Dumb but True Stories, Vol. 2: It's the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Ms. Worley

A couple days ago on the local news they announced that this May, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette will cease publication.  It's had one heck of a run, the newspaper has been in circulation over 200 years.  I still can't believe it myself, but it's been years since I read the morning paper, let alone bought one.  

Anyway, I've probably mentioned this here before but during my working years, I caught one of two buses to get to downtown Pittsburgh and home again.  The Bellevue Business Flyer & the 16B.  I much preferred the Flyer as it got you downtown twice as fast (no stops between) and also had various drop offs downtown, close to my office.  But it ran on a limited schedule, so I often wound up on the 16B, which had one stop downtown--across the street from the Benedum Center.

The Benedum Center is where Broadway comes to Pittsburgh--gorgeous inside, I've seen several shows there over the years.  (The picture below is my brother-in-law Jim and my niece Sophia at the Benedum to see The Nutcracker a couple years ago.)

One morning in the summer of 1997, I rode the 16B downtown to my job at the Allegheny County Dept of Aging.  I didn't always wear a suit in the summer, but I did wear a shirt & tie.  I had gotten off the bus, was heading up the street when I saw one of the brass doors of the center open, and a tallish woman sort of stumbled out, wearing a long flowery robe.  She had dark hair piled high on her head, with a big pink scarf tied around it.

She looked sleepy and confused, and I remember she was squinting.  She was looking to the right and left, then saw me across the street and said "Boy!  Boy, over here!"  Was she for real?  I was 35 years old!  I was carrying a briefcase!  I shouted back "Yes?"  She said "Where can I find a morning paper!"  I said "You mean the Post Gazette?  Up on Liberty, that's right up the street here--turn right, there's a big news stand on the next block!"

She shouted back "Get me a paper and bring it inside if I'm not out here!"  and wagged her thumb at the theater's doors behind her.  What the--?!  I shouted back "I'm going the other way, I have to go to work!  Sorry!"  She just stared at me, then turned around and went back inside.

When I got to the office, I told a couple of coworkers about the run-in with the strange woman in front of the Benedum, and I said "This is going to sound crazy, but the more I think about it, the more she looked like JoAnne Worley, that comedienne who used to be on Laugh-In."  

Around lunchtime, my boss came over to my desk and dropped a newspaper down, folded open to the Arts section--it said JOANNE WORLEY IS MAMA ROSE IN "GYPSY" AT THE BENEDUM.  What was she doing there at 7:30 in the morning?  Did she spend the night there after the opening of her show?  Was her name on the marquee?  

I wish I had known who it was at the time, I might've gotten that paper for her after all--and maybe a free ticket to her show as well.  Oh well!