The Terrible Catsafterme

Of the big three holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas- that came in 1972, I only have photographs of the latter. I am certain that I did not participate in the Trick or Treat festivities of ’72, being still too young for them to have been fun for me. If I had, I am sure there would have been ample pictures of me in my costume. As for Thanksgiving, this generally being the least photographed of the ‘big three’, my guess would be that we either went to Carl and Arline’s place or Grandma and Grandpa Murphy’s house – or both. Read the rest of this entry »

I had been to Savannah once before – back in 2006 when Ashleigh and I made a pre-convention trip by bus to the historic town. Then we had a guided tour to some of the area’s more historic sites, followed by an independent ‘ghost’ tour. This time I was walking the streets with my cousin Chris who once lived in the heart of the downtown district. He and his wife Sarah had a quaint  garden apartment built in 1855 that they rented on Calhoun square. Read the rest of this entry »

There was a lot of hullaballoo about this Easter being the earliest Easter since 1913 and the last since 2228 – the net of all that being that this was the earliest Easter we would ever see in our lifetimes. But the net of that was that I don’t think any of us were really ready for it yet. The weather was crummy, the frost and rain were still ever-present and none of us were in much of an egg-hiding mood. Actually I was – and was going to do so for Grace – but Jackie and I decided not to spend the day together. As you can see from the photo at left, I was the eggman.

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It is ironic that one of the worst child actors in the history of motion pictures – one Mickey Gubitosi – would grow up to be one of the most successful actors of all of the Our Gang kids. And notorious as well. My attempts at getting Robert Blake’s autograph through the mail began long before he went to trial for the murder of his wife Bonnie Bakley. I was actually rather surprised to receive my first attempt, which I sent on February 23, 1987, back with a legitimate autograph (seen at right). This came back along with two signed notecards on March 9. Blake had been known to use secretaries in the past – and ones who didn’t even attempt to get his signature right. My friend Bob had one of these added to a photo on which he had already acquired other signatures. Read the rest of this entry »