Fanboy Fail Fridays! Tom Hanks And Rita Wilson Give Pinky The Slip As She Gets Turned Down By Tom Ford! All In The Name Of Charity! Doh!
Oh Fanboy… I mean Fangirl Fail Fridays, why do you hurt us so! For today’s Fanboy… Dammit… Fangirl Fail Friday, Pinky is recounting her time spent at a fundraiser… A fundraiser she spent her cold hard cash on. Baby works hard for the money! So hard for it honey!
Ms. Tom Hanks, AKA Rita Wilson was doing a bit o’ singing… and so Pinky and Liz headed down hoping for some photos, some Tom Hanks action, and I don’t think having him reenact a few scenes from Splash is asking too much! No?
Seeing as this is a Fangirl Fail, I don’t spy a happy ending for our heroines… Check out the full report after the jump!
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Hello, my lovelies. Pinky Lovejoy here to recount my terrible tale of a major fangirl FAIL. It all began about a month ago when I received an email from The Geffen Playhouse urging me to buy tickets to a benefit featuring Rita Wilson in concert. The proceeds would be benefiting The Geffen Playhouse and The Actors Fund, so it seemed like a great cause. Still, the tickets were a bit out of my price range (I believe they went all the way up to $1,000), so I passed. Then a few weeks back, I received a “special offer” to get a ticket for the low low price of $25. Sold! Now, you might think I was excited to see Rita Wilson, but, actually, that wasn’t a draw for me at all. In fact, I was kind of dreading it, as I’d met her before and wasn’t too impressed. I know, I know, it’s not nice to say, but that’s how it is. What I was hoping for was a chance to see her husband, Tom Hanks, and possibly a few other celebs that thought the benefit was a good idea. Hey, it doesn’t hurt to try, right? And $25 is totally do-able for the guy I used to love watching on Bosom Buddies. While still not being very adept at the timeline thing Mikey does, I’ll take a stab at it (you know, for dramatic effect).
6:14 p.m. I arrive in Westwood and meet up with the Lovely Liz who has agreed to accompany me to the event. She’d actually seen Rita perform at The Troubadour and said she’s great, so I’m more encouraged about the concert. Miraculously we both score $3 parking (which is practically unheard of in Westwood)! The night is off to a good start.
6:20 p.m. We make our way over to the theater to see if there’s a red carpet and if we can pick up our tickets already. We’re told the venue doesn’t open until 7 and it doesn’t appear to have a carpet. Bummer.
6:31 p.m. Although we’d planned on a yummy bite to eat, due to time constraints we end up at Burger King. Oh, well. At least we’re near to the venue and it isn’t breaking my pocket book (did I just say pocket book?).
7:09 p.m. We pick up our tickets and head into the lobby area. The outside patio looks nice, so we find a seat and watch for people to arrive.
7:12 p.m. There is a V.I.P. reception going on right next to where we are sitting, but I’m not sure what qualifies it as V.I.P. as there are no celebrities in sight. Perhaps it’s just for those people who paid $1,000 for a ticket?
7:23 p.m. We debate about getting a glass of wine. Some blonde next to us asks if we’d like something from the V.I.P. event and I (probably too) eagerly say yes, we would. Unfortunately, she never returns. Fail.
7:31 p.m. We saw a cluster of collectors on the sidewalk as we made our way inside, so we kind of figured we hear them when anyone arrives. So far we haven’t heard anything.
7:39 p.m. This really is a sad showing of celebrities. I haven’t seen one single person so far. When Rita played The Troubadour, a bevy of her friends attended: Nia Vardalos, Melanie Griffith, Antonio Banderas, just to name a few. You know it’s hard times when you can’t even get Nia to show up to the event.
7:47 p.m. We make our way into the lobby to see if we can see anything happening. I spy David Geffen and the guy who talks too much on American Idol (Jimmy something), but he annoys me on the show so I don’t ask him for a picture. He’s cocky enough. I see Tom Ford across the lobby. Well, there’s one person.
7:49 p.m. Liz spots Tom Hanks standing near the door. We make our way over and see he’s deep in conversation with someone – so deep, in fact, that it would be super rude to interrupt him and ask for a picture. As much as I’m dying to, I haven’t really heard good things about him in general (which is surprising, considering he’s like the male version of “America’s Sweetheart.” Then again, the actual “America’s Sweetheart,” Sandra Bullock, has an even worse reputation amongst fans, so I guess it’s hard to know how they’ll really be). We wait and see he takes a picture with the person he’s talking to. I assume it’s our chance to ask, but as soon as the picture is done, his security takes him quickly into the theater. Fail. Hopefully we’ll get to see him after the show. Maybe he’ll still be in a good mood and we can possibly get that picture. Fingers crossed.
