The stars come out to honor the 100th anniversary of the Hollywood structure known as The Magic Castle

The Hollywood structure known as The Magic Castle is celebrating its 100th anniversary this week culminating with a show at the Kodak Theatre on Sunday called It’s Magic!

Earlier this week, I showed up at The Castle for an afternoon that included the recreation of one of Harry Houdini’s great escapes outside followed by an amazing stage show inside.

Loved the magic but I love Hollywood stars even more. I’m sure a lot of the media was there to see Neil Patrick Harris (a Castle board member) but he had to opt out in order to make an appearance on The Tonight Show.

But what a treasure trove anyway: JoAnne Worley (Laugh-In), Tippi Hedren (The Birds), Rose Marie (The Dick Van Dyke Show), Fred Willard, Romi Dames (Hannah Montana), commediene Judy Tenuta, Dee Wallace (ET), Rip Taylor ($1.98 Beauty Pageant), Alison Amgrim (Little House on the Prairie), Dwayne Hickman (The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis), Kate Linder (The Young and the Restless) and the co-founders of The Magic Castle Milt Larsen and Terry Hill.

Anytime you see JoAnne Worley at an event, you know there is going to be a great energy. I caught her cabaret act at The Magic Castle last month and was just blown away by her talent and her storytelling abilities.

“One of the great things about performing here is it’s in town, we’re at home and friends can come,” she said. “It’s a very intimate setting and it’s nice. It’s wonderful!”

She is the life of any party and told me she would not have missed Tuesday’s event.

“I am a big fan of The Magic Castle, Milt and Arlene [Larsen] have been friends of mine for many, many years and I’ve been member for a long time.”

I wondered if Miss Worley could perform any magic tricks after all her time spent at the Castle: “I think I dooooooo. Sometimes I tryyyyyyyyy to!”

Lending an air of real Hollywood glamour to the proceedings was Tippi Hedren who is best known for her starring roles in the Hitchcock classics The Birds and Marnie.

“The castle came into being the same year that I did The Birds so it’s been a long time,” Miss Hedren said. “It’s one of my favorite places in Los Angeles. It’s so much fun here. The magic ias the best in the world, they have the best magicians and I’m very fond of the slight of hand and all those things. You can watch it and watch it and watch it and you keep saying in your mind, ‘How did they DO that?”

From childhood stardom as Baby Rose to her role as Sally on The Dick Van Dyke Show to her many years on Hollywood Squares, Rose Marie has been in showbiz for more than 80 years. She remains as engaged and lively as ever and I love chatting with her.

“I’m just fine. I’m busy being very social. I have a book out called Hold the Roses, it’s an autobiography and you have to buy it on the Internet. Everybody likes it. I’m not a writer but I just sat down and wrote it.”

As far as The Magic Castle goes, she was one of the earliest fans: “It’s a wonderful place number one. Number two, it has such intriguing things for everybody, even the locals. But when you have guests coming in from the East, it’s a wonderful place to bring them. That’s why I joined. After my husband died, (Van Dyke Show co-star) Richard Deacon said, ‘Why don’t you join the Castle. You can bring people in.’ So my membership number is from the early beginning. I love the place, I would do anything for it.”

Ilene Larsen, co-founder Milt Larsen and Arlene Larsen basked in the fun and I had the chance to chat with Milt a bit about how he transformed a bit of a white elephant of a mansion into such a popular attraction with a star-studded membership.

“Everybody wants to get away from reality,” Milt says. “I know reality shows are the big thing but nobody wants to be in reality let’s face it. Celebrities being a part of it goes back to when we first opened the Castle in 1963. Cary Grant was one of our first very active members, Orson Wells and Johnny Carson and today there’s Neil Patrick Harris and Nicolas Cage and people like that and they all love magic.”

“When we first opened the Castle, we really didn’t think it was going to be a big deal,” Milt added. “We had about 150 members and opened a few rooms in the old house and 46 years later, we’ve got 5,000 active members and half of them are magicians and half are non-magicians and a lot of them are celebrities and stars.”

Judy Tenuta (pictured with Rip Taylor) is one of the funniest women I’ve ever met. Of course she had a funny answer when I asked her what it was she liked about The Magic Castle: “I love it here. I have made my boyfriends disappear here!”