The Terrible Catsafterme

It’s encounters like the one that I had with Olive Brasno that make me believe in fate. Had I not been browsing Bob’s book The Munchkins of Oz by Steve Cox during my 1995 visit to California, and had I not then fortuitously met that same Steve Cox at the Hollywood Collectors Show that very same week, and finally had I not had a trip to Florida planned several weeks later, it is likely that I would have never crossed paths with Olive. As it was, I had the opportunity of a lifetime to meet an actress that I had long admired. Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t generally eat three meals a day – but by gum, if I was going to do it on the road to Plains, Georgia, I was going to chronicle it. My fourth trip to Plains to see President Carter was certainly one of the parts of our vacation that I was looking forward to the most. You might call it our semi-destination, for after our time there, we were going to press on to Kissimmee for two days at Disney World – and then from there on to Daytona Beach. The saga began in the wee early morning hours of Saturday, September 22, 2007.

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James Madison was our fourth United States President from 1801 – 1809 and the primary author, hence the title “Father of the U.S. Constitution.” Among his other achievements were the co-authorship of The Federalist Papers and the creation of the first ten amendments to the constition, better known as The Bill of Rights. Quite a fascinating and well-educated man, Madison’s life both began and ended in Virginia, a state I recently toured and was able to visit several of the important locations of his life…all carefully and excitedly detailed below. Read the rest of this entry »

It was clear that I had begun to get a bit cocky with my autograph collecting habits as 1985 drew to a close. I had had some great success stories during my first year of solid ‘by-mail-request’ autograph collecting. I was being led down the primrose path that most stars, no matter how big, would respond to autograph requests. But as the results of my final Christmas break push of eight autographs requests would prove, it wasn’t always so easy. Read the rest of this entry »

Jackie Davis was another one of the original members of the silent Our Gang. Appearing in nineteen of the movies as the first tough kid of the Rascals, Jack’s older sister Mildred eventually would marry silent screen legend Harold Lloyd. Lloyd thought that it would better for Jack to get a good education and sent him off to military school. The education paid off and Jack Davis, known as John H. Davis, M.D. at the time that he made an appearance at the Our Gang reunion in 1980, became quite a success. Read the rest of this entry »