I was very familiar with the work of actor Bob Cummings when I sent him an autograph request on July 22, 1985. Although his name might be vanishing into obscurity today, at the time I was enjoying watching The Bob Cummings Show on television. Being a huge Hitchcock fan, too, I was also a fan of his work in Dial M for Murder. He was the star of another of Hitch’s classics that I hadn’t seen yet at this point, too: Saboteur. Finally, and perhaps most important at the time, he was an extra in Laurel and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (although in later years he denied it, stating he was already an established actor when he came to Hollywood in the 1930’s).
Bob Cummings in “Sons of the Desert,” front and center
When I returned from my 1985 Summer Florida trip, there were two autographs waiting for me, both of which had arrived on July 29 (I had our next-door neighbor Linda Birx write the date on any autographs that might arrive while I was gone): Bob Cummings and Vincent Price. I thought the below photo was cool, in that he wrote a short novel on it, in addition to signing the two notecards I enclosed (each in a different color, red and green!). It was obvious that Bob Cummings appreciated his fans.
More autographs from 1985 – coming soon…
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