In the morning, Glen & Mike staggered to the kitchen, and Glen threw a kiss in his mother's GENERAL direction, and scratched his leg. Glen's mother pointed the toaster toward him and he caught the toast as it flew through the air. They both had an egg sandwich for breakfast and a glass full of orange seeds. Mike made his famous cup of mud.

Almost immediately they had to shop for shoes for Glen. His mother bought him 2 pairs of shoes and he bought 1 pair! And Glen said "But I can only wear one pair at a time; why buy 3 pairs?!!". Motherly advice was that it's better for you to wear a different pair everyday; not the same shoes day after day after day.

Then Glen and Mike drove on their own to an office store, 'Staples', to buy adhesive to use to secure to the cover, the title page Glen created for his Lucy-Desi Days 2000 (Jamestown) photo album. Next they got sandwiches at one of the best delicatessens in Pikesville, and went back to Glen’s mother's home.

No sooner did they eat, they packed the car in a rush and were whooshed to the airport! His mom took them there. They arrived there at 4:00 p.m. and the flight left at 6:30 p.m. (it was a little late leaving).

On the plane they were served drinks — "and a manicure and a shave!" Actually, they had coke, coffee, and peanuts. For dinner, Glen had chicken and vegetables, and Mike had beef and rice. Unfortunately, the airlines did not serve "chicken and rice".

Next, Glen checked over his Lucy inventory list on his laptop and Mike read through the book 'Desilu'. Suddenly, turbulence hit and they decided they better start to write up this story so far! It was rough-riding turbulence.

But now, as they gaze out the window, it's sunny and cloudy. The time now is 10:00 p.m. EST (7:00 p.m. PDT). They will arrive, hopefully as planned, at 8:15 PDT in Los Angeles Airport (LAX).

They arrived at LAX at 8:55 p.m. (a little later than planned). Glen's friend picked them up at the airport and then went to dinner and finally checked into their room at the Burbank Airport-Hilton and Convention Center.

Friday, July 21, 2000:

The first event on the Lucy convention, (early in the day! Like about 10:00 a.m.) was that the United States Postal service hosted the official unveiling of the new Lucille Ball stamp, to be sold beginning in the year 2001. Special guest speakers included actor Karl Malden.

The unveiling was also attended by Lucille Ball's sister-in-law, Mrs. Fred Ball; Lucy's cousin Cleo Smith; Lucy & Desi & Ethel impressionists Suzanne LaRusch, Adrian Israel & Roberta Wall; and many others. This new Lucy stamp is beautiful too!

At 11:00 a.m. the Lucy Bus Tours left for the Hollywood and Beverly Hills areas. Glen & Mike Elliott preferred to take a car and go memorabilia shopping. (Ay yai yai yai yai did they find a few thins..............!)

Now these neighbors are terribly poor, that is Eva Roberts and Mike B., so they couldn't AFFORD to go memorabilia shopping so they took the Lucy Bus Tour. Mike’s ticket was generously provided by Eva because her cousin (NOT cousin Ernie), could not attend. THANK YOU Eva; she IS a darlin' woman! Someday, someone's gonna see her face and they'll yell, "Get me that girl!" and make a star outta her! ......and the rest will be motion picture history!

Mike sat with Eva and her friend Becky, on the bus ("motoring to the coast with friends"), and one of their stops was at the new Los Angeles subway. They took a subway ride and guess what! Right! "Lucy and the Loving Cup" happened! Lucy (Suzanne LaRusch), covered with a loving cup, assisted by Ethel (Roberta Wall) entertained them tremendously! Everyone laughed at them as much as the New Yorkers laugh at Lucy on the subway platform as she speaks to one of those nosy policemen, in the "Loving Cup" episode. (Or as it's more commonly known, the "espodie").

The bus also stopped at the then-known Grauman's Chinese Theater, now called Mann's Chinese Theater. It's the most famous movie house in the world and holds the footprints of such stars as Marilyn Monroe! Ava Gardner, Jane Russell, Yvonne DeCarlo, Lana Turner, Arlene Dahl......Betty Grable! (Actually we’re not sure all those stars have footprints there but Mike loves how Lucy says that line!).

