ARLINGTON – Darlene Booth was already on cloud nine Friday morning. Her son was visiting from Germany, just back from military duty in Iraq, and the family was getting together for breakfast.
But when the unemployed Marysville mother of four opened the front door of her daughter-in-law’s house and looked out into the drizzle of Northwest fog, things got surprisingly better.
“Oh, my goodness,” Booth said. “There are cameras out here.”
Also on the front step was easily one of the most glamorous women to have graced the roadside of Highway 530, television host Bo Griffin. With her was the crew from “Knock-Knock Makeover,” a segment of the syndicated Los Angeles morning show “Good Day Live.”
They were there to give Booth a surprise hair and makeup makeover on live television.
Booth was whisked into the house to have her revamp.
Unaccustomed to primping and styling her hair, Booth, stunned and crying, talked herself through the shock.
“The kids had me put on makeup,” Booth said of her own attempt at a makeover. “I looked like a hooker.”
After a smooch and a hug from Griffin, Booth watched and listened along with the television-viewing nation to a short video clip of her friend Lauralee NeSmith of Mesa, Ariz., say why she thought Booth needed a makeover.
“I just love her more than I love anyone else,” NeSmith said. “I admire her for raising four kids.”
Juan and Rina Gutierrez had flown in from their salon, Estilo, in Salt Lake City and got straight to business with only an hour to do the makeover live.
Griffin, herself attractively coifed, happily chatted and laughed with Booth’s family while simultaneously checking in on the makeover.
“You’re looking good already,” Griffin said.
Griffin has been surprising people with makeovers since April.
“One woman in Boston said no,” Griffin said.
But live television crews don’t take no for an answer. So Griffin nabbed the woman’s friend and gave her a makeover instead.
People are either in shock, laugh incessantly or they cry when the makeover crew arrives, Griffin said. “It’s one out of three.”
While Griffin talked, the camera occasionally panned the back of Booth’s head for a few seconds at a time throughout the show. The “reveal” is kept under wraps until the final segment.
Carefully, the makeup wizards transported Booth from the 1970s to present day while her family remained secluded in a bedroom. They are not allowed to see the magic being made but did check in with friends on the phone who were watching the show.
“It was very hard to keep it a secret,” said Booth’s son Jeremy Niethamer, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, about the surprise. “She does so much for her kids. Does so much.”
Out in the front room Booth looked dazed but excited.
“This is the first time I’ve ever had my eyebrows plucked,” Booth said.
With her myriad of brushes tucked into her tool belt, Gutierrez swiped and whooshed pinks and mauves across Booth’s eyes, cheeks and chin, updating her look.
With the reveal just minutes away, field producer Jena Burke gave Booth some tips.
“Always, always, always look into the camera because everyone wants to see you,” Burke said. “Stand by everybody! Ten seconds.”
“Five, four, three, two.”
Booth raised a mirror and took a look at her new self for the first time. “Oh my … oh my … I love it.” Booth said. “I can’t cry.”
“Oh, girl don’t mess with those lashes,” Griffin said.
Booth sent a message to NeSmith in Arizona as she looked into the camera: “Hi Lauralee. Thank you. I love you.”
Booth’s family came out of the bedroom with their backs to her. When they turned around there was an eruption of cheers and gasps.
“You look like a fox,” Griffin said.
Before Griffin and her team left, she made sure everyone got pictures and hugs. Then Griffin sashayed her way down the concrete path, leaving behind a roomful of happy people and an appreciative deserving recipient. The atmosphere felt like the good fairy had come and gone and left a trail of magic dust behind her.
“I thought it was the Publisher’s Clearing House,” Booth said. “But then I thought, ‘I didn’t enter that.’ “
Booth was still stunned. She wanted autographs.
“I’m so excited,” Booth said. “I’ll never forget this day.”
Reporter Christina Harper: 425-339-3491 or harper@heraldnet.com.
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