“Two Minutes to Go!”: Catching Up with Joan Del Mar
Wednesday, August 12th, 2015
Back in 2003 when I was in the throes of creativity in regards to producing one of the best and most thorough newsletters in the history of the Sons of the Desert (that’s my opinion anyway, and I know it is held by many others), I was working on issue 27 of Dante’s Info, which was a full 32 pages bursting at the seams with fun research and info. Encompassing four of those pages was an article I did based on a phone interview I conducted with Joan Del Mar. Joan had had a speaking role in Laurel and Hardy’s 1944 M-G-M film Nothing but Trouble. I titled the article the exact same thing that I titled this posting. Read the rest of this entry »
The only question I had about titling this post was how many letter “o’s” to use in the word “Woooooooooo!!” Because not only is that Ric Flair’s most famous catchphrase, but it is exactly how I felt when I finally got the chance to meet him on June 27, 2015 at the HorrorHound event in Indianapolis, Indiana. His appearances were not that common, and although he had been to the Hollywood Show one time, it was a time when I wasn’t there. 
Even after years of collecting autographs/celebrity encounters, there are still a hefty handful of performers who regularly have done or continue to do shows, but have fallen through the cracks and we’ve done a remarkable job of missing each other. One such actor is Marc McClure who has long been a highly desire encounter for me, and one that important enough that I actually drove all the way to Knoxville on the strength of finally getting to meet him. It ended up being a great encounter that completely paid off. 
By no means was I a huge fan of Bobcat Goldthwait when he was in his prime, or should I say when he was most recognizable. The Police Academy films in which he starred in three of them, were a beacon of passable mediocrity and the squeaky voice was charming in short spurts but could grow tiresome after too much exposure. Nevertheless when he came to my town, I made sure I was there first thing to greet him… because after all, who doesn’t know Bobcat Goldthwait? 
I have to be honest. I didn’t do much research on Ronee Blakley before I met her at the Chiller Theatre show in Parsippany, New Jersey on April 26, 2014. I had noted that she played in the original Nightmare on Elm Street film as Nancy’s mother Marge Thompson, and I stopped right there. That was good enough for me. Of course if I had looked into her career a little bit further, I might have noticed that she carried one other ultra-special credential that would have made meeting her mandatory.