John Wayne's footprints are there of course and many photos were taken of the Lucy fans with John Wayne's block (which wasn't loose). (They tried - it wasn't loose!). Eva and Mike kept wondering why their bags were so heavy but they didn't tell each other what they were carrying. Mike suspects she had a bag of cement in hers - and he thinks.... he did too? It was a scheme to make that work out if they could, but they became sensible like Ethel and said "Leave me out of this one".

The bus then drove past Hollywood Magic Inc., which is the place where Lucy got movie star masks to wear in "Lucy and Harpo Marx". They also went by the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel (with a "K"!?) where William Frawley used to live.

They also were shown the Pantages Theater where Lucy & Desi attended the premiere of "A Star is Born" in 1954, which was one of the biggest Hollywood events ever.

The bus stopped where Lucy's star is placed on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and everyone got off the bus to take pictures. Eva and Mike had a new scheme! Desi's star was only two blocks away and the tour guide did not even mention it was there when they passed it. Mike saw it as they went by (it's across the street from the Pantages Theater), so he and Eva thought they'd run down the street to get a picture of it while everyone else was looking at Lucy's star on the Walk of Fame.

"I've got an idea" didn't work. By the time they decided to make a run for it, the bus was loading up with people again. And Eva was wearing the wrong kind of shoes to run in! She'd have been able to run faster if she were wearing a bucket of cement!

Next, they went by the place where the Derby used to be; YOU all call it the BROWN Derby but us, we just call it...the Derby.

They drove by the old General Services Studios, where Desilu Playhouse used to be, which was "I Love Lucy's" first home. Next was Motion Picture Center, which Desilu occupied from 1953 to 1957. Also, they passed by the former RKO Radio Pictures lot (which has a huge globe on one corner of the roof at Gower St. and Santa Monica Blvd.), and this is the studio Lucy and Desi bought in 1957.

Other interesting places they went by were the Max Factor building; a little restaurant called Le Dome which used to be the location of the Don Loper Salon where Lucy appeared wearing a Don Loper tweed suit with such stars as Sheila MacRae, Mrs. William Holden, Mrs. Dean Martin, Mrs. Van Heflin, Mrs. Forrest Tucker, & Mrs. Richard Carlson.

"The Tour" also included driving past Lucy's Ogden Drive home and her Roxbury Drive home now re-constructed with a different look to it. It was tempting to ask the bus driver to let them out so they could pick a ............well, so that they could just climb up the wall that surrounded the back yard of the Roxbury Drive home; they never expected Richard Widmark to be there, and they were THAT amazed when there was no sight of him; they just wanted to be in Lucy's back yard, "but we dint do that, did we? No, we dint."

At 7:30 p.m. Glen and Mike were in attendance for the Opening Night Ceremonies at the Academy Plaza Theatre. Many film clips of Lucy were shown and her writers, Bob Weiskopf and Bob Schiller, were honored with a special tribute to them. These Emmy-winning writers, besides writing for "I Love Lucy", wrote for "All in the Family" and "Maude".

Beatrice Arthur (who starred in "Maude", "Golden Girls" and co-starred with Lucy in "Mame"), was in attendance in the audience and she received a standing ovation from everyone in the theatre.

During intermission Mike got to meet Jimmy Garrett (who played Lucy's son, Jerry Carmichael, on "The Lucy Show"). (On Sunday, he'll find out he's the head of his team in the Lucy Trivia Contest).

Saturday, July 22, 2000:

At 11:00 a.m., the two guys attended the panel discussion called "Desilu Studios: The Little Company That Could". All who attended heard interesting stories, led by Tom Watson, from Cleo Smith (Lucy's cousin and one of her TV show Producers), Madelyn Pugh Davis (one of Lucy's writers), film editor Dann Cahn, studio business affairs executive Bernie Weitzman, and attorney Ed Perlstein.

At 3:00 p.m., Mark Towner hosted the We Love Lucy Auction.

Glen won the "Forever Darling" press book; Lucy's hand-written greeting card sent to Mary Jane Croft; Desi Arnaz Jr.'s hand-written Memory of Lucy; and the hand-written sheet music to "Nobody Loves the Ump", autographed by the lyricist, Larry Orenstein. Music for the song is by Eliot Daniel.

