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Article by LISA Sources.
Amidst the glamour and glitz was Lost in Space’s own Angela Cartwright. Yes the object of adoration for many Australian LIS fans was visiting our shores for the very first time!! Angela’s visit was very brief, lasting only 9 days and her schedule was swamped with duties and appearances for the FOX STUDIOS. This left very little time for personal appearances but this did not stop fans at the November LISA Convention hoping that she would appear!! Even though her stay was short Angela loved this country so much that she wants to come back soon. She stayed in Sydney from 5th - 14th November 1999, and loved every minute of her stay. Her main comment was that the Australian people are so courteous and kind, very kind. FOX had contacted Angela early in October 1999 as they needed; and wanted Angela to travel to this country to help celebrate the grand opening of the much-hyped film and theme park studios. Says Angela, "I only found out about the 20th Century FOX AUSTRALIA opening about two weeks before I arrived in Sydney. I was attending a film festival in Spain with my sister Veronica, (Daniel Boone, and Alien) when I received e-mail about the Australian call. Did I want to come? ... You bet I did!" Angela
arrived on Friday 5th November 1999 "I'm not really sure, but
I think I lost a day coming over here After quickly unpacking at the intercontinental hotel, Angela was immediately paired with Shirley Jones of Okalahoma and The Partridge Family fame. The first thing on the agenda was a Sydney Harbour cruise, and they all beheld the best cruise ever experienced. We were then immediately chauffeured to Catalina's restaurant at Rose Bay.
"You have the best seafood in the world here," said Angela, then, "I have worked with Shirley many times in the past and was looking forward to working with her again. It had been raining a little bit, however the skies soon cleared after this day it was perfect warm weather from that moment onwards. Angela found listening to the Australian weather reports amusing – "The temperature will be warm and sunny and a pleasant day will ensue with just the slight chance of an afternoon thunderstorm". Angela added smiling, "That is so funny to hear. It is as if they were covering all their bases, and they issued these forecasts continually."
On the opening night 7th November 1999, the glamorous and the gorgeous descended upon Sydney to celebrate the grand opening of the $450 million FOX Studios. It was a great taste of tinseltown; or as one reporter put it 'Hollywood came to the Harbour City'. Stars were announced and photographed as they entered the $450 million complex. Then a voice called out 'And now two of the stars from The Sound of Music - Nicholas Hammond and Angela Cartwright." First of all, Angela was paired with Nicholas Hammond (one of the other children in The Sound of The Music and also star of the ‘70s series Spiderman.) and glamorously walked along the red carpet.
To huge applause, both walked out to the microphone and Angela spoke first.
Said Angela, "They had teleprompters around the stage however they placed them too low for eyesight so I had to rely on memory and it came out all right!" She continued, saying, "Backstage I saw a very proud Rupert Murdoch who seemed very pleased that the night had gone off so well. I noticed that most of the huge technical staff that were there working had a very relaxed attitude to work - actually it was kind of inspiring. Becca says that all the Australian guys that she has met so far are really cute." The fire-works were absolutely spectacular. A few of the trees behind stage were on fire and people were rushing about trying to extinguish them. Shirley Jones said "If the fire gets any closer to the stage I'm out of here." Angela herself commented that, "If that was Los Angeles there would have been no way that permission would have been given." In the days following the opening Angela and Becca were treated to a performance of the Sydney Wharf Theatre Company’s production of Cyrano De Bergerac as well as a tour of the Opera House. "I'm really enjoying myself here, everyone is so friendly - really friendly, and there is so much to do. I'm surprised by the amount of traffic in Sydney, it takes a long time to get from point A to point B but FOX has provided a driver for us and his name is Paul. He has been showing us everywhere."
After the performance the stage was a sea of colourful streamers as the audience rose to their feet to congratulate the Australian cast performing a wonderful rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein play. It was so beautiful - Angela cried at the end commenting it is one of the best stage shows that she has seen. She thought the children were really adorable. Backstage, Angela congratulated the cast saying she was most impressed with their performance. By the way, when Angela faced the great audience of reporters at the end of the night, where she answered more questions about Lost in Space than she did about The Sound of Music. "You sure have a lot of Lost in Space fans here in Australia, in fact every interview that I have done here has been primarily about Lost in Space ". On
Friday I2th November Angela was back at the FOX theme park studios
and shown the brand new facilities We discussed all subjects and Angela thought that our money is much better for colour identification then her own American variety, she's very impressed that our money is virtually worth double the American rate. Angela tried a schooner of VB while Becca drank a Guinness beer. They both agreed that the alcohol content taste is much higher here than they expected. Once again they were over with warmth and friendliness of the Australian people. We discussed the difference of Australian words including the bonnet, boot and sauce. Actually Angela had never heard of the word 'Pommy' (Person of Mother England meaning an English person) "Oh" said Angela "That's me!" I told her not to worry because a pommy is an affectionate term. Even though Angela is really American, she carries a British passport; or as Angela puts it "I'm a permanent alien in the United States". The
following day was Saturday 13th November 1999, and Angela was looking
forward to seeing an aboriginal This was a blessing for the LISA committee members who formed a circle in the theatre around Angela who then 'held court' talking about all manner of subjects from enjoying her Aussie trip to the days of Lost in Space.
