The House on Winterset Drive
Sunday, March 21st, 2010
I remember a lot about moving day as we re-located our family from our home at 3574 Echo Hill Lane to our new digs at 3195 Winterset Drive about five minutes drive to an nice area also located in Beavercreek. I recall giving the Echo Hill house a hug goodbye (literally). I remember that it took place on Denise’s second birthday on April 8, 1978 – because I joked that the house was her birthday present, and was none too pleased that she was also receiving additional gifts. And I remember a certain black gentleman named Kenny Bailey who assisted with the moving who introduced me to the concept of putting sugar in my chili – which is what we served to all who helped with the moving. Kenny was an employee of Central Printing, Dad’s company who offered a free moving truck and driver to their employees when they moved. Read the rest of this entry »
Like all Sons of the Desert conventions that came before it, the 1996 Caribbean cruise had its fair share of celebrity guests on board to share their memories of their work at the Hal Roach Studios and the associations with Laurel and Hardy. In addition to the actors of this era, famous Laurel and Hardy impersonators Chuck McCann and Jim MacGeorge were also on hand to do an appropriate skit and mingle with the swabs on board. Chuck and Jim had not jointly been seen at a Sons convention since 1980, so it was cool to have them back. 
The Winter blahs had taken their toll on me so much that I decided that despite the rather weak line-up of celebrities at the Hollywood Celebrities and Memorabilia Show in Rosemont, Illinois on the weekend of Saturday, March 13, 2010, it would be worth it just to get away for a road trip. My sister Denise had mentioned that she might like to go along sometime on one of these excursions, and agreed that this one might be fun. Aaron agreed to babysit the kids – for the first time overnight alone. He did swell. 
For some odd reason, there is a Saturday Night Live skit that originally broadcast on November 10, 1984 that has always stuck in my head. It is a parody of a local TV show hosted by two Latin women named Chi Chi (Mary Gross) and Conseula (Julia Louis-Dreyfuss) called The Ghostbusters Show. It is simply dedicated to discussing all things related to the film that had been released that Summer. During the skit, Chi Chi asks Consuela which guy is her favorite Ghostbuster, and Consuela replies “I like thee black one.” To which Chi Chi repeats several times “but he dint do notheeeng.” 
It’s really a crying shame that entertainers like Soupy Sales, who were iconic in the minds of the baby boomer generation, are quickly hurling toward obscurity. As host of the wildly popular kids show Lunch With Soupy Sales, he regaled millions of children from 1959-1966. Today, even folks like me, who have certainly heard of Soupy Sales – and perhaps even seen him on game shows like What’s My Line? from the 1970’s – really don’t have much of a clue what he was all about.