Mostly what we came to know about the cat that Denise and the Tange-kids named Niki, was that she was unfailingly sweet. I personally wasn’t all that keen on adding her to our household at the time. I was too partial to my cat Jet, who was nearing the age of two. Nikki appeared to be even younger, although she wasn’t a kitten by any means. But I was protective of Jet’s turf. When my parents agreed to let Denise keep her, it was with the understanding that she would be an outdoor cat, while Jet would remain indoors.

Probably the only picture of Niki and me

Soon enough though, Niki charmed her way into the house. Jet was less than happy, and although he tried to pick on her now and then, there wasn’t much he could do since he didn’t have claws. Niki, to her credit, understood that she was on Jet’s turf and always tolerated his antics – even though she could have gashed him bad at any time. She never once did.

Jet and Niki drawing a Christmas truce in 1985

Eventually she became well-loved by all of us. She meandered in and out of the house at her will and was generally always finding her way onto someone’s lap. I think she sensed the fact that Jet was my cat and she belonged to Denise, but as she and I got older, we warmed up to each other more and more.

Niki passed away on a hot summer day around the Summer of 1993. We found her just outside our front door, lying under a bush. We pegged her age at death at about nine years old. She had been a great pet and I really miss seeing her sweet eyes and gentle disposition.

Sweet Niki

Below is a video I took of Niki trying to catch a bug during the Spring of 1987. She was okay when the camera was on the other side of the fence, but as soon as it crossed over the top, it spooked her and she took off.

Return to the Summer of 1985…

Signed article about Margaret Kerry and Tinkerbell

That’s because to me Margaret Kerry was better known by her original name, Peggy Lynch. As Peggy, she had appeared in three of the Our Gang shorts, two (Teacher’s Beau and The Pinch Singer) at the Hal Roach Studios, and one (Aladdin’s Lantern) at M-G-M.

The Our Gang in 1934. Peggy is on the right. The photo is also signed by Jackie Lynn Taylor, the tall girl in the back.

Peggy in a solo photo from the same shoot as above

My friend Bob first introduced me to Margaret when he took me to her home during my first visit to California in 1988. He had waited for my visit to make some key home-visits to a handful of celebrites whom he was trying to obtain signatures from on a tent banquet group photo of 25 Roach/Our Gang/Laurel & Hardy celebs (including Hal Roach himself). This provided a great opportunity for me to tag along and get to meet several celebs up-close and in-person.

Margaret and me in 1988

Above is the photo from our first meeting. Over the years, I ran into Margaret a few more times. For starters, she was present at the 1992 Way Out West Tent banquet that I attended and I got her to sign my program on July 17, 1992. She was also a guest at the WOW banquet on June 28, 1997, and I attended that one as well.

My encounter with her was a little more intimate when I attended the Hollywood Collectors Show on October 4, 2008. After greeting her in the main area where she was selling signed photos, Bob arranged for us to have breakfast with her the next morning in the hotel restaurant.  Margaret ate her tiny meal and regaled us with tales from her movie days, how she settled on her stage name (given to her by Eddie Cantor, her co-star in the 1948 film If You Knew Susie), the book and blog she is working on, and various other tales, jokes, and anecdotes from her life.

Bob and I enjoy breakfast with Margaret in 2008

Margaret, the jokester, is holding up a picture of her and Bob

Since then, I’ve only seen her one additional time - Bob and I ran into her as she visited the Hollywood Show on July 18, 2009. She wasn’t a guest this time, but just visiting the show. Although I can’t say that I actually know Margaret Kerry (even though we are friends on Facebook!), I can say that she has always been one of the kindest and friendliest of any of the celebrities with whom I’ve had the pleasure of spending time.

Celebrity encounters from my 1988 California trip will continue… (under construction)

Celebrities of the 2008 Hollywood Collectors Show will conclude in the next posting…

Return to the 2008 Hollywood Collectors Show… 

What made Virginia unique to me was that she currently hailed from Dayton, Ohio – and had for decades. She had married R. William Patterson in 1935, who would later become the mayor of Dayton from 1958-62, and he has whisked her back to his hometown. So naturally, when I was introduced to her on Friday, July 25, 1986, at the fifth international Sons of the Desert convention in Valley Forge,  she took a special interest in me because not only was I from her hometown, but I was an exceedingly enthusiastic youngster. We had great interaction throughout the week. I got to peruse her memorabilia, photos, and Bill’s letter from Stan, she signed several autographs for me, and we chatted about life in Dayton, Ohio.

