All My Children Luncheon
September 17, 2000
The All My Children Luncheon was held in The Roosevelt Hotel on Madison Ave. This was the first year the event was held here, so I found the whole thing to be a little disorganized, since I had never attended one before. The lunch and chat session were to be held in the Large Grand Ballroom.
When we first arrived to check in we were given a bag full of goodies including the latest soap mags, a letter of apology from David Canary about why he could not attend (his son was testing for Taekwondo), magnets and a videotape from Soap Center. They were there filming the whole luncheon
We then moved down the hall to buy raffle tickets. A studio tour, an original Dreams Come True doll of Susan Lucci, a soap appearance, and a few other things were up for a $5 raffle. There were then an assortment of about 145 items for the $1 raffle. I bought a few $5 raffles and then quite a few $1 raffles, We then checked out the loot. There were a lot of photos signed by the various cast members, around 6 scripts, various props like mouse pads, newspapers.
Next around the bend was where you could purchase pictures of the stars for $1 each. My only problem was they had tons of pics of some stars and then other stars there would be like 1 or 2 photos, some which were not very flattering. I purchased quite a few pics including Vincent Irizarry, Josh Duhamel, John Callahan, Cady McClain, Michael Knight, Ingo Rademacher, Jack Wagner. (Couldn't resist buying a few GH pics)
Anyway, the next table had the Silent Auction items, including a 10 minute phone call with either Cameron Mathison and Finola Hughes, a Studio Tour, and a pic in one of the soap mags. I think the studio tour went for well over $600.
We then moved into the ballroom, where our lunch awaited us. They serve lunch to us and then have the stars come out afterwards. Lunch was ok, chicken, veggies, salad, and peach tart. Any kind of drinks wound up costing you extra. This room was large and we were disappointed at where we were sitting. We were pretty much all the way in the back of the room, so the stars were just a speck to us, making getting good photos an impossible feat. There was a balcony that many of us in the back wound up going up to get a better view and better pics. I think if the stage was up higher the chat session may have been more enjoyable, but since everyone kept standing up, seeing anyone from the back was an impossibility. I think I would have preferred sitting in the balcony as opposed to the back of the room.
The time had then come for the "chat" session to begin. The emcee was none other than Walt Willey (Jackson). He got to introduce each star. I wish I could remember each thing he said about each star because it was
hilarious. He had little quips about every person. I will recount what I do remember but in no way are they in order or all of the stars who were there.
