Three
Women and A Babe
A Story in Three Acts
Setting
The El Portal Theater for the Performing Arts on Lankershim
Boulevard in North Hollywood was alive with people milling
around outside or just arriving and buying their tickets. The
sun had set and the theater's marquis lit up the street and
showed the play currently being performed every Tuesday
night. The people standing outside conversed with each other,
greeted old friends and new, laughed and talked.
Act 1: Before the
Show
Ildi, Paula and Sue walked down the block from the parking
lot to the corner signal talking excitedly. After crossing
the street, they approached the theater. Eagle-eyed Ildi saw
the red carpet and large television cameras first, and walked
over to them. It took only one second for her heart to go
flip-flop as she recognized the tall, slender man with his
back to her.
"It's
him!" she told Paula and Sue who had come up behind her.
The man turned for a moment to face in their direction. Yes, it was in fact HIM, the star of their show, the Babe! Bill Pullman was standing there alive and breathing in real life on the red carpet outside the door of the theater being interviewed in bright lights by a television entertainment program. A very large camera was aimed straight at his face as he answered one of the interviewer's questions. None of the three women could take their eyes off the man as he smiled and talked, except for one quick glance by Sue over to the man who was guarding the entrance to the red carpet, which was roped off. The man looked at her, smiled and winked, apparently enjoying the giddy happiness of three women seeing their hero for the first time.
The
official interview finished, and professional photographers
began taking his picture. He looked down at the end of the
red carpet where the three ladies were standing with cameras
raised and ready to take pictures. He smiled and walked back
down to their end of the carpet where he stood and posed for
them as well as the professionals. The hearts of three women
melted at his kindness as their fingers busily pushed
buttons.
Much too soon for
the three ladies (because they figured that was all they were
going to get of their hero), Bill had to go inside for the
program. The Three Musketeers turned to each other grinning.
Practically in unison they said to each other, "Can you
believe it? Oh, my God! We got to see him." Paula
suggested that a few pictures of the three should be taken
outside the theater. Sue and Ildi posed while Paula snapped
away. Then, as Ildi was about to take a picture of Paula and
Sue, 
a
very kind lady passing by asked, "Would you like me to
take a picture of the three of you?" It was very sweet
of her to do that. Of course, we looked like an oreo cookie
with mint filling when standing together that way!
Paula gave Ildi and Sue their own tickets and the three of them headed for the door and entered. To their surprise Bill had not gotten more than ten feet inside and was standing in the middle of the lobby talking with some people. Now was the chance to talk with him if there was going to be one, so the three ladies stood another ten feet away from him waiting for the right opportunity. After a few minutes, however, Sue decided to wander off and lean up against a wall where she could watch all the comings and goings. Mostly, she watched Ildi, Paula and Bill. Ildi and Paula can't keep from grinning. I can feel their excitement clear over here. They are too cute, Sue thought. She glanced at Bill, who was talking animatedly to a man. There's that cocked-to-one-side head expression of his. And there's his hand, thumb pointing out, the other four fingers closed together and curled in. That smile that lights up his eyes. His eyes are dancing right now. Must be a happy conversation. I like his hair short. He's a lot taller than I thought he was. And so slender. He could almost be described as lanky - tall and lean. I hope Ildi and Paula get to talk to him. I think I'll stay here where it's safe though. If I get too close, I'll fall apart.
Ildi and Paula remained standing close, waiting patiently for the man to finish talking with Bill. While they waited, they looked at his shoes. "Those are his dad's shoes, aren't they?" Ildi whispered to Paula. He said he wears them for luck." Paula answered, "I think so. They look kind of scuffed and old."
Finally, the man stopped talking and looked around. He noticed that Ildi and Paula were waiting not far away with anxious, excited looks on their faces. He turned back to Bill and said, "I think someone wants to talk to you."
Bill looked around and asked, "Who?"
Ildi raised her finger and said, "Us."
The man walked away, and the two ladies stepped forward with pounding hearts to replace him in front of Bill. Both of them shook hands with him and introduced themselves. Together they turned to Sue, who was still leaning up against the wall, and waved at her to come over. Sue didn't want to move away from the safety of the wall holding her up until she saw Bill's eyes follow in the direction of Ildi's and Paula's. He saw who they were waving to and smiled in Sue's direction. The dancing light of the smile in his eyes drew Sue's body away from the wall like a moth being drawn to a candle flame. She didn't think consciously about what she was doing: her body just did it. When she reached them, she held out her hand to him and he shook it. "I'm Sue," she said. "And I am so very pleased to meet you."
"And it's a pleasure to meet you, Sue," he replied.
