Squiggy
Thursday, August 16th, 2007
I was never a huge fan of Laverne & Shirley, but growing up in the fabulous 1970’s, I’m sure there were numerous occasions where it was on the television in front of me and I was watching. And who at that time hadn’t heard of greasers and weirdos Lenny and Squiggy? So it was neat to see David Lander (that is, Andrew “Squiggy” Squiggmann) make a rare appearance at the February 2007 Hollywood Collectors Show. Lander also happens to be the son-in-law of Edith Fellows, one of the former Our Gang members who Bob knows and I have met a few times over the years. Read the rest of this entry »
The Outsiders certainly ranks somewhere high in my echelon of movies. A cult-classic from 1983, I well-remember the Outsiders craze that swept the teenage girls of the day when they saw this band of attractive guys (and mostly future stars) in the single-page pinups in teenybopper magazines like 16. At the head of the heartthrobs was C. Thomas Howell, who had also made an appearance in the classic E.T.:The Extra-Terrestrial. I can distinctly remember the cooing over Mr. Howell from one of the older objects of my affection, Missy Karver from our Gem City Classics Chevy Club. His popular teen films poured out for a few years before the good roles finally dried up: Red Dawn, Tank, Soul Man, The Hitcher to name the ones I recall. 
I can’t say that I actually remember meeting Our Gang member Joe Cobb during Hollywood ’80, but I always knew that I did because he signed my little blue autograph book. Now I am doubly certain as my friend Jimmy just sent me a nice shot of Joe Cobb at the Hollywood ’80 convention, with a dopey kid in a red t-shirt standing nearby getting an autograph. I never realized this great photo existed. As you may have guessed, the dopey kid (as seen below) is me. 
All in the Family was always one of my very favorite TV sit-coms, so I was ecstatic to find that Sally Struthers would be appearing at the Hollywood Collectors Show during my February visit to California. Having already gotten her autograph through the mail in 1998, I didn’t need to purchase any additional signed photos, but brought the photo that she was kind enough to send me just in case she wondered why I wasn’t buying. In addition to more recent photo at left, she had also signed an All in the Family cast shot that already had the signatures of Caroll O’Connor and Jean Stapleton – which I will display at a later time. 
Although I have no special attachment to or admiration for the TV series Batman, I recognize the fact that it is a legendary and iconoclastic example of television programming. So it was in that spirit that I chose to purchase the lovely color shot of Robin seen at left, and then pay $30 to have Burt Ward autograph it during the October 2005 Hollywood Collectors Show. Although I already owned a nice signed photo of Batman himself – aka Adam West – I originally was still going to purchase a photo that included Batman too – for the purpose of future signing. But then Bob reminded me that West would charge an outrageous fee to add his signature, so I opted for the solo shot.