Gene Autry and the Christmas Spirit
Saturday, August 11th, 2007
I hadn’t done much autograph requesting through the mail once Summer of 1985 ended and I rolled into the Fall and another school year. But as usual, something triggered a renewal in my interest as Christmas began to approach. It was most likely another visit to one of Sons of the Desert meetings in Springfield and the most recent gander at Carl Ahlm’s collection. I had him order me a new batch of photos from his source and was primed to do some serious requestage over Christmas break. I had the wild idea that celebrities were more ‘generous’ with their requestors around the holidays. Read the rest of this entry »
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. 
Most people thought I was crazy to travel all the way to Los Angeles for only three days, but the purpose of my trip was to take part in the festivities of the Way Out West Tent’s 40th anniversary celebration – which included a mixer, banquet, and two extensive Laurel and Hardy locations tours. I had exactly two days of unused vacation; I decided to use it here. And I’m certainly glad I did. As with my previous seven journeys to the west coast, this one too provided me with a lifetime of memories and good times with my many great friends from this neck of the country. 
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. 
I got the bee in my bonnet to track down Janet Burston way back in 1992 when my friend Dick Bann told me that he had nearly uncovered her whereabouts – his information indicated that she was working in a Denny’s restaurant in Fresno. He had no desire to contact her, but offered to pass on her phone number for me. By the time I followed up with him and tried to call her, the line he gave me had been disconnected. Flash forward to 1994 when I met Bill Cappello. He had already provided the whereabouts for both Harry Spear and Beverly Crane, when I asked him to see what he could find out about Janet Burston.