Touched by the Angels

August 30, 2006

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Last night a miracle happened at the Shrine Auditorium in Downtown LA. No, Runway didn't win an Emmy. We were beaten by "Amazing Race" and that sucked. But it was what happened right before our award was announced that helped dull the pain of losing for me.

A tribute to Aaron Spelling was begun by Heather Locklear and Joan Collins. Collins deserved an Emmy -- or at least a Daytime Emmy -- for simply GIVING IT in her delivery. And for her wig. She was a Carrington, a Colby, and a Dexter all wrapped in one.

The clip package was a collage of TV hits ending with "Charlie's Angels." The package concluded somewhat abruptly as the familiar CA theme-song played loudly for the audience. My date, Bruce Bozzi Jr., and I let out a gasp as the lights came up on the three original Angels walking down the stage, together again for the first time since maybe '76. We felt like the audience wasn't giving it up enough at first and were whooping and clapping like madmen. (Bruce and I feel personally responsible for rallying the crowd, by the way. But we might be a little crazy.)

This was a monumental reunion years in the making. I recently got the inside poop from someone involved in the "Charlie's Angels" films about all they'd gone through trying to get cameos from the three original icons. Kate was the big holdout, I learned. Classic Jackie Smith wound up making an angelic cameo in the gem "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle." More recently, a producer tried to get the gals together for a reunion show and again Kate was the reported holdout. Apparently the lady feels like she should be making something from the franchise that she (and the other girls, for that matter) is not.

In any case, there they finally were -- paying tribute to their maker. Kate went first and the way she was going on and on I concluded that she only agreed to appear if she was the sole speaker. Not so, because after a minute or so, Farrah took the center spot for her fairly lucid salute to Mr. S. She ended with an awkward but classic folded-hand-angel-prayer-stance to the heavens.

I thought Kate Jackson looked exactly like the Sabrina Duncan of yesteryear and Farrah's face seems to have "settled" somewhat. But the queen of the Angels was Jackie Smith, who, as far as I'm concerned, at this point could become the next Senator from New York with little campaigning. Attention K-Mart shoppers!

Smith was eloquent and soft-spoken, surrounded by a halo of that trademarked feathered chestnut hair. Her timeless face looks like a million dollar bill. (Is she married to a plastic surgeon or is that Vickie Principal? Or both?). What you didn't see watching at home was that the teleprompter went blank and Smith winged the speech. I don't know if she'd memorized it or what, but I was IN.

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