You’ve heard me say it several times in this 1985 autograph trail, but I kept getting the ideas of whom to write and request autographs from Carl Ahlm, our Sons of the Desert Tent’s Grand Sheik. Ray Bolger was no exception. In fact he was the fifth person I wrote to in May of ’85 – but in this first case, I only sent a letter with a small self-addressed-stamped-envelope. Remarkably, I didn’t receive a response until an entire year later on May 16, 1986…and it wasn’t even from him. His wife answered my note saying that Mr. Bolger would be glad to sign an autograph if I sent along a large S.A.S.E. By the time I received her response, I had already done that – four times!
Since Carl had received an autographed photo already, I knew that he would sign – so I went ahead and sent another request with a photo. I’m not even sure why I wrote the initial letter. I sent Ray Bolger the photo seen above on June 11, 1985 and he autographed and returned it along with two signed notecards. I knew that he had sent Carl one of his own photos, so I sent him a second letter on December 13, 1985 with no photo – just an S.A.S.E. I’ll never forget opening my front door and finding the large yellow envelope containing the autographed photo below on Christmas Eve, 1985.
But I didn’t give up there. I had attended an antique show at the Dayton Mall and found some photos from The Wizard of Oz. Three of them to be exact – in addition to two more black and white shots that I had purchased through Carl. Not wanting to appear too ridiculously greedy, I only sent two to him on January 21, 1986. By now, I think he knew my name. He returned both of them signed, two signed notecards, and he sent along yet another one of his own personally signed photos as the Scarecrow – bringing my grand tally of Ray Bolger autographs to nine.
But did I stop there? Not on your life. I decided to go for broke and send along my last three photos on March 10, 1986. And guess what… On May 21, 1986, I received my last five autographs from Ray Bolger. Three photos. One notecard. And one personal note.
Ray Bolger died on January 15, 1987 – so technically enough time had passed between my last mailing and his death that I probably couldn’t be blamed. But to my credit, I have carefully preserved each and every autographed photo and as any true Wizard of Oz buff would, will always cherish these treasures.
More autographs from 1985 later…
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