Believe it or Not...Fran’s involved with Something Odd is happening on Times Square
They say things often happen in three's. Well out of all days of the month... three very exciting things were going to happen in my life on this one particular Thursday, and I had to choose only one to attend.
First, I was hired to fly out to Scottsdale, Arizona to do two television shows, and my "Dare to Do it " talk in front of an audience of world class surgeons and breast cancer survivors.
Second, I was being honored at Queens College at a dinner along with Ray Ramano, Joy Behar and Jerry Seinfeld.
Third, I was asked to attend the grand opening red carpet event of the Ripley's Believe it or Not Odditorium located at Times Square (42nd between 7th & 8th). The press was going to be out in force interviewing the record holders.
All were taking place on the same night, and at the same time! Since I haven't perfected my cloning abilities just yet I needed to figure out a way to do them all.
I knew I had to fly to Scottsdale that night, because I was under contract to do a 5 a.m. morning show, not to mention I also love doing my talk and inspiring people... so that gig was a must.
As for Queens College, I sent them some pictures and a DVD of what I do, and they put it in a montage that they showed at the dinner.
As for Ripley's...that was a tough one. Since I was in last years Ripley's Believe it or Not Planet Eccentric book (page 108- not that I have it memorized)
and in this years book as well with my Titanic record, I did not want to miss this red carpet event... Carmen Electra, Kelly Osbourne and Jenny McCarthy would be there. Which is cool in itself, but I as more fascinated that my fellow BIONS (Believe It or Nots) that would be there... like the Conjoined Twins, Mini KISS (a pint sized version of the rock group Kiss), The Lizard Man (complete with forked tongue and a reptile torso), the one armed waiter who was going to serve up some snacks, the lady that pops her eyes out of her head (although that might be hard to watch), wolf boy, and the man with the biggest mouth in the world... a guy who can stick 280 straws in at one time... I mean come on how cool would it be to have the fastest lips met the biggest mouth?
So I came up with a solution. I was meeting with this producer guy named Phil. Phil, is the brainchild behind Rockmetv.com (a 24 hour online internet station). We had talked about me doing a show called, "Fran's World and welcome to it" (Sound familiar? Yup a video extension of this blog.) So I suggested that we do an episode on the Ripley's odditorium and its grand opening.
Of course, I'd have to arrange to get a sneak preview of the place and then get someone to guest host the red carpet segment for me... but that could all be worked out.
Phil loved the idea, Tim O'Brien the PR person for Ripley's and Jim O'Shea the General Manager at the odditorium also liked the idea... so we were set. The final piece was to ask my good friend, Fitness Celebrity John Basedow if he was willing to pinch-hit for me and co-host the red carpet event... he gladly said "Yes."
That Tuesday prior to the grand opening, myself, my good friend still photographer and interactive artist, Ali Berman and the two rockmetv.com cameramen, Brian Weeks and Jeffrey Cobelli showed up to tape the segment.
I called Jim O'Shea on my cell phone and he said he and his assistant GM, Karen would meet us in the lobby.
While we were waiting a security guard sauntered over,
"Hey I'm from Brooklyn and I'm not shy... wanna get me on camera? This is my good side." His personality fit right in with the odditorium.
I taped a bit of him and then the opening segment while we were waiting... "Hi I'm Fran Capo... the worlds fastest talking female and this is Fran's World, a show that celebrates the unique, the different the odd, and peak performance from around the world... after all why be ordinary if you can be extraordinary!
We are here today to get a sneak preview of the Ripley's Believe it or Not Odditorium. Now this is not the first time Ripley's is in the Big Apple. In fact this is the triumphant return! Ripley's was in the city for more than 30 years... but closed in 1972, when the Times Square area got too raunchy with it's peek shows. But now it's back and it's bigger and odder than ever... let's have a family style peek inside."
With that Jim O'Shea walked into the lobby and shook our hands with a great big smile. Jim knew that I was in the book, but he didn't know that the Ripley's artist had also done a cartoon on my two other records (a book signing at the top of Kilimanjaro and one down by the wreck site of the Titanic.) Of course I just happened to have the cartoon handy and whipped it out.
Once our photo opp was out of the way we began our tour.
Jim was very excited to show us everything... one of our first stops was a replica of a half torso man... apparently he lived his life very happy that way...
I looked at Jim, "Okay, not for nothing but without a bottom half, how did that guy go to the bathroom?
Jim smiled, "I haven't figured that one out myself yet."
We continued on, past the tallest man, past the albino giraffe and then a quick stop at the six-legged cow who just happened to have the world's largest hairball on display in front of him. (The funny thing is I once traveled with that very hairball in the back of my car when I was on tour with Ripley's... talk about class!)
