| Yes, they do! And, in general, I think the staff does a pretty good job of keeping fan at bay. One of my earliest trips to New York in 1987 found a group of us in Joe Allen in the late afternoon. The place was relatively empty but we spotted F. Murray Abraham sitting at a table in the back reading something and very much 'alone'. We asked our waiter if he would go over and ask Abraham if he would be so kind as to give us an autograph; we were theatre kids from the Midwest and it would be a thrill for us. The waiter went over and whispered something to Abraham. He glanced up at us from over his glasses and wrote a note on a cocktail napkin and the waiter brought it over to us. We were thrilled. Best of all, he left before we did and he paused at our table to say hello and thanked us for asking for his autograph. He was incredibly gracious and kind so if anyone knows Mr. Abraham please tell him he made quite an impression. (And, yes, my friend Jennifer still has the cocktail napkin...framed, of course.) It's a very nice memory, more than 30 years later... |
