For Jason Alexander Fans

This is from Mark Evanier's fantastic blog News From Me. For the entire piece go here:
http://www.newsfromme.com/

Mark Evanier:

Here’s a little notice that Jason Alexander has had to put out about people who converge on him with stuff to get signed. Like most famous folks, he has to differentiate between people who want one autograph as a treasured momento and people who have a whole pile o’ stuff they want signed so they can sell it on eBay. Whenever you hear that a celeb is bitchy or rude about signing autographs, make sure you know which kind they’re talking about. The seekers in the latter category can be very intrusive, very demanding and sometimes even a menace to public safety.

I’ve met Jason on a number of occasions and for whatever my reporting is worth, he seems to be one of the nicest, most approachable stars around. He’s especially good if you have something more to say to him than, "I’ve always enjoyed your work." Not that he’d probably mind just that.

One night, we were both at a one-performance-only performance of a musical out in Glendale. Being a one-time event, everyone on stage had most of their friends and family there…and most of these performers were young and new at this. After the show, there was an informal party out in the parking lot by the stage door. There, much of the audience mingled with the actors, congratulating them and heaping deserved (in most cases) praise on them. Jason was mingling too and I noticed and was impressed by two things he did.

One was that he approached each and every actor and made a point of giving them some non-gushy, sincere compliments and gentle advice. I didn’t exactly eavesdrop on the conversations but I heard enough to know he was finding something positive and encouraging to say to each performer and none of what I heard sounded phony. It took him a while to make the rounds and make sure he didn’t miss any…and that alone was a fine gesture. But I figured out something else he was doing…