Anyway, we then stopped in the stock and bond room, which is a money maker but not of the same kind... this is a torture room. Jim seemed to get a kick out of telling me about this room.
He smiled, "Ever hear of the Mongolian Diet Plan?"
Is that like the South Beach diet plan?
"Not quite, It's where they would take prisoners, lock them in a crate and put food, just beyond their reach. They'd die of starvation and the crate would double as their coffin."
"Nice... I think I'll stick to my Miracle cleanse diet... at least I can live to talk about it.
We continued on till I came to a bookcase full of jars.... jars with heads in them.
"So what's this? In case you want to lose weight even faster than starving to death, the torture fanatics would accommodate your wish by cutting off your head, pickling it in a jar, tossing out the body and getting rid of dead weight?'
He laughed, "Yeah something like that."
Karen looked at me as if I had two heads, which actually would have went perfect in this odditorium. I shrugged, "What can I say, my mind works in weird ways... that's why I feel at home here."
We continued to look at other torture devices and then moved on.
The cool thing about the whole place is that there are things in every nook and cranny... there are human feet in the fireplace, wall paintings that move, meteorites from space and many interactive things... some that even made you jump up and scream.
(See video clip at the bottom of this blog!)
At one point while we were changing batteries on the camera I decided to sit down next to a women with a lot of neck jewelry on... I asked her if she got the jewelry on sale and if it hurt for her to always be sticking her neck out... she didn't seem to want to talk about it... so I just sat there, looked at her and left.... if I didn't know better I'd say she had a New York attitude.
With neck jewelry mama out of the way, we continued to stroll past one of a kind artifacts. Karen and Jim were like walking encyclopedia's, happily giving out tons of information on each piece. Then as I was about to continue, I spotted it... a photo of the man himself... the late Robert Ripley.
Karen offered some history, "Don't know if you know this but, Mr. Ripley was an icon in the world of cartoon art. He was actually the first person to be elected to the Trivia Hall of Fame. He came to New York from San Francisco in 1913 at the age of 23. He came here oddly enough, not to set up an auditorium, but to pursue his dream or at least make more money from his drawings. He landed a job as an illustrator with the New York Globe. Then in 1914 he actually tried out for the New York Giants - and made the team!"
"Really, wow that is awesome... he winds up getting two of his dreams, art and baseball."
Karen continued, "Well not really because in his very first game with the Giants, he broke his pitching arm."
"Wow, that's terrible." I said.
"Not really because, then he went back to the Globe to work."
"Well that's good he had that to fall back on."
"More than that", Karen continued, "He wound up marrying a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl, living in a 28-room stone mansion on a private island off Mamaroneck and hosting grand parties during prohibition that would dazzle even the most jaded New Yorker."
"Geez and then what? In his spare time he went around collecting these artifacts?"
"Yup, which makes his motto truth can be stranger than fiction, so great."
"Funny, I tell my ex-husband that all the time and he doesn't appreciate it!"
Jim laughed. Leaving Mr. Ripley we headed into one of the most prized possessions of the Odditorium, the world's largest collection of shrunken heads on display.
"So Jim these guys all come from one lucky family?"
"Actually they were the spoils of the Jivaro Indians of Ecuador... we have more heads here than the American Museum of Natural History."
At that point my friend Ali, who had been coming around with us and snapping still pictures stopped in amazement. "Fran these are authentic heads... I travel all around the world with my art, and I know shrunken heads when I see them."
"What gives it away? The size?" I smiled. "Only kidding."
Ali smiled and then went on to talk about all of these one of a kind artworks that she has collected over the years. Jim and Karen seemed very interested and they talked about the possibility that she may have some displayed at the odditorium.
We now were coming to the end of our tour. It was truly fascinating, and I was really sorry I was going to miss the red carpet event with the live oddities on display. I was happy though that at least I knew John would be covering the event, and we would have some great footage.
We did the close of the show, with Jim and Karen giving all the information to anyone who wants to visit. I then went outside and did my final piece.
After the lights of the cameras were off we all shook hands. Brian turned to me and said, "That was one of the most interesting segments I've ever shot... that stuff is amazing!"
"Yup, it's one of those things you have to see to know whether you can truly Believe it or Not!"
See the Fran's World Segment on ROCKMETV.COM
Ripley's Believe It or Not! Times Square Odditorium Information:
Address: 234 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Avenue)
Phone Number: (212) 398-3133
Hours: Open 365 days a year from 9am to 1am
Pricing: Adults - $24.95; children ages 4 – 12 years old - $18.95; students, seniors and military personnel - $21.95
Website: www.ripleystimessquare.com