For starters, Sherry joined the cast of the Mickey Mouse Club in 1956. Those conducting the auditioning found her lisp to be very funny, and she was assigned to the (second tier) Blue Team. After her stint on that show, she went on to appear in Dance with Me, Henry, which happened to be Abbott and Costello’s last film. She would make appearances in many sitcoms of the 1960s including Family Affair, My Three Sons, and The Monkees.

Sherry had photos for sale from both of these works, so I made her one of my standard offers: two photos for $30. She gladly accepted the offer and willingly posed for a picture with me.

Even if I hadn’t known her for the ‘key’ work she was there for, I am still grateful for the chance to have a brush with Sherry Alberoni – and add signed photos to my Abbott and Costello collection and Mousketeer collection.

Celebrities of the Winter 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…

Typically portraying Native Americans in films, TV, or in this case, voice-over, Irene Bedard is actually of the Inupiat people, from Alaska’s Northwest Arctic. Sometime after her portrayal of Pocohontas in two Disney animated films, she played the mother of Pocohontas in the live-action film The New World in 2005.

Ms. Bedard was appearing at the Wizard World Comic Con show in Chicago, Illinois, on Saturday, August 13, 2011. I had to check back at her table a couple of times, where her incredibly hot daughter (presumably) was manning the helm.

This was a great meeting, although I wasn’t very happy with the very poor quality of the photos she had available, at the relatively high price of $25 – but she wasn’t charging to get a photo with her. In the end, it was a very pleasing encounter. How. It just was.

Celebrities of the 2011 Wizard World Chicago Comic Con will continue…

I had mentioned previously to Jamie and her Mom that the Food Network TV show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives had done a segment in two of our local Cincinnati eateries. On Friday, June 24, Jamie’s folks suggested that instead of eating dinner at their house, they would like to take us out to eat at Blue Ash Chili, one of the two establishments featured on the show, this one in the episode Comfort Food With Attitude. This entire event intrigued me: the concept of eating some spectacular and acclaimed food dishes at some unique and interesting (and mostly cheap) restaurants. After tasting their chili, chili dog, and taking a few bites of Jamie’s Mom’s heaping Reuben sandwich (she gave me half, but I had to save most of it for leftovers), I was hooked. I simply had to find out what other restaurants were out there to be discovered. Blue Ash Chili was the first of the current of 477 (the current number featured so far), but as far as I was concerned, there were going to be more in my future.

DD&D #1: Blue Ash Chili in Blue Ash, Ohio

Attacked by the sunlight, Jamie and I high five our first DD&D meal, complete with chili, a five-way, a chili dog, and gigantic Reuben

We went back to Jamie’s folks’ house after dinner, and despite the fullness, we played some rousing games of ping pong and I helped Jamie put her spare modem on Amazon. I went to my Mom’s house that night to sleep, knowing that I’d be picking up Jamie bright and early the next morning, Saturday, June 25.

The reason for this: Kings Island. It had been just slightly over a year since I had visited the park, and I was pumped and primed to replace that memory with a much grander one. Our bright and early start wasn’t horribly bright and early by any means. In fact, by the time I picked her up and made our way to the park, it was nearly noon.

After getting through the gates and getting our Eiffel Tower picture taken, we headed over to the Action Zone of the park for a ride on Invertigo (formerly known as FACE/OFF when Paramount owned the park). I didn’t ride this ride during my last visit, so it had been at least nine years since I had been on this one. We nearly didn’t get to ride it. As we waited in the 90-minute line, it was announced that the ride had shut down. Most people left, but we had waited so long – and so many people had departed the line, that we decided to wait it out. It still took about 90 minutes as had been announced, but with its six inversions and speed up to 55mph, it was certainly the heart-pounder needed to start our day.

Arrival at the park, lackluster framing courtesy some lunkhead man-about-town

Invertigo: a feeling of dizziness, a swimming in the head…

Post-traumatic Jamie at the end of the ride

The Racer – located in the Coney Mall – had been one of Jamie’s favorite rides, but she had preferred the backwards version. It was only going forward these days, but it still provided the pulse pounding rickety thrills that it always had - and had been since opening day at the park in 1972. The Monster had been another of her childhood favorites, so we hopped on that one immediately. However, I don’t think either of us were quite as prepared to feel so nauseous when we got off. It hit us both at the same time, so it must have had something to do with our particular ride and spins.

