As I originally posted this announcement in this thread I thought it appropo that I tell you all about the Fan Fare that ended this past Saturday. It was AWESOME!!!! I attended all four nights and it was simply awesome every night. Mark Simpson out did himself this year. Let me tell you the highlights:
Mark made a replica of the Seasons One - Two door to place on the stage of the Victory Theater to the right side of the screen where we watched everything. I say Seasons One - Two because it's recently been discovered via a picture in a Sitcoms book that the wall paper in those seasons was RED! His replica was awesome, even more so cause it was made almost entirely of cardboard though it did have a real door handle. He also made little cartoon buildings like in the opening to line the bottom of the screen.
He started every evening off with a clip from Season 7's "Samantha's Hot Bedwarmer" when Endora is quieting down the Witches Convention so she can welcome them to it
The first night was devoted to the history of how the show came to be and an overview of the First Season. He played these very RARE commercials, one that had DY holding a black cat and he introduces himself and says that he's going to play a man that marries a witch and then asks if we would like to meet his wife at which point he holds the cat up to the camera and kisses it The other one was a very basic cartoon of a mother sitting in a rocking chair while her little girl wiggles her nose and turns a boy into a rose. The mother says that later on the girl grows up and marries a man that she doesn't like. The whole thing is narrated by AM. We watched the pilot episode with the original openings and all and "A is for Aardvark". We also had tributes to those that have passed away since the Salem 2006 Convention with the highlight being Alice Ghostley. Her sister, Gladys, was there along with Billie Hayes, better known as Witchiepoo from "HR Puff n Stuff". She also played the Wicked Witch in "Hansel and Gretel in Samanthaland" and we watched a clip of her from that episode when she was introduced and it was quite funny. Billie was so touched she started crying. She is the sweetest lady though.Heather Woodruff Perry also showed up that night. She played Durwood's secretary Betty in Season Three episodes "The Crone of Cawdor", "No More Mr. Nice Guy" and "It's Wishcraft". She is the sweetest, most jubilant lady I have ever met. It was such a pleasure to meet her.
The next night Steve Franken showed up. He was in seven episodes including both part of "Follow that Witch", "A Gazebo Never Forgets", "Samantha's Secret Saucer" as the poodle-dog alien, "Darrin, Gone and Forgotten" as Juke, "Samantha's Shopping Spree" as Cousin Henry, and "Samantha and the Loch Ness Monster" as Bruce. He also mentioned that last episode was his favorite. He and Heather and Gina Meyers (author of "the Magic of BW Trivia" and "The Magic of BW Cookbook") all participated in a celebrity roundtable. Both Heather and Steve said the atmosphere was always pleasant and fun and that Agnes Moorehead had a commanding presence. They both loved EM and William Asher.
Here is a photo of Mark Simpson with the both of them:
That night we played "The Twitch is Right" and I won a replica of the heart necklace and - I hope you're sitting - the Holy Grail of all BW collecting, the 1965 Ideal Samantha doll in the box!!! It is just a replica box but it is still way cool! I've always wanted it to complete my collection.
The next evening there was a memorabilia show where Mark had brought most of his original BW stuff including a recreation of Samantha's flying suit. Mark Wood, Kasey Roger's long time companion, brought a dress that she wore in the Third Season episode "I Remember You...Sometimes" as well as the Louise paintings from "The Mona Sammy".
After that was the tributes to EM and William Asher with none other than William Asher in attendance with his wife Meredith and his daughter Liane. In the tribute to EM, Mark showed more rare footage including a UNICEF commercial EM did that aired during Halloween 1969 and her guest appearance on the Mike Douglas Show from 1966!! Thomas Watson, webmaster of LucyFan.com then played a tribute to William Asher and the BW Artist presented Mr. Asher with a painting of the cartoon Samantha that was matted and framed. We all signed the matte and then Heather Woodruff Perry presented him with the first ever Fan Fare Fan Appreciation Award, a nice engraved crystal award. Mr. Asher was very pleased and I had the opportunity of being part of a few that got their picture taken with him
After he left we watched "Johnny Cool", the movie he met EM on.I believe it was that night that I met our very own JohnMor! It was cool to put a face to name.
Saturday we all went to the WB Ranch where the facade of 1164 stands. It's in dire need of a paint job and some repairs.
That night was the last night of the fan fare, we moved to a soundstage and watched "Allergic to Macedonian Dodos" (my favorite episode), "Serena Stops the Show", Mark spoke about his experience filming "Fanatical" and we watched that and then Barry Pintar, who did this awesome short movie called "Bewitched...continued" on YouTube, gave a presentation about making effective movies. We watched "The Crone of Cawdor" while everyone finished putting in their bids in the silent auction which included such items as 6 BW comic books, the Mme. Alexander Samantha doll, a BW mug, a Baskin Robins BW ad, and framed pictures of Alice Ghostley from her house. After the episode the winners were announced and Mark thanked us all and we said our goodbyes:frowning:
