My boss got a press release from Southwest Airlines saying that they and the California Tourism Board were having a party aboard California One, 737 painted like the California state flag. There were going to be give-aways and a Marilyn Monroe look-a-like. (I've had a crush on Marilyn since I was two.) It was all a big marketing push and television stations were invited to send along a camera crew and join in the festivities. My boss was pretty excited about it and asked me if we should go. We decided he should call the contact, Whitney, and at least find out what was going on. Whitney was great on the phone and really seemed to want us along. It seemed pretty impulsive so we didn't know what to do. I had the idea of inviting Todd, our writer/producer who is also on-air talent along to do an interview with Marilyn who happens to be from Salt Lake. We would use it for our weekly movie show. Let me tell you, it was an absolute kick! Once we all got permission from our wives, we rearranged our schedules and went to the airport. When we were in the air they started the give-away contests. Todd cleaned up--the punk. He got passes to Sea World, Disneyland, and a bunch of other places. Then we did the interview and Marilyn was perfect. She was funny and played the not-so-dumb blonde with precision. Her name is Susan Griffiths and we learned that she was the Marilyn look-a-like in Pulp Fiction. Todd was great too. I would have frozen. Luckily all I had to do was run the camera. Southwest and the Cali Tourism people treated us like kings. They were so glad to have us there and said so many times. I think we were the only tv crew who accepted their invitation. I saw a Fox cameraman at the station but he didn't come along.
When we got to LA, I almost teared up. I haven't been back since 1985 when I used to live there. It's still the same, all that glamour and pretension and energy--the positive and the negative--that makes up that city. It was great. We went down to Marina Del Ray and shot a couple of promos--just so we'd still be working. At the airport we saw Joshua Jackson walk by.
The return trip wasn't nearly as fun. There was no party; we just sat and looked at the lunar eclipse that was going on. We got back to SLC at about eleven o'clock still incredulous at the fact we'd just flown to LA. Here are a couple of pics of Marilyn. That's Todd, interviewing her, in the first one.
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