Creaking our way up The Racer

One of Jamie’s favorite childhood rides…

The Monster is about to claim two more victims

Jamie gets her stomach reconfigured and back in working order…

The remedy for this upset stomach was naturally to get some blue ice cream. Remarkably, Jamie had never had this staple Kings Island taste treat, so we meandered over to the Planet Snoopy area to grab one. Jamie wasn’t quite convinced about this former-Smurf ice cream, so she searched in vain for a chocolate cone before she finally gave in and settled for the blue food group.

…all in the name of blue ice cream therapy

Blue lips to match the blue eyes

…and his unkissed lips are blue…

Since my all-time favorite defunct Kings Island ride had been the Enchanted Voyage, I was curious to see the attraction that was now housed in its building. It had been closed when I visited during the previous summer, but this time we got to ride the Boo Blasters on Boo Hill. Unfortunately, it was more of the same – a crummy laser gun ride where one can shoot the miniscule targets on the various ghosts and goblins. I didn’t even like it as much as the former Phantom Theater, and certainly not as much as the Disney World counterpart Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. We opted not to spend the extra $1 to purchase 3-D glasses that supposedly made the ride all the better. The targets were so hard to hit that my score was only 390 versus Jamie’s 240. This still put me on the second tier, the Beginner Blaster level.

At the site of my old favorite ride, the Enchanted Voyage

It was about 4pm by this time, and we were ready for more excitement. The excitement we desired could only be found on Firehawk, the insane ride that makes you feel as if you are flying like Superman. The entrance to the line said that this would be a tw0-hour wait, but it ended up taking less than an hour. I have no idea how they could be this inaccurate, but I wasn’t arguing. This was my second time on the ride, and Jamie’s first. She took it like a trooper although midway through, she began questioning why should take her life into this rollercoaster’s hand like this. I almost nearly made the fatal mistake of leaving my glasses on, and had to carefully remove them after the first loop had nearly shook them off of my head.

I struggle to remove my glasses and Jamie gets attacked by her hair. No comment on the blue people.

Jamie and I took a rest, sitting on the sidewalk, and sharing a Coke and a water, for about an hour. In its own way, this was one of the most fun parts of the day. Then she was ready to brave another first-time ride on the park’s grandest rollercoaster Diamondback. As it had during my first ride on it, Diamondback again provided untold thrills, speed, and excitement. Both Jamie and I marveled how a steel coaster that reached a speed of 80mph could be so freaking smooth.

Jamie and I are ready to brave the Diamondback

Against the better judgement of mankind, we opt to ascend this ridiculously steep hill

After being occupied with Diamondback for an hour or so, we decided to uphold another Kings Island tradition by having some LaRosa’s pizza at the pizza parlor made famous not only by the Kings Island of yore, but by The Brady Bunch – where Bobby and Cindy decide to partake in some of the italian treat whilst looking for Mr. Brady’s plans.

A visit to LaRosa’s always capped Jamie’s childhood days at Kings Island

“One of our favorite foods is pizza” and I told the pizza server as much. His response: “I hate pizza.”

It was 8pm and don’t ask me why Jamie and I decided to try out the new ride WindSeeker so soon after dinner, but we did. This bad boy was 301 feet tall (which is just 13 feet shorter than the Eiffel Tower replica on International Street) and had been in operation for a grand total of four days. Surprisingly, the wait was only about 45 minutes. I guess the other guests were waiting to see how it all worked out on us crash test dummies. It was an amazing spin. I kept my food down by looking down rather than looking at the other guests spinning.

Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. We’re going up there.

Getting ready to take a very high spin on WindSeeker

It was about 8:30 when we finished WindSeeker, and Jamie and I both decided that we didn’t want to face any further stomach-turning thrills. So probably for the first time in history, I didn’t ride The Beast or The Vortex during my visit. We did however, pay the extra fee to check out the new Dinosaurs Alive! attraction, and coupled it with the Dinosaurs Alive! 3-D movie in the Action Theater.

While I can’t imagine that these dinosaur animatronics (located in the woods behind The Racer) will be a big money-maker for Kings Island, the effort put into them was amazing and I quite appreciated them. There were no less than 60 life-size dinosaur models, most with moving parts, and many with full sound roars. Some of them would even let you operate the parts on them that move. The 3-D movie that accompanied the display was quite amazing as well and was the first 3-D film that I had seen in the new Dolby process. It was cool to end the day with quite a bang.

