These are stories I have written in my Family Roots book..
The Movie Firestarter...This movie must have been the first filmed in Wilmington. Which I hear is now third behind Los Angeles and New York in movie production. **2002**regretfully not any more.. At that time this was all very new and interesting to us. One night I decicded to go downtown to watch them filming.
I remember exactly which scene I saw being shot. David Keith is running down a New York City street with Drew Barrymore in his arms. I, as most others, stayed down there pretty late watching.
My spot on live TV.....Some years ago most local stations had a live show around noontime. These shows were pretty popular. One local host was Art Bannon, he was very well liked.
Art had a guest who claimed he could get some kind of feedback from people he had never met and tell about them. There was really a lot of controversy about this. The man had already appeared on the show twice to talk about this. Art asked him would he come back, take someone who worked at the studio, do this live on TV. He said yes, he would.
I called the station, told them this will look like it is set-up, why don't you get someone else? Will you come, they ask? Well, I guess I can. On the big day I anxiously go down to the studio, they have me wait out front, Art comes out to meet me, telling me they will be back for me to relax and take it easy.
All at once they come, hurriedly take me to the back seating me in a chair behind a curtain with only my arm showing.
The man runs his hand across my arm, he starts telling all these things, I am not happy in my marriage, I am not reaching my full potential, I am un-happy. As soon as he had started it shook me up, the feeling was like a huge magnet running across my arm.
He said many things, all true, it really threw me for a loop. Art could tell, he questioned me, was what he was saying true? Yes, I replied, it is all true.
Art was very concerned when he found out that my hubby just happened to be home sick (something unusual)..he knew who that arm belonged to!!! I told Art, no problem he will laugh about it, as he did.
The funny thing was a few weeks later I am in a department store trying on clothes, I come out from the dressing room, my hubby and Art are standing there laughing their heads off. My hubby about six foot three had gone up to Art, small in stature and said "you remember that woman on your show? I am her husband!!" We laughed about this for years to come. Our paths crossed a bit.
Art passed away a few years ago, I wrote his wife then to tell her about this. I have tried to figure out how the man could have found out about me, was my husband in on it all? He says he was not. I still do not understand it, the only way he could possibly have gotten information was through a neighbor or family member. I figure by now someone would fess up to it.
Me...Aunt Marge and some birds...I have been a bird watcher for many, many years. Over the years I have seen quite a few birds. One time I saw this bird sitting on a big bucket, it looked just as if it had fallen into a bucket of red paint. I laughed about this and told everyone of this happening. When I went to Aunt Marge's to visit, I tell her about this bird. She emphatically says there is no such bird. I tell her, yes, it was red something or other. Aunt Marge says ok I have some bird books you can find the bird in it, now Aunt Marge does not do things in a simple way, she brings out all these great big books piled a mile high. Lo and behold, I can not find the bird.
I tell her, when I get home I will tell you the name. Generally I write down the names of all the birds I see.
I go home and look, there is nothing in my book about this bird at all, I look and I look for many years. Never finding anything. I even see an article in our local paper about some expert bird watcher, she lives right down the street from us. I call her, telling her about this bird I swore I saw. She tells me it is probably a purple finch, they are red on top. You just see one here and there.
All at once, many, many years later, after Aunt Marge has passed away, I am at daughter Wendys in Charlotte, North Carolina. Wendy had windows all across the back, looking out into the woods, which actually goes into a nature preserve. There one is! Really there are tons of them, I start jumping and hollering, there is one of those birds, Dear Aunt Marge up in heaven do you see that? Do you see those birds? My daughter comes out wondering what on earth is going on. In Charlotte you see quite a few of the finches. But, in Wilmington you may see a glimpse of one every five years, I still say, especially some of them, look just like they fell in a bucket of red paint!
Stories part two.....more stories..read about the Michael Jordan shirt..others...
