Brad’s California Adventure: An Unfinished Memoir – Part 3
August 2nd, 2007
The following is the conclusion to the journal of events from my October 2005 Hollywood vacation – the second half of my second day. Mostly this deals with the Hollywood Collectors Show that I attended on October 1. You will note a similar soapbox speech about the perceived greed of some of the celebrities at the Hollywood Collectors Show during my Hollywood ’07 trip. Obviously at the bottom of this posting, you will be able to follow a trail of celebrites and see separate entries about the stars whom I met during this show. Read the rest of this entry »
I can’t tell you the exact day, month, or even year I realized this – but pretty much from the beginning, I realized that my Dad liked cars. The origins of his fascination with classic automobiles can certainly be traced back to his childhood. But my childhood knowledge of his vehicular obsession can only be traced back to about 1975 – when he made his first classic car purchase during my lifetime: the blue 1949 Super-Six Hudson. 
As an adult, he was featured as an extra in a number of my favorite TV series: Sanford and Son, Newhart, and Picket Fences, for example. As a child, he starred as Isaiah in the Academy Award winning 1931 feature Cimarron. But, most importantly, Eugene Jackson starred in six of the silent Our Gang films in 1924-25. As the third major black actor in the series, he was brought in to play the big brother to “Farina” after “Sunshine Sammy” Morrison had graduated from the series. He was christened as “Pineapple” because of his afro which seemed to stand on end, resembling the tropical fruit. 
It’s always a distinct pleasure to meet a newly-discovered indentifiable performer from the Our Gang series. Although admittedly only playing a minor role in the Little Rascals, Hugh Chapman is my latest example this. He appeared in three of the Hal Roach one-reelers in 1937: The Pigskin Palooka, Glove Taps, and Mail and Female. He subsequently made a return to the Our Gang in 1939 after the series had been sold to M-G-M, appearing in Time Out for Lessons and Clown Princes.