White Collar Comes Clean – The Paley Center Event - PART I

[elrhiarhodan]

White Collar Comes Clean – The Paley Center Event

There is something magical about the cast of White Collar. It’s more than just the chemistry between the principals, the excellent supporting cast, the sparkling writing, or the use of New York City as another main character. The magic begins with their genuine decency as human beings and the generosity they have towards the fans of the show. I first noted this when I saw some video of the L.A. Paley Event, and everything I observed on Monday night confirmed my initial impression.

White Collar Comes Clean – Cast Appearance Paley Center New York Announced

On May 18th, I saw a post on one of the LJ White Collar comms about the event. It took me exactly five minutes to go to the site and buy my ticket. The date was originally set for Tuesday, June 1st at 6:30, but a few days later, an announcement was made that the date and time were changed to Monday, June 7th at 7:30. This worked out better for me, because I didn’t want to have to take a partial vacation day the day after a public holiday.

The ticket cost $16.50 (inc. a $1.50 processing fee), but I spent a lot more than that. Photographs were going to be important to me, and I know the limitations of my little point and shoot. Even if I was going to be able to use a flash (which I wouldn’t have been), the little camera wasn’t good for low-light photography. So, I finally bit the bullet and bought the 50mm f/1.4 lens I’d been thinking about for at least a year. For non-photography people, this is a “prime” lens – and has no telephoto capabilities, and at 50mm, it also means that it captures images at their real size. It is also a “fast” lens, meaning that it doesn’t need a lot of exposure time to capture images in sub-optimal lighting. This last bit is important to me. I have a condition that makes my hands shake without reason (it’s called an “essential tremor” and all the women in my family have this problem), so unless I have a tripod, photos with a long exposure setting are always going to be blurry. If you’ve looked at the photos I’ve posted from the event, particularly some of the inside shots, you’ll see why this lens was such a great investment. As much as I would have loved to have had long glass for close-up shots of the cast on stage, I doubt they would have come out. The longer the lens, the greater the likelihood of lens shake (and blurry pictures).

The planning for this event couldn’t have gone smoother. Initially I had thought about taking the LIRR into the city, and then catching a subway to the Paley and taking a cab back to Penn Station. But since 9/11, I’ve hated to take the train (we can talk about that some other time), and by the time I paid for the round trip train ticket, the subway fare, the cab fare back and all the extra time and effort I’d need, I just said “fuck it” and planned to drive in to NY. Even if I had any doubts about driving in and worrying about parking, they were solved when I got a discount coupon for the garage in the CBS Building right next door to the Paley Center.

(A brief digression. I love driving in Manhattan. It’s like going to an amusement park and never having to wait on a line for the thrill rides.)

Arriving At the Paley Center

I got in and parked around 5:30, and there was already a few people waiting on line. (If you are not from New York, you may be more likely to say, “waiting in line”, but fuck it…in New York, we wait ON THE LINE). I hadn’t had dinner and there was a nice restaurant with a menu posted outside. I took a look and blinked one, twice, and a third time. The appetizers started at $24. Turns out it was the 21 Club – probably one of the most famed and most expensive old-school joints in Manhattan. I went across the street, got a bottle of club soda and a small container of barley salad to tide me over. It was a little before 6 when I got back on line. There was a older couple behind me. He was annoyed that the event was starting at 7:30, not the 6:30 originally posted. First he said that he was never notified of the time change, just the date change. But when confronted by several people that the email from Kathryn Fulde (Paley Center management) included both the time and the date change, he finally admitted that he never thought to actually read the thing. A bat-shit crazy type of guy, really. He was angry and she was passive and all he was doing was being a buzz kill. Finally, he just said, “we’re going home. I don’t want to wait”. They actually had bought tickets, drove in from NJ and were going home because this guy couldn’t wait an hour. The wife looked like she wanted to cry. I couldn’t feel sorry for her, with my luck, they would have sat next to me and annoyed me all night.

