing my chest , and that's an accomplishment seeings how I'm fairly flat chested!)I began to explain who Joann was. "Yeah, she lives in Florida, and she was out here visiting and just happened to be here for the Stephanie Miller taping And we just happened to get the perfect seats. And I got that little card." All the while, his arm is still around me. Well, he seemed a little puzzled when I mentioned the card, but I would have a chance to clear that up later. I don't remember what order the next events took place, but here there are. I continued to take pix for myself and others, it was nice to be in the 'circle' but it got a little too crowded at times too. Once or twice I broke away, and at one time I saw Jay looking at me so I said, "I had to get out of the crush." He smiled and nodded understandably. Several someones asked what was on the end of Scott's chain, so I said, "Scott, everyone wants to know what's on the end of your chain." His answer, "A dogtag." So I turned to the crowd and said, "It's a dogtag." I do remember Scott leaning in to hear my comment, in fact, I had to fight the urge to touch the sweater where the dogtag was next to his skin. But I'm a good girl, so I behaved myself. There was a perfectly cute young man of about 25 who was looking for a Sharpie Marker to borrow to get Malcolm McDowell's autograph. One of my friends suggested that he asked me, but I guess he was too shy or something. I said, "Here, no problem." When he said thanks, I said, "Sure, you're cute!" Well, I think he blushed about 10 shades of red, and when he brought the pen back later, he thanked me again. It wasn't until a few days had passed by, I realized that I have Scott and Malcolm 'cooties' on different Sharpies. Well, I've saved both of those pens, I don't know how long I'll 'save' them separate from all the other pens in the house, but for now...... Someone asked about the Fox network chat, so I turned to someone standing next to me and said, "Oh, you mean the chat that I couldn't get on?" and, instead of answering the other person, Scott started answering me! He said, "Oh, I know, nobody could. It was the largest chat that they've ever had." I asked, "So, was there one, I mean, is there anything to download from the archives yet?" and he answered, "No, I don't think so. There were too many people, it was the biggest one they've ever done!" He was signing autographs durning this time, and mentioned again how big it was. And I said, jokingly, "Don't let it go to your head." and he answered, "No, I won't." He didn't look up this time, so I felt a little guilty about that. It is truly an accomplishment, and I should have congratulated him. But you know what, I felt so comfortable around him, and that's something I would have said to my brother. Hope he didn't take it bad, or think I'm a jerk. My camera is very nice, but occasionally it is temperamental, not snapping when it should. Only once did it do that to me when I was taking a picture of Scott for the person standing next to him. As it didn't go off, and it didn't go off, probably 20 seconds worth, I started to panic. I said, "Oh no, it's dead, it's not working, oh no!" Well, very unlady-like, I stomped my foot, and the camera finally snapped. That was the only photo that didn't come out at all. Geez! I finally did come in for an autograph, and was able to show him the card I was talking about. He said, "Oh yeah, I remember that. Do you want me to sign this? Who to?" He signed a picture that I had taken at ComicCon in July, it was just a 4x6, but that size is one I can take in my purse everywhere I go. And I do! Jay had come up to Scott a couple of times. I can only guess he was telling him that it was time to leave. Malcolm left before Scott did, and the place was clearing out a little. OH! Forgot, Raquel Welch came in for a hug from Scott, but it was all so quick that I didn't get a picture of it. I have to think that a hug from Raquel was as much of a thrill for Scott as it was for me to get one from him. Things were getting wrapped up, and I noticed that two of my friends had not yet approached Scott. One went over pretty quickly after I asked her, and when I came to take the picture, Scott said, "Oh, what a surprise that you're back taking the picture." I said, "Of course, I'm the resident photographer." and thanked him. A few minutes later, Scott turned to make sure everyone was taken care of, and I took that last opportunity to talk to him. He is such a gentleman, and by then, as I slid up next to him, I could smell either cologne or nice smelling deodorant. Whichever, not only did he feel great, he smelled great too. I don't think I touched him then, and I forgot to wish him a Happy Thanksgiving. He left about 2 minutes later. I went outside about 5 minutes later, and joined a group that was watching Scott get ready to leave. From the distance I could see that he had his glasses on, and as he drove off we all said good-bye and to drive safely. I then walked over to Jay, thanked him for everything, and gave him a 'squeeze'. Some of the girls were going out afterwards, but 'my driver' and I didn't. She had calls to make, and I had a two hour drive home from her place. I got home at 2:50 am, was in bed by 3:15, and up at 6:00 to make my own calls. The only thing that I want to add here: Being near to Scott and talking to him just makes you want more. He's kind of like chocolate, I can't get enough!