Eva Roberts was bidding on a black pair of shoes from Lucy's personal collection. When the bidding rose to a certain amount, disappointed Eva had to stop bidding. Glen noticed her sad face and he kept the bidding going and won the shoes. He allowed Eva to pay what she was willing to pay for the shoes, and he paid the rest of the price. "Thank you kind neighbor", as Ethel Mertz would say. Eva was ecstatic. She wore the shoes to every important Lucy event for the rest of the ENTIRE weekend!! And naturally she would, of course! Later on, it would be rememberd that Glen owns a purple pair of Lucy's shoes of this very SAME style that he won at an auction in Jamestown in 1995. No wonder they looked a little familiar! He has the shoes in his apartment, on a mannequin, which is wearing a lilac colored 3 piece pantsuit of Lucy's that he also won in an auction in Jamestown in 1994.

At 7:30 p.m. all Lucy fans attended the Banquet and Dinner Show, "Lucy at Radio City". The banquet tables were elegantly set, with beautiful table centerpieces made meticulously by Rick Carl. The winner of the centerpiece this year, at the List members’ table, was Lynne Burke (and this was her FIRST time at the convention; what a welcome!).

"Lucy at Radio City" began in a re-creation of the Ricardo apartment. That was such a pleasure--to see their apartment right there on the stage!

Rick Carl did the Art Direction for the show and Jay Price and Nathan Hamilton did the Set Design. Amazing!! And they said it was done at the last minute! It didn't look like that to Mike and Glen! But they're probably right; Mike has encountered this himself in the theater where things get finished at the last minute. "It's not generally known but I've been on the stage myself many times; I've had YEARS, and YEARS of experience." (Well, not THAT many years, Dahling!). "And, I haven't been in a public school since 19 hundred and........well, for years and years"!

The play was directed by Patrick Ziegler and written by Tom Watson and it filled everyone in on the evening Ricky's movie premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Lucy schemed her way into auditions to be a Radio City Rockette dancer, (and eventually into the Rockette's show itself). They saw Lucy impersonating Marilyn Monroe, singing "Heat Wave".

It's a credit to Suzanne LaRusch to be able to still be seen as "Lucy" while she's impersonating Marilyn Monroe! In addition, Adrian Israel sang, and played as, in his well-known talented impression of, the role of Ricky Ricardo.

Roberta Wall played "Ethel" and guest-star Donovan Scott (of "Life with Lucy"), played "Fred".

Roz and Marilyn Borden, as "Teensy and Weensy", entertained the audience with their much-requested songs, "Ricochet" and "You Made Me Love You", ending with deafening applause!

Surprise guests in the Ricardo apartment included Shirley Mitchell (Marion Strong), Janet Waldo (Peggy Dawson), and Eve Whitney (the beautiful, charming woman in "Charm School" episode).

''C O M M E R C I A L:''

Eve: "How do you do. How do you do? How do you do. Well, I won't keep you gentlemen. I'll go join the girls".

Ethel: "Well, I'll say THIS much for her - she got'em out of the kitchen!!")

''B A C K -T O-T H E-P R O G R A M:''

Other stars of the play were Lary Ohlson, and Mark Lord (who also choreographed). Music was provided by Richard Brock and Billy Malpede; Video Inserts by Stuart Shostak and Convention Logo by Rick Carl. The characters were created by, "dear-to-our-hearts" Jess Oppenheimer, Bob Carroll, Jr., and Madelyn Pugh Davis.

After the show, The Borden Twins generously sat for autographs and photos.

Eva Roberts coaxed Glen and Mike into going outside to practice singing Lucy songs, while Tammy Robson filmed their "performances"! They even did a "rerun" of Isabella Clump, Mary Margaret McMertz and Lucille McGillicuddy trying out salad dressing.

