Who Was That Masked Man?
Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Autographs…celebrity encounters…so where did it all begin for me? Sometime during the Summer of 1977, I met my first real celebrity and obtained my first real autograph (discounting two sports autographs that I already owned: the autographed baseball from Hall of Famer Bob Feller that I received when I was born from June Bolin, one of my Dad’s co-workers…and the signed paper photo of Bengal Isaac Curtis that I got when I was about two when he did a personal appearance at a local store). This mystery masked celebrity was none other than Clayton Moore, star of TV’s classic western The Lone Ranger. Read the rest of this entry »
I won’t go so far as to say it was a dream come true to meet William Forsythe, but he had certainly been on my ‘want-list’ for many years. In fact, I sent him an autograph request way back in August of 1997 but I never got a response. As a huge Robert DeNiro fan, I took interest in the performance of William Forsythe when I saw him in the important role of Cockeye (as seen at right) in the Sergio Leone classic Once Upon a Time in America. This sealed him in my mind as a high caliber performer, especially having already enjoyed his role as Evelle Snoats in the Coen Brothers’ amazing film Raising Arizona. 
Although I had briefly met Frank “Junior” Coghlan twice during visits to California – the first at the Hollywood Collectors Show in 1995, and the second at the Way Out West Tent 30th Anniversary banquet in 1997, I had never really sat down to talk to him or gotten a photo with him. And to tell the truth, I had no intention of trying to look him up during any of my most recent visits. He had only appeared in one Our Gang film, the early silent Giants Vs. Yanks in 1923, and Bob had already gotten me a signed photo. But thankfully, Bob suggested that we stop by and pay him a visit – and as usual, I am all the better for it. 
By the Fall of 1997, I had really become quite serious with my autograph collecting. Not that I hadn’t been before, but now I had actually purchased a P.O. Box at the post office in Airway shopping center to house the incoming loot. I had become nervous about the barrage of yellow envelopes being left outside my apartment door. I had also begun purchasing – and eventually subscribing to – Autograph Collector magazine. They featured a monthly section about through-the-mail autographs where contributors would share their success stories. One of the first pieces of advice of theirs that I took was to get a letter off to Estelle Getty. 
Cameron Frye pulled a bit of a fast one along with his pal Ferris Bueller when they successfully plotted to skip school in the classic Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He ended up paying for it though when he accidentally destroyed his father’s carefully preserved Ferrari. So it was in this spirit that I pulled a bit of a fast one on the actor who played Mr. Frye…Alan Ruck. I am a big fan of Ferris Bueller, and I’ve enjoyed some of Mr. Ruck’s other roles – namely in Speed, Three Fugitives, and as the male school teacher who gets raped by a woman in one of my favorite shows Picket Fences.