I have died and gone to a very blissful heaven, Sue thought.
With the introductions over, Paula told him, "We're from your fan club. We belong to a mailing list that talks about your movies and acting, and we three represent the whole list of your fans. There are 115 members."
Almost self-consciously, he asked, "Really? Well, how did you know about this event?"
"There is a web site called BillPullman.org where all of your fans read about what you're doing with your career," Ildi answered. "One of the owners of the web site - her name is Liz - received a letter telling her about this."
"Todd Bartoo, the event coordinator, sent the letter to her," Paula added.
A young lady wearing headphones, obviously one of the coordinators or helpers of the show, walked up to Bill just then and handed him a small glass of something carbonated with a lime in it. He took it and told her, "Thank you. I'm parched." He took a drink, then turned back to the three ladies in front of him.
"We brought you some cards," Ildi told him. From her purse she pulled out two envelopes and handed them to him. One envelope contained the two letters from the list ... one letter for Bill congratulating him on The Guilty, and one for Tamara thanking her for her part in supporting his career. (In one of the messages to the list when the members were discussing the possibility of anyone going to this evening's event and that the list should send him and his wife cards, Ildi had written, "Man, I'd kill for the chance to be the messenger." Now, she was the messenger, and she hadn't had to kill anything or anyone to do it.)
"Thank you. That's very nice," he said. "I'll read them later."
Ildi pointed to the top envelope and told him that it contained letters from his fans for him and his wife. Then she pulled the second one out from under the first where he could see the envelope and told him, "This is from my son."
He looked at the picture Ildi's son had drawn on the envelope and laughed. "Oh-ho! Dr. Harvey!"
Last, Ildi took out
the Premiere Magazine article that she had cut out.
"Would you mind signing something for us?"
"Sure," he answered as he took the article and laid it across his black notebook to sign it. He looked for a pen, but Ildi didn't have one and neither did Sue. Paula started digging in her purse for her pen, but before she could get to it a man standing near her held out his pen. Paula took it and handed it to Bill.
After returning the man's pen, a few seconds of awkward silence followed. Finally, Paula pointed at Ildi and said, "She's from Canada. She came all the way here to see you." Is this my mouth talking? Paula thought. I didn't think I'd be able to say a word, and now I can't shut up.
The conversation that followed included Bill asking Ildi where in Canada, she answered him, and he told all of the ladies that he had recently spent a great deal of time up and around there filming Lake Placid ...
"I loved Lake Placid," Sue interjected.
... and The Virginian. He mentioned a few others that had been filmed in whole or in part up there, then told us that he had just spent three months away from home filming a couple of other things, including Night Visions, which was now in the editing process. He brushed his hand through his hair and said almost apologetically, "That's why my hair is so short. I play an army sergeant investigating [something]." (None of the three ladies can remember what the something is!)
Remembering that list members had asked about the color of his eyes, Ildi took a moment to look straight into them. There's no blue there or any green. They must be hazel, she thought.
Another moment of awkward silence followed, then Ildi spoke up once more. "Some of your fan club members would like to know if you would join us sometime for an online chat. They would like to try and set something up." Bill's face looked a little skeptical, but he didn't say anything immediately. Ildi tried to reassure him. "We are all nice people."
Paula added, "Yes, all the members are nice people. It would be just us, no one from outside the list."
He thought about it for a minute, then answered, "Well, I don't spend much time around a computer, and I've never done a chat before," he answered. "But call my office and talk to Elizabeth. Tell her that you're trying to set something up."
Paula asked about Brad and Brett, who she'd met at the luncheon in L.A. with Liz, Juanita and Diana, and was told that they don't work in his office anymore. They had "moved on."
Knowing that they had spent a lot of time with him already, and knowing that he would have to go soon for the show, Ildi and Paula asked if he would mind if they took some pictures with him. He cheerfully said that he didn't mind at all. Ildi and Paula took off like a shot to stand a few feet away getting their cameras out and ready, and leaving Sue, whose feet refused to move (but not because she didn't want them to) standing alone with Bill.
Panic,
full blown and blazing, filled Sue's body and thoughts. No,
don't do this to me. They're leaving me here alone with him.
Please come back. Ildi? Paula? I don't know what to do. A
whimper escaped her lips: "I don't want to be
first." Then she felt his arm slip around her back and
rest lightly on her waist. A camera flashed. Only one. But
there were two ladies taking pictures. His hand moved up to
her shoulder and rested there waiting for the second camera
flash. Calm hands, Sue thought. His hands are very
calm and reassuring, not even a hint of nervousness there.
