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).
One of the successful attempts came from Burgess Meredith, who I knew best from his role as Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky films. (Incidentally, Sylvester Stallone was the first autograph that I ever received in the mail). One of the most recent shows I had seen him in was Gloria, the All in the Family spin-off starring Sally Struthers. I remember distinctly mentioning that particular show in my letter to him. Today I house his autograph in The Twilight Zone section of my TV book – based on his four appearances on that show including one of my favorite episodes Time Enough at Last.
I didn’t have anything to send to Mr. Meredith to sign so I just sent a letter and S.A.S.E. on a whim. It paid off when I received the photo below back on January 13, 1986.
Autographs of 1985 will continue…
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