An Afternoon with Larry Hagman

Larry Hagman put the news of his show, "An Afternoon with Larry Hagman", in Cerritos, CA, on his web site on June 1st, 2007. Four of us, me, Maria, Donna and Desiree, decided to go, and bought tickets the next day. After some discussion on what was the best approach to raise our chances of meeting Larry after the show, I decided to write him a letter. The year before, Maria and I had the pleasure of having dinner at Larry Hagman's house (My Trip to Heaven). In a custom card, I enclosed photos of each of us with Larry from the dinner, a business card for www.IDreamofLarry.com, and a SASE. In the letter, I explained that four of us were travelling from all over the country to see his show, and asked if he had the time of meet with us backstage. At the same time, Maria had asked Larry's assistant an unrelated question. Within a week, Maria received a reply saying that Larry would be happy to meet with us, asking for our names to forward to his agent.

A few days later, I got an e-mail from Larry's agent on my YouTube account about a video of Larry with his mother at the 1980 Royal Variety Show. I called him, said I would be happy send a copy of the video to him, and informed him that I was one of the four who would be meeting Larry backstage. He verified that we were on the list, said he was the producer of the show, and told me to ask for him if we had any trouble getting backstage. Shortly afterwards, I received a reply from Larry in the mail, one of his $10,000 bills with his face on it, inscribed "Hi Linda, It's being done, Larry Hagman."

The group of us decided to meet for lunch with another fan, Judy, and her mother, who would also be going to the show. After a nice meal, we headed back to the hotel, which was conveniently right next to the theater. I brought one of my Jeannie bottles and a TV Guide for Larry to sign. I also had my silent, "stealth camera", which I had used successfully before to capture photos of Larry Hagman and Barbara Eden in "Love Letters." Without a flash, it would be hard for anyone to spot me using it in the dark.

As we entered the theater, there were post cards and pencils on a table for us to enter our questions. I asked if, other than the comic strip "On Stage", Larry Hagman had ever been a model (no). I also asked what shows he turned down when he chose "I Dream of Jeannie" (he didn't remember). As we were being seated, music was being played. It was Larry's mother, Mary Martin. Soon, Larry came on stage, wearing a beautiful cowboy hat, and to the surprise of most of us, a beard. He looked wonderful! He narrated a show of photos and video, relating many funny enecdotes along the way. I did see a few photos that were new to me. One was of Larry with his mother on the set of one of her movies, similar to a photo in Hagman's autobiography, Hello Darlin'. Another was of Larry's father, Ben Hagman, at 21. What a handsome young man! Larry Hagman clearly resembles him. At one point, Hagman had "technical difficulties" with the computer equipment, causing him to show some Dallas clips twice. No stranger to the unpredictablility of live shows, he joked, made faces, snored and practically fell off his chair during the repeat showing! The video I sent of Mary Martin and Larry Hagman at the 1980 Royal Variety Show was shown. What a treat to be able to contribute to the show! Hagman spoke of his liver transplant, the fun he had guest starring on Nip/Tuck, and showed photos of his home. The question and answer session followed, with most of our questions answered.

After the show, we headed for the inside stage door, where we ran into trouble in the form a Cerritos Center employee we dubbed "The Bouncer." "Where are your green passes?" he asked. We didn't have any, but asked to see the producer, who we asked for by name. We tried to explain the situation, but he just wouldn't listen to us. He told us to go to the outside stage door and wait. The Bouncer wasn't going to budge, so we went outside and got in line. Luckily, there weren't too many people there. Eventually, they started letting people in, four at a time. Finally, they let us in. Larry Hagman was signing autographs and posing for photos. We found the producer, and he told us we should have had passes at the box office. No one told us about this, but in the end it didn't matter. We ended up spending more time backstage that we would have if we had been in the first group. We all got multiple photos taken and items signed. Larry Hagman was great with his fans, as usual, and I have never seen him look better in person (I first met him in 2005). The Bouncer was now being nice to us, having realized that we were not giving him some tall tale to get backstage. After we left, we stayed nearby, since Hagman's limo was waiting. We got more photos as he left. As the limo pulled away, Larry rolled down the window and waved goodbye!

When the producer came out, we spoke to him a bit more, and he said again that we should have had passes. He also told us that Larry wants to do more shows, and encouraged us to recommend the show to local theaters. We were also pleased to meet other fans who were still hanging around, including one fan, Kimberlee, who we knew online from the Ultimate Dallas web site.

The mysterious green passes, which turned out to be purple with green lettering, were in fact at the box office. We got to keep them as souvenirs. Maria, who drove across the country to see this show, found a message from the producer when she got home. He had called her the day before the show, long after she left for California, instructing her to get the passes at the box office. A comedy of errors, but it all worked out in the end!

More photos from the Cerritos show here.

For the complete story of this and other Larry Hagman events, see About This Site.

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