Jamie Lee Curtis really doesn’t need an introduction, but in case you’ve been living in a shoebox for the past 30 years, I’ll remind you that she has been known as the quintessential ‘scream queen’ of horror films ever since her appearance in the original Halloween film in 1978. She went on to more roles as the stalkee of some maniac or other in Terror Train, Prom Night, The Fog, and three additional Halloween films. Soon enough she would settle into more traditional roles in films like Trading Places, My Girl, True Lies, A Fish Called Wanda, and the new version of Freaky Friday.
Jamie Lee had never appeared at a celebrity show before, much less at one of the many horror shows popping up all over the country. In fact, it was pretty much unthinkable to speculate that she ever would. But somehow, the folks who run the HorrorHound Weekend were able to convince her to make one weekend appearance at the show in Indianapolis that I attended on Saturday, November 17, 2012. The fee for autographs and photo ops was outrageous: $80 each – with a limit of two autographs per fan. The good news was that she was donating to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
Let me say that I grossly underestimated how many people would be willing to pay that fee, and in fact just how many autograph collectors there were in the Midwest. In order to keep the show organized, only those who purchased autograph tickets in advance would be permitted into the room in which she was signing – and they would be given specific times where they could redeem their ticket for an autograph. These tickets went on sale before the photo op tickets did, and I was only interested in an autograph if I could get the photo op as well.
Consequently, by the time the photo op tickets went on sale (which I bought), the autograph tickets for Saturday had sold out. I was astonished, but truth be told, I was happy to save the money and just get the photo op. The crowds turned out on Saturday in droves, causing some long lines to fellow Halloween and Halloween 2 celebrities, despite their obscurity.
The time for the photo op was 2pm, and I reported to the giant room in which she was signing 30 minutes early. Although she was being quick about her signing, she was also doing some very brief chatting with fans that had something to say. This was admirable of course, but it was pushing things way behind schedule. On a good note, the room was giant and full of chairs, almost as if for a presentation. So basically I sat there for over an hour and watched Jamie Lee sign autographs and interact with the fans, yelling out encouraging words to the crowd now and again (“this is the second knife I’ve signed!”, “It won’t be long now!”, etc.).
Once she had finished signing, she was escorted to the photographer, bringing along an original movie clapboard from the set of Halloween. She asked the fans opinion on whether she should hold it in the photos, and the crowd seemed to respond in the affirmative… so she did.
With the amount of time the photo op was taking (going on 2.5 hours for me), I knew that I wouldn’t have much time at all with Jamie Lee, so I decided to curb any conversation, nixing the idea of telling her that I’d met both of her parents, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh. Instead I just approached her to pose for the photo. She gave me a knowing look as if she recognized me, and then commented on how much she liked my shirt, trying with all of her migh to recall what the Peanuts show that was pictured on it was called. I reminded her that it was The Great Pumpkin, and she felt instant relief.
I must say I was pretty happy with the result. It was a nice photo, a nice pose, and it had a nice background. I also had no trouble locating it when they put it out amongst the others to find.
I couldn’t even venture a guess as to how much money Jamie Lee Curtis took in that weekend for the Children’s Hospital, but I did hear fans say that she had told them lightheartedly that she’d never do this again. I can’t blame her one bit, as I also heard that the signing kept going until after 9pm, more than two hours after the show was supposed to end. That would be a ridiculously long day of signing one’s name for anyone. I’m just glad I was there to meet her for this one-shot deal, autograph or not. And as expensive as even just the photo op was, it made me feel good to know that it’s going to a worthy cause.
Celebrity encounters of the Indianapolis Horrorhound Halloween reunion weekend will continue…
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