Knowing Virginia
Saturday, April 2nd, 2011
Knowing Virginia Karns Patterson was truly one of the most unique and fulfilling experiences in my life. I had met many celebrities – mostly in the Laurel & Hardy and Our Gang realm – up to that point, but never had I carried on a true friendship with any of them. Virginia was mostly known for her role as Mother Goose in the 1934 Laurel & Hardy film Babes in Toyland. She also had supporting roles in several other Hal Roach short subjects which included Four Parts (Charley Chase series), Soup and Fish (Todd-Kelly series), and Music in Your Hair (starring Billy Gilbert and Billy Bletcher). Read the rest of this entry »
Gary Busey has big teeth…and he is a loose cannon. My friend Bob warned me repeatedly to watch what I say to him. My goal was simply to get a photo with him – because Bob had already gotten a couple of signed photos for me at previous Hollywood Collectors Shows. Whenever and wherever Busey went, he made a spectacle of himself. Doctors attribute his bizarre behavior to a motorcyle accident he had in 1988, during which he was not wearing a helmet. When I saw him on Saturday, April 24, 2010, at the Hollywood Show he and 
I wasn’t all that familiar with Shirley Knight, so I nearly bypassed getting an autographed photo of her when she appeared at the Chicago Hollywood Celebrities Show on Saturday, September 18, 2010. Although I had seen her in a few films over the years – As Good As It Gets, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, and Color of Night, for example – I had not seen her in either of the two films for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs nor Sweet Bird of Youth. 
I’m not sure I knew what to expect when I met Della Reese, who had adapted her stage name from her birth first name Delloreese. In one of the few films in which I had seen Della, she appeared to be capable of breaking my back over her knee. Yes, that would be Harlem Nights – with the primary black cast consisting of Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, and Redd Foxx. In this film, Della became forever associated with the pinkie toe, or the loss thereof. This type of no-nonsense roll would serve her well in guest spots on great shows like Picket Fences, Night Court, and Sanford and Son. Conversely, one of her most famous roles was as the angelic Tess in Touched By an Angel – but this was a show that I had never watched. 
It has become a virtual no-brainer that when I get the chance to meet an Oscar winner, I’m going to go ahead and do it. And the Academy really liked actress Celeste Holm. Three times she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role: for Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), Come to the Table (1949), and All About Eve (1950). She was only the winner in the first film – thanks to her role as fashion editor Anne Dettrey opposite actor Gregory Peck. The chance to meet her came at the Hollywood Show on Saturday, October 9, 2010.