Ummm.......Wow!
So, normal day yesterday. Nothing unusual except for my sad attempt at making miniture furniture out of sticks, but it's okay, I know when I'm beat. Until my boyfriend calls me from work and says that Gene Wilder is going to do a signing for his new book at one of the local bookstores. And I took the news like any girl who was raised on Gene Wilder, yes, I totally lost my fricking head and started jumping around.
We all decided to go, then my poor dad got a call from work which made him miss the event. Which really hurt because my dad is a huge fan of Gene Wilder, he's the reason I know that man lives and breathes. Telling my ten year old brother who Gene Wilder was turned out to be tricker then expected. I told him that Gene Wilder was the original Willy Wonka, that got very faint reconition. I told him Gene Wilder was Young Frankestein, a little more reconition but not much enthusiasm. I told him Gene Wilder was the Mock Turtle from the recent Alice in Wonderland adaptation we watched recently, he goes beserk.............David and I need to have a sister/brother movie marathon one of these days (minus Blazing Saddles, because he is still ten).
I had to run a bunch of errands for the majority of the day, mostly for the Tea Party next month. Had a big battle on what kind of blue fabric my Alice dress was going to made out of. (Usually me, mom and a fabric store equals total chaos). As usual she walked me out of the store with something less then desired on my part but still tolerable. Went to David's Bridal to pick of a set of decent petticoats so we don't have to make our own and dragged David around with us the whole time who complained that we weren't going where 'he' wanted to go. Fun!
I freaked out when we realized it was 5:30, half an hour before Gene Wilder started signing books and we were more then half an hour away from the store. We rushed over there, met Amanda there at 6:08, got my book and managed to be up in the meat of the line a minute later and in plain view of Wilder. David was practically bouncing on his heels, which is probably why the back of my legs and feet were splashed with his hot chocolate half way to the table. I garuntee there is nothing grosser then walking in line with cold hot chocolate soaking up between the surface of your sandal and foot. Not something I'd suggest to have a go at.
Gene Wilder's hair is no longer the curly little afro he once had, his hair is so white now that it's almost transperant and he's obviously older then he was in the films that I grew up with. But I couldn't help grinning when I saw him, it was still Gene Wilder. It was kind of odd though, he seemed to be signing the books in a kind of trance, it was almost kind of sad that anyone would get in that state while doing an event like this. David, Amanda and I were the youngest people in line too. Most of the crowd were my parents age and older. And part of me was ready to shoot the first person who said 'Sedagive'. So we get up there, my old boss (shiver) takes my book from me to hand to Gene Wilder, while me and David sidle over to either side of his chair to get a picture. I tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a message that had been given to me by Amanda from her fiance.
" I was supposed to tell you that your script writing is wonderful."
And I swear to god, when he looked up at me I've never seen such an adorable set of puppy dog eyes.
" Thank you." I almost whimpered, it was so cute how he said that. I really didn't know what to say in the face of such a sweet look, I really hadn't expected it. That's when David tapped him on the shoulder. " You were awesome as the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland." Wilder's head whipped over to David and it was suddenly Gene Wilder, all full voice and energy. " You saw that?! I loved playing the Mock Turtle. I'm glad you liked it." David was on cloud nine and I was grinning like mad. David managed to meet Gene Wilder, he'd managed to get the man to really respond to him. We'd been watching Wilder throughout the line and he hadn't responded like that with anyone else.
We both walked away from the table with springs in our feet and the lady standing next to the table stopped us. " What did you say to him?"
So I told her what we said and she gave us a very kind smile. " That was really sweet."
I think she was one of his pr people too, there was no bookstore nametag. So David and I were very proud of ourselves. We didn't say a word about his movies, or the tv shows he'd starred in. We didn't spew about what a great actor he was or how we were his greatest fans. I think Wilder appreciated what David said more then what I said. But I'm happy, cause I saw the Gene Wilder I remember from when I was a kid when he talked to my little brother. That made me happy, especially since David got to meet him that way.
We all decided to go, then my poor dad got a call from work which made him miss the event. Which really hurt because my dad is a huge fan of Gene Wilder, he's the reason I know that man lives and breathes. Telling my ten year old brother who Gene Wilder was turned out to be tricker then expected. I told him that Gene Wilder was the original Willy Wonka, that got very faint reconition. I told him Gene Wilder was Young Frankestein, a little more reconition but not much enthusiasm. I told him Gene Wilder was the Mock Turtle from the recent Alice in Wonderland adaptation we watched recently, he goes beserk.............David and I need to have a sister/brother movie marathon one of these days (minus Blazing Saddles, because he is still ten).
I had to run a bunch of errands for the majority of the day, mostly for the Tea Party next month. Had a big battle on what kind of blue fabric my Alice dress was going to made out of. (Usually me, mom and a fabric store equals total chaos). As usual she walked me out of the store with something less then desired on my part but still tolerable. Went to David's Bridal to pick of a set of decent petticoats so we don't have to make our own and dragged David around with us the whole time who complained that we weren't going where 'he' wanted to go. Fun!
I freaked out when we realized it was 5:30, half an hour before Gene Wilder started signing books and we were more then half an hour away from the store. We rushed over there, met Amanda there at 6:08, got my book and managed to be up in the meat of the line a minute later and in plain view of Wilder. David was practically bouncing on his heels, which is probably why the back of my legs and feet were splashed with his hot chocolate half way to the table. I garuntee there is nothing grosser then walking in line with cold hot chocolate soaking up between the surface of your sandal and foot. Not something I'd suggest to have a go at.
Gene Wilder's hair is no longer the curly little afro he once had, his hair is so white now that it's almost transperant and he's obviously older then he was in the films that I grew up with. But I couldn't help grinning when I saw him, it was still Gene Wilder. It was kind of odd though, he seemed to be signing the books in a kind of trance, it was almost kind of sad that anyone would get in that state while doing an event like this. David, Amanda and I were the youngest people in line too. Most of the crowd were my parents age and older. And part of me was ready to shoot the first person who said 'Sedagive'. So we get up there, my old boss (shiver) takes my book from me to hand to Gene Wilder, while me and David sidle over to either side of his chair to get a picture. I tapped him on the shoulder and gave him a message that had been given to me by Amanda from her fiance.
" I was supposed to tell you that your script writing is wonderful."
And I swear to god, when he looked up at me I've never seen such an adorable set of puppy dog eyes.
" Thank you." I almost whimpered, it was so cute how he said that. I really didn't know what to say in the face of such a sweet look, I really hadn't expected it. That's when David tapped him on the shoulder. " You were awesome as the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland." Wilder's head whipped over to David and it was suddenly Gene Wilder, all full voice and energy. " You saw that?! I loved playing the Mock Turtle. I'm glad you liked it." David was on cloud nine and I was grinning like mad. David managed to meet Gene Wilder, he'd managed to get the man to really respond to him. We'd been watching Wilder throughout the line and he hadn't responded like that with anyone else.
We both walked away from the table with springs in our feet and the lady standing next to the table stopped us. " What did you say to him?"
So I told her what we said and she gave us a very kind smile. " That was really sweet."
I think she was one of his pr people too, there was no bookstore nametag. So David and I were very proud of ourselves. We didn't say a word about his movies, or the tv shows he'd starred in. We didn't spew about what a great actor he was or how we were his greatest fans. I think Wilder appreciated what David said more then what I said. But I'm happy, cause I saw the Gene Wilder I remember from when I was a kid when he talked to my little brother. That made me happy, especially since David got to meet him that way.