Star Wars in Fairborn
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
While not a complete Star Wars junkie, I am a fan of the franchise, so when the opportunity presents itself, I generally snap up any autographs of members of the cast of both the original films and the later prequels. On Monday, December 8, 1997, I got the chance to meet two members of the Star Wars family at the Bookery Fantasy comic book store in my hometown of Fairborn, Ohio: Kenny Baker, the dwarf actor who was the performer inside the R2-D2 costume in all six of the films, and John Hollis, who played Lobot in The Empire Strikes Back. At the time, I had no idea that Hollis was Lando Calrissian’s cyborg aide – but that didn’t stop my from purchasing one of his photos. Read the rest of this entry »
For years I was angry at Gale Storm. Well, maybe not angry with her, but I was angry at the situation. I had obtained a great signature of Charles F*rrell on a photo from My Little Margie, a popular sitcom from the early 1950’s that I came to know from reruns broadcast on the CBN network in the mid-1980’s. I had gotten this over the 
Despite the slow talking drawl, despite the incessant smile, despite the fact that in the real world he might be mistaken for a creepy pedophile, I’d still loved to have had Mr. Rogers as my neighbor. I grew up on the PBS staples of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Zoom – which each succeeding show for an older audicence than the one before. But even when I was ready for Zoom, I still secretly adored Mr. Rogers and the comforting make-believe surroundings he created. 
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.