Naturally, it is an older woman (specifically Shelagh Fraser), who plays her in the first film. In the two prequels, she is played by Bonnie Piesse. I got the chance to meet her at the Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago when she appeared there on Saturday, August 13, 2011.

I wasn’t clamoring to pay the $25 for an autographed photo, plus an additional $5, for a photo with her, since her character was so minor. I did try to talk her out of the photo op fee, but in the end – since we were dealing with the Star Wars canon - I made the purchase at full price. It was probably my least impressive encounter of the day, but I’m sure one day I’ll be glad that I got everyone from the films that I could.

Celebrities of the 2011 Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago will continue…

But Marli Renfro can. She was the body double for Janet Leigh, who was never nude during the filming. Even her scenes are subject to debate, but for the most part, anytime you’re not clearly seeing Janet Leigh’s face, you’re seeing Marli Renfro, who was a model, actress, and showgirl. She also appeared on the cover of the September 1960 issue of Playboy.

Because of my love for Hitchcock and Psycho, I simply had to purchase an autograph when she made an appearance at the Hollywood Show on October 8, 2011. She was a nice lady and had been the subject of the book The Girl in Alfred Hitchcock’s Shower. I opted not to purchase this but a pseudo-lobby card from the film, showcasing the famous knife going into the famous belly.

Although she suggested writing the title of the book instead, I had her inscribe the photo with “Marion Crane’s belly”.

Celebrity encounters of the Fall 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…

Originally, she had been scheduled to attend the show during the summer and I had considered sending my program from It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World out to get Bob to have it signed. But then she cancelled, and I figured we had heard the last of her. But as it turns it, she actually did re-schedule and showed up to the show on Saturday, October 8, 2011.

Although she never spoke a single line during the film, she had quite a memorable scene. As Mrs. Marcus (Ethel Merman) tries to get ahold of her son Sylvester (Dick Shawn) by phone, he cannot hear it since he has the music blasting and a hot girl belly dancing in his apartment. The hot belly dancer was Barrie Chase (credited in production material as Ms. Haliburton).

I had her add her signature to the program, which has already been signed by Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Edie Adams, Don Knotts, Carl Reiner, Stan Freberg, Nick Stewart, and Nicholas Georgiade. I also picked up a photo from the film. The signature combo set me back $40, but she included a photo with her in the price and I walked away quite happy to finally have a acquired a signature and an encounter that I was sure I’d never get.

Program cover

Page now signed by Barrie Chase

Page signed by Mickey Rooney

Page signed by Jonathan Winters and Edie Adams

Page signed by Nick Stewart and Nick Georgiade

Page signed by Stan Freberg and Marvin Kaplan

Page signed by Carl Reiner and Don Knotts

With Barrie Chase and the program

Celebrities of the Fall 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…

We spent the morning peacefully and lazily and didn’t head out until after 11am. I had only recently learned that the bulk of John Hughes movies had been filmed in the Chicago area. Sixteen Candles has always been one of my all-time favorite movies and in fact, it is Jamie’s very favorite movie. So I thought it would be fun to spend some time and track down a few of the location that were used in the film. The fact that the film is about a birthday and the fact this it was actually my birthday was a bit of a bonus.

Our first stop was about fifteen miles east of the motel. We drove to Evanston, Illinois, which is a town on the coast of Lake Michigan and then from there we would gradually work our way north, with each successive town about ten minutes for the last. Here in Evanston, we found what was probably the most important of all of the locations, the home of Sixteen Candles character Samantha Baker and her family.

This was a fun stop, as a young girl who lived in the house and her friend came outside and were hitting around a volleyball. I had hoped to actually lay in the yard to pose where Long Duk Dong had, but I felt reticent to do this without permission. The girl just thought it was funny, so of course she was quite okay with it.

Frame grab of the Baker residence in Sixteen Candles

Me in front of the house today

Jamie sees the location from her favorite movie

Screen grab of Dong lying in the front yard drunk

The tree is now gone, so I was a little bit off – in more ways than one

Pushing it

Dong, Grandpa is talking to you!

Jamie tries her hand at acting

Goofing around at the Baker house had helped us work up a bit of an appetite and it just so happens that there was a great restaurant that had been featured on the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives episode Burgers in the area. The place was called Hackney’s and they served up some mighty fine food. I had the inside-out burger (with the cheese and bacon cooked on the inside of the burger) on a pretzel bun. We also ordered a 1/4-size order of the brick of onion rings. Unbeknownst to us, all burgers were half price since there was a Chicago Bears game going on, so this was a great bonus. After we ate, we checked out the outdoor seating area and Jamie played inside the little kids house for a few minutes.

DD&D #27: Hackney’s in Glenview, Illinois

The restaurant was located in a residential neighborhood. It almost looked like it was in someone’s backyard

Jamie raises her Hofbrau

Delicious birthday dining with a beautiful girl

Jamie makes a new friend in the Hackney’s play house. His Dad would be rushing over shortly after we started taking his picture.

Feeling nice and full, we resumed our movie locations trek. The next stop was from a different, yet perhaps even more popular John Hughes movie, Home Alone. Although we were not quite as big of fans of that film, it was certainly cool to see the McCallister house that figures so prominently in the plot of the film. This was located in the town of Winnetka. When we pulled up, there was a man just getting ready to leave, so we waited until he drove off before we took our photos.