After Mr. and Mrs. Buzz Kill left, a group of people arrived, and we started talking. I admitted that I had never done this before, and really, White Collar is my only fandom. The discussion invariably turned to LJ, where I admitted that I just wrote a long, extremely pornish piece of fic (The Consequences of Ill-Conceived Competitiveness) and only of my new friends laughed and said that she just read it and commented. Turns out, she’s lifefiction and I recognized her user id. I admitted to being very embarrassed – here I am waiting on line and hoping to get autographs and I’m writing slash.

The embarrassment didn’t last long. A white van pulled up and guess who got out.

Mr. Tim DeKay.

Sigh. Oh, Sigh. Oh. My. God.

Sigh.

(sorry…I am still all verklempt)



He’s standing there, signing autographs, getting his picture taken with fans. He’s nice and patient and sweet and gentle and a little in awe of the attention. He signs cast photos and artwork and asks for your name.

He’s gorgeous and fit and smelled really good.

Best moment – hands down. lifefiction’s friend, cerublu02 was a little shy after posing with Tim for a picture, so I asked Tim to give her his autograph. Cerublu02 then realized she needed to get one for Lifefiction, who’s wheelchair-bound for the moment. She approached Tim and when he asked where her friend was, she said her friend couldn’t come over to the doorway – she’s in a wheelchair. Tim said to the waiting fans that he’d be right back, and he walked over and posed for pictures. (Posted this right after it happened – you can read it here)

Gah. Gah. Okay. Just gah.


Getting Inside and Some Pre-Panel Stuff

Neither Matt, nor any of the other cast members, arrived through at the front of the Paley Center before they let us in. Frankly, I don’t think I would have survived that.

The Paley Center auditorium isn’t that big – four hundred seats at most, and the first and last three rows were reserved for USA personnel and the cast and crew of White Collar. Not surprisingly, the event was sold out. Being a single, there was an empty seat next to me, which I offered to my other new friend, Carol. Carol, like me, is not accustomed to following a show like this, but she and a friend did attend the event in the winter when Matt and Tim rang the opening bell for the NASDAQ. Apparently there was a fan event afterwards, and they were the only two people there. Carol’s also seen some of the Season 2 episodes being taped. She shared a small spoiler with me, but I’m going to hold on to that one. Sorry folks…

We were told that recording and taping were not permitted and photography had to be flashless. However, I think every third person had their cellphones set to record (I kept my tucked in the girls for a while, to be less conspicuous, but when I saw a dozen people with personal video recorders going, I took it out to get better quality audio. I’ll work on the transcription over the weekend.

The event begins when Jeff King (Co-Producer with Jeff Estin) Sharif, Willie, Marsha, Tim and Matt walk in. The all wave, but Matt, before he sat down, turned to the audience and waved…like he was in high school. He kept turning around and smiling.

The President (?) of USA Networks got on stage, talked for a bit and introduced the clip shows – where are the three featurettes on the DVD set. Those went on for about 15 minutes, and while they were great, I don’t feel I learned anything new about the show. I think that most of that information has been disseminated over the past few months – except for maybe the bits about how Mozzie’s wardrobe is created. I’m not going to write anything more about them because I don’t want to reveal spoilers. I suspect that a lot of you will be buying the DVD set next month.

Michelle Kung, of the Wall Street Journal was introduced, and then the cast was brought on to the stage.

End Part I



 

Comments

[hoosierbitch.livejournal.com]

YOU ARE AWESOME. AND YOUR PICS ARE AWESOME. AND TIM DEKAY IS AWESOME. AND SO ARE YOU. AWESOME, THAT IS.

Tim DeKay is ruining me for other men.

[elrhiarhodan]

Yeah...he has that power.

Gah.

Did I mention that he touched me.

Gah.

I am still incoherent.

[hoosierbitch.livejournal.com]

NEVER BATHE AGAIN.

[elrhiarhodan]

I tried that yesterday. It didn't work.

I will, however, never have the shirt cleaned.

[sonia6349.livejournal.com]

OMFG!!! He has RUINED me too. I watch other shows and I say "Ah, he's no Tim Dekay." He's everything you want in a person. Funny, sharp, patient, thoughtful etc. Oy gevalt...I'm melting again....what a world...what a world.