The vicious Racer-eating lizard, Irritator

The difficult-to-prounounce Parasaurophus was one of the dinosaurs the could be operated

A long-neck variety dinosaur, the Mamenchisaurus

Jamie is nearly overtaken by the beastly Olorotitan

The Apatosaurus family

Dolby 3-D glasses make it appear that we are strange

Speaking of bang, the day really ended under the Eiffel Tower, which was now lit up in various lights and colors (reminding me of the the real Eiffel Tower in Paris). Jamie and I hung out here and watched the evening fireworks display as she joyfully ate the chocolate ice cream cone that she finally located. We tearfully bid the park farewell at about 10pm.

Jamie finally gets her chocolate ice cream

Beautiful purple Eiffel Tower

I dropped Jamie off at home and we filled her Mom in on the day’s events, then I went to my Mom’s again to spend the night. Sunday morning the 26th saw more activity in the vicinity.

I had found out about the Disneyana Convention taking place at the Dayton Mall Holiday Inn in a strange way. Being friends with Margaret Kerry on Facebook, I had noticed her status that said that she was departing on flight to Dayton, Ohio to attend the Disneyana convention. I had never heard of this so I immediately went digging the internet, only to find that there is a local Dayton chapter of the Disneyana club and that they have been holding a rather prominent Disneyana convention for several years. So naturally I decided to go check it out.

Although it was mostly memorabilia sales, Margaret Kerry and Bill Farmer (the current voice of Goofy) were the special guests. I chatted with Margaret for a bit and we even gave our mutual friend Bob Satterfield a phone call together. Mr. Farmer however would be arriving until later, so I missed getting to meet him. I picked up a nice Disneyland plate and chatted extensively with several members of the local branch. I am quite interested in attending one of their upcoming meetings and seeing what goes on. It sounds rather like the Disney version of the Sons of the Desert.

At the admissions table

A tiny portion of the Disney memorabila being sold at the Dayton Disneyana

Meeting up with Margaret Kerry at the Dayton Disneyana

The ‘stubborn Tinkerbell’ pose

I couldn’t stay very long at the Disneyana show, as I was meeting Jamie that afternoon to attend a family function with her. This was the 60th anniversary of her Mom’s sister’s husband’s sister, June and her husband John. Their daughter was the hostess and she and her husband have a beautiful place in New Richmond. The food was also amazing with some of the best meat (!) I’ve ever had – as well as a bok choy salad, Jamie’s Mom’s incredible baked beans, avocado dip, brownies, and other delicacies that I stuffed into myself. Jamie and I played a few games of ladder ball against her Dad and a partner, and we lost each one. I particularly enjoyed the weight room, the neighbor’s dog, and her uncle Tom’s musical invention, the violette. Great times that reminded me of the camaraderie shared at my own family events.

The neighbor’s dog makes himself at home

Lake, big lake

Jamie and I enjoy the proceedings

I won’t even try to explain how the Ladderball balls got stuck this high in the tree

Jamie digs into the amazing array of food

John and June show their strength and endurance after 60 years of marriage, while Jamie’s uncle Tom looks on

Wit that the countdown began until my next road trip. I had lunch with Mom at Chick-fil-a on the Monday the 27th, dinner at Jamie’s on Tuesday the 28th, and went out with some of Jamie’s friends on Thursday the 29th. This left me only the incredibly hectic Wednesday to pack, cut the grass, buy new shoes, and get everything ready for the trip.

The Tuesday dinner at Jamie’s was a lot of fun. We had tacos that I actually assisted in making by frying the soft tortilla shells on the griddle. We played some cornhole with her folks and Jamie and I actually defeated them in one game after losing the first. We also practiced some ping pong and watched an episode of Double Trouble.

The final night before out departure was Thursday. Jamie wanted to meet up with her two of her best local friends - so we ended up on a triple date with Alison and her husband Kris and Melissa and her boyfriend Cody at Newport on the Levee. The original plan was to take one of the Duck Boats on a tour around Cincinnati and the river, but they were all sold out. Instead we just grabbed some dinner at Tom + Chee (known for their amazing gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches; I had the 3 Little Pigs, with bacon, ham, and pork rinds) and some ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. I don’t think I had been there before and enjoyed creating my own cake batter/strawberry/Kit Kat concoction. We took a walk and hung out for a while on the Purple People Bridge, chatting and making plans for a future get-together.

