Thursday, November 16, 2006

Glow Superstar "Hollywood"


My heart was racing as I drove north on the 101 freeway towards Hollywood. I had been on this road before, but this time was different. It was as if the signs were talking directly to me.

I glanced nervously at the clock. We were on schedule. I checked the map quest directions again and again to make sure we were going the right way. We were.

I smiled while passing yet another sign that was there that night just for me. It said "Hollywood."
Up ahead was the exit. Western Avenue and Santa Monica.

A quick flashback to 1989, the first time I recall ever being here. I was nervous then too. Nervous, anxious & excited. I was going to the legendary Hollywood Tropicana, the world's most famous women's wrestling club. It was pre-Internet and I really didn't know what to expect.

Back to 2006. The tropicana is long gone, but that feeling is there all over again.
Left on Santa Monica. We were about 10 minutes away. This was real. It was going to happen.

The cell phone ringtone snapped me away from my thoughts. Glancing at the caller ID, I saw it was her. Some last minute directions. It was really going to happen! I was moments away from meeting her for the first time...

Hollywood is a true legend in the wrestling and superheroine worlds. Whether in GLOW, Playboy, Married With Children, We've Got It made, or with her own video production company, Hollywood has always turned heads and make pulses race.

Hollywood is the total wrestling package. Gorgeous, outrageously sexy and very hot, she knows how to wrestle and she can do all the physical moves.

I have often stated that the true measure of a wrestling performer is the ability to convincingly sell a beating. Mia Walters became a legend for Double Trouble wrestling for that very reason.

Hollywood has perfected that ability and brings something extra to it. She has the looks, body, athletic skills, and personality to play a powerful, confident, cocky, and unbeatable character convincingly too. This makes her defeats that much greater when they occur.

Mia was great at selling and had the athletic ability, but she couldn't convincingly pull off playing the powerful confident character as well. Stacy Burke is another phenomenal performer, but I really have to strain my imagination to be able to easily accept her as an overwhelmingly powerful woman.
Shelly Berg, on the other hand, plays overwhelmingly powerful and undefeatable very well, but she's not as effective when playing the loser. She's good, but not great. Alexis Taylor is another example of a woman who has the look & attitude to play powerful and confident, but she simply is not able to convincingly sell a beating.

For my specific interests, Hollywood has it all, and unlike some of my other icons like Misty Blue Simmes and Magnificent Mimi, she has a lot of great material out there.

Things got even better when she started her own production company and began making her own videos.
One day, out of nowhere, she suddenly appeared in a video playing a character inspired by Wonder Woman. I couldn't believe it! I ordered the video immediately and when it finally arrived I couldn't wait to see it. This was back in the late 90's and there wasn't a lot of quality heroine material out there. I didn't expect very much from the video, but I was pleasantly surprised.
First, she looked absolutely stunning in the costume. Beyond stunning. She looked beautiful. Second, the video catered to my fantasies, something the TV show with Lynda Carter did not do often enough, especially in seasons 2 & 3.
For some reason, I imagined that this would be a one-time thing. It wasn't. Eight years later, she is still playing the character and shows no sign of slowing down.

Hollywood's webkitten.com web site has a great selection of wrestling and heroine related material and she only gets better & better with every new release. Over the years, I have had the privilege of helping her with a number of scripts and was able to place her in situations I had only fantasized about.

We had almost 8 years worth of email correspondence between us, yet we had never met. There were a couple of "near misses," but it looked as if we were not destined to meet. Until now...

I saw her from about 50 feet away and waved. At least I think I waved. All I know is that my arm was shaking for some reason.
And there she was. In the flesh. Almost twenty years from the first time I saw her on TV.
"It's great to finally meet you!"

Ok, let me get away from the "glow by glow" report and cut straight to it. Jeanne is indeed gorgeous!

I cannot recall the last time I saw a woman that beautiful up close.
I cannot recall ever seeing a pair of jeans look that good on anyone.

It quickly became apparent that she's even cooler than she is she is breathtaking.

She has a tremendous energy about her and we sat there talking as if we had known each other forever. I sat there glued (glowed?) to every word she said. I know this sounds like a cliche`, but I became oblivious to everything around except what has happening at our table. Time and space became irrelevant. I was having a great time!!!

Speaking of time, the clock brought me back to reality and it was time to call it a night. Lucky for me, one of my best friends had joined us for dinner, someone who knows me inside & out.

He would later tease me about the dumbstruck look I had on my face all night, but at this point he knew that I would not be so bold as to try to make future plans with Jeanne. I'm always conscious of the fact that for these women this is a job and thought that it was incredibly cool that Jeanne came out to meet me socially. I didn't want to push my luck.

Fortunately, my friend is not as nervous as I am and suggested that we all meet again tomorrow night. She thought that was a good idea too and we made plans to have a late dinner the next night after she finished a job she had to do. WOW!

More on that in my next posting. For now I just want to wrap things up by marveling at some interesting facts. Hollywood is an icon in my fantasy world. She wrestles, plays super heroines and is a great performer. She's beautiful and hot. Nevertheless, I walked away that night amazed at how nice she is. How cool she is. How much fun she is to be around. The fact that she is gorgeous (and she IS) became secondary. All I can say is that there is one lucky person out there who makes her eyes sparkle, and I hope he knows how lucky he is.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

A great tribute to a great and classy veteran performer! I'm sure I'll never meet the woman, but perhaps your post here is the next best thing. Thanks.