After we returned home, our tent Grand Sheik Carl made Virginia an honorary member of our Springfield Towed in a Hole Tent. My family and I also arranged a visit to her house (where, incidentally, Laurel and Hardy had visited in 1941). I further perused her collection of relics and soon began to think of Virginia and Bill as friends. She lent me three of her photos and I had duplicates made for myself and friends for her to sign. I then made an additional visit to her to get her to sign and inscribe them all.

Virginia peeking out second from left in Soup and Fish

Virginia stars in Music in Your Hair with Billy Gilbert (right)

Virginia, Betty Mack, and Charley Chase in Four Parts

Laurel and Hardy visit Virginia in Dayton in 1942

Great photo of Virginia holding the candle holder that she carried in Babes in Toyland – taken by Carl Ahlm

Since we were traveling to our tent meetings from Dayton anyway, we brought Virginia and Bill along for their first meeting on September 27, 1986, and then Virginia alone on October 26. I recall sitting in the back seat of my parents’ car with her, chatting about her career and specifically the director of Babes in Toyland Gus Meins, who had committed suicide after being accused of child molestation.

Photo that Bob got for me as part of a graduation gift – an album full of graduation wishes from Laurel & Hardy/Our Gang celebrities

Sadly, I didn’t take full advantage of my friendship with Virginia after our meeting. Although we chatted once in a while on the phone – and she sent me several birthday cards – I didn’t see her again until she came to the next Sons of the Desert convention in the summer of 1988. Again, we chatted frequently at this convention and a few time afterward. She even signed some additional original photos that I had located during my 1988 Hollywood trip. She hadn’t seen these photos before, so I had negatives made for her.

One of the birthday cards sent to me, this one from 1987

Virginia gave these postcards out to her ‘special friends’ at the 1988 convention. She made it out to my sister and me. This is a photo of a Mother Goose float dating back to the Barnum & London Circus of the 1880′s

Original photo that I found of Patsy Kelly, Thelma Todd, and Virginia Karns in Soup and Fish

Cast shot from Soup and Fish

Letter that Virginia sent to me in 1989

Virginia and Bill were scheduled to attend the 1990 Clearwater convention, but sadly she passed away on June 21, the month prior to the gathering. I had really been looking forward to seeing her again, and immediately kicked myself for not visiting her more often. Sadly and ridiculously, I never got a good photo of myself with Virginia. Her husband Bill lived until June 18, 1995.

The only known photo with Virginia and me. Here Carl and Holly Ahlm and Denise and I gather autographs from three of the cast members from Babes in Toyland - Henry Brandon, Felix Knight, and Virginia Karns. Taken on July 27, 1986. Denise had a much better one taken – seen here.

I went and took a photo of Bill & Virginia’s house – that both Laurel & Hardy and my family and I visited – for an article that I wrote about Virginia in 2003

Grave of Bill and Virginia in Calvary Cemetery in Dayton

As a post-script: on January 24, 2004, I arranged to have a meeting honoring Virginia and was able to gather ten of Virgina’s family members, some of whom flew in from Alexandria, Virginia. It was a great night that I will never forget…and which will be covered at a later time.

Return to the Valley Forge Sons of the Desert convention where I first met Virginia Karns Patterson…

Christmas Eve came on Wednesday. I had been pumped up to have my Dad’s family over as tradition had dictated since time immemorial. But this year things were different. Although Dad was beginning to feel a little better, Mom insisted that our house was full of flu germs. And since Bill & Dottie were preparing to leave on a Florida trip the day after Christmas, they decided that they better not come over. So Mom took Denise and I over to visit Grandma Range while Dad stayed home and continued his recovery.

The latest craze in our family was to open all of our ‘Santa Claus’ gifts after they went home. Once Denise had stopped believing in Santa, Mom posed the question “do you want to open up your presents tonight or tomorrow?” Denise would reply, “We’ll do some Christmas Eve, and some on Christmas morning.” But we’d always open them all on Christmas Eve. After returning from Grandma’s house, that’s exactly what we did.

Unfortunately, I didn’t document the gifts that I got, but did mention in my ‘fake journal’ that I had gotten a bit more clothes that I had hoped for. As the photos indicate, Mom got a keen fur coat from Dad. I would venture to say that I probably got a Super 8 film or two to go along with the projector that I had gotten for my birthday earlier that year.

Denise opens up a string of pearls, I’m guessing fake

Dad opens the gift from me, some cheap junk public domain Funniest Men of Comedy and Jack Benny Comedy Hour VHS tapes

Mom dons the new furry coat. Note the tiny substitute tree in the place where our traditional giant green tree normally sat. I didn’t care for this one bit.