Too bad his calm isn't helping my strangled nerves. The
second camera flashed and Sue bolted away hurriedly as Ildi
moved forward for her turn.
Ildi
appeared to be right at home standing next to Bill, the Babe,
although she had doubts as she approached him. How am I
supposed to do this, she thought. Should I stand
close?, or would that be impolite? Bill politely slipped
his arm around her back and rested his hand on her waist.
Ildi's heart almost leapt out of her chest. Oh, God, he
put his arm around me! In only seconds she reciprocated
the action and slipped her arm around his waist. Dear
Lord, I'm holding him in my arm! In the blink of an eye
it seemed to Ildi the moment was over. She thanked him and
went to retrieve her camera from Sue who had taken the
picture. Such a short moment would remain with her forever.
Then it was Paula's
turn. As with the other two women, Bill put his arm around
her waist, or should we say that he tried to put his arm
around her waist. A 5' woman standing next to a 6' 1"
man leaves quite a bit of distance to reach! Paula grinned
and jumped up trying to be taller, but of course she couldn't
stay up in the air. All four of them laughed together; then,
seeing Sue turn the camera for a different angle, Bill told
Paula, "I think one of your friends is trying to take a
full length picture." Comically, he bent his long body
at the knees and stuck one leg out in front of him for
balance until he was about the same height as Paula and put
his arm around her back. While the pictures were being taken,
Paula thought, The way he put his arm around me
immediately I think that he looks forward to having his
picture taken with his fans. He's so enthusiastic about the
whole thing. And it is truly hilarious the way he's crouched
down for me. He is as handsome and nice as anyone can
imagine. It would remain forever a very special moment to
Paula that he did that for her.
Another man was waiting patiently to talk to Bill, and the three ladies knew that they had occupied enough of his time and that they had to share him with others. All three thanked him again for his time and the pictures, then they walked a few feet away. Paula suddenly whirled back around to face Bill, raised her camera and aimed it toward the ground, and took a picture.
Knowing what Paula had just done, Sue grinned and said, "Did you get his shoes?"
"Yes," Paula answered.
 |
 |
| Bill's Shoes | Ildi's, Sue's and Paula's Shoes |
Not very many minutes later the lady with the headphones returned to tell Bill that another camera crew was waiting to interview him. He truly had to leave then. As he walked towards the back of the lobby, three pairs of eyes followed him. He apparently knew it because he turned back, waved to the three ladies, and said, "I have to go, but I'll be back." And then he was gone.
By general consensus the three ladies agreed that the primary directive of their mission had been accomplished and had been much more successful than any of them had expected or even dared to hope it would be.
Act 2: The Play
Within A Play
Inside the theater the three ladies found their seats. A few
minutes later the lights dimmed and Amy Brenneman walked out
on stage to a podium on the audience's left. The audience
applauded enthusiastically. Ms. Brenneman welcomed everyone,
explained what the evening was all about, and introduced a
video that told more about the Cornerstone Theater Company:
it's beginnings, it's growth, and what its future plans are.
At the end of the video, Ms. Brenneman spoke for a few
minutes more, invited everyone to enjoy "15 Snapshots of
15 Years," then she turned and left the stage.
I Can't Pay The Rent
Bill Pullman walked out on stage with the black notebook he had been carrying earlier. He put it down on a stand center stage, opened it, and took out a plain white piece of paper. He carefully fan-folded the paper, smiling while he was doing it but concentrating on the task.
When he was finished folding it, he pinched it together in the middle and spread apart the ends, showed it to the audience, smiled, struck a girlish pose, held the paper to one side of the top of his head to look like a girl's hair bow, and squeaked, "I can't pay the rent."
The fan-folded paper moved down to his face between his lip and nose to become a moustache, he stood erect, and in a gruff voice he bellowed, "You better pay the rent."
The paper went back up to his hair, the girl pose was struck once again, and he squeaked again, "I can't pay the rent."
The paper went back and forth a few more times from a moustache to a hair bow with the actor's body posture and voice changing for the character portrayed with the landlord's voice becoming gruffer and meaner and the girl's voice becoming more frightened.
Finally, the fan-folded paper went to the neck of his shirt under his chin to become a bow tie. In a meek man's voice, he said, "I'll pay the rent."
The paper went for the last time to his hair as he smiled and squeaked, "My hero."
The audience applauded, again enthusiastically, especially from the three women sitting on the right side of Aisle E five rows from the stage.
Bill Pullman opened the black notebook once again and read/told the audience that the Cornerstone Theater Company had used just such a technique with school children - a blank piece of paper - to teach them to use their imaginations and creativity.
