I happened to look up at a good moment and
saw that David Selby was standing nearby, speaking with only a couple of people. Looked like the best opportunity I would
have to congratulate him on the performance, so I hovered on the sidelines, listening to the conversation until I would have
a chance to speak with him.
My ears perked up when I heard him say the
name “Dan Curtis”, and I realized he was talking about the “Return to Collinwood” radio play which
I had seen performed at the Fest... He was talking to someone (so at least ONE other person there was into DS and knew about
the play at the Fest) about having talked to Dan Curtis that day, and how he enjoyed working with Curtis.
Then that guy finished talking and there was only me, standing a foot or so away so
as not to be too pushy. He looked over, got this big grin and said “I know YOU. I SAW YOU IN THE ELEVATOR!"
NY smartalec mouth firmly in gear, I answer
back, "Yes you did." (don’t remember
if I said Sir, I do tend to -- even with the teenagers at the takeout windows!) "And you also saw me last month in Brooklyn!”
(Of
course after this comes out I think “Wonderful… This guy will now think I’m some sort of freaky stalker
following him around!”)
From there I told him
how much I enjoyed the play and congratulated him on his performance, then put out my hand to shake hands with him (thank
goodness for the crutch with the hinge, so I can do this maneuver smoothly). Nice firm handshake by the way, neither
limp nor weak, but at the same time not crushing a tiny little female hand like mine. (And
to get the sillier questions out of the way, yes, my woman’s size small glove hand just about disappeared into his big
hand.)
We spoke
about the play for a while as he said how pleased he was with the turnout. I explained I really couldn’t see how full
the house was from where I sat, but I could tell that it was a “live” audience, and with the actors the whole way, as opposed to some where no matter what the actors try, the audience is never more than
lukewarm.
He then started telling me about the progress
on “Return to Collinwood”, having spoken to Jamison that day and been updated on the progress of things on the
CD. What "they" (his phrase, don’t know if it was Curtis, Jim Pierson, and Jamison or all three he was referring to)
were telling him about how wonderfully it had turned out. What he explained to me was that it would be released with the CD
and the finalized printed form of the script. He didn’t make mention of the DVD of the performance at the con,
which is what I would really like to see, but as happened a few times during out conversation, the flow of the conversation
segued and I wasn’t able to find out more about something that really interested me. Same thing happened about
the fact that there were so many loose ends left in the script, just inviting a sequel or continuing saga, as well has how
he had gotten involved with a group like Main Street Martinsburg, when his hometown was in the opposite end of the state.
Earlier he had mentioned about Jamison
writing it, as if he thought I wasn’t aware of that fact. I told him (and I THINK that I remembered to qualify
it with the fact that I KNEW he would not remember one fan in that huge mob), that I was the fan who asked him where Jamison
was after the play because I wanted to compliment him on the fine job he'd done with that script.
So he's telling me
all this chatting away like I'm a long lost friend. Then he asks me if I’m from Brooklyn. I sort of cringe a little
and said in this teeny voice "The Bronx?" He seemed startled when I told him
I’d driven in from the Bronx, and asked about me coming down from NY just for this. And out of my mouth comes not a
social triviality, but a condensed version of the truth. Explained that when he was in CT in 98 and 2000 I had been in physical
therapy and didn’t find out about missing it till loong afterward. (I cringed again because I could not BELIEVE I had
said something to draw attention so blatantly to my disability—as well as making me sound a little too much like an
obsessed fan for my comfort!)
At some point in
this conversation, triggered by a twinge in the disk in my neck, I realize that he is now standing closer to me,
his arm is around my waist, seems to have been there for a while, and I’ve no idea when it got there or what precisely
triggered him to do it!!!!!!!!!
Hard to second guess someone who is to all intents
and purposes a stranger. All I know of him as a person is two very short interactions at the Fest, coupled with the
personal glimpses I’ve gotten from reading interviews and his poetry books. He
does seem to be a “toucher”, (in a totally appropriate, gentlemanly way, let me stress!) so I’d guess it
was a way of showing sympathy and that he was touched by my making the trip without getting into awkwardness with words. Possibly
it had to do with my mention of the PT and the loss of his mother the same year. I do suspect though, that he got some quiet amusement from the startled
expression which probably crossed my pane of glass face when I realized where his arm was! I DO have to admit that when I finally caught on,
and saw how close his waist was to me, reciprocating DID cross my mind. However
-- I WAS GOOD!!!. I DID NOT TOUCH!!!!! I DID NOT GET IN HIS PERSONAL SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
<G>
Well, his arm never
moved for the whole rest of the conversation.
************
David Selby is a very “people centered”
person, I discovered. He looks people right in the eyes when he speaks to them, and by his responses, listens to what
is being said. He also asks questions that show he is interested in the person he is speaking to. It is not Quentin
Collins, Richard Channing, or any other of his characters you see, but an intelligent, thoughtful gentleman with kind eyes.
