Dragon*Con
September 3-6, 2010, Atlanta, GA
Kimberlee, Barbara and I headed for Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend to attend our first Dragon*Con! The well known Sci-Fi and Fantasy convention featured, among many other guests and activities, an I Dream of Jeannie reunion. For the first time since Chiller Theatre in 2005, Larry Hagman, Barbara Eden and Bill Daily were at the same event!
It's well worth attending Dragon*Con at least once just for the experience. Larry Hagman loved it, saying it reminded him of Burning Man, with more clothing! Multiple events took place in four host hotels, the nearby streets crawling with people in all manner of dress. But just a few blocks from the center of activity it was eerily quiet, with only the occasional walker enjoying the surpisingly mild weather. Three of the four host hotels, the Hilton, the Marriott Marquis, and the Hyatt, are connected by pedestrian walkways over the streets, making it easy to move between them. The fourth, the Sheraton, was the registration site, a few blocks away. The line to pick up badges at the Sheraton was around the block!
Once in possession of a Dragon*Con badge, the options were plentiful. Actors, writers, artists and more were meeting fans and signing autographs. There were movies, art exhibits, costume contests, and classes on an eclectic range of topics. Everythying from filmmaking, photography, art and science to demonology, ghost hunting and mind reading were available. Saturday morning boasted a parade, and the evenings were filled with crowds in wild and very well crafted costumes.
Naturally, we missed most of it, preferring to seek out the cast of I Dream of Jeannie. They were together on one side of a large room in the Hilton. Larry Hagman, Bill Daily and Barbara Eden lined one wall along with Mario Della Casa, who was selling his eye-catching array of Jeannie Bottles. Fans entered the room in small groups, to limit the crowds. All three actors had many excited fans visit them, some coming by multiple times. Larry Hagman went out of his way to please fans of both of his hit series, Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie, by having two hats. He switched be tween J.R. Ewing and Major Nelson all weekend! I had some stills autographed by Larry, Bill and Barbara, and grabbed a few photos. The hotel was so crowded it took 15 minutes or more to get an elevator. Luckily there were stairs and an escalator to the lower levels where we had to go.
Each day there was a Q&A panel with the I Dream of Jeannie cast. All three were lively and funny, their chemistry and comic timing still intact after 45 years. Each Q&A had a large audience, showing the enduring popularity of the show and its stars. After each panel, the actors went to a photo session, where fans, for a fee, got to have their pictures taken with Larry, Barbara and Bill in front of a Jeannie bottle backdrop.
On Saturday night, we went to a restaurant, Sear, in the Marriott Marquis, for dinner. This 50 floor hotel is breathtaking, with a soaring atrium at its heart. We were staying at the Sheraton, which was apparently the quietest of the host hotels. We had no idea what was going on elsewhere. The Marriott was the center of activity that Saturday night, the crowd so tightly packed we had to be careful not to lose anyone. The costumes were incredible! We could have people-watched all night. Despite the number of attendees, everyone was well behaved. Quite impressive!
On Sunday we walked through the last host hotel, the Hyatt. This hotel also has an impressive atrium. We had been told that Sunday, not Saturday, was the big party night, but it didn't seem to be that way. Fans in creative costumes were still present, but not in the numbers we saw on Saturday. Still, it was a nice night for taking in the sights!
Bill Daily only worked part of the day on Sunday, then flew home. Barbara Eden's last day to sign autographs was also Sunday. Larry Hagman got in a few hours on Monday morning, along with Mario Della Casa, then went home. We headed back to our regular lives later that evening, tired but happy.
For the complete story of a series of Larry Hagman events, see About This Site.