CELEB SIGHTINGS 25

 

The last two months have produced an interesting array of celebrity sightings, on both coasts. There’s someone for everybody. It started out a bit slow, but got juicy in July. Here are the highlights.

5/29/13 Quite the eclectic group of celebs showed up for the opening night of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert at Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre. I checked in right next to Olympic diving champ, (and coach on this season’s dangerously stupid diving show, Splash,) Greg Louganis, (we’re just about the same height, by the way,) and sat a few rows in front of Alex Newell, the guy who plays “Unique” on Glee, (who looked like he was dressed normally, at first, until I say his white high heels!) But the best one to me was Cagney and Lacey‘s Sharon Gless, whom I knew when I was just starting out in the biz. She was a vision all in white, (including her short cropped hair!,) her face looked exactly the same as it did way back then, and, more importantly, she was exactly the lovely person she was then, too. How refreshing to have seen her again.

6/2/13 Eighty-seven-year-old Facts Of Life star, Charlotte Rae, sitting in front of me at the Pasadena Playhouse on opening night of the awful musical version of Sleepless In Seattle.

6/15/13 Continuing the “grown-up-women-from-old-TV-shows” theme, started above, very working actress Mary Jo Catlett was at Theatre West enjoying the play The Women. I see her all over town, so I finally googled her and apparently she’s most-known for playing the housekeeper on Different Strokes.

7/8/13 Reggie Bush in a medical building on Robertson, carrying his tiny two-month old daughter, with his girlfriend right behind them. I have to admit that she does, indeed, resemble his old flame, Kim Kardashian, but she’s much more real-looking. And who knows– maybe both their daughters will grow up to be arch nemeses, as well! Or better yet, best buds. (I wonder if he was wondering what I was doing there, too!)

7/11/13 What a juicy night! In the span of a half hour, I saw Zachary Levi, Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and Ricky Martin! All up-close and personal! I turned into a yokel, which I would never do in L.A. It’s too good a story to tell it quickly, so this one will be have to take up a few paragraphs.

Here are the scoops: I was in New York for several reasons, and after a busy day that included continuing to clean-out my Brooklyn house and attending the private opening of the MLB All-Star Game Fan Fest at the Javits Center, followed by a restaurant-reviewing evening, my friend, Lauren, and I were walking through Times Square to our car. We saw a crowd gathering by the stage door of a new musical we had never heard of, and Lauren wanted to stop and talk to some of the people. All of a sudden, the actors started coming out, and not even knowing who any of them were, Lauren got into the excitement of the waiting fans. I was too hot, tired, and aching to talk Lauren out of acting like a goony looky-loo, so I just stood there and observed the scene.

Zachary Levi (of Chuck fame,) was the star of this show, and once I realized that I had seen him in a Chipmunks movie, I was happy that he was so nice to the assemblage. He spent at least an hour signing autographs and taking pictures!

When I finally convinced Lauren to leave, I noticed that Maks and Karina from Dancing With The Stars were performing in Forever Tango across the street. Karina and I have been at many of the same events in Los Angeles, so seeing her was no big deal to me, but I couldn’t believe that I had never bumped into Maks in all these years! Lauren asked if I wanted to stay and see him come out the backstage door, so, after I ascertained that Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory had already closed for the night, (I would give up even Mr. X for the night for one of their ice cream cones,) I said what the heck.

So we went outside the stage door like a couple of tourists, and I was rewarded with laying my eyes on the gorgeous Maks for the first time in person! He looked exactly like his gorgeous self, but more real. But before he showed up at the door though, others exited through the same backstage. One guy I thought was really handsome, and when he came and stood right next to me, I realized it was Ricky Martin! He made me glad that I was always a fan.

Then when Maks finally came out, we took a picture together, but it will never see the light of day. Suffice it to say that he pressed his cheek to mine, so if you see me walking around with half a dirty face, you’ll know why.

7/13/13 Christie Brinkley and last year’s Miss USA, Nana Meriwether, (who’s rumored to be dating Shaq,) at a gifting suite of sorts at Jill Zarin‘s house in the Hamptons. (Apparently, Jill was on a reality show, which you all know I don’t watch. So, to me, she’s the wife of the man who hooked me up to go to the old Yankee stadium the last summer before it was torn down. So, I’m glad she had this event so I could see Bobby to thank him again.) Christie looked at me while I was waiting for a massage, and said, “Looks like fun!” I agreed, but then didn’t get the massage. The chill guy doing them took one look at my swollen hand that had gone numb that morning, and offered me pain balm and weirdo “healing tablets” instead!!! If Christie only knew.

7/24/13 Back at home in LA five weeks earlier than planned, (to take care of my hands that had gone numb!,) I spied Body of Proof star Windell D. Middlebrooks enjoying some lunch with two female friends at Fish Dish in Sherman Oaks. He was very casual, and didn’t seem at all upset that his ABC detective series had been canceled.

7/24/13 Later that night, we drove past Cate Blanchett being besieged by photographers at the Los Angeles premiere of Blue Jasmine at the Academy Theatre in Beverly Hills. But don’t be too jealous—I was on my way to have an MRI of my neck! Which one of us do you think was having more fun?

Sadly, I’m probably having hand surgery really soon, but the good news is that it will be at Cedars-Sinai, so hopefully, that will give me some more good celeb sightings! Fingers crossed. (Both for my hands recovering quickly and some juicy celebrity spying admiring.)