Bellaria - more than bel air for 1500 people that gathered for a Star Trek convention north of Rimini, in the far south of Venice in the con center (centro congressi). Leonard's guest panels on Saturday and Sunday from 14:30 to 15:30 filled the capacity of the hall. The other con guests were: Peter David, Julie Caitlin Brown, Carolyn Seymour, Jeffrey Combs, Paul Carr and Richard Arnold.

The organizers had prepared the con with a lot of love and care. There is only one Star Trek club in Italy, and it is a big one. Well done decorations and good organization. 
There were of course "decompression chambers" for Ladies and Men, a chance to buy pictures shot by a very friendly professional photographer, the official con photographer (Luca shot some hundreds I think having paged through all the papers with the little prints on them which could be bought for Euro 10.- each, printed in A4 size), and rooms where people could take part in role plays, play games and PC games, a big sales room in the cellar and surely a lot I did not even see.

With a group of friends (this Friday morning Ibolya from Hungary, Jane from England and 2 Germans) we went to San Marino for a morning trip. It is an independent state, the smallest on earth except the Vatican, smaller than Andorra and beautifully situated on a mountain. You pass San Leo on the way, a characteristic town on top of a high, picturesque mountain surrounded by a lot of smaller hills – an impressive silhouette.

Films were shown (Enterprise, Mind Melt [interview], TNG "Unification", I, Robot, ... too many to be mentioned here, some in English, some in Italian, some subtitled), guest panels were held and the auctions, entertainment and Star Trek events you all know took place in a well planned mix. 

 I attended the two guest panels and the conference Leonard did. Before Leonard came in for the press conference, they put a fan in, sprayed the room with a nice smelling substance, decorated the table and closed the curtains. You saw the love and the care of the people organizing the event by the juice + water jars and the baked sweet snacks on a tray they have put on the table for him. Then you heard the applause in the hall, saw the flashlights outside concentrating on one point and Mr. Nimoy entered. 
His style and his care for the people attending, his natural dignity and authority and his warmth and kindness came across. 

"Hello, hello!" – he was at ease and laughing. We gave him a long applause while he chose a seat. "I'm very happy to be here, I'm terribly sorry I do not speak Italian. But we'll do the best we can. I have been to Italy many times before, but this is the first time I have been here for a Star Trek convention. And I have been looking forward to this for a long time. So, if you have some questions, let's begin." 

Every sentence was translated into Italian by Cristiano Sassetti, a professional translator. (Great work Cristiano!). Here I give a few spotlights from the contents of the conference: Most questions were asked in Italian. All my recorder taped from the translator's words is 

 * ...what do you think is the secret of Star Trek's success? ... "It is interesting that some countries are taking a longer time to catch up with us. And I think it is based on the decision of the television distributors. We should remember that even in the USA the network canceled us and canceled us again. We were off the air for 11 years. In 1977 ... George Lukas made Star Wars ... and that's when Paramount decided to make more Star Trek. And they have not stopped since" 

* The "I am not – I am" question he answered with the boy–at–the-airport- story. And: "I was misinterpreted by a lot of people, they though I was rejecting the character. 20 years later I corrected the mistake." My childhood dream since I was 9 or 10 year old became true: To see him personally and to thank him for all I have learned through his work and asked my question.

  *He introduced his new book "Shekhina" showing the cover: "This is the cover of a book I am publishing in October. The book will be printed in Rome next month. And I will be talking about this with the audience this afternoon and I assume you will be here. This is a book of photographs I have done over the last 6 or 7 years." 

*... q ... "I think what this gentleman is trying to point out is the very reason why the networks did not understand the show. Because from their mentality science fiction should be about monsters and battles. ..... In many cases the fiction comes first and the science later" 

I realize that the whole conference would fill pages... Meanwhile: In addition to my real camera (still with manual adjusting of the lenses and opening times) and the little automatic zoom quick - shooter I used, I proved my professionalism by using an old Polaroid camera I had borrowed from a friend (only to make sure that if anything happened to the films, I will have some pictures in my hand for sure). This huge square thing went: "Rrrrrrrrrrrrr, rururururu ..." for some time and then the picture came out: (loudly) "Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ..." ... I stayed cool and remembered a line from "Spock vs. Q": "Vulcans laugh on the inside." 

*... "I have done a lot of theater in my life. I have started in the theater when I was a child, I have been on Broadway twice. I have toured the United States with theater. In all kinds of theater, drama, comedy musicals, all kinds of theater. I did a one man show called 'Vincent'."

*... "There is a great interaction with the audience in theater. But with one movie you can reach so many more people than you can reach in a lifetime in a theater. So the impact of film, the impact on imagination, on culture, is enormous. It is very difficult to change the world with theater, but you can change the world with a movie." (laughing) 

*Do you still enjoy going around and talking about Spock? "I am enjoying this. This is a very charming conversation. ... It depends on the circumstances." 

*... about Star Trek now ... "... I feel like they are my children and grandchildren ....." It felt good to see that Mr. Nimoy was comfortable answering the questions he had been asked countless times already. He took the people seriously in their interests and reacted as if he was asked these questions for the first time, and he was ... - by the people asking. Here is a new question bye Jane: 

*... About 20 miles from here is the river Rubicon. Was there a point in your life you felt you'd crossed the Rubicon? "Oh, oh, how interesting! You know I set out as a young man to be an actor simply to make a living. for a family. And I always thought of myself as a character actor. No celebrity star, simply make a living. And suddenly, suddenly, very suddenly I found myself in the situation of a character that became enormously famous. And my life changed drastically. And the best thing about all of this was the opportunity to interesting work. And from that time on my life changed. So, if that is what the Lady means by 'crossing the Rubicon', that really happened." 

