Part Three
Then the post-show began for us VIP'ers........and there was some confusion. It was three minutes until a Flamingo staff approached us and told us to stay put until instructed for the meet & greet. So we sat and sat and sat. It was the drama of meeting Olivia that made us all edgy (even a few who seen the show many times were nervous). About a minute after the Grease record cover lady excused herself to use the restroom; someone gathered us all in a group and told us to follow her.
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My lizard brain visions of the old Vickie Lawrence catastrophe began pop up as the line went, rather loosely, through the casino floor and fear that anyone of us would get lost. After about a minute of this 'wondering through the jungle' (while CCR's song of the same name was blasting over speakers.......THAT didn't help my lizards mood!!), we turned up in front of a room called The Diamond Room and lined up thusly.
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A few more minutes of waiting lead to the Diamond doors opening. As the first part of the line entered, we were split to two lines on each side of the room. As you might suspect, the drama, tension and/or whatnot was thick as one of the handlers announced that SHE will be out soon and will only have time to sign and take a picture with one person at a time.
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A couple of more minutes later, there SHE was! Gliding in the room with us. Smiling and ready to sign in the center of the room. As it turned out, the arrangement was one or two persons from the left line and the right line each.......and it was surprisingly quick.
In fact, each person had approximately one minute worth of Olivia face time before moving on. My one minute was blissfully short; thanked her for the Julie London number and another one in a general sense. Photo done, picture signed and I was out of there. Fine by me.......anything than that damned Vickie moment.
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Things got even more confusing, we were now dealing with the pictures themselves. Luckily, thanks to the digital format, we only had to wait (or like cluster) around the door for a couple of minutes for ours to pop up. That $50 for those photos? Well, it was for the deluxe package; a fold out frame with large solo picture of ONJ on one side and large ONJ with you on the other......which they temporarily ran out of. They asked us to wait five minutes for someone to run back of the resort to replenish the supply. However, I had enough lines for one trip and opted out for the smaller sized standard photo........which was free. An extra banana shake from Fat Burger for me.
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Thank goodness for the small size as I never been comfortable with my bulky looks and, unlike Olivia, my looks haven't been improving with age; either my big head or upper body was too big for her (as I had to lean over a bit in the feudal attempt to find in the frame......which I sure didn't help) and or the room.
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......and with all of that, it was over. I even saw the Grease record cover lady near the end of the line about to get her package. All's well that ends well.
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It was around 10 pm and I had a wake-up call of 5 am for a shuttle ride waiting for me in a few short hours. However, this being Vegas, who cares and I went on my way to around the place to kill the next few hours. First stop, the mens room for a break, where I noticed next to the entrance was a large photo of Mr. Flamingo himself, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel, standing not too far from the urrals, making sure you keep your aim in his place.
......and right next to him was an equally large copy of his death certificate (left). Could this to a back-up to Bugsy's little threat? Unlike the clique of history not being kind to this town, it's the other way around, but the Flamingo does have its own history to exploit for a theme.
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........and it was the last thing I took a picture of on this trip; Well, I'm a sucker to such pieces of history and irony.......whatever it maybe.
Thanks Mom for putting up with me for the past 50 years......and thanks to Olivia for not kicking me out!