In her own words, Vicki DeArmon, marketing and events director at Copperfield's Books and author of World's Ugliest Dogs, just out from Lyons Press ($12.95, 9780762792559), recounts her whirlwind morning yesterday in New York City in what was originally to be just an appearance on the Today Show by her, Walle, currently world's ugliest dog, and Tammie Barbie, Walle's owner.
Well today was truly awesome. For a moment, I felt a flash of what it felt to be a star (or in the entourage of one anyway). We started out at 6:30 a.m. for an appearance on the Today Show. They loved the dog, but sadly no book coverage. I booked Fox at 8:30 a.m. so we ran over there, and they did a great segment on the dog, the contest, and the book (all three of us were in it). Then back to the Today Show because it seemed that Kathie Lee and Hoda wanted to see the dog. I gave the producer books for each of the women and when we walked into the show, they were both laughing hilariously and flipping through the book. That may be the pinnacle of existence, to have Kathie Lee holding your book AND enjoying it. So she continued to hold it and reference it in the spot where they talked up Tammie and looked over Walle and showed footage from the contest. Then as we're leaving, the View calls and asks if we can stop by. Whoopi and the gang? Of course, we could. Before their car arrived, a tmz reporter and cameraman saw us and asked Tammie some questions and got some footage of Walle signing the World's Ugliest Dog. Then the car from the View arrived. We went on at the end, Tammie on stage, with me positioned in the audience, ready to answer a question about the contest, which I did quickly as the show closed. As we drove to the airport, calls were still coming in. We begged off, wanting to make our plane back to California (now delayed). Ah well. A publicist's dream.