When Bill left the stage to enthusiastic applause and the show continued on, Paula and Ildi drifted into thoughts of all that had happened that evening. Sue, on the other hand, watched the entire rest of the show because actors and actresses from Judging Amy, her favorite TV show, participated in some of the "snapshots." Amy Brenneman's "snapshot" was to sing a song from The Winter's Tale: An Interstate Adventure titled "I'm Coming Home." The words of the song and Ms. Brenneman's beautiful and passionate voice filled the theater and touched many of the soul's in the audience, Sue's being one of them. While singing to the entire audience, Ms. Brenneman looked in the direction of the three ladies several times and for long moments. I wonder why she keeps looking over here, Sue thought. Does she sense that her music is stirring this side of the room more than the other? Sue didn't know, but she was soon to find out.
The 15th Snapshot, a preview of For Here Or To Go?, the Cornerstone Theater Company's upcoming holiday show, began with a few actors and ended with the entire evening's performers out on stage. All of the actors and actresses from the previous "snapshots" filed out on stage and lined up across it. Bill Pullman came out last and on the audience's right side where the three ladies in Aisle E were sitting and where the small band of musicians was sitting on the side of the stage. There wasn't enough room for Bill to squeeze between the actress standing in front of him and the sound speaker sitting on the floor without causing a disruption in the scene that was still going on on stage. He tried to quietly move the speaker with his foot, but it wouldn't budge. Consequently, he chose to stay behind the line of other actors and actresses until the scene had played out rather than disrupt the play. Thankfully, he was the tallest person on that side of the stage and could still be seen. When the play was finished and everyone was to take a bow together, and he knew he wouldn't disrupt anything, he simply stepped over the speaker (a long step), took the hand of the actress next to him, and bowed with the entire line of actors and actresses.
The "snapshots" portion of the show concluded and Amy Brenneman returned to the stage to introduce the beginning of the awards portion of the show. To the surprise of the three ladies in Aisle E, the first award recipient, Ron Temple, was sitting directly in front of Sue ... Ah, that's why she was looking at this side of the room so much, Sue thought ... which caused the audience in Aisles A-C to turn around when the man's name was announced. Again, it was eagle-eyed Ildi who spotted someone important to Bill's mailing list fans, and while Mr. Temple stood and made his way to the stage, Ildi turned to Paula and Sue and whispered, "There's Tamara and Maesa!" With her head she nodded in the direction of a pretty blonde woman sitting in the second row. Sure enough it was Tamara, and next to her was Bill and Tamara's daughter, Maesa.
One more award followed for the Escobar Family, several members of which had given much of their time and talent to the Cornerstone Theater Company, and then the show was over.
Act 3: After the
Show
Ildi and Paula wanted to try to talk with Tamara and set off
to do just that. Sue, who gets a little claustrophobic after
too long in a thick crowd, excused herself and headed for the
front door to go outside for a few minutes.
Inside the theater Ildi and Paula lost Tamara in the crowd of the lobby reception area and returned back to the theater interior to see if they could find her. They didn't, but they did see Bill talking with people. He finished his conversation and walked up the aisle heading for the lobby. When he came close to Ildi, she heard him say to someone, "I'm looking for my wife." Ildi caught his eye, pointed out the door into the lobby, and said, "She went that way."
Needless to say, Paula and Ildi followed him at a discreet distance. He didn't find his wife immediately and was stopped by people wanting to talk to him. Once again the opportunity presented itself for Ildi and Paula to speak with him. Paula told him the story of how she had missed the opportunity to meet him once before when he had appeared on another show in which a friend of hers had taken her greyhound for a part of that show, and that Paula had been the one to send him the picture taken before the show of him, her friend, and the greyhounds. He remembered receiving the picture and said he would try to sign it and return it to Paula. He asked the two ladies how they liked the show and seemed to really want to know what their feelings were about it.
It was apparent that
other people wanted to speak with Bill, so the two ladies
drifted off to see if they could find Sue, who was still
standing outside in the cool evening air. As they walked away
from him, Ildi turned back once and saw that Bill had finally
found his wife, hugged her, and the two of them began
mingling. Unable to find Sue in the thick crowd, Ildi and
Paula found a piece of wall they could lean up against and
watch Bill from a distance.
That's where Sue found them a few minutes later when she went back inside. "So, what are we doing now?" Sue asked.
"Watching,"
they both answered with a grin while looking over Sue's
shoulder to the opposite wall.
Sue turned around and saw Bill a little ways away. With a knowing smile, she said to Paula and Ildi, "Uh-huh. I see."
"We just want to be close and see him for as long as possible," Paula said. Ildi nodded in agreement.
