The Millionaire…and His Sig
Monday, February 19th, 2007
During the midst of my autograph collection spree in the Summer of 1985, I went through a phase of trying my hand at stars of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World – no doubt inspired by a recent viewing of the film. Milton Berle and Jim Backus were my first attempts at collecting the co-stars. I sent them each a letter on August 12 along with an S.A.S.E. and two notecards. Milton Berle never sent me anything, but Jim Backus – best known, of course, for his role in Gilligan’s Island as millionaire Thurston Howell III – answered my letter with the swell, signed and inscribed 8×10 below. Read the rest of this entry »
So far the score of racking up trophies in Myrtle Beach condo competitions was this: Briana – 2, Brittney- 1, Brad – 1, Ashleigh – 0. Ashleigh wanted to get a trophy, dammit, and there was nothing that was going to stop her. When there was a trivia contest with a trophy going to the winner announced, she even had my Mom take her to the local library to find the answers to a batch of puzzlers about the city of Myrtle Beach. She nearly swept this contest – only missing a half a point – but some other numbskull had turned in the form with all of the correct answers. 
Although it would not have been my first choice of places to spend our last full day of the 15th International Sons of the Desert Convention, I did enjoy our day at the Stone Mountain amusement park in Atlanta, Georgia. We had nearly had our fill of long bus rides as we boarded yet another one to transport us from Augusta to Georgia. Also on the down side was the fact that Bob had to depart that afternoon for his trip to South Africa and the Wileys opted not to go on the trip since Jimmy was not feeling up to a day in the hot sun. He had braved most of the convention despite undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, but understandably sat out this day, and avoided the hot sun.