Did I Kill the Scarecrow of Oz?
Thursday, January 4th, 2007
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! Read the rest of this entry »
One thing I remember well about going into 1985 was that I was fat. So understandably, I was rather camera-shy. There are photos of me during Christmas 1984 and then I really can’t find any more until the Summer of 1985. Not that there was much going on of which to take photos anyway. But as I collect my thoughts and transport myself to this time period, I realize that these were some good times, characterized mosty by my hobbies. If I had kept a time capsule at this time, these are some of the things that might be found in it from the year which began with New Years Eve. To ring in the new year, my friend Chris Demeter spent the night and we spent the late hours walking around the neighborhood lighting firecrackers, and perhaps cigarettes. But the rest of my memories are characterized by my hobbies and obsessions, rather than much specific activity. 
I had seen and enjoyed It Happened One Night, the only film to ever sweep the Academy Awards with Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress, but I really got the idea to write a letter to Claudette Colbert because our tent Grand Sheik Carl had had success with her. She, of course, was the Best Actress winner for the aforementioned film – and later garnered an additional two nominations. 
One of the autograph requests I sent out in 1985 was to Woody Woodpecker creator Walter Lantz. Walter started his career with the Hal Roach Studios and claimed to have painted the Flying Elephants in the film of the same name, a fact disputed by Roach special effects man Roy Seawright. In any case, Lantz’ name in animation history is secure as the creator of Woody and the producer of a vast array of “Cartunes” from 1929 to 1972, including Woody, Chilly Willy, Andy Panda, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (after the series left Disney’s domain). 
One of the first autographs I received after delving into the hobby in early 1985 was from Audrey Meadows, who played the role of Alice in one of my favorite television series The Honeymooners. I sent out the request sometime in mid-May and the photo returned on May 31. She was kind enough to sign a cast shot in bold, beautiful purple, along with a pair of notecards.