Around the Table at Ira and Mildred’s ’85
June 8th, 2007
These interesting photos from our 1985 Florida trip tell the story of our visit with Ira and Mildred at the Teakwood Village mobile home in Largo, less than ten miles south of where we were staying in Clearwater Beach. All eight of us went: Bill, Dottie, Dad, Mom, Lora, Robby, Denise, and me. We played a rousing game of scrabble and sipped on ginger ale. Mildred made snacks for us. Dad didn’t play because he never plays games. Not sure why Denise didn’t play but she was probably fiddling with the organ. Ira didn’t play so he could hang back and chat with Dad…and snap four great candid shots of us around the table, rolling our dice. Read the rest of this entry »
Tongues were abuzz immediately as word circulated around the grand room at the Beverly Garland Hotel where the Summer 1995 Hollywood Collectors Show was being held on June 24. Long before the days of The Girls Next Door and he had sealed his reputation as a creepy, perverted old man, Hugh Hefner entered the building. He was with a minor acquaintance of mine, Dick Bann. Dick was co-author of two of my favorite books, Laurel & Hardy (the giant picture book) and Our Gang: The Life and Times of the Little Rascals – which happened to be the book that I was toting around collecting signatures for my friend Henry Sorenson. Although Dick and I are not exceptionally close, we have certainly grown to be friends over the years. 
My last trip to California in 2005 yielded one major disappointment as I was not able to meet Dennis DeYoung following his concert in Vegas. The big disappointment on this trip was Friday night, February 16, 2007 after the Courts show. Bob had gotten himself, David, and me tickets to see one of Ray Bradbury’s live plays Leviathan ’99 – an outer space version of Moby Dick at the Fremont Centre Theatre in South Pasadena. As exciting as it sounds, it simply wasn’t. The biggest letdown, however, was that Ray Bradbury himself was not in attendance. This theater was as small as they come, seating maybe fifty – and it was only about half full. Many – if not most – times, Ray Bradbury will be present at the performances and then have a rather intimate talk with the small crowd after the show. 
Okay, so it’s not my greatest celebrity encounter in the world – it’s still fun. During the Summer of 2006, I became obsessed with collecting every Number One Billboard song ever produced – and wedged snugly in the middle of 1956, not long after the dawn of rock, was a snappy little number called “The Wayward Wind” by Gogi Grant. It peaked at number one on June 16 and remained there for six weeks. Have to admit: first time I’d ever heard of her. Flash forward to February 16, 2007. I’m at the Hollywood Collector’s Show and who should I see sitting there, virtually alone? None other than Gogi Grant herself! And at only $5.00 for this cardboard 5 x 7 head shot, how could I go wrong?