“Dobie!”
Friday, June 1st, 2007
I had spent the Summer of 1985 immersed in old TV and one of my favorites of the classic was “The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.” The title character was portrayed by a young actor named Dwayne Hickman, who had gotten his start on “The Bob Cummings Show.” He had later starred in the 1983 TV movie High School U.S.A., which became one of those instant cult classics in my life, which I still repeatedly enjoy to this day. And one other bonus: he actually appeared in the M-G-M Our Gang short Melodies Old and New (1942 – his first credited film appearance). So it was a special treat to meet Dwayne Hickman at the Hollywood Collectors Show during my Hollywood trip of 1995. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ve just spent well over an hour scouring photographs, documents, and collapsing inward inside my own head trying to piece together my trip to Hollywood during the Summer of 1995. If I had to do it all over again, I would be sure to keep some notes as to what I did on an important trip like this. For example, in the picture at left, I have no idea why I’m posing in this doorway! When it comes down to it, the dates aren’t all that important, but they are nice to know. Fortunately, I have enough memories and photos to keep the trip alive in my head for the time being as I try to record what we did. 
The name Hollywood ’80 had entered the common vernacular of most Sons of the Desert members – both to those who had been fortunate enough to actually attend it, as well as to those who had only heard tales of the legendary convention. So it was in deliberate reference to that Sons convention’s nickname that I named an article I did for Dante’s Info #13 as Hollywood ’95. This particular vacation to California was not a convention, but my third journey to the wild western state in a successful attempt to recapture the magic of Hollywood ’80. 
Say what you will about Yoko Ono and her involvement with the Beatles’ break-up, but I still say she’s one of the kindest of all celebrities when it comes to appreciating her (and John Lennon’s) fans. She has consistently been full of surprises in the dealings I have had with her. As a mega-Beatles fan, I decided that one of the last autograph requests I would make during the Summer of 1985 was to Yoko Ono. On August 16, I sent only a self-address-stamped-envelope to Yoko – as I had no photos to send.