In short, you quickly become comfortable speaking with him. All too comfortable, as I was to discover.
DS still has his arm around me, and he is now
asking if I will be staying long in the area. Unfortunately, I don’t manage to steer the conversation into something
that will let me find out more about the area I had been so eager to explore and find out more about. Or, as a history buff,
mention how much I would have enjoyed having at least a day each to PROPERLY explore Martinsburg and visit both Antietam and
Harpers Ferry. Or even come up with some noncommittal social chitchat. Instead, I explain that I hadn't the time I wanted
to for exploring, since it was so last minute – and shoehorned between two previous commitments -- that I wasn’t
able to get anyone to drive down with me and share expenses. (And don't ask me WHAT POSSESSED ME to tell something that personal
and embarrassing to a TOTAL STRANGER!) Obviously, coffee or no coffee, the long full day with little sleep had finally
caught up and fried my brain!
Bless him, he was very sweet about it (though
I haven’t the slightest memory of precisely what was said), but I was still mortified—and likely embarrassed the
poor fellow as well. But it says something about the man that he is still close enough to where he came from to remember
what it's like to have tight finances.
Trying to get the conversation back on track,
I babbled something about liking 30s radio programs, and being glad to see radio plays like Return to Collinwood and
the things done by LA Theaterworks. This proved to be a conversational dead end, and the beginning of the crossed
wires which ended our conversation. I was trying to follow his lead and pick up cues from him as to where this conversation
would or would not go. More importantly, since no one else was approaching to
speak with him and bring the conversation to a natural end, when I should consider it at an end and excuse myself. I THINK that’s where the conversation continued on about WV and he was telling me that 6 the
next AM they were going to drive over to Morgantown ("Where I'm from ...") and visit his Dad . I don’t remember
one way or the other, but I assume my manners were working and I told him I hoped they’d have a pleasant visit.
However at that point I was tired to the point of “the lights are on but nobody’s home”, coffee is NOT helping,
and I am getting paranoid about what to say for fear it would end up sounding too rudely personal or too nosy about his personal
life. I ended up just making some sort of sympathetic comments about their having to get up so early after this event. Looking
back, I find myself hoping that the comment about the trip wasn’t an incredibly delicate hint for me to break off the
conversation.
He then said something I couldn’t hear
part of but I would still SWEAR I DID hear ”…introduce you to my wife…” which I certainly would not
have expected – and which did not seem to be a hint for me to excuse myself. I made some polite remark about loving
to meet her (from all accounts I’ve heard she’s as nice as her husband), and walked forward, his hand still on
my waist. Then I didn’t feel his hand anymore and he was somewhere behind me. Winced, because I obviously
misheard/misunderstood whatever he really said VERY BADLY and likely left the impression that I was being both clingy AND
pushy hinting for an introduction to his wife! (Or, if I did hear what I thought, left him with the impression that I was
rude and walked away without excusing myself or saying goodbye!)
Felt very awkward after this of course, so
meandered away to get some appetizers then sat and people watched some more. This pattern essentially held through what
little was left of the evening. Then, at the very end of the night, another photo op, apparently arranged by the Falcon Crest
fen. I was standing in the general area when it happened, so I tried to get in and get some candids. Of course the usual
problems happened of heads in the way, people turning just as you click your shutter, etc.
After the photo op finished, one of the FC
group complimented me on the top I was wearing, and a small group of us started talking. I mentioned to one lady that
I had seen her in the hotel lobby when I arrived, and it turned out that this was Sandy, a mutual friend of not only Pam’s
and Deb’s but of another friend, Sofie, from Sweden! As we are all standing there chatting we were treated to
a site both amusing and adorable.
David Selby, still speaking to someone, walking
sideways as his wife has his hand and is pulling him gently towards the door!
We stayed and chatted a little longer (I don’t
recall for certain but I believe Susan Sullivan had already left, and I was told by a third party that she and DS had shared
a good night kiss), then we all headed out to our various cars.
At the hotel I ran into Sandy, and a couple,
Ilene and Michael, who were at the reception as well. We all chatted for a while in the lobby, then Sandy left and I
was talking to Ilene and Michael, who had come up from Atlanta for this. In discussing the fact that my cable co does
not carry Soapnet, it came out that the couple is originally from Co-Op City in the Bronx, 10 minutes from where I live!
We continued chatting about various and sundry things, and I was telling Michael about seeing Dr. Selby at the Dark Shadows
Festival, and how much respect I had for him for the way he conducted himself with the huge crowds at all his autograph sessions.
Michael was quite surprised at the crowds the Festivals still attract, and was unaware that the show had been running on Scifi
for the past 10 years.
We talked a little longer in the lobby before
going back to our respective rooms. Needless to say thoroughly keyed up from the nights events, I scurried to write
down as much as possible of what happened so I wouldn’t forget, then finally got to sleep around 3.