Subject: [VP] Carol's crawl to Paul
Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 23:38:25 -0400 (EDT)
From: MyBuddy2(Carol T)

Okay...this happened 21 years ago this upcoming June while I was still in high school. S&H was in its 3rd season on ABC.

Paul's sister Connie was the President of the Newton Symphony Orchestra. Newton is a section of Boston generally considered affluent and is where Paul grew up. The Orchestra was having a charity benefit and Paul was asked by his sister to be the guest star narrator.

Now, in previous years since the show debuted on tv, lots of us kind of waiting for news of Paul coming back home for a visit and very often, a bunch of my friends and I went various places to see Paul. But especially in the first two years of the show, it was almost possible to see him, security was always tight. By 1978, a lot of my friends had let the fancy pass them by and weren't as avid fans as they had been in previous years...all except for me who would remain a faithful viewer to the end (and straight into reruns:-)

So, I bought a lone ticket and was going to attend the symphony myself. It was being held at the Robert Center at Boston College. I was going to take the "T" (subway) over to BC and my father was going to pick me up afterward, on his way home from work (my father had attended Boston College) I vividly remember riding on the train and a little boy about 8 or 9 was sitting next to me wearing a S&H Tee shirt. I was in high school and felt obligated to wear a dress since I was attending the symphony, although that was not the reason I was on that train:-)

The little boy sat with his older sister and we were chatting about the show and about Paul. The little boy asked me if I thought we'd get to meet him. I was trying to be cool and casually said that I thought security would be tight, and that we'd get no where near Paul when his limo pulled up.

We all got to the Boston College stop and got off. The Robert Center is on a hill and we were starting up the hill and saw the front of the Robert Center, jam packed with girls, young and old, but mostly teenagers. It was wild, they were obviously waiting for the limo to arrive with Paul. Well, so much for limos in your home town I guess. All of a sudden, A silver sedan drove past the little boy and I and the boy started jumping up and down crying out "That's Starsky! Starsky is driving that car!"

Well, so much for my trying to keep my composure and be cool, we all took off up the hill and waited by the car. Sure enough, Paul was driving (it was said he had just taken his Dad's car and driven himself, he knew his way around and didn't want a limo) Out he goes, in a black tux and quite frankly, looking drop dead gorgeous.

The little boy ran up to him and I was right behind him. Of course, the ideal situation would have been to have the chance to tell him what the show meant to me, what the meaning of it truly was in my heart...but you can't expose your heart to the man in 15 seconds, so, I just asked Paul if I could take his picture and he said yes of course...I snapped the picture and remember looking down at my camera. It was dusk and the flash had not gone off. I am sorry to say that I mumbled "Damn it" and Paul asked me what was the matter and I said "My flash didn't go off" and he looked behind me and saw the crowd in front of the building and said very quickly as he patted my arm "Don't worry, it'll come out" and hurried up into the back entrance of the building.

Once inside the concert hall, it was a mob scene. Row after row of little girls and teenagers. The place was buzzing with excitement. The music started and the place erupted but no Paul yet...the entire first half of the show was just the orchestra playing. It was probably a wise move so the orchestra would get some attention. Once Paul showed up, they were drowned out by screams.

Intermission came and someone said Paul's parents were in the front row. I had been chatting with some other teenage girls and we all went up, together to meet the Glasers. Paul's father was very shy and smiled at us, but his mother was very talkative, answering all of our questions and answering one in particular with "Paul is my baby." I remember that, vividly. I took his parents picture and then we went back to our seats to wait.

The crowd began chanting "We want Starsky!" (or in truth, with our crazy accents were chanting "We want Stahsky!" vbg)

Finally, out comes Paul and the place goes WILD. He was to narrate two different pieces, but honestly, no one heard a damn thing, not the music, not Paul, all you heard was screaming...it was unreal.

Near the end of the concert, a weird thing started to happen. Women, teenagers and little girls were on their hands and knees in the center aisle of the place and literally crawling up the aisle trying to get to Paul without being noticed. I couldn't believe it...

Okay, here's the embarrassing part for me. The girl I was chatting with said 'let's crawl up to Paul, too" and I said "No way, I can't do that." and she said "Why not ?" and well...I was young and caught up in the moment and I didn't have an answer to that one, SO...

There I was crawling on the floor like a loser. vbg, with countless others, crawling up on our hands and knees with the older people in the audience just laughing and finding this very hysterical for a symphony concert. We almost reached the stage and Paul's eyes were riveted on these crazy girls crawling up towards him. He finally put down the baton he had been waving and he RAN!

And Okay, this is even more embarrassing, we ran after him and busted through the hall door that he had ran through to escape us... He finally had no where else to go, there really was no security here and he turned around and put his hand up and said "Okay Stop!" and we all stopped dead in our tracks. He was kind of half laughing and half trying not to laugh as he said "I'll come back, if you promise not to rip my clothes off, the tux is a rental, so don't rip my clothes off of me okay ?"

And a couple of hundred voices said "Okay, Paul"

Then he pointed back at the hall and said "I'm going to go over to the piano..."

He continued to talk but I left everyone standing there staring as I snuck back into the hall and got to the piano (I'm no fool:-)

Back he came, behind him hundreds of wide eyed woman and kids. Paul hopped onto the top of the piano and grabbed the conductors baton and as the music began, he waved it wildly around in his hand and the screaming started again. I had composed myself and got out my camera and started snapping away. Then he took the baton and placed it between his teeth, like it was a rose, and the place went nuts, the screaming was unbelievable.

Since I was first in the front, it started, people started pulling at me, pulling my hair, grabbing me from behind, all trying to get up where I was. The shoulder of my dress was grabbed and ripped right off. It was too wild and I finally took my camera and pushed my way out so I could find my father and get a ride home.

At the front entrance, there was my father, the poor guy absolutely dumbfounded at what he was seeing. And here I come, my dress all ripped, camera in hand and a big grin on my face saying "Dad, I met him!"

File this under: what we do when we are young and don't mind embarrassing ourselves...

Carol

"What once was, will always be...and you've left your imprint on me."
("Time Passes On" by Orleans)

Carol's pictures of Paul at this concert are at: http://members.delphi.com/flamingoslim/web/VenicePlace/Art Gallery/art_gallery.htm