The Terrible Catsafterme

The trip that I took with my family to Florida in 1975 is what I call a ‘lost trip’ – almost completely obliterated from my parents’ memory and photographic records. Each of the vacationers remember small bits and pieces, but no one can conjure up a clear picture of much about this trip. In fact, even the date of the trip comes into debate. If it weren’t for Bill and Dottie, I would have no photos from the trip at all. Despite the cloud of mystery, it remains a very important trip in my life as it was my first visit to Disney World, a theme park that I would become almost obsessed with over the years. This fascination was mostly based on the enthralling nostalgic memories of my first visits to the park. Read the rest of this entry »

On Thursday morning, July 13, the convention activities convened at the nearby Georgia Golf Hall of Fame and Botanical Gardens, which was a short walk across the street from our Mariott hotel in Augusta. The area was beautiful with appropriate decor including a classic car display and wood crafted signs with the names of Laurel and Hardy films on them placed around the gardens. Also on display was a giant reproduction of a mousetrap that all conventioneers were asked to sign. Of course, after everyone signed it, the hosts realize that the marker they supplied was not permanent and we all had to sign it again (see picture at bottom of page). Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday, January 14, 1990, I put the finishing touches on a comic book I had created for my Cartooning class at school. I can only assume that I chose this date to complete the assignment because Monday the 15th was the last possible day I could turn it in. Afterall, I started new semester classes that day and Cartooning class was now officially over.

I am actually quite proud of the result. Many of my friends liked it quite well, too. In fact, I actually made photocopies of it and sold them for $2.00 each! Some asked me to sign them in case I became a famous cartoonist one day. There are more inside jokes in it than you will be able to count – plus there are little things in the background of nearly every panel to amuse you. Like any good comedic work, it will take multiple readings to catch everything – if you care to. There aren’t many people who would even dare to be smart alec with the page numbers!! Yes, if you think I’m demented now, this will prove that it was a chronic state of mind that stretched back at least this far. (Actually, we all know it was even further…) Read the rest of this entry »

Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving in grand style at my place. Now that everyone is gone and everything is cleaned up, I miss wandering into the kitchen and snacking on pieces of cold turkey and a forkful of one of the nearly ten pies we had on hand. I was talked into hosting this event because my dwelling was the most likely candidate to fit everyone into one area to eat. Jim and Jan usually host but they were unavailable this year. Read the rest of this entry »

One of the factors that drew me back into the world of autograph collecting in early 1985 was the wide array of legendary celebrities that were now in retirement, sitting around their pads signing autographs for fans. Looking through our tent Grand Sheik Carl Ahlm’s autograph albums, I was astonished by the volume of illustrious film icons that were responding to fan mail. Read the rest of this entry »