The first guest panel on Saturday afternoon: "Commodore Spock!" a gentleman in uniform shouted and blew a one – tone – whistle for a long time. Leonard entered the stage and got a long applause during the great sound of Star Trek music. The first contact was made by Leonard asking him for his age. "72". Leonard told the audience his date of birth and asked for the various age groups in the audience, he shared with us his appreciation of the country, especially of the art in Rome and all the art in Italy, informed everybody that the book "Shekhina" will be printed in Rome, he told the muffin story and quite soon he began with the q & a session. He got the translation by earphone and answered in English. 

* ... working on any movies right now? ... He does not work on a movie, because he is concentrating on photography now and talked about the blessing symbolizing the letter shin and it's importance, ... and sensed that the audience responded very much to the Vulcan background. ... "... people shake hands, military people salute to each other, Chinese people bow to each other, we should find something Vulcans do, ... some special Vulcan gesture . ... it captures people' imagination ... 6 or 7 years ago I was working on fine art photography, making prints, ... and it occurred to me that I have never introduced this gesture into my work, into my photography work ... ... that when this blessing had been given the feminine presence of God enters the sanctuary to bless the congregation. ... so I began to explore this idea of photographing the invisible Shekhina... to photograph the feminine presence of God .... I’ve put together a collection of about 50 or 60 images to be published ... actually it happens that the book is being printed in Rome next month, in June, .... ( he showed the cover) that is my Shekhina - the feminine presence of God - and it starts with this gesture ..." ... big applause. 

*... " ... The theater has been a very important part in my life. And ... I had one extraordinary experience ... unfortunately it never came to Europe ... except on video...... a project I called 'Vincent', about Vincent van Gogh. ... I was studying his work, I was studying his letters he wrote [may I add?: about 500 letters] .... I discovered for myself that this was a human being of great passion to offer gifts to mankind. And I think, that's the greatest thing an artist can do: ...what we are destined to do as artists to do best work ..... is to help humanity to understand itself, to help to illuminate our lives, to help us, to help humanity, to see the things that you have been felt unseeable. This is the role, this is the function of the artist. And Vincent was that kind of an artist. Vincent desperately wanted to create beautiful work to mankind to benefit by seeing through what was available to them through his eyes. He was a very religious man, a very passionate man and obviously a great artist. So I did this story about his life – a one man show .... across the United States - and I did 150 performances of it. And in 35 cities across the United States. ... I am not just talking about theater. I am talking about art. What is art? .... Why is it important in our lives? How would our lives be changed, be different, if we did not have art? I think it would be much emptier, our lives would be much more barren. Investigating the art in Rome alone, in Rome alone!, there is a fantastic collection of the greatest works of mankind. You can spend your life in the city of Rome, experiencing the greatness of the art that has been given to us in this culture. 

The guest panel on Sunday: Talking about stories in his life, background knowledge of film making and giving information for an hour in front of a big audience is demanding and needs concentration. He once said many years ago in an interview: "I do not have stage fright – there is only bad preparation," I think that he loves to give and that it is rewarding to see how people react and to know one has done something to enrich a persons life, make people interested in various subjects and feeling the response, the gratitude of the fans. But I also think that coming to a con is very demanding. By jetlag, by people who are trying to use him for their own interests, by quarrels behind the scenes and by the frequent noise and having to be attentive to various peoples needs. On stage he talked about Star Trek IV and later about the whales. 

Amongst the other topics I found it very interesting to learn that all the whales invent a new 'song' and sing it together. "... it is a collection of cries and moans and clicks. And it comes together in sort of a ..... what is called a 'song', it takes two or three minutes when they go through the series of sounds. And then they start again. The same thing. ( he imitated some of the various sounds) and after a period of time, a few days perhaps, the song changes. And now they create a new song. And they repeat that for a period of times and it changes again. That song, that whale song, passes ..... to all the oceans through the world. So at any one time the whales in one part of the world are singing a particular pattern of sounds, the whales in another part of the planet, in another ocean, are singing exactly the same pattern. We don’t know why this is. It is a total mystery. ..." (Whoever hasn't got it yet: Leonard is reading the introductions to "Whales Alive!", a CD where classic and other music is combined with whale 'songs' in a beautiful way. – a byproduct of Star Trek IV). 

In this context he talked about the SETI program "... the questions is: If we get this signal, if we hear .... this 'message' ... will we be able to understand it? ... it will come in a form we will not understand. It will come in an alien language. ..." 

He talked about his trip to Moscow, his visit to his family, where he was moved to discover that they had kept 2 photos for over 20 years: "These are my brothers children" – they discovered the relationship: They were cousins. The importance of family connection, of blood relationship. 

Another story was about the Japanese business man, who had translated the Star Trek stories and told him (speaking in short sentences with breaks between the words and in a different deep voice): "I had to make some changes. Kirk, Spock and Dr. McCoy as friends, - no. Not acceptable for Japanese military. And George Takei is not Japanese." And then he told the audience about George Takei's imprisonment in an American concentration camp because of him being Japanese. Though Leonard dealt with the person's ignorance and arrogance efficiently, you strongly felt the seriousness of the situation and you found yourself laughing because of the way the situation was presented. 

I remembered what his mother said to him as he was a child (after they have been molested in the street): "The only bad thing that can happen is that you begin to hate". I think that one of the secrets behind this gift of combining tough facts with humor - a humor which presents a situation to an intrigued audience without making fun of a person or the facts - is a deep love for mankind. As in the first guest panel he closed by reading "I am an incurable romantic", which is the very first poem in "A Lifetime of Love: Poems on the Passages of Time" and "For All Mankind" and – as on Saturday – Leonard earned a long applause by the impressed audience.

Report by Margitta; pictures by Maria Francesca and others