I've met more than my share...
...of famous people. I don't know how it keeps happening, but it dose. I guess some of the things that I do in my spare time account for most of my run-in's with celebrities. Volunteering for various political campaigns has certainly produced a character or two. I met Charlton Heston during a rally here at the Marietta Square. During that election I also met Dan Quayle, Bob Barr and a Georgia governor or two.
Of course, working in movies is always good for a famous person here or there...even if it's only William Sanderson of, "This is my other brother Darryl" fame. I met him while I was working on Andersonville. I've even met people who you see all the time but you can never remember their name so I can't list them here, but you've seen them as much as I have and you'll probably see them again.
I literally walked into Ron Pallillo of Welcome Back Kotter about the same time I attended a party during the filming of a rotten movie called Hero's. I was living in Petaluma, California at the time and I hadn't yet seen Star Wars. So, when my friend invited me to meet her date (a man who I did not know was married at the time), Harrison Ford, I wasn't terribly impressed. We went to a party at the Adobe Inn in Petaluma and I had no clue who Harrison was...AND it WAS 1977...I wanted to meet Fonzie and The Flying Nun instead. If I had known how famous Ford would have become, I would have paid more attention to him when I had the chance.
I could list a bunch more off hand, like Mr. Brady, the dude from Shaft and more recently Rudy Huxtable and Tyler Perry while working on Madea Goes to Jail. But none of them compare to a man who I met in 1975 at Western Illinois University during Parents' Weekend. That was the time that my boyfriend and I stalked Bob Hope into his room at the University Union.
He was ever so gracious and allowed us to enter his room. All we did was knock on the door (after sneaking onto the floor through a lapse in security...we sat at the top of the stairs until someone came into the stairwell and we grabbed the door and sneaked onto the Union's hotel floor). We ran into another stalker couple and that chick knew exactly which room Mr. Hope was staying in. That was vital information. But even more vital was a person willing to knock on the door and ask, "Is Mr. Hope in?"
Being a relatively annoying person, I was more than happy to intrude on Mr. Hope's privacy. So, I did just that. A well dressed man in a suit opened the door and I asked my question to which he answered, "Yes, just a moment please. Come in."
We did and we met Mr. Hope. He gave us autographs and chatted with us for a few minutes. Naturally, that was quite a thrill for a bunch of kids our age and it was an experience that I will never forget...EVER.
The other day I was telling someone that story and I told him something that surprised him. Bob Hope was a short, short man. My friend mentioned something about Hope being next to cheerleaders and appearing taller than did they. I don't know if the chicks were little people or if Hope was on stilts, but of two things I am 100% CERTAIN...Number 1, I was taller than Mr. Hope. Number 2, the very first thing that struck me (and stays with me vividly to this day) was the fact that the man was in fact, surprisingly short. If you told me today that he was 5'3" tall, I would believe you. If you told me that he was 5'6" tall, I might even believe that too. But, under no circumstances whatsoever would I believe that Bob Hope was taller than 5'8". At least not in 1975.
I wanted to find something online to send my friend to show him that I was right...that Bob Hope was, in fact, a very short man. But all I found were biographies that stated his height at anything from 5'10 to 6'2". NOT ONE of them is accurate...unless the man had his thighs removed at some point. But I'm a nurse and I've never heard of a thigh-ectomy so I'm gonna go with my first impression and say that Bob Hope was short and there has been a massive cover-up the likes of which we have never seen. And with the New York Times around, that's saying a LOT!
This cover-up is so deep that I couldn't even find rumors of Hope's height being inflated for his own ego or for any other reason, no matter how many different ways that I tried in vain to search for something...anything that would back up my assertion of fact.
So, now I don't know what to do. I'm absolutely sure of my facts and there's not a damn thing that anyone can do to convince me otherwise. My boyfriend form that time is still around but since he's a married CPA living in Skokie, Illinois, I'd rather not have to drag his name into this. But if I had to in order to defend my honor, I would do it in a heartbeat. After all, it's not as though I've seen the man since the '70's. He's probably told his wife the story a time or two himself and when he did, I'm quite sure he said what I said, "Man, that Bob Hope was one amazingly short dude!"
And of course, the other couple might still be out there somewhere as well. If you were at WIU in '75 and were part of a quartet of nettlesome teenagers who were in Bob Hope's hotel room with me and my boyfriend, please verify what I'm saying. I know the chances of that happening are very slim, but if Bob Hope came to Western, he could have gone to a thousand other Universities as well. And, chances are that somewhere, at some point, some other kids would have seen how short Hope was as did I. It's those people upon whom I am depending to back me up here.
Until then, I can't prove to my friend that Hope was a short dude. Of course, I'm sure my friend doesn't care. It's just that you would think that you could find the true height of a man as famous as was BOB HOPE! And when I couldn't do that...I became annoyed. Not that any of this really matters at all. But it was bugging me.
I won't quit until I have heard from someone who knows that Meg speaketh truth. Now I will go to bed. Watching those America men win the Gold Medal in the 4X100 relay race wiped me out. What an exhausting thing it is to actually will your countrymen on toward that gold medal!