Aftermath of Christmas Eve exploded. The only gift I can identify in the Laurel and Hardy photo in the middle of the floor, which now hangs on my living room wall. Dad had the couch made up to be his sick-bed.

We were also scheduled to hold the Murphy family Christmas gathering on Thursday, Christmas Day, at our house. But even though Dad had recovered enough to come and share the day with us, there was a fear that the flu germs were still present – so we moved the party over to Diana & Tom’s house. The biggest concern was for Darlene who was less than a month away from giving birth to Brittney.

Darlene getting set to pop. Bob doesn’t look old enough to be able to grow a beard like that.

Although I obviously didn’t take the photos that I am in, all of the photos from this Christmas were taken with Pentax camera that I had received the previous Christmas.

Pre-Frickin’- Christmas Grandpa Murphy, Lori, and Bev hang out down in the basement

Ed, Bob, and Darlene – an American family

Debby guards the bread in the kitchen, while Tom prepares something, possibly a sandwich

Family portrait by the Christmas tree and Telstar tennis video game

Panorama of Christmas – as Grandpa hands out the gifts in front of a coffee table chock full of snacks. In the photo: Denise, Chris, Dad’s feet, Danny, Ben, Grandpa, Susan, Karen (who is the only one acknowledging the camera), Bev, Ed, Debby, Diana, and Jan

Darlene, Lori, Grandma, Mom, Denise, Dad, Chris, Danny, Ben, and Grandpa Murphy

Finally I kick Mom and Denise out of the golden rocking chair and take my spot among the gift calamity

Something has caught the interest of Tom, Darlene, Lori, Denise, Grandma, and my knee

Dad digs into his Christmas gift

It was clear from my writings in the journal that I was a slave to tradition. The cancellation of Christmas Eve had upset me, not having Christmas Day had upset me, and even the fact that we built our traditional Christmas tree in the living room and only put a small tree in the family room upset me. My direct quote was: “Hopefully next year we’ll get back on track and have Christmas the traditional way.” Thankfully, we did. (Although I must say that it had hardly become a tradition for us to hold Christmas Day at our house since at that point, we had only done it one year.)

I spent the rest of Christmas break counting my paper route tip money – just waiting for the chance to go buy some movie books at the mall, working on that blasted plant science project, and staying over with Jim Harwood and scouring his movie collection. We went to Bill Knapps for Grandma Range’s 74th birthday on Monday, December 29, and then Jim picked me up and we went to his place in Springfield. We watched Gremlins and Dressed to Kill along with some Super 8 shorts. George stopped by as well. The next day, Jim took me to the Library of Congress film vaults at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. This was my first time there and I spent the day roaming in and out of the 100 or so film vaults.

My ‘fake journal’ reflected a bit of an attitude in me, which I guess is par for the course for a fifteen year old, but I still recall these times exceptionally fondly – even if it didn’t snow this Christmas.

We will continue in 1987…

Della was very quick to respond. I sent the request out on August 6, 1986, and I received them back, beautifully inscribed (as seen above and in the two below images), on August 15. I was thrilled to have these and she had added some very nice inscriptions on them.

On this one she wrote: Warm wishes from one, Brad – so sad that Stan & Babe cannot also sign this

After picking up a couple of additional photos of Della Lind at the next convention – Minneapolis 1988 – I made one further by-mail request, this time asking her a question about Swiss Miss. I had heard that she stated that scenes from Swiss Miss were originally filmed in color. Although this had been completely refuted, I was hoping to get a nice hand-written letter from her, offering some insight into this claim. And that was exactly what I got as you can see below. I sent the request on July 27, 1988, and received the signed photos back, two signed note cards, and the hand-written letter.

My last encounters with Della Lind came in person when she attended the 1992 Las Vegas convention. She showed up a day or so into the convention and I hopped on the elevator just to be near her. Unfortunately, she had just misplaced her handbag (which at the time she thought had been stolen) – so when I told her that I had met her in 1980, she advised me that she couldn’t talk right now as her purse had just been stolen. I had her sign one additional photo at the convention.

The next week, she attended the Way Out West 25th Anniversary banquet on July 17, 1992. I actually sat at her table during that event and finally had the chance to talk more to her. Fortunate at that time was that I did pretty well at attempting to get photos with the celebrities and did capture one final image with Della.

I am thrilled and honored that I had the chance to meet Della Lind, who played such a prominent role in one of Laurel and Hardy’s films. She passed away in 1999, and I was able to visit her grave (as seen here) in 2009.

Autographs of 1986 will continue…

Autographs of 1988 will continue…

Celebrities of the 1992 Convention will continue…

Celebrities of the 1992 Way Out West banquet will continue…