The Strange Tale of Harry Spear
Thursday, June 28th, 2007
I’ve been anxious to get this tale told again. I, as one of only three known Our Gang buffs ever to talk to Harry Spear in person, often get asked the question “What’s the deal with Harry Spear?” and its a big, long deal so I’ll be glad to finally have a place to refer interested parties. The tale begins at the New York ’94 Sons of the Desert where I first met Bill Cappello. We had many lively discussions with the theme “whatever became of…?” After finding out how great he was at tracking down long-lost celebrities, I immediately remarked, “you should try and find Harry Spear” to which he responded “I did!” Read the rest of this entry »
I have no doubt that Joy Wurgaft – now Joy Lane – was a legitimate Our Gang member, unlike many who claim to have been in the series that never stepped foot on the set of any movie. But unfortunately, Joy has built herself up to be one of the ‘stars’ of the Little Rascals, despite hardly even brushing with them on film. She did share one key scene with Alfalfa in Our Gang Follies of 1936 – even singing a duet with him, but beyond that her scenes were relegated to one of the kiddies in the background. 
Della Lind was the beautiful female lead in Laurel and Hardy’s 1938 musical comedy Swiss Miss. As a true eight-year-old L&H fan, I was certainly aware of the important role she played in this film. These stars were as big as any during those days and I was ecstatic to be meeting them. Hollywood ’80 was the first of two encounters I would have with Della, the second being twelve years 
This one is a quickie. William Sanderson wasn’t even on the guest list for the Winter 2007 Hollywood Collectors Show, but on the afternoon of Friday, February 16 – there he was, a bonus addtion to the celebrities in attendence selling their autographs. If you don’t recognize him without the ski cap, he was the fella that played the bizarre leader of the trio of brothers Larry, Daryl, and Daryl on the tv sit-com Newhart. This was one of my all-time favorite shows – although I thought that L, D & D’s appearances eventually became a distracting interruption to the proceedings. Nevertheless, this was the second of the three that I was thrilled to be able to meet, the first being ‘the other brother Daryl’ in 2005. 
Of course. Of course. My Dad and I always enjoyed the wry sense of humor of Mr. Ed the talking horse. So I was relativley excited to see that Wilbur Post himself, otherwise known as actor Alan Young was in attendence at the 1995 Summer Hollywood Collectors Show. Once again, here is another celebrity whom I met but did not have the intelligence to get my picture taken with. I bought two photos from him – one for me and one for my Dad’s birthday which was coming up on August 22.