In addition to the dozens of vendor tables, the Expo also featured many celebrity guests. This year's event included appearances by Ernest Borgnine, Stephen Baldwin, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Stallone, Micky Dolenz, Brigitte Nielsen, and the only guy who can say that he broke Muhammad Ali's jaw. The total guest list included nearly 100 popular figures from the world of film, TV, pro-wrestling and music.
It had been over a year since I had gone to one of these conventions, but as soon as I saw that Ernest Borgnine was on the guest list I didn't hesitate to jump in the car and take the journey to Parsippany. Upon arrival I quickly discovered that Mr. Borgnine had a line with a wait time of nearly an hour. An hour was a bit of a commitment considering that the convention only ran for 5 hours the night that I was there, so I was content to just snap a pick of this living legend.
After surveying the main signing area I had a chance to chat with Frank Stallone for a few minutes. 
I asked some general questions about his experience filming Tombstone and learned that he was one of Clubber Lang's opponents during a montage in Rocky III. Later while wandering the signing area I caught Frank chatting with Micky Dolenz from the Monkees. 
After spending some time in the vendor area I decided to check on Ernest Borgnine's line one more time. Less than 10 people were in his line with only a half hour to go before closing. Perfect! While waiting on line I learned that Mr. Borgnine hadn't taken a break all night. I found this to be amazing for a man of any age. When I finally had a chance to talk to him I said, "They told me that you haven't taken a break all night." He replied, "What am I gonna take a break for! You wanna bring a break to me?" All in all he was a wonderful person and it was an honor to meet him.
1 comment:
You write very well.
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