The Terrible Catsafterme

Wednesday, August 8, 2007 represented the mid-point of our travels across the great state of Virginia and was the last day during which we stuck to our agressive itinerary. We had stayed at a Super 8 Motel in Appomattox, so our first order of business was to grab our complimentary continental breakfast. From there, as you might guess, we headed to the site of the famous signing of of the confederate surrender by General Robert E. Lee. Apparently this village was actually called Appomattox Court House, while the signing of the surrender itself took place in the house of Wilmer McLean rather than in an actual courthouse. Read the rest of this entry »

Denise, Aaron, Ashleigh, and I arrived at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World at about 10:00am, fresh from a quick morning at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Here we met up with Mom, Bob, and little Adam – who was ready for a day of fun that he will never remember. They were already inside the park and waiting for us. The bus had taken them from our room directly to the Magic Kingdom without stopping at the Ticket and Transportation Center. This was unprecedented as Walt Disney’s vision had always been to give the illusion that the Magic Kingdom was on a ‘faraway island.’ Read the rest of this entry »

“Butch” Bond was certainly the most memorable of the Our Gang ‘tough guys’. He and his partner Woim could often be found menacing Spanky and Alfalfa and Co. in the more-than dozen films that he appeared in as “Butch” at both the Hal Roach Studios and M-G-M. Three years prior to his stint as “Butch,” he had made another dozen films with the Our Gang, simply playing “Tommy” who wasn’t so tough – but an ally to our heroes. This made him effectively the only Little Rascal to return for two distinct roles and two distinct runs with Our Gang. Read the rest of this entry »

I was initially interested at the prospect of getting a signed photo of Stella Stevens because she was the January 1960 Playboy Playmate of the Month. So during my Playboy fixation of the late 1990’s, I had Bob snag me the signed photo seen below from one of the Hollywood Collectors Shows. Of course, this did not show her as she looked in those days, but oh well. Later I realized that Ms. Stevens also had a rather lucrative career starring in such gems as Girls, Girls, Girls opposite Elvis Presley, The Poseidon Adventure, and most memorably in the pivotal role as Stella Purdy in Jerry Lewis’ The Nutty Professor. Therefore, I asked Bob to pick me an additional shot of Stella (as seen above) from that particular film – which was also signed by Miss Purdy’s classmate Julie Parrish. Read the rest of this entry »