7:52 p.m. People are making their way into the theater in droves as the lights keep flashing. I spy Tom Ford and make my way over to him to ask him for a picture. Here’s the thing, though – I don’t really care about Tom Ford. I’m not some sort of fashionista and I don’t own anything he makes. After an hour of waiting, I really just want to get a picture with anyone (after investing the time and money to be at the event) and he’ll do (crap, did that sound bad? It sounded bad, right? Oh well).
Actually, what I’d really love is a picture where he’s posing with that ridiculous face he’s making on the cover of Vanity Fair – that would make me giggle endlessly. That cover is really the only way I even know who he is.
I get up next to him and say, “Tom, may I get a picture with you?” His reply? “No, now’s not really the time.” What now? Not the time? At a charity event? When is a better time going to be? At his house? At a restaurant when he’s eating? Why do I even care? Oh, right. I don’t like being told no. Ever. Sadly, it happens far more often than I care to admit. For your enjoyment (and mine), I’ve created my own version of our magazine cover – see, I’m open. I can play either part. I’m a team player like that.
8:04 p.m. We’re sitting in our seats on the second floor (hey, what did we expect for $25?) and spy Kristin Chenoweth coming into the theater. She’s adorable. I love her. She hugs Tom Ford and finds her seat.
8:10 p.m. Why did they rush us in here when we’re just sitting here? Tom Hanks is holding court in the third row and talking to a variety of people around him. I like that he seems to be in a good mood. Makes our chances better later.
8:14 p.m. Finally the concert starts and runs for a little over an hour. Overall, it was better than I thought, but nothing to write home about. Rita looked great, she moved great, and I enjoyed her song choices. But, her voice? Um. Let’s just say she’s a solid Alto and if she stayed in that key it’d be amazing. Unfortunately, she, apparently, thinks she’s a Soprano. That’s all I’ll say about that. By far the best part about the concert was watching how much Tom Hanks was enjoying himself. He was rocking out in his seat to every single song – he was her biggest fan and it was adorable to see, especially considering they’re about to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. Congrats to them!
9:25 p.m. We’re back in the lobby after the show and they’re passing out wine and chocolates and even ice cream on the patio. It’s a lovely evening and were we not on edge waiting, it would’ve been much more enjoyable. Why does all this waiting get me so nervous?
9:47 p.m. There are a ton of people milling about, but I don’t see any of the celebs from earlier. No Tom Ford. No Kristin Chenoweth. No Tom Hanks. Not even that Jimmy guy from American Idol. We assume they’re all backstage hanging out, but figure they have to come out at some point. In all my time attending Geffen events, I’ve never seen anyone leave out the back, especially during a charity event. At the very least, Rita should come down at some point, right? I mean, not only is she the main event, but they’re selling her CDs in the lobby.
10:11 p.m. The lobby is starting to clear out a bit, but Liz and I hold steady. We both had a glass of wine to relax, but now I have to use the restroom. Not wanting to miss anything, I refuse to leave our post.
10:32 p.m. This is getting tedious. We see security walk back and forth, but there’s no activity coming from the V.I.P. room. Where is everyone? Why aren’t they leaving? Are they really not coming out?
10:42 p.m. Liz tells me that after Rita’s show at The Troubadour, she was backstage for at least an hour and a half before she came out. Sadly, even after all that waiting, Rita only signed for the dealers and skipped Liz (even though Liz had gone to the show). We were hoping for better luck tonight.
11:02 p.m. There are literally six people left here waiting. The staff goes and tells these two older ladies that are near the door that “they left,” which we assume to be Tom and Rita. Now, I’m not sure where they left from, but I’m there must be other entrances and exits in the theater, I’d just never seen anyone use them before. I’m a little stunned. All their friends left that way, as well? And after all that waiting (after a concert that made my ears bleed) for nothing?!?!
11:05 p.m. We decide to call it and walk back to our cars dejectedly. What a waste of an evening. I would have rather been home watching 2 Broke Girls. Hopefully someday in the future I can meet Forrest Gump himself, but until then I’ll just make a mental note to avoid Geffen fundraisers in the future.
For additional pink fodder, please visit www.pinkylovejoy.com or follow me on Twitter @pinkylovejoy. As always, have a pink day!
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So sorry Pinky that you and Liz, ESPECIALLY PAYING for this event, didn’t get Mr.Sweetheart. Just to let you know Tom doesn’t seem to sign when it’s not “his” event or of there’s tons of dealers around. He’ll either say something like “It’s my wifes night” or “It’s a date night”. Just last week at another event he was involved with he signed at rehersals with no problem. He even bought a soda for me when I forwarned him that a certain vending machine wasn’t working. It was just me. Of course afterwards when all the dealers awoke from their morning/early afternoon slumber and the count reached 25 it overwelmed Tom and he stiffed. HOWEVER…….it’s totaly not fair when two contibuting patrons don’t have any access. No excuse Tom should have done it for you two.
I’m surprised Pinky didn’t even get a pic with Tom Ford. Then again, fashion designers do tend to be self-absorbed and not get involved with the “little people.”
I feel for you
nice write-up Pinky 🙂