I arrived from Claremont. Met a young lady, Simone from Brazil, who mentioned she had met
the three Cornerstone attendees last year.  We promptly became involved in
conversation about Bill, his films and her picture folder....showed us many
interesting pictures of Bill she has collected.
We walked on a long red carpet leading up two flights of stairs, lined with
photographers on both sides.  Because I was carrying a cane, just in case of
stairs, a woman in charge noticed and directed us to the front entrance
where there were no stairs, just three handsome, helpful, polite young men
who took charge.
Simone met us inside with the news that Bill was already there.....she kept
pointing and saying, "There he is, there he is".  Well.......I spotted the
GREEN SHIRT....and there he was..!!!!!!! Talking to Amy Brenneman and
Elizabeth Shue.  We waited a short while until their conversation
ended.......the ladies lingered......so I walked up to the bar stood in
front of Bill and took a picture.  Apologized to him for the flash......The
ladies took the hint and left.
He walked towards me, reached for my hand......I said," You don't need to
know my name, you've heard it enough lately, but I want you to meet my
husband, Oran Palmer."  Bill reached over and took Oran's hand at which time
Oran said, ".....and this is my wife, Eleanor."  Bill turned back to me
beaming  and said, "Oh my gosh, yes, so you're Eleanor?" Held my arm and
hugged.
I think I went blank at this point.....(can you understand why?)
I explained that I had brought Wendy's Award Winning Mini Quilt to show him
and asked if it would be best for him to see it now or after the
performance.....he wanted to see it right then. so I busied myself taking it
out of my bag. He helped me shake it out and, of course, he admired it and
said his familiar, "Oh fantastic, it is beautiful"  I proceeded to tell him
how high up and where  to hold it while my hubby and Simone took pictures.

I asked if he would sign my mini quilt and he signed the While You Were
Sleeping block for me.....then cheeky me asked him to sign my Ed Curtis book
also.  He was gracious and did so talking about the program as he
wrote.......Guess he couldn't remember how to spell Eleanor so he just wrote
"E"....(nobody else does either).Oh well.
We joked a little about why he left teaching.  Of course he was earning
$13,000 per year at Montana State.....and probably earned several hundred
thousand making Ruthless People, his first film.  We laughed and shrugged
shoulders, as we retired from teaching and understood why he changed
careers.
$$$$$$$$ ????
A little exchange about Montana because our daughter graduated from the Univ
of Montana, Missoula....we all agreed that it is a beautiful state.  I asked
him if the children had accompanied him to Egypt when he filmed the Golden
Mummies program......no they hadn't.
After putting pens, quilt, book away I reached over and hugged him twice
around that slim waist......asking him to deliver one each to Wendy and
Kathy on Friday at Alfred University......he just smiled that gorgeous
smile.
Amy Brenneman came up and told him it was time to get ready for the
show....he left......We must have been with Bill for about  20
minutes....but time goes so quickly and all questions I wanted to ask I
didn't have time to ask.

We and Simone proceeded to the beautiful set room where there was a host
bar.....and tables laden with delicious and beautifully arranged hot and
cold hors d' oeuvres, fruit and bite sized desserts....
Bouquets and candles constituted the room decoration .....It was a lovely
room.

Back to the main room where we were directed to seats 1 and 2 in the fourth
row.....the usherette said "your senior status entitles you special
seating"..Oh well......age does have it's advantages......Anyway, hubby sat
there but I sat on a bar stool about 5 feet to his right.  I wanted to be
high enough to take pictures and record if possible.
The program proceeded with reasonably good acts.......enjoyable and
entertaining....and the band was terrific......music from our era.

Now for the real treat of the evening:

Marguerite McIntyre, Bill, and Kate Mulligan took the stage.  Bill took
center stage, the ladies about 5 feet on either side of him.  He produced a
tiara and a sceptre..placed the tiara on his head and the audience laughed
uncontrollably.

(Dialogue as best as I can get from my small recorder which has recorded
almost constant audience laughter)

Marguerite:, "Who are you?"
Bill:   "I am your Fairy God Mother"
Marguerite:  "Oh, how beautiful you are"
Bill: "Naaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!   I'm only made up of all your most beautiful
dreams and wishes"
Marguerite:  "Oh Fairy Godmother, I have only one wish just now..to go to
the ball, but I know it's impossible."
Bill:   "Impossible??????  Bahhhhhhhh!!.  What do you think a Good Fairy God
Mother is for?"

(Here Bill places a pumpkin, some grey cloth mice on a small table and
covers all with a large red 'magic' cloth)  He waves the sceptre over all.

Bill starts singing...."Impossible.... for a plain yellow pumpkin to become
a golden carriage, impossible.... for a plain country bumpkin and a prince
to join in marriage, and these grey mice will never be six white horses
Marguerite:  They will!!!!!

(Bill is waving the sceptre over the pumpkin and cloth mice constantly with
the look of expectation on his face, but occasional doubt as he peeks at
them under the cloth.)

Bill:  Just fol de rol and fiddle dee of course it's....... IMPOSSIBLE!!!!
Marguerite:  Oh this world is full of zany's and fools who don't believe in
sensible rules.
Bill:  And don't believe what sensible people say we're building up
impossible hopes and doing the impossible hokey dokey dreams  and being
happy every day.....
Kate:  sings a parody from Medea.......then the Trio: comes in singing a medley

of satires from Macbeth, Cinderella, and
Medea....

Laughter and applause was overwhelming the singing.........and you could
tell that Bill was having one heck of a good time with this comedy.  The
program put together by the Cornerstone group was indeed a good
program......but this act stopped the show......People were still laughing
and clapping as the three left the stage.

As we were leaving with Simone she spotted Bill and Mrs. Pullman standing by
the door talking to people.  I wanted to take a pic of them but it looked to
be an impossibility as they were constantly involved.  Oran and I decided to
dance....while we waited for a picture opportunity....Simone walked over to
Bill and Mrs. Pullman.....he asked her where Oran and Eleanor were....She
didn't know our names and asked, "Who?"  He explained we were the people
with the quilt.  She pointed to the dance floor.....and she tells me he
watched us dancing the entire time and said, "Just look at them, they're
having such a good time.......and they're 73 years old.  Isn't that
neat!!!!!!!."

So, our dear Elie & Oran meet Bill.  And what an exciting and wonderful evening it was!

And my deepest apologies for not getting this up sooner!  dlrs