Deanna Durbin and the Christmas Wish
Sunday, January 11th, 2009
In the Fall of 1997, I decided to incorporate my ‘talent’ and interest in collecting autographs into some early Christmas shopping for my Grandpa Murphy. In those days, we had a family gift exchange which was determined by drawing names out of a bowl. So I had to make sure the fix was in when it came time to draw at Thanksgiving. I’m not sure who I drew, but I made sure that I ended up with Grandpa. The object was to get Grandpa a signed photos of one his favorite child actresses Deanna Durbin, so someone in the family kinded traded names with me. Read the rest of this entry »
Buddy Ebsen is best known for his characterization of Jed Clampett in The Beverly Hillbillies, followed closely by his role as Barnaby Jones in the TV drama of the same name. I frankly never cared for either of them. What interests me the most about Buddy Ebsen was a role that he didn’t play…that of the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz (as seen at left). Originally cast in the role, he had to withdraw after he became deathly ill from breathing in the silver powder-based make-up which the Tin Man was required to wear. Due to time constraints during the filming, he was replaced by Jack Haley…and the make-up was replaced by a liquid-based substitute. 
Autographs…celebrity encounters…so where did it all begin for me? Sometime during the Summer of 1977, I met my first real celebrity and obtained my first real autograph (discounting two sports autographs that I already owned: the autographed baseball from Hall of Famer Bob Feller that I received when I was born from June Bolin, one of my Dad’s co-workers…and the signed paper photo of Bengal Isaac Curtis that I got when I was about two when he did a personal appearance at a local store). This mystery masked celebrity was none other than Clayton Moore, star of TV’s classic western The Lone Ranger. 
By the Fall of 1997, I had really become quite serious with my autograph collecting. Not that I hadn’t been before, but now I had actually purchased a P.O. Box at the post office in Airway shopping center to house the incoming loot. I had become nervous about the barrage of yellow envelopes being left outside my apartment door. I had also begun purchasing – and eventually subscribing to – Autograph Collector magazine. They featured a monthly section about through-the-mail autographs where contributors would share their success stories. One of the first pieces of advice of theirs that I took was to get a letter off to Estelle Getty. 
I always felt a little hometown pride – and probably a little jealousy – to have a nationally syndicated cartoonist living in my hometown of Beavercreek, Ohio – just over in Tara Estates next to our very own neighborhood. His daughter Tracy attended our school, so it was a bit hard to process the fact that Mike Peters was a national celebrity. He didn’t start out that way though. Originally, he was a local political cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News (which incidentally I delivered to homes in Peters’ hometown) in 1969.