...of famous people. I don't know how it keeps happening, but it dose. I guess some of the things that I do in my spare time account for most of my run-in's with celebrities. Volunteering for various political campaigns has certainly produced a character or two. I met Charlton Heston during a rally here at the Marietta Square. During that election I also met Dan Quayle, Bob Barr and a Georgia governor or two.
Of course, working in movies is always good for a famous person here or there...even if it's only William Sanderson of, "This is my other brother Darryl" fame. I met him while I was working on Andersonville. I've even met people who you see all the time but you can never remember their name so I can't list them here, but you've seen them as much as I have and you'll probably see them again.
I literally walked into Ron Pallillo of Welcome Back Kotter about the same time I attended a party during the filming of a rotten movie called Hero's. I was living in Petaluma, California at the time and I hadn't yet seen Star Wars. So, when my friend invited me to meet her date (a man who I did not know was married at the time), Harrison Ford, I wasn't terribly impressed. We went to a party at the Adobe Inn in Petaluma and I had no clue who Harrison was...AND it WAS 1977...I wanted to meet Fonzie and The Flying Nun instead. If I had known how famous Ford would have become, I would have paid more attention to him when I had the chance.
I could list a bunch more off hand, like Mr. Brady, the dude from Shaft and more recently Rudy Huxtable and Tyler Perry while working on Madea Goes to Jail. But none of them compare to a man who I met in 1975 at Western Illinois University during Parents' Weekend. That was the time that my boyfriend and I stalked Bob Hope into his room at the University Union.
He was ever so gracious and allowed us to enter his room. All we did was knock on the door (after sneaking onto the floor through a lapse in security...we sat at the top of the stairs until someone came into the stairwell and we grabbed the door and sneaked onto the Union's hotel floor). We ran into another stalker couple and that chick knew exactly which room Mr. Hope was staying in. That was vital information. But even more vital was a person willing to knock on the door and ask, "Is Mr. Hope in?"
Being a relatively annoying person, I was more than happy to intrude on Mr. Hope's privacy. So, I did just that. A well dressed man in a suit opened the door and I asked my question to which he answered, "Yes, just a moment please. Come in."
We did and we met Mr. Hope. He gave us autographs and chatted with us for a few minutes. Naturally, that was quite a thrill for a bunch of kids our age and it was an experience that I will never forget...EVER.
The other day I was telling someone that story and I told him something that surprised him. Bob Hope was a short, short man. My friend mentioned something about Hope being next to cheerleaders and appearing taller than did they. I don't know if the chicks were little people or if Hope was on stilts, but of two things I am 100% CERTAIN...Number 1, I was taller than Mr. Hope. Number 2, the very first thing that struck me (and stays with me vividly to this day) was the fact that the man was in fact, surprisingly short. If you told me today that he was 5'3" tall, I would believe you. If you told me that he was 5'6" tall, I might even believe that too. But, under no circumstances whatsoever would I believe that Bob Hope was taller than 5'8". At least not in 1975.
I wanted to find something online to send my friend to show him that I was right...that Bob Hope was, in fact, a very short man. But all I found were biographies that stated his height at anything from 5'10 to 6'2". NOT ONE of them is accurate...unless the man had his thighs removed at some point. But I'm a nurse and I've never heard of a thigh-ectomy so I'm gonna go with my first impression and say that Bob Hope was short and there has been a massive cover-up the likes of which we have never seen. And with the New York Times around, that's saying a LOT!
This cover-up is so deep that I couldn't even find rumors of Hope's height being inflated for his own ego or for any other reason, no matter how many different ways that I tried in vain to search for something...anything that would back up my assertion of fact.
So, now I don't know what to do. I'm absolutely sure of my facts and there's not a damn thing that anyone can do to convince me otherwise. My boyfriend form that time is still around but since he's a married CPA living in Skokie, Illinois, I'd rather not have to drag his name into this. But if I had to in order to defend my honor, I would do it in a heartbeat. After all, it's not as though I've seen the man since the '70's. He's probably told his wife the story a time or two himself and when he did, I'm quite sure he said what I said, "Man, that Bob Hope was one amazingly short dude!"
And of course, the other couple might still be out there somewhere as well. If you were at WIU in '75 and were part of a quartet of nettlesome teenagers who were in Bob Hope's hotel room with me and my boyfriend, please verify what I'm saying. I know the chances of that happening are very slim, but if Bob Hope came to Western, he could have gone to a thousand other Universities as well. And, chances are that somewhere, at some point, some other kids would have seen how short Hope was as did I. It's those people upon whom I am depending to back me up here.
Until then, I can't prove to my friend that Hope was a short dude. Of course, I'm sure my friend doesn't care. It's just that you would think that you could find the true height of a man as famous as was BOB HOPE! And when I couldn't do that...I became annoyed. Not that any of this really matters at all. But it was bugging me.
I won't quit until I have heard from someone who knows that Meg speaketh truth. Now I will go to bed. Watching those America men win the Gold Medal in the 4X100 relay race wiped me out. What an exhausting thing it is to actually will your countrymen on toward that gold medal!
posted by Meg Kelso | 9:07 PM
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