I first met June Wilkinson at the Hollywood Collectors Show on Saturday, June 8, 1997. At that time, I was more into the Playboy connection, and was seeking out autographed photos of the Playmates. She was one of the classics to be sure, having appeared in a spread in June of 1958. She told me that she was only seventeen during the shoot and consequently, her spread didn’t appear until after her 18th birthday. I learned another little tidbit about the shoot that day as well – from Hugh Hefner himself.
It was the second time that I had run into Hefner at the Hollywood Show, and once again I had nothing for him to sign – except for the photo that I had just purchased from June Wilkinson. He told me at that time that the photo had been taken in his office. I asked him to write that on the photo, but he laughed off the request and just inscribed and signed it to me.
A year later I had Bob pick me up another signed photo of June Wilkinson, this one of her appearance in two episodes of Batman, in which she played the villainess Evelina. Besides that and an episode of The Doris Day Show in 1971, I hadn’t heard of one single other film in which she starred. But still I needed to finish up my association with June. Although I had met her and now obtained two autographs from her, I still hadn’t gotten a photo with her.
I finally rectified that during the Batman Hollywood Show reunion on October 8, 2011. I didn’t need another autograph so I simply gave her five bucks to get a photo with her. Deciding later that I didn’t care for the first two that we took (the first seen at the top of the posting – where she’s not looking at the camera, and the second one above, which is blurry), I approached her again before I left the show and she posed for another one. She was a nice gal, and I’m glad I finally completed the circle so that I can consider this bat-playmate quest completed.
Celebrities of the Fall 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…
Celebrties of the 1997 Hollywood Collector Show will continue…
What’s up with Hef’s signature? Is that a smudge at the end?
Peter
August 22nd, 2012
Yep. The autograph collector’s nightmare.
Brad
August 22nd, 2012
Yes, but Hef signed for you (unsmuged) on another occassion, right? So maybe a just bad dream instead of a nightmare.
Peter
August 22nd, 2012