DAY ONE
We arrive, party, and see some actors
Since the Daytime Emmys had never been in California before, I thought it would be a super idea to actually go to them. First off, there were a couple of events planned for the day before and the day after, by the people who had done the Las Vegas events I have on site called Seeing Stars. But, that was then and this was now.
DQ poster Deputy Dawg, who is my huband, went along expecting the same great events as before, but was skipping the Emmys part. DQ poster Raicha, who is my daughter, was coming in (she lives even closer to Hollywood than we do) to attend those with me. We start our journey:
We had no problem finding our ridiculously priced hotel. We figured since the events, except for the Emmys, would be there, the Emmys were about a block away, and the hotel was a landmark, refurbished, where major stars of the past had frolicked, it would be a major thing to stay there, the Roosevelt Hotel. Well, not so much. The window had several cracks, and a 4 x 4 inch triangle out of it, that was completely filled in with clear tape. There was only one mirror, over the bathroom sink, and no full-length. It gets worse later in the story......
The hotel is on Hollywood Blvd. which you probably have heard of, and is not glamorous as you might imagine. So, we go out on the boulevard amongst them, and find a little diner, the kind where you are not sure you should go in, but the food is pretty good, and have lunch. We only live about 80 miles from Hollywood, and left after breakfast.
After that, we walked over by the Kodak, where the awards would be, to check out Grauman's Chinese Theater, and read the cement signatures. Found Dean Martin's. As we walked, we had to pass numerous creatures, such as Zorro, Freddie, and Super Girl. Actually 2 Super Girls!!
Back at the hotel, we called Raicha on her cell phone. Fortunately, we had OUR phone, because there were two phones in our room (to make up for the mirror situation?) but neither of them worked. We wanted to tell Raicha she would need to be met downstairs, because you have to use your room key to work the elevator.
The gala was scheduled for that night, the day of our arrival. We had paid an extra $75 each to get two tickets that were limited to only 50, for an hour prior to the gala. A cocktail party with the daytime stars.
We went to where the event was scheduled to be, but they wouldn't let us in, and there was a huge sign up that said "SOAPNET." We asked where we were supposed to go, but they just guessed, apparently. They sent us to a big white tent in the parking lot, where they asked our names, told us we weren't with them, and they never heard of these people. So we asked another employee who said to go to the main entrance, which was way over on the other side of the hotel, a good half block away.
As we walked back, we passed Jordan Clarke, Billy Lewis on GL, walking in out where the stars were coming in, and I yelled "Hi, Jordan, hope you win!!" He yelled "Thank you!" back at me, without turning his head. He looked very excited and happy.
Finally we reach the front entrance. It was blocked off and locked. Dawg started pounding on that door like he would break in if necessary. We had been walking now for about a half hour. Somebody opened the door, and Dawg told him that SOMEBODY better get this straighted out because we were not capable of walking all night. He was very out of breath by now (he has a medical problem) and I was leaning on my cane, so we were pretty convincing.
Back around by the white tent. This time we were to tell them we needed to go the the mezzanine.
We found the check in for our people on the mezzanine..... right above the Soapnet party. All we would have had to do was take a short elevator ride. We could look over the railing at the Soapnet party, except the Soapnet security force wouldn't let us.
They checked us in, and gave us a gift bag. We were entitled to two, but it turns out it had a Frisbee and a bunch of junk in it. Like stickers of teeth telling us Flossie wanted us to brush. We threw all that away, except some M&Ms they must have given out by accident, LOL
They made us wait, and we never knew why. There were two rooms, across a hallway from each other, and when they finally let us in, we chose one of them. We sat down at a small table that turned out to be under the air conditioner (eventually, Dawg rearranged the furniture, LOL) right at the appointed time. NOTHING happened the entire hour. Not one soap star from any show came into that room, or the adjoining one (across the hallway) When the hour was up, it was duly noted by yours truly. They owed me $150.
All the stars were below us, with Soapnet.
Now the band started to play, and it was a really good band. Too loud for the little room where all the fans were comparing notes about not having seen a soap star, and what the promoter had said. So I checked out the other room. There was a table of cheese and meat and stuff. Of course, we had expected a dinner.
The hallway dead-ended where the two rooms were, so I stationed myself right there, where I could see everyone who came in. The Soapnet party ended around nine, and shortly thereafter, Robert Newman (Josh, GL) walked in. I walked down the hallway, Dawg with me, and as I got to the sign in, my earring fell out and I had to just take out the other one.
But I let Robert go, because I spotted a trio from ATWT.... Alexander Chando (Maddie) Zack Roerig (Casey) and Van Hansis (Luke) These are surely the most polite and humble speaking young people in this country. They were just wonderful. I pulled out my copy of "Oakdale Confidential" and they signed it, and let Dawg take a couple of photos with them, and a girl that seemed to be with Zack. (I later discovered, through my posters figuring it out, that it was Elena Goode, who plays Jade. Boy, did she look different!!) Zack wrote a very sweet message about my name being like his mom's. All three of them took time to write whole messages.
Now I had fallen a little behind in my search, and went to the rooms.... with Dawg in full official photog mode. He's really great at this stuff. And he had been through so much already today.....
Inside, I spotted Nicole Forrester (Cassie, GL) and she didn't hear me following her going "Nicole, Nicole....." We went across the room like that, and finally she stopped. She was incredibly beautiful. She really is, very beautiful. Her personality was refreshing and she was fun to talk to. I told her I hadn't envied her taking over a character from a popular actress, and she said "me either" while I was still saying "but you are doing a great job!" She thanked me, and told me everyone at GL had been very kind and treated her like part of the family right away and she loved it there. I had a little suede book with me for GL stars, and she signed it, asking "just anywhere?" and when I told her she was my first signature in there, she seemed very pleased about that.
There was no way on earth I was going to forget about Robert, so I went off to find him (not hard, small room, and few people) And he is so mesmerizing to me, I was a little off stride. He is the sweetest man. Anyway, I told him I wished him luck, but had read that what he really wanted was for Jordan to win. He confirmed that, and said anything else was nice, but that was the most important thing. He graciously signed and posed.
As we walked away, Laura Wright (the previous Cassie) came in and walked over to Robert and Nicole. She brought a lot of solace to me, with her enthusiasm, and signed my book, and posed with me. Then we let her get back to her friends from GL.
Now we really looked at the food table. They had passed little things around during the infamous, failed, first hour, and we should have taken more. Now we saw food that was dried out and picked over, and not a meal anyway.
No more stars came in, except earlier I thought I saw Peter Reckell, but I wasn't sure. So we went to the other room and took in a fashion show that was really quite fun.
So, that whole evening was a disaster mitigated by a few actors who cared.
NEXT