This is Part 2 of the letter where Mom describes our visit to Universal City Studios. Part 1 ended just as we were entering the set of "The Munsters" television show. My comment regarding that was, "Little did I know that just beyond those doors would occur perhaps the most memorable moment from my early childhood." Let's see just what happened . . .
I must start a new paragraph to tell you all about the Munsters' house. As we walked in the house, there stood a man dressed up in scary costume, weird make-up and all. Gene thought it was just a prop and he walked over to it exclaiming, "Look how real this thing looks." Then "this thing" growled at him and he jumped about three feet straight up! He also had to exit for the nearest restroom. We had to get a picture of David Wayne with the monster and just as Dave was ready to snap the picture . . .
[Get ready.]
. . . the monster picked David Wayne up.
The fighting, clawing, kicking and screaming was hilarious to everyone but little David Wayne. Before Dave could take the picture, the poor monster put our son down. Finally, David Wayne agreed to being picked up and we got the cutest picture that we've ever taken, but I wish we could have gotten his first reaction on film. The expression on his face shows that David Wayne was not entirely convinced that he was in safe hands.
[Mom's description of my reaction is not exaggerated at all. I remember being absolutely terrified when I got picked up. My recollection before reading this letter was that we had just walked through the entrance before I was picked up, but apparently I was posing for a picture and either didn't see "the thing" at all or thought it was a statue like Gene did. I surely hadn't seen it move when Gene was looking at it. In any case, I had no idea who or what picked me up and I started kicking and screaming like Mom says in the letter. I don't know if the monster made any sounds or if I even saw him while I was struggling to get away, but he got me good, that's for sure.]
[Here's the picture of me taken after I calmed down a little and let the monster pick me up again.]
[Although I do have a bit of a grin, I'm not exactly remaining still. And wouldn't you know it, if only I had read the program for the tour I could have been on the lookout for this monster and avoided all that drama.]
[Yes, that is the stairs in the Munsters' house behind the monster holding me. It may not be the exact same staircase seen in the intro to the show because the tops of the posts (newels) at the bottom look a little different, and I don't see any obvious indication that these stairs are hinged. But the pattern on the step risers matches what I see on the YouTubes pretty well. I expect the hinged stairs were on a soundstage rather than built into a house on the backlot at the studio. Then again, since the series was no longer in production it's possible none of this was actually used in the show.]
After the tour we were exhausted and broke, but it was a very good day. Gene and Suzie came over and we cooked out. Suzie has a little puppy that David Wayne is crazy about, so when it got to be 9:30 I put the puppy in bed with David Wayne. After they got to sleep, we slipped in and took a picture. It is really cute - David Wayne asleep with the pup on his tummy looking very contented and tired.
[Here's that picture of me sleeping with the puppy. According to Mom's caption, the puppy's name was Ginger. All together now: Awwwwww . . .]
Sunday we just stayed at home and rested. I was too tired to even get out to the store so we ate biscuits and eggs for lunch and then pancakes for supper. Today I've got to get out to the stamp store and pick up David's Christmas present.
[Three breakfasts in one day. Neat.]
I ran out of ink so I guess it is time to close this letter. Take care and write soon.
[Mom really did run out of ink while writing the previous paragraph. In that last sentence, "pick up" is all ink, "David's" transitions from ink to pencil, and "Christmas present" is all pencil. I guess if we were too poor to afford an extra pen I really shouldn't complain about some of my clothes not fitting, should I?]
Love,
Linda
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