Glen and Eva did "Cuban Pete/Sally Sweet"; Mike and Eva did "How About You", the twirling number "By The Light of the Silvery Moon" and the up-and-down "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (doing knee bends, which is the only way to do the song!). Eva then used Mike's over-the-shoulder bag on her head as a showgirl's headdress, to re-enact "Lucy Gets In Pictures"! (Eva is just dying to get discovered out there in Hollywood! She really wants to get into pictures!) Unfortunately, Eva did not hear any producers yelling, "That face! Get me that girl! I want to make her a star!"). Their singing of "Friendship" was better than in Jamestown. Good thing there was no audience; it was just fun!

Lynne drove her car up and stopped (probably as Eva did the "Madam Did you Stop This Train" scene; or was it while the 3 of them were doing the Phipps Department Store song; or it could have been while they were "cutting the ties that bind them"). They thought she was saying 'goodnight' to them so they waved at her and yelled 'goodnight' and kept waving to her. They couldn't hear that she was telling them some important news. The next day she told them what she was trying to say. She was telling them that Janet Waldo was up ahead since Mike had been looking for her most of the night to meet her; she was so memorable in "Young Fans" that he just had to meet her. Well he hasn't met her yet.........he was "off to rehearsal…"

Sunday July 23, 2000:

The "We Love Lucy Fan Club Breakfast" began at 9:30 a.m. with "Meet the Authors" filling everyone with information about the books they've written about Lucy and her co-stars. The authors all enjoyed hearing from were Bart Andrews, Tom Watson, Gregg Oppenheimer, Tom Gilbert and Coyne Steven Sanders, Frank Castelluccio and Alvin Walker and Bob Schiller.

Unfortunately, author Ric Wyman fell ill last night and was unable to attend this morning.

In the Vendor's Area, Glen & Mike did some last minute shopping at Cathy's Closet. She sold out quickly on many things so evidently her's was the most popular spot to shop at. And why not? "Her website is designed by GCDTP, but they won't get into that topic now since they know it's designed by someone everybody knows & loves."

At 12 p.m. Stuart Shostak hosted the I Love Lucy Trivia Game show. Everyone in the audience was able to play in the beginning. He would ask a question and you would hold up a color card to answer the question. If you got it wrong, you sat down.

The last 18 people standing were asked to go onstage. Included in this group were such knowledgeable and enthusiastic Lucy fans as Eva Roberts, Neil Wilburn, Larry Pane, Pam Palesano, Karilyn Steward, Glen Charlow, 11 others, and Mike B.! They were asked true and false questions and if they got it wrong, they went back to their seat. The last 6 who were left, got to play the big game. The final 6 were: Eva, Neil, Larry, Pam, Karilyn and Mike B.!

DONOVAN SCOTT was captain for Eva, Neil and Larry's team. JIMMY GARRETT was captain for Pam, Karilyn and Mike’s team. Donovan's team was good. Jimmy’s team did their best against this clever group. "They teetered. We tottered. By the end of the game, they teetered, and by now, we were REALLY tottering!", Mike says. It was fun for all! Donovan’s team came in first place and Jimmy’s team came in second. And the game was like being on a professional game show. Very sophisticated.

They surprised themselves at what they knew. The prizes were well worth everything. Just to pick prizes, at random, from ALL the prizes, there were items such as a VCR, Lucy magnets, I Love Lucy video tapes, I Love Lucy jacket, Lucy cookie jar, $50 gift certificates, Grape Stomping Lucy Barbie Doll, Lucy tin and/or cardboard boxes, Lucy pocket mirrors, box of Lucy chocolates, "California Here we Come" lunch pail and much more. They are all grateful to those who provided prizes!

Eva and Mike decided to calm down and go to the Panel Discussion, "Memories of Lucy and Desi". Glen took the Borden Twins (Teensy & Weensy) to lunch. ("Oh Frederick darling, if you're looking for me this afternoon, I shant be home; I'll be at the luncheon at the Waldorf". He was hob-knobbing with ALL the stars!)

Richard Brock hosted "Memories of Lucy and Desi" and the celebrities gave everyone information on what it was like working with Lucy. Memories were provided by the wonderfully amusing actress Carole Cook, Lucy's secretary Wanda Clark, Lucy's assistant Frank Gorey, her hairdresser Irma Kusely, Mrs. Fred Ball (Lucy's sister-in-law), and Michael Stern (recognized by Lucy as her #1 fan). After their enlightening talks, they all happily sat to provide everyone with autographs!

