My Sentinel adventure actually began on Thursday Jan. 7 at the Ramada Inn in Pasadena.
I arrived early and so got to meet the organizers as they set up the room for the evening activities. Many thanks to Duranee, Shelaugh,Trish,
Aysah & company for all their hard work to provide us this gathering place. It certainly served its purpose well. There was a TV and a VCR on which
blooper tapes, convention footage, and episodes were screened, ample seating and tables for showing off Sentinel goodies. There was a message center
and plenty of snacks and drinks. All in all, a great place to meet and share Sentinel tales before the Rally
and afterwards a place to rehash the evenings events to our hearts content. An extra treat was the opportunity to see a new Blooper Reel. But I'm
getting ahead of myself here, so back to the story.
The next day I rushed out of my house at 2:00, really hoping that that traffic wouldn't be too bad and that parking would be easy at the Ritz. I was
lucky with the traffic and and only had to park one long block away from the Ritz, so I was actually walking into the hotel by 2:55.
The Ritz-Carlton is really beautiful, set in a very classy residential neighborhood.
I was directed to a hallway full of women waiting to be let into the Viennese Room. I spotted some familiar faces from the Romper Room and joined them as we were allowed into the ballroom exactly at 3:00. As expected the room was beautiful, full of big round tables that sat about 10 people each. There was a low platform off to one side of the room with four chairs and an easel holding a poster of Bruce, Richard and Garett. A Master of Ceremonies type greeted us and told us what to expect. I think his main job was to insure that everything moved right along on the tight little schedule they had planned. We had until 3:15 to get our snacks and drinks and then the screening of Murder 101 began on the three evenly spaced television monitors.
The episode has already been described, as was our enthusiastic response to it. Danny Bilson snuck into the room toward the middle of the showing and stayed for a while taking in our reaction. I'm sure this is where he realized that we found much of the episode funny, since there was laughter and giggling throughout. At 4:00 it was over and the lights came up as we cheered and applauded our approval. The MC quickly shushed us and then grandly introduced Danny Bilson, Paul Demeo, Bruce Young and last, but not least, Richard Burgi. Richard came in holding a small flashlight to his own face, smiling and acknowledging our cheers and hurrahs. He sat down and jokingly explained that he always came prepared for close ups, hence the flashlight. They all looked so good and I gathered from the many accounts heard that night and posted later, that they all smelled delicious too. I was entranced with their presence and with their relaxed banter with the audience and the MC as they joked and answered questions. So I only managed one pretty bad faraway shot of them all up on the platform. I kick myself now when I realize all
the good shots I could have taken. But Ah well, hindsight is so educating. I did manage a few decent shots of Richard and Bruce so don't despair.
The question and answer period lasted exactly fifteen minutes and then Richard and Bruce were hustled off to the side tables where they proceeded to
sign photographs and pose for pictures. Meanwhile Danny and Paul continued answering questions and eventually came off the platform to mingle with the crowd.
I was tempted to skip my chance at a close encounter and autograph and let my socially inept personality win out, but I knew I would heartily regret my
cowardice if this happened. So gathering my courage I got in line and soon came face to face with the fabulous Mr. Burgi. Fortunately the only time I had to
speak was to say my name. Richard smiled at me, looked me straight in the eye and said a few gracious things. I smiled and smiled and nodded and mumbled
thanks as he passed the photo to be signed by Bruce. Bruce smiled as I took the photo and thanked him. As I backed away I realized that this was the moment
to take pictures if I was ever to have them, so I managed to snap this one and then this.
You can see for yourselves that our stars were looking pretty good.
Autograph and pictures in hand I went back to my table, very happily indeed. I looked at my autographed photo
and was so glad that something came out of my mouth when he asked my name. The evening could have ended
there and I would have been content, but there was one more special treat in store for many of us that evening.
I'm not sure of the time, but it might have been 5:30 when I noticed that the crowd was thinning out and Carla Coupe was announcing that Richard was giving
some more of his time to personally greet the members of his fan club and we were to assemble ourselves along a certain hallway. Having recently become a member
of the RBFC (Richard Burgi Fan Club) I quickly joined my new friends as we hied ourselves to the hallway. We formed a sort of
reception line stretched down one long elegant hallway. Richard showed up very promptly and started to work his way down the line. I think everybody got a hug
and a picture, here's mine. Don't I look thrilled? Very soon after this, it was all over. Richard stood at the end of the hall, waved goodbye, thanked us and urged us to stay connected and then he was gone. What a classy guy!
So by 6:00, everyone started to scatter and trail out of the hotel. I headed back to the Ramada Inn with a few friends in tow. I think it took us all awhile to come down off of our cloud. I know my feet didn't touch the ground for some time. The Romper Room was a good place to kind of unwind and relax with the chatter and our favorite episodes as a backdrop. After an hour or so, we got our last present of the evening, a chance to see the 1st season blooper reel. In fact we watched it twice in a row. I'm definitely on Duranee's list for a copy if we get permission to dub.
So ends my first adventure as an active fan. I am so glad to have participated. I met so many nice people, connected many faces to familiar names and made some new friends. I guess that is what its all about, right?
