The Terrible Catsafterme

I was initially interested at the prospect of getting a signed photo of Stella Stevens because she was the January 1960 Playboy Playmate of the Month. So during my Playboy fixation of the late 1990’s, I had Bob snag me the signed photo seen below from one of the Hollywood Collectors Shows. Of course, this did not show her as she looked in those days, but oh well. Later I realized that Ms. Stevens also had a rather lucrative career starring in such gems as Girls, Girls, Girls opposite Elvis Presley, The Poseidon Adventure, and most memorably in the pivotal role as Stella Purdy in Jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor. Therefore, I asked Bob to pick me an additional shot of Stella (as seen above) from that particular film – which was also signed by Miss Purdy’s classmate Julie Parrish. Read the rest of this entry »

Our fifth American President James Monroe served the country from 1817 to 1825. A good friend and student of Thomas Jefferson, Monroe had also served as Secretary of War and Secretary of State during the War of 1812. He is the author of the famous Monroe Doctrine, in which he forbid European powers from interfering with the affairs of the United States. My association with President Monroe was confined to the week I spent touring Virginia with my friend Bob. Here we saw several historical sites from the life of James Monroe. Read the rest of this entry »

After leaving Plains, the ride to Kissimmee was uneventful. Mom, Bob, Ashleigh, and I had stayed longer in Plains than Denise, Aaron, and Adam, so they were quite a ways ahead of us. We arrived at the Pop Century Resort in the early evening. We were glad to be there even though there was (naturally) some confusion about room keys, tickets, and the like. Disney has become technologically advanced enough to print each guests name on their room card keys, apply the park ticket to the card keys, and apply charging rights to each card key. Read the rest of this entry »

I really tried to like the children’s Saturday morning TV series H.R. Pufnstuf recently when I purchased the series on DVD. Unfortunately, it must be one of those shows that is not so entertaining now if you didn’t once watch it as a kid. It was aired just a bit before my time so I had never had the pleasure of viewing it as a little boy. So unlike other output from Sid and Marty Krofft – namely one of my favorite examples of mindless Saturday fare Land of the Lost – I found this show rather annoying. The character that really bugged me was Witchiepoo. She really grated on my nerves – so even though I enjoyed the occasional Jack Wild tune, it wasn’t worth sitting through these episododes. I sold my DVD set. Read the rest of this entry »

Bob and I had a great many memorable and significant experiences on Tuesday, August 7, during our crusade across Virginia, but the least memorable and significant was that Bob shaved off his moustache first thing that morning. The weekend before he had had a full goatee, by the time he arrived in Washington D.C. the past Saturday he had whittled it down to a mere moustache – and now he was bare-faced. And this would be what I would have to deal with for the remainder of the trip. So anyway… Read the rest of this entry »