The Terrible Catsafterme

By the time The Mod Squad ended its five-season run, I was just about ready to turn two years old. So I never got to watch it during its first run, nor did it ever seem to air in reruns in my area, and I’ve never checked out the DVDs. I’m sure that its hip, mod, whatever-you-call-it style would seem wildly antiquated these days, so I will probably never choose to explore it. But as a kid, I liked the title (which sounded like my favorite Saturday Morning program The Monster Squad), I liked the MAD Magazine parodies of it, and I was familiar with it gracing the cover of TV Guide, which I collected for a short time. Read the rest of this entry »

It was a most lucrative visit to Culver City the morning of Saturday, October 9, 2010 – what with finding all of the new Little Rascals locations and all – but I was in a hurry to get to the Hollywood Show at the Burbank Mariott Hotel and Convention Center. This was to be my eighth collector show in Burbank, sixth at this venue, and second of the year. This was the reason for my whirlwind California trip; I was happy to be here but also in a bit of a rush to get signatures from and photographs with a lengthy list of celebrities before we had to move on to the next activity of the day. Read the rest of this entry »

When I met Sherman Hemsley back in 2005, I had already missed my opportunities to meet Isabel Sanford (Weezy) and Roxie Roker (Helen Willis). Isabel had passed away in 2004 and Roxie had died in 1995. But since that meeting, a good portion of the cast of The Jeffersons also left us: Mike Evans (the original Lionel), Franklin Cover (Tom Willis), and Paul Benedict (Bentley). Keeping this in mine, I was thrilled that I was able pick up meetings and photos with two more cast members at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, April 24, 2010. Read the rest of this entry »

I really need to watch more James Bond films. So many of the hot Bond girls from these films regularly frequent the autograph shows that I attend and I’d like to have more of an appreciation for them. Lana Wood is one such gal. She portrayed the large-busted Plenty O’Toole in the 1971 Bond flick Diamonds Are Forever. This role came hot on the heels of her appearance in Playboy, a career move of which her older sister Natalie Wood disapproved. Natalie had worked to foster Lana’s career when Lana was a young girl. Read the rest of this entry »

When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way. From your first cigarette, to your last dyin’ day. And that goes double for Russ Tamblyn, the actor, dancer, and choreographer best known for his role as Riff, the leader of the Jets in the Oscar winner for Best Picture in 1961, West Side Story. Tamblyn had appeared at one of the Hollywood Collectors Shows at the Winter Hollywood Show this year along with fellow cast members from that film. But during his appearance at the same show on Saturday, October 9, 2010, he was there as part of the Twin Peaks reunion. In that TV series, he portrayed Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, the eccentric psychiatrist that murder victim Laura Palmer was seeing just before her death. Read the rest of this entry »