Hasty Pudding Roasts Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore flashed a peace sign as she paraded through the streets of Harvard Square yesterday, surrounded by members of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals' cast decked out in glitzy drag.

The star of Charlie's Angels traveled to the Square to accept her brass pudding pot at the 51st annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals Woman of the Year award Ceremony.

Hundreds of students and local residents braved yesterday afternoon's biting wind to see Barrymore.

The hoards climbed on top of snowbanks to catch a glimpse of the star as she rode slowly through the Square in a silver convertible before accepting her award.

A fire engine, a Jam'n 94.5 radio truck, state troopers on horseback and about a dozen middle-aged men on mopeds turned out for the parade. The Harvard-Radcliffe Band played, four couples from the Harvard Ballroom team danced and the Harvard-Radcliffe Dance company--sporting pink hooded shirts and wings--blew bubbles at the crowd.

As the parade wound down Holyoke Street to Harvard University Health Services (UHS), Barrymore stood up in the car and greeted the exuberant crowd with a peace sign.

Some UHS personnel screamed from the roof, while others--wearing white lab coats--pressed their faces against the window and held a sign reading, "Drew Our Angel."

After the parade, Barrymore--casually dressed in olive-green corduroy pants and a green crocheted sweater and scarf--danced into the theater to the tunes of the Pudding orchestra.

On the Hasty Pudding stage, a giggling Barrymore was "roasted" by tuxedo-clad Christopher M. Hans '01, president of the Theatricals, and Michael S. Roiff '01, vice president of the cast.

It was a roast with a Charlie's Angels theme.

A voice boomed from overhead, saying "Good morning, angels."

Unprompted, Barrymore responded "Good morning, Charlie."

The voice alerted "angels" Roiff, Hans and Barrymore that the pudding pot had been stolen and could only be returned by recounting a series of events in Barrymore's life. In addition, Charlie asked the three angels for a tuna sandwich.

The lights went dim, the orchestra played eerie music and Hans and Roiff quizzed Barrymore about past films--including Home Fries and Poison Ivy.

The two jokingly reenacted the final scene from Never Been Kissed, when Barrymore finally kisses her long-time crush on a pitcher's mound of a baseball diamond.

Hans and Roiff pulled Mounds candy bars out of their pockets, stood on them and pursed their lips, waiting for a kiss.

Barrymore did not disappoint. She wrapped her leg around each actor and kissed him on the cheek.

Roiff also mentioned the infamous David Letterman episode when Barrymore bared her chest while singing Letterman "Happy Birthday."

Barrymore had to sing a rather out-of-tune rendition of Happy Birthday that ended with the rhyme, "I should've never filmed Batman or Titan AD."

"This is so much worse than taking off my top," she joked.

When presented with her pudding pot, Barrymore kissed the award and posed with it balanced on her head.

"This is so cool," she said, laughing.

After Barrymore received her pudding pot, the Pudding cast staged a preview of their 153rd show, Fangs for the Memories, which will open next Thursday when Anthony Hopkins is in town to accept his Man of the Year award.

Barrymore said she plans to keep the pot on one of her favorite shelves at home.

"When I'm having an awkward day, I'll look at this and remind myself to be nice to myself," she said.

Barrymore said she felt "honored" to receive any sort of award from Harvard.

"When I was 13, and dropping out of school, I never would have thought that Harvard would call me and ask me to come celebrate my life," she said. "It's wild."

The light-hearted award comes at an appropriate time in her career, Barrymore said.

"I've realized that I just can't take it all too seriously. You have to be able to have a good laugh about yourself."