From Cleveland, For Cleveland – Tom Hanks

Yep, I followed up Erie with a conversation and about 10 minutes of screen time with Mr. Hanks. November 20, 2022 was one awesome day!

The day started with a solid four hours of sleep and a bit of a white knuckler home from Erie. If it wasn’t Tom F. Hanks, I would have gotten home and slept the day away!

Since it was brutally cold, we went with this sweater dress. I was warm and quite photogenic.

I met my great friend Kara for coffee beforehand. We met on the set of the upcoming Netflix movie “White Noise” with whom we co-star (okay, I am stretching it a bit) Adam Driver, Gretta Gerwig and Don Cheadle. She has really taken off with her acting career ever since and I have no doubt she will be a star some day!

Before I left home, I took a bit of a Thanksgiving photo shoot.

For all of these events, questions are submitted for consideration. I had done two questions prior, but they were written for me. I felt personally committed to this question. Many more questions were submitted than could be asked. All questions were vetted by Tom and/or his people. Mine was chosen.

Girls like me that grew up in the 60’s and 70’s had no internet; we didn’t have a hundred plus channels on TV.  We thought we were and actually were in many ways, alone.  But shows like Flip Wilson, Uncle Miltie, Phil Donahue and of course, Bosom Buddies, allowed us to see someone else in a dress.  Even if it were in circumstances that might get me arrested today, in a world where we cannot use the ladies room in many states.

Are you aware of the impact you had in this regard with so many of us?

Kandi Robbins, 2022, a proposed question to Tom Hanks

I asked and he answered in great length. While he took the question in a place I did not anticipate, it was awesome. Here are a series of photos that demonstrate we actually had a conversation. I joked that he looked like his character from Apollo 13 with the headset he wore and he laughed!

I am going to brag here for a moment. I was great in this circumstance. I got a lot of praise on my question and on my performance. I think I looked great on screen. Someone asked me if I was nervous. I said, of course, but since I have met on two occasions one Sir Paul McCartney, I knew they are simply human beings. Now I believe I have had interactions with two of the most recognizable people on the planet!

BTW, while Tom is a California native, he cut his teeth for three years in the Cleveland-based Great Lakes Shakespeare Festival. My friend Holly, whom I have mentioned before, was there with Tom back then and is a friend of his.

A selfie before the show began with (from right to left) me, my great friend Kara, Lisa and Phil. I took improv classes with Lisa and Phil and Phil won Wilson, who was raffled off at the end of the evening. Wilson was one of the Wilsons used in “Castaway”. No human being could have been as excited as he was and that was the cherry on top of my awesome four day run. Now, it’s time to sleep for a few weeks…..

After having written this post, I was able to get these pictures taken by the photographer there for 1st Team Actors Studio. These are candid shots, I had no idea they were being taken and they fill me with tremendous pride in how I present myself to the world.