"Well, I need some water or something," Sue told them. "You watch. Take your time. Enjoy yourselves. I'm going to find something to drink. I'll be back and I'll find you. No stalking though. Okay?"
Moments after Sue walked away an opportunity presented itself for Ildi and Paula to talk with Tamara. They approached her and introduced themselves. She asked them how they had liked the show and told them that she had enjoyed it, that she had enjoyed many of the Cornerstone Theater Company's events. Paula again mentioned that Ildi had come from Canada to be there. Tamara asked her if she had been able to see any of the city, and Ildi replied that she had literally just gotten in from the airport.
Sue, who had found and taken a bottle of cold water from the refreshments table, joined the other ladies again and stood back waiting for a break in the conversation. When it occurred, she held out her hand and introduced herself. Tamara, a very lovely, very slender lady, had a handshake that was strong and confident, and had a wonderful smile that reached her eyes.
Ildi and Paula continued the conversation with Tamara telling her about the web site and asking if she had ever visited it. She answered that she wasn't really into computers but said that she would check it out and asked for the name of it. Ildi told her that it was in one of the cards.
Sue stood back, looked around, and noticed Maesa standing off to the side somewhat hidden in an alcove in the wall. A child after my own heart, Sue thought. I wonder if there's enough room in that alcove for me to hide with her where I can just watch everything that's going on. She walked over to the side of the alcove and smiled at Maesa, who smiled back a beautiful child's smile that was remarkably close to that of her parents. "So how come you're hiding over here in a corner?" Sue teased her. The beautiful child smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "Well, I don't blame you," Sue told her. "I like to stand in corners myself. Do you mind if I just stand here with you?" "No," Maesa answered. And the two of them stood there off to the side watching her mom talking with Sue's friends.
A moment later several men came out of the theater carrying large cameras. They were headed for the front door. For them to pass, Sue had to move forward to where the three women were talking. The passing of the cameramen caused a break in the conversation of the women, and it caused Maesa to come out from the alcove where she could watch the big cameras going by. Ildi turned and saw her, then she said to Maesa, "We saw you in The Virginian. We looked and looked, wondering which of the girls in the movie you were." Maesa smiled again but said nothing. A moment later she went back to the alcove where she could watch everything. Ildi told Tamara that we, all the fans, had seen almost everyone from their family in the movie but that we had not seen her, and asked if she had been there. Tamara told her that she had been there but had been busy with other things.
Shortly afterwards, other people drifted near Tamara and wanted to talk with her. The three ladies thanked her and drifted away, but not before Tamara wished Ildi a safe trip home. The trio of Pullmanites wandered for a while through the lobby, listening to music performed by a jazz band and getting a drink of water. But never did they have Bill out of their sight for long.
Eventually, the crowd began to thin as people departed to go home. Paula looked around and didn't see Bill anywhere. She turned to the other two and said, "Bill Pullman has left the building."
"Then the show is over for us, isn't it?" Sue said. "Shall we go, ladies?"
The
three of them started to walk through the lobby reception
area to the front when Paula saw Bill, Tamara and Maesa
standing behind a large pillar away from the remaining crowd.
Paula's eyes lit up. "We didn't get a picture of all of
us with Bill." With that, she turned and walked over to
him to ask if he would mind one last picture. Naturally, he
agreed to it and looked around for someone to take the
picture. No one else was even close enough to ask except his
wife, who he smiled at and asked if she would mind. Tamara
held out her hand for the cameras, and the three ladies stood
by Bill as she took a picture on each of the two cameras.
When all was said and done, Bill walked up to his wife and told her that he would go get the car. Again, Bill and Tamara were thanked, and the three ladies turned around and left the theater. Chattering happily, they walked back down the street to Paula's car and went back to the real world.
Epilogue
Back in Ildi's motel room, the first thing the three ladies did was take off their shoes. Their feet were killing them! In fact, their clothes were killing them because they were fit to bust at the seams from all the excitement they had just experienced. Paula got out her notepad and pen and flopped on the bed, Sue dropped exhausted into a chair, and Ildi sat on the edge of the bed.
"My heart is so full," Ildi said. "My dream has come true."
From her chair Sue just sighed tiredly but contentedly, "Oh, my God."
"I can't believe everything went so well," said Paula. "I never in a million years would have imagined that we would be that close to him for such a long period of time and have the opportunity to talk to him at length."
They sighed a little more, took a couple more pictures of just themselves (without the Babe!), then set to work making notes so they could write their stories.
 |
 |
| The smiles tell the whole story! | |
The End
P.S. If you're
curious about how your three representatives spent their
afternoon getting ready for the show,
read the Prologue.