The McCallister house as seen in Home Alone

The Home Alone house today

We were soon back on the Sixteen Candles trek when we found the Glencoe Union Church in the town of Glencoe. This was a great location that can be seen prominently near the end of the film when Sam’s sister gets married and Jake shows up to claim Samantha. The pictures of us jumping (as seen at the top of the posting and below) are representative of the scene with Sam’s sister Ginny when, while high on muscle relaxers, tries to catch the rice thrown by the wedding guests in her mouth.

Ginny jumps for the rice during the final moments of Sixteen Candles

Jamie similarly jumps for the rice – which isn’t actually there anymore

Me on holy location

Jake and Samantha and the happy ending

Me, ruining the ending

Jamie and I also finally figured out to which  ’big lake’ Dong Duk Dong was referring as he’s describing the fate of Grandpa’s car. After we left the church, we happened by the Glencoe Beach. It proved to irresistible not to stop, so we parked and walked down onto the sand and the pier (and found a restroom). We weren’t expecting any sort of beach on this trip, but it was a lovely welcome site.

On the pier at Glencoe Beach

Our final stop of the day was the home of Jake Ryan – again, a main character in Sixteen Candles. This location, located in Highland Park, was probably the worst of the locations, simply because the house was located so far off of the road. The garage that was also featured prominently was much closer to the road, so proved to provide better photo ops. For the third time this day, the owner of the house came out as we were finishing up with our pictures. She walked from the house to the garage, but like the others, she said nothing to us.

The Jake Ryan house, all dressed up for the big party

The same house today

Anthony Michael Hall pulls out of Jake’s garage

That very same garage

It was just after 3pm when we left Highland Park. Being somewhat north of Chicago, our ride home took about six hours. We were originally going to stop at Steer In (the DD&D restaurant in Indianapolis where Jason and I had stopped during our visit a month prior), but since we were so full and were a little bit behind schedule, we opted to just get our meal at Subway. We got back to my place a little before 10pm, watched an episode of The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet (A Ball of Tinfoil), and went fast to sleep. Jamie left the next morning and I returned to work as normal.

There were a few additional happenings the following week pertaining to my birthday, the least of which occurred on Monday the 3rd when I got my drivers license renewed. Since somehow they had missed my birthday at work, they made up for it on Tuesday the 4th, when they decorated my office in an array of balloons and streamers and such. I celebrated by having my lunch at Blue Ash Chili that afternoon.

40th birthday decor in my office

On Wednesday, October 5, Mom took me out for my birthday dinner at Hibachi Grill. Grandpa Murphy, Bev & Ed, Susan, Karen & Joe and their kids, Darlene, Zac & Nicole, and Ashleigh and Silas all joined us. We had a good meal and Mom brought along a Bill Knapps chocolate birthday cake that reminded me of old times. She also gave me some body lotion since she knew how much I liked the ones she was giving out at Indian Lake. It ended up being particularly special that my Grandpa was there, as we were afforded one last chance for a five-generation photo.

Gosh, Grandpa is getting old

Seeing Silas always makes my day

Five generations of Chinese food lovers. This was the last picture of Grandpa Murphy.

Proudly and excitedly displaying my Bill Knapps cake

Making wishes that probably won’t come true

Smiling Silas punctuates the day once again

After dinner that night, I stopped over at Kristy and Sly’s house to see their new baby girl Krislyn. It was fun to also see Jake and Katherine, who were in town visiting.

With the adorable new baby Krislyn

I can’t think of any way I’d rather have spent my 40th birthday. The beginnings of my 41th year on earth had begun in grand style and I was enjoying every minute of it. I’d have one trip left to take this year, and then things would take a bit of a turn for me.

2011 will continue on the west coast…

My first actual encounter with one of The Sound of Music kids came on October 4, 2008, when I got the chance to meet Angela Cartwright – who had portrayed Brigitta in the film. I had already had her signature on a cast shot from Lost in Space. At the time, I didn’t even get an additional autograph from her, which was stupid since I already had a partially signed pair of cast photos.

These cast photos had been variously signed by three of the (movie) Von Trapp kids: Heather Menzies (Louisa), Kym Karath (Gretl), and Debbie Turner (Marta). Only the first two of these signed the photo at the top of the posting. These had been obtained for me by Bob when they appeared at a Hollywood Collectors Show in the early 2000′s.

My handling of the photos was negligent. For starters I missed having Angela sign them during our first meeting. And then, when I met Nicholas Hammond – who had portrayed Friedrich – on April 24, 2010, I neglected to bring these photos again. So I was forced to purchase yet an additional photo of the kids, which in fact was the nicest photo of the three.

With Nicholas Hammond – Friedrich – on April 24, 2010

My photo from Friedrich, now signed by two

Eventually I came to my senses. When Angela Cartwright was scheduled to appear again at the Hollywood Show (again as part of a Lost in Space reunion)on February 12, 2011, I brought my three Sound of Music photos with me. Cheapness got the better of me a little bit and I made a deal with her to only sign two of them, at the discounted rate of $30. When I got my obligatory photo with her, she remarked, “wow, you’re really getting a lot for your money.” Yeah, some ink and a smile, but I wasn’t quibbling. She also wasn’t too happy that her movie-sister Louisa had signed over her head in the photo below. Ho-de-lay-ho-de-lay. Ho-de-lay-hi-hoo.

With Angela Cartwright – Brigitta – on February 12, 2011

The current tally: 2 meetings, 5 out of 7 signatures, 4 of them on one photo… and counting…

Celebrities of the Winter 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…