Glen joined Mike & Eva at the autograph table after his "luncheon", and Eva got hungry, so she went to dinner with friends and Glen and Mike packed up their purchases and auction wins to be shipped home. Glen had two boxes to ship and Mike had one (Mike’s box was full of prizes from the Trivia Game; He was so excited!). They would have one more flat box to ship that contained posters and such that both of them got.

Around 8:00 p.m. they helped a little with taking down the "I Love Lucy" set that was used in the banquet show. It was a shame to see it go down. The main workers were Mark Towner, Rick Carl, Tom Watson, Michael Stern and other hard workers.

During the take-down of signs and Lucy photos from the convention area, Glen (you 'begggggged us to give it to you - you beggggged us to give it to you!!') received from Rick the beautiful glittery & sparkling sign, "Desilu Playhouse", that Rick made. It had been hanging all weekend outside the banquet room and Glen was eyeing it all the time. You could see the sparkle in his eye! ("look at that GLEEM in his eye!") The sign would also be shipped home along with the other flat items. THANKS Rick, once again!

You see, Glen's a fan of Rick's art work (obviously - he always wants the Lucy items that Rick makes, like the banquet center pieces, the signs, the banners, the 'I Love Lucy' set itself!, etc.) and it is quite possible Rick could get rich just by making Lucy stuff for Glen!

After this kind-of-sad removal of Lucy-stuff, Glen & Mike returned to their room and ordered pizza and were visited by Neil Wilburn, Eva Roberts and Tammy Robson. Neil wasn't able to stay long, so the 2 boys and the girls ("If you divide the world into boys and GIRLS, we're girls") watched Eva's home movies (on Mike's newly won VCR! Just happened to win it in time!) of them all being together in Jamestown in May '99 and May 2000, and in California, during August 1999 as well as this past weekend. Why it was only last night Eva, Mike & Glen were outside the banquet hall, singing "Lucy" songs, and being filmed by Tammy. They laughed at themselves, and remarked on their abilities in singing (I didn't say WHAT kind of remark!), and in re-enacting "Aunt Who's Old What Salad Which"!

The girls left at l:30 a.m. They said, "Let's be sensible tonight. Let's get in BEFORE 4:00 a.m.". And when the girls know that Lucy Ricardo says something like THAT, then Eva and Tammy are certainly going to listen to her!

Glen and Mike took their boxes to the hotel lobby for shipping back east. Mike Elliot drove them to "Mail Boxes Etc." to ship out the posters and flat stuff and the 3 of them checked out at 12 noon. ("Checked out!!?" Oh, don't tell me they rented a motor cycle to go home on! They had two choices, either THAT, or HITCH-hiking! You'd do that too if you just had your back seat shot out from under you!).

Mike & Glen then said 'bye' to Mike E. as he left the hotel. They waited in the lobby for their shuttle bus to pick them up at l:30 p.m. Rick Carl and Tom Watson walked through the lobby and they all said their 'thank-yous' and 'good-byes'. Cathy & Charlie Kelly came along into the lobby, on their way out, visiting for a few minutes, and there was hugging and hand-shakes before they left. The shuttle bus came for Glen and Mike and they were on their way to the airport.

Of course, in the airport they ate at McDonald's! The flight left at 3:15 p.m. and they heard the stewardess say, "Here's some gum for your ears". So the guys decided they better put the gum in their ears. Seconds later, someone was heard to say, "Does CHEWING the gum really help on the take-off?"

That 'gum' scene was one of the many beautiful moments of the weekend, shown in a black and white clip of Lucy and Gale Gordon, on an airplane.

On the plane Glen & Mike typed up more of the events of the weekend, using Glen's laptop, just so the Lucy-list can get a summary of the Lucy Convention. Their thoughts drifted through memories of the Lucy-Desi Days in Jamestown, and of their just-ended Lucy Weekend in California.

They arrived in Baltimore at 8 p.m. and moved the clocks to the proper time of 11 p.m. Already they missed all their friends, and all the events of one of the most loving weekends that one can attend: 'The Loving Lucy Convention', in Burbank, California.