Almost immediately following my California vacation with Bob in the Summer of 1997, I began the single largest autograph collecting drive in the history of Brad – no doubt inspired by my admiration for the Bob’s massive collection. It would go on for well over a year and nearly double my existing collection at that point. The philosophy behind the initiative was simple: to make some effort every single day to obtain a new autograph. I had tried something along these lines a couple of years prior, but in that case it was to send MAD Magazine a letter every day in hopes of getting one published. That lasted all of three days, but this one did not falter.
Unfortunately for me now, in most instances I did not keep exact dates on when I sent or received the autographs, but rather simply assigned one initiative for each day. In other words, I might send out five requests on the same day, but assign the to Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of a given week. I highlighted every success with a yellow highlighter, and every non-successful response (refusal, secretarial, pre-print, autopen, or wrong address) with a pink highlighter. Non-responses were not highlighted. Yes, I can be freakishly obsessive as you might have guessed.
The first day listed was July 13, 1997 in which I noted that I had somehow communicated with my good ol’ friend Bob Satterfield and had requested that he get me autographs from Our Ganger Mary Ann Jackson and character actor and Laurel and Hardy co-star Douglas Fowley. I’m not sure which Mary Ann photo I received from this effort, but I know which Fowley I got – as it’s the only one I ever got – and it can be seen at the top of this posting. It arrived on July 29.
Bob had interviewed Douglas Fowley at his home while he was nearly on his death bed. Don’t worry, he didn’t force himself in there; Fowley was very receptive to the visit. He had starred as one of the gangsters in Laurel and Hardy’s film Jitterbugs (pictured just right of Ollie) and this was his first and only contact with the ‘L&H World’ so to speak. Fowley passed away in May the following year.
Over the next few days I sent autograph reqeusts to Tony Dow, Rosina Lawrence (via my friend Steve Randisi), and Kurt Vonnegut – all which met with no success. I also snagged a signed photo from Leonard Maltin as seen here. Finally, I sent a follow-up note to Grace Patten whom I had just visited while in California. We kept in touch for a few years, so I’m not sure if this particular note yielded a response.
On July 16, I had a photo printed up from a negative I borrowed from Bob. The picture was a great shot of Laurel and Hardy meeting with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Joan Crawford. On July 23, I would send the photo off to Fairbanks and he would personally sign and inscribe it – and receive it back in my hands on August 11. This is one of my favorite of the many unusual L&H pieces I have come to collect over the years.
Fairbanks inscribed “The gang’s all here! – good luck”
Autographs of 1997 will continue…
You’re one ‘Doug’ up on me! I have only Fairbanks in my collection. Never did bother to write to Fowley because I’d heard from some collectors that he almost never replied and was usually grumpy when met in person. I guess being nearer the end made him somewhat mellow.
Bill
March 1st, 2008