Santa Barbara

Last night’s red carpet event could have been something written in a movie.  Our Modern Master had a local driver drop him off at the award ceremony.  With fans filling the streets and ticket holders wrapped around the block, red carpet access was limited to say the least.  So limited in fact, that when I arrived there was nary a sliver of space to even sneak through, which made Mr. Eastwood’s entrance all the more incredible. 

As the festival powers-that-be, press and fans waited with anxious anticipation for Eastwood to arrive on the right, a roar erupted from the left.  Like an air dropped character from some action film, Eastwood appeared in the midst of the crowd, climbed over the stanchions and landed on the carpet unscathed. 

Moderator Leonard Maltin, and Tribute Directors Paul Fagen and Douglas D. Smith magically morphed five decades of an auspicious career into a memorable evening of anecdotes for a packed house of enthusiastic fans. 

One of the funniest bits of the night was when Sean Penn offered up some TMI insights that Leonard Maltin apparently missed in his research.  Things like Clint’s birth weight of 11 ½ lbs, how he joined the U.S. Army during the Korean War and had to swim three miles back to shore after a plane crash in the Pacific, and how anyone going up against Dirty Harry, in real life or not, would certainly NOT be feeling LUCKY. 

The after party was a private access of which I was not private enough to attend.  However, in hopes of returning a scarf to its rightful owner, I ended up at the party and as the evening started winding down, it happened, the man of the evening, like everyone else in my life snubbed me.  While in conversation with his wife, Eastwood wrapped his arms around me and simply said, “Hey, why don’t you stand up when you’re talking.” 

Oh yeah, so original Mr. Eastwood, like a short person never heard that before …

And the moral? 

I’m in talks with my husband about starting a family since because now I have something to tell the kids.