Dahlia Jane stands in front of Balloon Boy

At about 12:40 in the afternoon on Saturday, May 28, I achieved a lifelong dream of meeting Tim Burton.

Tim’s films have been such an integral part of my life. I admire his creativity, his humor, his distinctive style and the emotional notes his films achieve. He’s my absolute hero.

To celebrate the opening of the retrospective of Tim Burton’s art, which originally showed at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2009, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art had Tim do a book signing. With a packed production schedule, he’s working on both the upcoming stop-motion film Frankenweenie and Dark Shadows in London, Tim only had 24 hours in Los Angeles. Two of those hours, 12pm-2pm were set aside for signing books. When MOMA held a book-signing in 2009, 1500 people showed up, and many of them were turned away after Tim stopped signing. The autograph was a secondary goal for me. I just wanted to meet the man. But I really, really wanted to meet the man. And would have been crushed if I missed my opportunity.

I arrived at LACMA a little after 6 am and was dismayed to see over a hundred people already lined up in front of the locked campus gates. I knew the museum planned to hand tickets out to those in line at about 9am. People with tickets (the first 200) would probably get their book signed, the next fifty might get their book signed, and after that the chances steadily decreased. Fans with sleeping bags camped out starting at 9:30 pm the night before and people were steadily arriving all night. Luckily, I got one of the magic red tickets that meant I was within the first 200 people. The moments leading up to getting that ticket I was so anxious, fearful I’d just miss the cut-off since people in front of me were saving spots for more and more people that arrived throughout the morning. I know at least 800 people lined up, but I don’t know how many people got through.

The line started moving just before noon. I’d had weeks to think about what I might say to my hero given the opportunity. Approaching the Japanese Pavilion where Tim was signing, everything flew out of my head including the entire English language. I entered the hallway leading into the Pavilion and took a loud, labored breath. The security guard at the door, an older black man, sensing my excitement, laughed and said, “That’s what I’m talking about!” I rounded the corner, but couldn’t see Tim around all of the people. I glimpsed a thatch of the wild, black hair, then a sliver of nose. Finally the crowd parted and there he was.

As a writer I rely on my keen sense of observation and memory for details. With this event, I was so enmeshed in my dizzying hero-worship that all of my senses failed me. Later on, I had to look at the photos to piece together the two or three minutes I was in the Pavilion. The stress gave me a kind of tunnel-vision. All I saw was Tim’s face. If you had asked me what Tim was wearing or who was standing with him as I exited the signing, I wouldn’t have been able to respond.

Here’s what I do remember: Tim was so gracious. He thanked me for coming and said, “You look great” which thrilled me since I typically dress like a character from his films. He shook my hand. I said something articulate like, “Thank you for everything you’ve ever done” and “meeting you is a dream come true.” (I hope it came out in full sentences like that, but it might have been more like “meeting you dream true”). Tim had a pen in his right hand so he extended his left hand to shake again and I had trouble coordinating my own left hand to take his. I may have teared up a little because when I checked the mirror after there were smears of dark makeup under my eyes like I’d been crying.

As I turned to leave the Japanese Pavillion, I decided to take one more picture. I was shaking so much that it's wildly out of focus, a feat with my high-tech Canon's stabilization settings.

After a few more photos with my prized autographed book, I found myself in the driver’s seat of my car. I sat there with the windows down for twenty minutes, trying to pull myself together for the drive home. Throughout the journey I would suddenly remember, I just met Tim Burton, and start shaking all over again. I was bouncing off the walls all afternoon.

Dahlia Jane holds her signed copy of The Art of Tim Burton, a beautiful book that every Burton fan should have.

I returned to LACMA that evening for a special screening of Tim’s sixth feature film, Ed Wood (1994). It’s a gem of a film about the worst filmmaker of all time and his motley crew of misfit friends, with fantastic performances by Johnny Depp, Martin Landau and Bill Murray. The screening included a showing of Tim’s magical short Vincent and a brief introductory interview between Tim and a museum person. An hour early, the line already snaked around the building. As a single, I still managed to snag a seat in the second row. After Vincent, Tim Burton arrived onstage to boisterous applause. I managed to record the brief interview. Sorry about the shaking again. I was out of control.

Saturday was overwhelming. I’m still buzzing from the contact I had with my hero and I’m grateful to Tim and the museum for giving me the opportunity. I look forward to seeing the exhibition in person soon.

More From Dahliaj

• Gifts for Tim Burton fans
• My Washington DC day: skeletons and dungeon | Upon a Midnight Dreary
• Gifts for Tim Burton Fans 2010 edition

Ask Dahliaj To Recommend Your Posts

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2011 at 11:41 am and is filed under Around Los Angeles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.