In April of 2006, my friend Nate called me on my cellphone with the announcement that "Anna Nicole wants to come and host bingo." I knew that Nate had been working as Anna's personal assistant and was also very good friends with Kimmy, Anna's previous assistant (she was featured on the Anna's E! show) but I was still in a bit of shock over his announcement. All that came out of my mouth in response was "why?"Nate was and is a big ol' bingo freak- loves to bring large groups to party at Legendary Bingo and he told me that a group of Anna's friends were going on and on about how fun this "crazy type of bingo" was. He said that Anna became very excited and said "I wanna do it!" And so it was done. Well, not quite yet. I called Nate and told him that I couldn't possibly announce that Anna was coming to bingo unless I was very, very sure that it was really going to happen (celebs have bailed before- most for very good reasons but it is still disappointing) because I knew that many people would show up just to see her. That's the kind of presence she has.
Nate said "if you don't believe me, why don't you ask her?" And the next thing I knew I was talking to Anna Nicole and she was telling me that, yes, she was going to come and that it sounded like a lot of fun. I was talking to Anna Nicole! Honestly, that's how I felt and you know I talk to ALOT of celebrities. But even talking to her on the phone had a bit of a surreal quality to it.
So, to make a long story short, Anna Nicole came to bingo- as a surprise guest. She arrived with Nate, her son Daniel and Larry Birkhead in tow. Not exactly an entourage- just Anna and her family. The first impression that I had was that she was the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen. She was very tall and her skin was a golden color that had sort of a glow coming off of it. She was wearing a pair of very tight jeans and a little top that showed her belly and I kept thinking this is not the same Anna that I saw on all of those episodes of her show. Somehow, she had turned back the clock and was the Guess? jeans Anna, maybe even better.
I think that most of the bingo crowd thought that she was an Anna Nicole Smith impersonator (we had just had a Dolly Parton impersonator that looked like the real thing) but soon it began to set in and the camera phones began clicking.
Anna came up and called a few games of bingo and was sweet, funny and very warm to the crowd. She posed for every picture request, signed every autograph request and bid on every live auction item (she won several of them) to help the charity for the night.
The Anna Nicole Smith that we all encountered on that night of bingo was one that we will all never forget. Whatever problems she had experienced in the past or was soon to experience took the night off and we all knew that we were in the presence of someone with true star quality.
We will all miss Anna Nicole and will remember her generosity of spirit and her ability to find joy in little things like being "one away from a bingo!" I hope that she has found the peace that she truly deserves.
The beautiful photo of Anna Nicole Smith was taken by Gil Kaan.
Bingo-boy
2/18/2007
