"Do you enjoy throwing up every five minutes, Claude?" -Aunt Edna, "National Lampoon's Vacation"
Standing: Buckwheat Thomas, Edith Fellows, Pineapple Jackson, Marvin “Bubbles” Trin, Sidney “Woim” Kibrick, Joe Cobb, fan Bob Satterfield, “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison, Leonard Landy, Spanky McFarland, “Butch” Bond, Delmar Watson, “Butch” Bond Jr. – Front row: fan Armand Lewis, Dorothy “Echo” Deborba, Verna Kornman, Peggy Ahern, Mildred Kornman, fan Dick Bann, fan Earl Kress
After our visit with Olive Brasno in Lakeland, Lisa and I then traveled about 35 miles west to the Florida city of Tampa. Here we hooked up with yet another midget actor who had once worked at the Hal Roach Studios. Before I describe the visit itself, I’d like to point out once again the providence that was occurring whereby I was able to visit with not one, but two celebrities from the Our Gang and Laurel and Hardy films (and both midget stars to boot), and they were both perfect aligned on our path from Disney World to Clearwater. Our final destination would be about another 25 miles due west. Read the rest of this entry »
I really tried to like the children’s Saturday morning TV series H.R. Pufnstuf recently when I purchased the series on DVD. Unfortunately, it must be one of those shows that is not so entertaining now if you didn’t once watch it as a kid. It was aired just a bit before my time so I had never had the pleasure of viewing it as a little boy. So unlike other output from Sid and Marty Krofft – namely one of my favorite examples of mindless Saturday fare Land of the Lost – I found this show rather annoying. The character that really bugged me was Witchiepoo. She really grated on my nerves – so even though I enjoyed the occasional Jack Wild tune, it wasn’t worth sitting through these episododes. I sold my DVD set. Read the rest of this entry »
Bob and I had a great many memorable and significant experiences on Tuesday, August 7, during our crusade across Virginia, but the least memorable and significant was that Bob shaved off his moustache first thing that morning. The weekend before he had had a full goatee, by the time he arrived in Washington D.C. the past Saturday he had whittled it down to a mere moustache – and now he was bare-faced. And this would be what I would have to deal with for the remainder of the trip. So anyway… Read the rest of this entry »
Dave and I awoke bright and early the morning of July 29, 2007 in our hotel room at the Westin LAX Airport Hotel. We packed up our stuff and headed over to the Wiley office to help load up the afternoon’s coolers with beverages and ice in preparation for the second leg of our bus tours to the various Laurel and Hardy locations. While the prior day’s tours had been centered around Culver City, this day would see some of the other film locations in the outlying areas of Los Angeles. Read the rest of this entry »