BEA Roundup- The Celebrities- Part III

Celebrities are always a big draw at BEA, garnering long lines of eager fans. I stood in line with many 40-something women to get a photo with 80's rocker and General Hospital star Rick Springfield. We were all 20-somethings again. He popped his gum, put his arm around each woman, smiled, took a photo, signed a CD and off to the next woman. (first photo)

If you can sing, you can draw a crowd. Neil Sedaka also had a huge line, albeit with an older crowd than Rick Springfield's. Broadway diva Patti LuPone drew a large line of theatre aficionados for an autograph on an excerpt from her upcoming autobiography. (FYI- I am not a fan of standing on line for an excerpt of a book. It bums me out when I don't get an entire book as a reward for standing in line.) LuPone was very kind to all of us, not exhibiting the diva behavior we have all heard about. I did enjoy sharing favorite Broadway experiences with friendly fellow fans in line. (second photo)

Political junkies got to see Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough from MSNBC's Morning Joe show. They are exactly as they seem on screen, and very friendly. She is lovely, with fabulous legs. But the funny thing to me was that Joe signed copies of Mika's book! Mika's book is All Things At Once, her story of being a wife, mom and TV anchor. It was fun to meet both of them and hear their banter in person but odd that he autographed her book. (third photo)

Tim Gunn from TV's Project Runway took so much time with his fans, taking photos, chatting, that they had to move his signing line when he went over his one-hour time limit. After all, the guy that wrote the book about growing marijuana has his fans too. (But I'm betting they didn't even realize that his signing was behind schedule.)

If you wanted to find Sarah Ferguson's signing line, just look for the paparazzi flashing away. The day after the story broke about Sarah taking money for access to her ex-husband the Duke of York, she was scheduled to MC the Children's Breakfast and sign copies of her book. All of us in line gave her credit for not canceling her appearance. (fourth photo)

Sports were big too. You couldn't get near Tony Hawk, the skateboarder and there was melee at soccer star Pele's signing table.

While it is interesting to see celebs at BEA, for most of us, it is the literary stars who gets us all excited. That post follows.