Laurel and Hard Rock
May 20th, 2010
One of my big regrets about not attending the Sons of the Desert conventions in 1984 and 1998, respectively in London and Birmingham, England, was that I had missed out on the pilgrimages to see the birthplace of Stan Laurel in Ulverston. This became even more of a void when I finally got see the place of Oliver Hardy’s birth at the 2006 convention. My friend Bob had never been to Stan’s birthplace either, so I didn’t have too hard of a time of convincing him. It was the how to get there that presented the problem. Read the rest of this entry »
I knew that it would behoove me to bring along a large wad of cash to the Hollywood Show held at the Burbank Mariott Hotel and Convention Center on Saturday, April 24, and Sunday, April 25, 2010. The collector and celebrity show in Burbank must certainly be one of the largest in the country. The one on this date was the fifth one I’ve attended over the past five years (seventh total) and I must say that it was the best show I’ve seen to date. I usually pontificate on the greediness of the some of the celebrities, but I’m going to spare you that this time. After all, no matter if there were a few putzes in the mix, I came away happy…albeit much poorer. 
I was particularly interested in getting a photo take with Spin and Marty so that I could share it with my Dad. I know the power of nostaligic TV shows from one’s childhood and the serial installments of The Adventures of Spin and Marty on the Mickey Mouse Club were a major one for him. Although I own the Walt Disney Treasure DVD (in the collector tin) of the first of three seasons of their series, I have only had time to watch a few of them. Obviously though, as die-hard Disney buff and aficionado, I had enough interest in having Bob pick up a dual signed photo of the boys’ team when they had made a rare joint appearance at a Hollywood Collectors Show. 
A pessimist such as I might look at the bad news that this posting will eventually get around to revealing: that I did not get to meet, nor did I get an autograph of Luise Rainer. But as I now reflect on the experience of just seeing her in person, I deemed that this event merited a posting of its own. It was on Sunday, April 25, 2010, that Bob and I attended a screening of The Good Earth at the Egyptian Theatre in Burbank. Actually, we didn’t even attend the screening itself. We just stopped in to see Louise Rainer.