It is ironic that one of the worst child actors in the history of motion pictures – one Mickey Gubitosi – would grow up to be one of the most successful actors of all of the Our Gang kids. And notorious as well. My attempts at getting Robert Blake’s autograph through the mail began long before he went to trial for the murder of his wife Bonnie Bakley. I was actually rather surprised to receive my first attempt, which I sent on February 23, 1987, back with a legitimate autograph (seen at right). This came back along with two signed notecards on March 9. Blake had been known to use secretaries in the past – and ones who didn’t even attempt to get his signature right. My friend Bob had one of these added to a photo on which he had already acquired other signatures.
But I was rather confident when I made my second attempt in July of 1997 that Blake would be equally cooperative. The reason is because I enclosed an autographed photo from Janet Burston to Blake. I had acquired this back in 1995 when I visited her at her home in Fresno. It had taken me two years to get this sent out to him (I had actually considered keeping it as a novelty piece), but when I finally mailed it off I was pleased to add the very rare multiple-signed photo seen below to my collection just two weeks later. He signed one to me as seen below and one without an inscription, which I later sold for top dollar.
Froggy, Janet, Mickey, and Buckwheat in Calling All Kids
After this success, I quickly sent him yet another photo now that I might have stuck in his memory as a worthy fan. This one is even more of a gem. It already included the signatures of Leonard Landy and Gordon “Porky” Lee – and like the previous one, Blake added his old character name “Mickey” to the photo and sent it back On August 25, three weeks after I had mailed it to him.
Alfalfa, Spanky, Leonard, Buckwheat, Mickey, and Porky in Joy Scouts. If I had only got Spanky and Buckwheat to sign this when I met them, this would be worth thousands!
I don’t know if Robert Blake killed his wife or not, but I do know that he was very kind to me both in 1987 and ten years later in 1997 in supplying me with a few cool, rare pieces for my Our Gang autograph collection.
On Saturday, February 12, 2011, I got an opportunity that I never thought I’d get: to actually meet Robert Blake. He had agreed to do an appearance at the Hollywood Show in Burbank. Of all things, he had contacted my friend Bob to find out more info on the show – and their chats on the phone eventually resulted in Bob acting as his handler.
I made sure to hit Blake’s room upon my arrival at the beginning of the show. I had the fear that something would happen and that he wouldn’t be sticking around for long. In fact, after waiting in the line that was relatively short and finally getting into the room, I did see Blake approach the security guard who was letting people in to advise him that he wasn’t happy and wanted more people to be let in the room at once.
Blake had an amazing array of photos – approximately 60 shots in all. Having had several in my collection already, I was mostly interested in getting the shot from The Big Noise with Laurel and Hardy. Bob introduced me to Blake and said that I was a good friend of his, to which Blake responded “so what’s that mean?” Bob jokingly said, “I guess that means you don’t sign for him!”
I asked Blake to right Egbert, which was his character name, under his signature and he asked me to spell it. Unfortunately, he inscribed it “To Egbert”. And as a southpaw, he also smeared it. Bob was going to be doing a private signing with him later on, so I asked him to try and get it replaced – so I will add some additional Blake signed photos on here at a later time.
My fears proved to be correct and Blake did in fact leave the show after only about two hours, a situation I will describe in more depth in another posting. My utmost priority had been to get a photo with this living legend with an amazing history – both professional and personal – and I had succeeded in this task.
Autographs of 1987 will continue…
Autographs of 1997 will continue…
Celebrity encounters from the Winter 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…
Those are great photos and autographs. I have tried for several years to get Mr. Blake’s signature. He is a tough one to obtain. Most of the ones on the internet are frauds or secretarials. It is nice to see the authentic signatures from Mr. Blake in your collection.
Dave Chasteen
March 25th, 2008
You are indeed very fortunate to have those photos, Brad. I doubt very much Robert Blake would be as accommodating today if you were to send him such a request.
Bill
March 25th, 2008