This trip took more than an hour and during the trip Angela revealed that she and Bill are writing a book together. Totally written in cyberspace - Angela and Bill have been writing pages of text via the e-mail for quite a long time. "Bill is an incredible hard working guy, he writes, produces, sings and always has a project in the works". The book has nothing to do with Lost in Space and is a fantasy story - ...with the title is a secret! I said to Angela "What did you say the working title of the book is?". Angela replied "I didn't say, (with the biggest grin) it's just about finished, and Bill and I will probably get someone to go through and edit the book to get it really tight.". After the trip we were very hungry - or as Becca put it "we're parched and starving! So we dropped into the Blacktown Workers Club for an early dinner - but would you believe it - they were undergoing renovations at that time so back to the limousine we went. Another call to some Sydney restaurants, but unfortunately they were all booked out! (Would you believe it!) Because Becca was dying for her first chance to deposit a few coins in some poker machines, we chose to go to Sydney's Star City Casino; at the exclusive Pier Monts restaurant. Angela had fish 'n' chips and Becca tried the soup of the day.
After dinner, we went outside into the gigantic casino main room. I took them directly toward the two-up arena. Angela had never heard such screaming and ranting. We stayed for a while and observed. Becca was just dying to put some coins into a poker machine - the first thing she noticed is that our poker machines do not have the classic pull down handles. After finding the appropriate machine, Becca found that you don't put coins in; just notes. And away Becca went, Angela had a try too.
And so Angela and her daughter Becca said farewell to our shores. Let’s hope that they are back soon. An
expanded version of Angela in Australia will be featured in an
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but
I know I'll get it back when I arrive back home". Angela stayed
at the Intercontinental - room 3000 (a big secret until now) where
the views of Sydney Harbour were more than magnificent. Her daughter
Becca accompanied her. Angela is radiantly beautiful, as is her daughter.
Angela has the most beautiful skin; very much like a porcelain doll.
And throughout this whirlwind tour she showed continual high spirits
and great humour. You know when Angela laughs, it really is infectious
- she laughs all over and it is delightful to hear. Both girls were
in very good spirits and they have very much looking forward to visiting
this mysterious down under land - Australia.
The
following day Saturday 6th November 1999 there was really intense
rehearsals for the FOX open-air stadium at Moore Park. "I was
really impressed with what I saw. I'm not sure 20th really knew what
they wanted me to do when they called and subsequently the script
that they sent me was nothing like the way it really turned out like
on the night." Actually they (the organisers) were more concerned
about whether it was going to rain or not on the night because even
though the stage had a shelter the five thousand strong audience did
not.
"Hello
It's now 35 years since we made The Sound of Music, but it's an experience
that will live with us forever. It was a crowning achievement and
a truly memorable partnership forged between Rodgers & Hammerstein
and 20th Century FOX. Hearing Human Nature tonight sing ‘The Sound
of The Music’ and 'Climb Every Mountain' certainly brought back a
lot of wonderful memories for us."
On
Wednesday they were taken to The Rocks area where they went to McDonalds
at Circular Quay to see if there was any difference between the burgers
here and back in the States. After that they drove to Chinatown and
had a look all around Dixon Street. On Thursday night it was time
for the Sydney stage premiere of The Sound of the Music staring Lisa
McCune and John Waters. It would be fair to say most folks are familiar
with this all time favourite musical. The enthusiasm of audience members
was very apparent in the theatre especially with Angela Cartwright
in the front row
there. There were lots of fun places in which you can find all about
how films are made. Angela adds, "One of the rides that impressed
me very much was James Cameron's Titanic experience. That was very
good. We were spilt up into two groups and our group were not the
survivors of the ship, (oh well!) but what a fantastic experience.
It was marvellous."
dance and digeridoo display at the Art Museum. Unfortunately Becca
was not feeling very well, so she decided to forgo this morning's
activities. We arrived early to the museum and after the looking around
at some lovely and very unusual electronic displays, we settled down
to watch the display. - Unfortunately, an official came in to the
small theatre and announced that one of the Aboriginals had gone 'walkabout'
and it was most unlikely that the show would go on.
After
a little more looking around Angela said goodbye to the LISA members
and Paul chauffeured us off back to the hotel. En route we rang Becca
- it was really impressive to watch and hear Angela being a Mum over
the mobile phone - she was so tolerant, concerned, and she had the
most comforting voice, encouraging Becca to come to the wildlife reserve.
Within half an hour (or more) the girls were set and ready to meet
some Australian animals. And so off we went to Australia's Featherdale
wildlife preserve located past Blacktown. 
Reflecting
on their last full day in Australia, Angela was already admitting
that she will definitely miss her time here in Australia, and it will
hard missing the wonderful friendliness displayed by the Australian
people. She definitely wants to come back "As matter of fact,
so does Bill, (Mumy) we have been e-mailing each other every day,
he's getting a first hand account of what it's like here. Bill even
suggested there should be a Penny and Will tour of Australia!