Leonard Landy 1980
Thursday, October 4th, 2007
I know for a fact that I had no idea who Leonard Landy was when I captured his autograph in my little blue book on July 31, 1980 at the Our Gang reunion meet-and-greet during the Sons of the Desert Hollywood ’80 convention. Looking at his signature in my book for a year or so after the fact caused me to scratch my head and wonder who exactly this was. In fact, Maltin and Bann’s Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals was unable to identify his character in the cast listing of the films – so his name meant little to me. It was only in the appendix to the book did he receive a byline indicating that a man has identified the character of ‘Leonard’ as his cousin Leonard Landy. Read the rest of this entry »
In December of 1997, several cast members of Star Wars made an appearance at the Bookery, a comic and card shop in Fairborn. I recall that I only got to meet John Hollis (Lobot) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2). Dave Prowse (Darth Vader) had been and gone by the time my friend Eric Flinn and I made it there, but he left behind some autographed photos to sell. There were also some signed photos available for purchase from cast members Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Kenny Baker(R2-D2). I purchased all of them. 
It’s encounters like the one that I had with Olive Brasno that make me believe in fate. Had I not been browsing Bob’s book The Munchkins of Oz by Steve Cox during my 1995 visit to California, and had I not then fortuitously met that same Steve Cox at the Hollywood Collectors Show that very same week, and finally had I not had a trip to Florida planned several weeks later, it is likely that I would have never crossed paths with Olive. As it was, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to meet an actress that I had long admired. 
Jackie Davis was another one of the original members of the silent Our Gang. Appearing in nineteen of the movies as the first tough kid of the Rascals, Jack’s older sister Mildred eventually would marry silent screen legend Harold Lloyd. Lloyd thought that it would better for Jack to get a good education and sent him off to military school. The education paid off and Jack Davis, known as John H. Davis, M.D. at the time that he made an appearance at the Our Gang reunion in 1980, became quite a success. 
I seemed to build my collection of John Voldstad autographs in small steps. John Voldstad portrayed the second silent Daryl in one of my all-time favorite television series Newhart. When he first made his appearance at a Hollywood Collectors Show, all he had for sale were some small 4″ x 5″ portraits. So that was what I was stuck with adding to my collection. But for $5.00, it wasn’t a bad deal. Later on, he returned along with his Larry, Daryl, and Daryl cohort William Sanderson and Tony Papenfuss and I was able to get the complete signed cast shot as shown