After our brunch with Caren Kaye, Renny Temple, and Adam Sadowsky (hereafter referred to as the IYM breakfast), David and I headed back to his place on the afternoon of Sunday, February 12, 2018. It was about 2:00pm and we took the opportunity to just browse some episodes of Maude, while we moved closer to a nodding off state. Eventually we caught our second wind and headed back out to grab dinner and see a show.
We parked in Glendale near the Alex Theatre and then walked to the In-N-Out Burger in Glendale and it was one of the most crowded fast food restaurants I had ever seen in my life. I guess all In-N-Outs are pretty crowded, but I’m not quite used to places like this. Nevertheless I had the Double Double and Animal Style fries, both delicious. Then we crawled back to the theater for the show High Society.
As Olivia Hack said, “winner!”
I was mostly interested in who might be in the audience versus who was on stage, as David had mentioned numerous TV celebrities who sometimes showed up to the plays. One major one who I had hoped to meet was Jacque Lynn Colton, who had starred in a pair of Three’s Company episodes. Others whom he had seen were Stuart Pankin, Pat Crawford Brown, and Ilene Graff. Alas none of those three were there, or at least we didn’t see them if they were. But I had plenty of luck with Jacque Lynn Colton and we were able to have a nice conversation and get pictures with her outside during intermission. You can see the posting on her here. We also saw Jackie Joseph, and although I had met her before, I got a photo with her as well.
Our show and where we saw it
A couple of wonderful guys with Jacque Lynn Colton
Presenting Jackie Joseph… or was it the other way around?
After the show had ended, we saw an actor named James Gleason, who had had a recurring roll in The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and had also appeared in sitcoms Modern Family, Frasier, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Saved by the Bell: The College Years, Step by Step, and Dream On, in addition to other series like ER, Trapper John M.D., Charlies’ Angels, The Equalizer, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Diagnosis: Murder, The Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles, and Touched by an Angel. He had even starred in a couple movies of note: Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, and Revenge of the Nerds IV: Nerds in Love.
With character actor James Gleason
As for the show High Society itself, it was very entertaining and had some great Cole Porter musical numbers. The musical director and piano player Cassie Nuckols was particularly animated and entertaining to watch. I had done a quick imdb check on the actors appearing in the show, and there was one, Robert Yacko, who had done some sitcom appearances, notable in The Golden Girls, so I would have tried for a photo with him if the chance had presented itself, but unfortunately it didn’t. In any case, I’d go back for more if there was another chance as this one had impressed me. Incidentally David had an extra ticket and so I got in free, so that was a bonus too.
After the late night out, the morning was pretty leisurely even though we were heading to Disneyland for my first time of 2018. But before we even got that far we stopped at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken at Knott’s Berry Farm for breakfast. It was already 11:30 by the time we arrived there. The last time we had attempted to eat here, it was so crowded that we ended up going elsewhere, but this time it was no problem. I went with something different this time and just had the Chicken Tenders. Then we moved out and headed to Disneyland.
Cock ‘n’ Brad
Well maybe one… and maybe another one (aka the photo David sent to Carolyn)
Even though it was a Monday, we hadn’t thought about it being Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, and thus a day that California kids were out of school. This became apparent when we arrived around 1:30pm and hit our first attraction, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and experienced a full theater of kids. David said it was the fullest he had ever seen the theater, but it made since considering the day. In any case it was good to see this show, which I hadn’t seen in a few years.
Disneyland arrival
Seeing Mr. Lincoln on his birthday. Pretty cool, and I posted it on my Facebook Presidential group
Still going strong
I had also never seen Disneyland under quite so much construction. Of course I had been used to the section of the park that was going to house the new Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge land being ripped apart, but adding insult to injury was the fact that they were refurbishing the train tracks on Main Street U.S.A. I had also known about this, but was still taken aback by the wall running down the length of the street.
Then it was on to Pirates of the Caribbean, for another glimpse of the ‘red head’ of whom I never knew if it’d be the last time I ever see. I’m hoping they’ll at least leave the ride alone until all of the other construction is cleaned up. (By the way, Splash Mountain was closed too). And then of course we hit the always-wonderful Haunted Mansion. Although the park was dreadfully crowded and the lines looked long, they really seemed to be moving faster than I would have expected.
We will always wants the redhead
You can’t see him but Captain Jack Sparrow is in that barrel
Carl and the boys and the dog
Foolish mortals
We took a walk through Critter Country and checked out one of the future entrances to Galaxy’s Edge and then decided that we needed a snack since it was 4:30. I has seen someone with a soft serve chocolate cone and it had given me a craving, but we couldn’t locate any soft serve shops quickly enough. So we ended up at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street and I had a Strawberry Street Car Sundae.
Hard to hide this amount of construction
Future entrance to Galaxy’s Edge
An ice cream interlude
That took an hour to digest, and then we went over to Fantasyland and rode it’s a small world, and then hit our final ride of the evening the Disneyland Railroad. This was the first time I had been back on it since it was rerouted around Frontierland for the Star Wars construction. It’s always nice to see the Grand Canyon Diorama from 1958 and the dinosaur Animatronics from the 1964 World’s Fair attraction The Magic Skyway.
It’s a world of laughter, a world of tears…
Lovely Grand Canyon shot
Yaks watch us go by
Magic Skyway dinosaurs
The scene that was later emulated in Epcot’s Universe of Energy
By the time we got off the ride it was around 7pm and starting to lightly sprinkle. David and I had decided to get dinner at the Earl of Sandwich in downtown Disney, so we walked there in the rain. I got a Ham & Swiss double meat on wheat, but the although the outdoor seating was covered, the rain came right through it, so we took our food over to the Grand Californian and ate in their dry lobby. We were entertained by a group of children beating on each other, and the mother threatened them that we had witnessed all of their indiscretions.
Fancy lobby dining
It had been a nice, leisurely day at Disneyland, but it came to an end after dinner, as we departed toward LAX so that I could catch my 10:30 flight. We made good time and I got through security very quickly. Unlike the trip out, I didn’t use my headphones at all for music on the way home. Seated next to a pair of ladies with head coverings who I didn’t want to look at anyway, I alternated sleeping and watching the edited version (with some different scenes) of National Lampoon’s Vacation.
My flight arrived at the Cincinnati airport at 5:44am and I stumbled through catching the shuttle to the freezing parking lot, and then drove home, where Carolyn cheerfully greeted me. It had a been another terrific and memorable trip for the books.
2018 will continue as February concludes…
it sounds like a fun trip !
clark billy
December 6th, 2021