…And This Is My Other Brother Daryl
September 26th, 2007
I seemed to build my collection of John Voldstad autographs in small steps. John Voldstad portrayed the second silent Daryl in one of my all-time favorite television series Newhart. When he first made his appearance at a Hollywood Collectors Show, all he had for sale were some small 4″ x 5″ portraits. So that was what I was stuck with adding to my collection. But for $5.00, it wasn’t a bad deal. Later on, he returned along with his Larry, Daryl, and Daryl cohort William Sanderson and Tony Papenfuss and I was able to get the complete signed cast shot as shown here. Read the rest of this entry »
After our incredibly busy Sunday activities, it was amazing that we were able to peel ourselves out of bed to catch an early breakfast in our digs, the Richard Johnston Inn, before heading toward Richmond, Virginia’s capital city. But we did…and were consequently able to enjoy a nice cherry and coconut dessert for breakfast. We quickly stuffed ourselves in the car and prepared to depart for our next destination(s) of the day, Monday, August 6, 2007. 
The date was December 17, 1985. Christmas break had begun and I was dropping yet another four autograph requests in the mail, hoping to cash in on some last-minute Christmas spirit of the stars. I had spent the week before mailing out 15 requests and these would be my final four before the holiday came. Two of the victims I chose would be a bust: I had the wrong address on Michael Landon and the Sammy Davis Jr. that I received was clearly a secretarial (although I didn’t realize that secretarials were one of the big pitfalls of autograph collecting until later on in life). 
Even if I had never seen a silent Our Gang film at that point, I could never forget the infectious smile and genuine friendliness that radiated from Ernest “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison when I first encountered him at the Our Gang reunion autograph session at Hollywood ’80. One of the kindest and most sincere men who I have ever met, Sunshine Sammy holds the distinction of being the first black actor ever signed to a long-term movie contract. His producer Hal Roach signed him to his own comedy series in 1919, which led to his eventual starring in the Our Gang series.