On Tuesday morning, October 4, 2005, Jimmy and I awoke bright and early and headed from his home in San Pedro toward San Diego. The traffic was murder even at the early hour, but the destination made it all worthwhile. For it was here that Mildred Kornman resided. Mildred was the younger sister of Our Gang leading lady Mary Kornman and the daughter of Hal Roach still photographer Gene Kornman. She herself had starred in the silent Little Rascals series as a baby and grew up to be a stunning fashion model.
Mildred had just turned 80 on July 10 of that year. She looked amazingly attractive for her age – or any age really. I hadn’t seen Mildred for more than a year and she hadn’t changed a bit. Her classy condo in San Diego was tastefully decorated and it was no surprise that she had some gorgeous photos from her modeling career hanging on the walls. They classed up the joint even more. Mildred served Jimmy and I fruit and coffee. We enjoyed the fruit but as non-coffee drinkers, we both choked down our cups of joe so as not to look too much like idiots.
We had a great time chatting with Mildred about her family, career, children, current interest in photography, and life in general. We were permitted to browse some of her photo albums – and she even allowed us to take some rare color photos of Mary and a nice portrait of her father with us to scan into Jimmy’s computer. She also gave me a few nice color modelling photos that she signed to me for a commemoration of our visit. (Two can be seen below and one can be seen here).
From Vogue, circa 1949
An ad for Lady Pendleton taken during the Vietnam war
The she pulled out her prize. An autograph book, signed by numerous stars from the 1930’s. It was an incredible piece of memorabilia that she had taken along with her when she visited movie sets as a child and had celebrites autograph for her. To be able to look through it, I was even willing to drink a second cup of coffee.
She then asked me how she might go about selling it. I took one look at her, mulled over my current financial situation, thought about how much injury Carolyn could inflict, and then made her an offer. She accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. I purposely haven’t spoiled the fun by mentioning any of the particular autographs that were included in the book because I didn’t actually take it home with me that day. It wouldn’t arrive until sometime a couple of months later after we had worked out payment and the like. But don’t worry, I will share them later on.
Our visit to the Hollywood Entertainment Museum will be coming up next.
Click here to see Mildred’s autograph book…
Wow! Now there is a wonderful story. I can’t wait to find out who is in the little autograph book. I would have to say that you are a LUCKY DOG….pun intended!
Dave Chasteen
November 27th, 2007
How much did you pay?
Aaron
November 27th, 2007
Let’s just say if I had a nickel for every two bits I spent on the book, I’d have a c-note, a couple of Jacksons, and half-a-dozen sawbucks.
Brad
November 28th, 2007
A great story, Mildred looks terrific, and I like your shirt. Isn’t that the “Abbey Road” crossing? But who’s in the crosswalk? Looks like a lady walking a dog. And there’s a blue Cadillac where the VW should be.
Randy Skretvedt
November 28th, 2007
That’s a lot of nickels.
Aaron
November 28th, 2007
Brad
November 29th, 2007
Ah, it wasn’t a lady walking her dog, it was Bugs and the Tasmanian Devil (“Taz” to you youngsters). Cute shirt! Wonder why the cars are of ’50s or earlier vintage? Nice to see they gave shoes to everybody but Taz to keep the “Paul is Dead” theory alive. (Ironically, he’ll probably be the last Beatle standing!) Wonder if they ever did a Looney Tunes version of the Sgt. Pepper cover? They’ve probably got enough characters for it. (They could put Bosko and Honey in the crowd behind them!)
Randy Skretvedt
November 30th, 2007
I met Mildred only once at Hollywood 80.Being 16 at the time,I had a huge crush on her!She was so sweet to me!I sat and talked with her and her mother who was alive at the time.Later that night I ran into Mildred who gave me a huge hug and kiss on the cheek.I was happy for sure.Happy to see she still is stunning!
Raul Moreno
August 27th, 2008