Alas, with clothes. I was sitting at The Abbey reading after breakfast, when I happen to look up and see John Wesley Shipp walking towards me.
Now, bear in mind, I live in LA; you see “celebrities” occasionally here, and it’s considered tactful to leave them alone to have their lives without being pestered. Add to this that I work for 20th Century Fox and see them on the studio lot all the time—and that I don’t normally care much about celebrities. They’re just folks with jobs, like everyone else.
All that went right out the window when I saw The Flash walking towards me, and my face must have lit up like a Christmas tree. To this day, I grin uncontrollably thinking about it. He happened to be looking at me when it happened, and smiled back. And then I realized what I was doing and looked back down at my book and tried to affect nonchalance (long after that Shipp had sailed). The entire exchange lasted maybe 2 seconds. But after that, he got breakfast and sat down where he “happened” to be facing towards me - but by then he had sunglasses on and I couldn’t be sure when or if he was looking. And then friends joined him. I don’t remember which of us left first—probably him, as I always liked to hang there and read for a while.
I saw him there 2 or 3 other times after that, including once where I was certain that he was looking at me—not unreasonably, regardless of his interest level, since I’d accidentally flashed him the Power Grin. I’d finally decided that the next time I saw him I was going to ignore protocol and tell him how much I’d liked him in the Flash and Dawson’s Creek—and then I never saw him again. :-( Was he straight? Was he gay? Was he interested? I’ll never know. But he was one of those actors who look just as good in person as on TV, and that was deeply reassuring.