Me, Jamie, Melissa, Cody, Alison, and Kris outside Tom + Chee at the Newport on the Levee

Kicking back on the Purple People Bridge over the Ohio River

Thankfully, by doing the bulk of my packing on Wednesday night, I wasn’t up too late. But on Friday, I got up extra early to pack up my car and head to work. Jamie would be meeting me at 3pm and we’d be setting out on a massive road trip, my fourth big vacation of the year.

 2011, and July, will continue on the road…

The always delightful Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln 

Model of Disneyland as it was on opening day 1955; part of the Disneyland Story

Miniature of the United States Capitol building in the Mr. Lincoln lobby

 Disneyland or bust, Mr. Lincoln

One of the many great moments with Mr. Lincoln

After the show, we swung by Sleeping Beauty Castle again to get a typical group photo of us to commemorate our day (seen at the top of the posting). We then headed into Adventureland and Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. Really we were more interested in getting one of the delicious Dole Whip Floats that they sold here, and which we could take inside and enjoy whilst we watched the attraction.

Somehow the line to get said floats was the longest line of the day. It literally took over 30 minutes. The lines got so long in the waiting area for the attraction that park employees started designing makeshift queues using benches. We actually got to see the pre-show film from Dole Food Company, who has been their sponsor since 1976. The promo pineapple film looked to be at least that old and David said that he had never seen it all the way through. This time we saw it twice! Once we got the floats, we then had to wait to the next showing and by the time that came around, we had already eaten the floats. Nevertheless, it’s always good do see the original Tiki Bird show, which has been completely remade at Walt Disney World.

Incredibly entertaining Dole pineapple video outside the Tiki Room

The payoff: Jimmy gets his Dole Whip Float

Birds on the ceiling

More birds

It was about 5pm when we headed back into Tomorrowland to utilized our FastPasses for Space Mountain. As I have recently noted numerous times, this version completely blows away the Disney World version, and I am amazed and thrilled every time I get on it. Knowing by now where our picture is taken, I exhibited a special face – as did David.

David and I ready for more space thrills

Jimmy in the space vehicle behind us

David and me: deranged space creatures

The it was back to the other side of the park again, this time in New Orleans Square where we hit the standard favorite The Haunted Mansion. The wait wasn’t too bad, and in we were in and out within a half-hour. Bob called us just before we got on and was nearing the park, so we met up with him in front of the Pirates of the Caribbean at 6pm.

Is this haunted room actually…stretching?

 The ‘rotating’ busts – part of the line queue at Disneyland, whereas it is part of the ride at Disney World

The wait for Pirates was rather lengthy (at least by Pirates standards) so it took about 40 minutes total to wait in line and then ride. However, it should be noted that we spent a good five minutes directly in front of the Davy Jones curtain of mist; our boat just stopped there. It eventually moved on, but it was terrifically slow for the last half of the ride. This was actually rather cool to have longer to gawk at the animatronics. I recalled to Bob how we had had to actually walk off the ride (ie. exit the boats midway through the ride) the first time that we rode it together in 1988. It almost appeared that we might have to do that once again this time.

A cannon sighting outside the Pirates

The hidden initials in the wrought iron fence above Pirates, not quite as hidden any longer. This area was orginally going to be apartments for Walt Disney and Roy Disney, hence the initials.

Jimmy and a very amazed David on Pirates of the Caribbean

We saw Davy Jones’ spiel repeatedly for no less than five minutes

The hanging foot pirate, restored to his original position 

Carl and the pirates from a slightly different angle

More pirates who can’t be found at the Walt Disney World Pirates

Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow bids farewell to the guests

We just lingered around New Orleans Square until it was time for our dinner reservations at 7:10 at the Blue Bayou. I chatted with Jamie (as did Bob and David briefly) while we waited. Dinner was good as usual; I enjoyed the Royal Street Seafood Jumbalaya – but I will admit that the cajun food went through me so fast that I left most of it behind at Disneyland. From our seats we could see the door that led into Club 33 – where we had originally had dinner reservations.

Pals unite at the Blue Bayou

It was about 8pm as we headed out. After my 10-minute stop in the restroom, we made it to the parking lot. I grabbed my bags out of Jimmy’s car, said my goodbyes, and Bob and I headed off into the sunset – which had already set. Fireworks from the park exploded above us as we left Disneyland behind just before 9pm.

I was thoroughly exhausted by this point in the day – but we had a nice long four-hour ride ahead of us before reaching our final destination of the day.

The day – and the road trip – will continue in Las Vegas…

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…