Stay Away from Captain Howdy
Thursday, July 16th, 2015
I’m sure you noticed that now and again I put up a celebrity encounter of an actor or actress who had a very small and possibly inconsequential role in some film or TV show that I like, but I don’t think you’ll encounter a performer who had less screen time than Eileen Dietz. When I say that I’m referring only to her role in the iconic Oscar nominated film The Exorcist. But as you can see below if you’re not familiar with her, that face won’t soon be forgotten and will likely to be pop up in some of your worst dreams. I got the chance to meet her in person at the Scarefest in Lexington, Kentucky on September 15, 2013. Read the rest of this entry »
The 1980’s were about the only time in film history that horror/slasher flicks were doled out in such insanely generous portions that those addicted to bloodlust could be almost continually satisfied on a monthly basis. The Halloween and Friday the 13th franchise seemed to feed off each other. Although the Friday series ultimately yielded the most films, Halloween was first… and that first film was head and shoulders the best. But I’m sure you’ve noticed that pretty much all of the slasher films followed the basic plot outline, with the most creative of them offering little twists and turns here and there. 
I have a feeling I got off a little bit easy when I got the chance to meet Jon Heder at the Wizard World Comic Con in Louisville, Kentucky on March 28, 2014. Not that paying $40 for his autograph in the normal world, but somehow in Comic Con world, paying ten bucks for the photo op portion seemed perfectly reasonable for this young actor who achieved fame in Napoleon Dynamite, making the second word the most relevant it’s been since the days of Jimmie Walker. 
The second day of our Laurel & Hardywood adventures was Thursday, July 3, 2015. David and I were able to get up bright and early at his place, get ready, and get over to the Loew’s hotel by 7:30am. It was imperative again that we were on time as the buses were scheduled to leave at 8am. There were four buses that would be running simultaneously, two of which would start off on one track, and the other two on another. I was hosting Bus #4 “Alf” and David had agreed to help the bus driver navigate. He also gave me interesting tidbits to point out along the way. The two Jimmys were on Bus #3 “Bert” (the buses so named after Laurel & Hardy’s twin brothers in their film Our Relations). The “Bert” and “Alf” buses would be crossing paths and meeting up with their counterparts “Stan” and “Ollie” for lunch. 
I remember when I first saw the 1983 documentary Amos ‘n’ Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy, I spotted a very familiar face being interviewed. That was a little bit before my time of actually wondering and considering what had become of those sitcom actors in old TV shows that I would watch. Even though I had already met a handful of Laurel and Hardy co-stars and Our Gang members, I assumed that my brushes with fame would probably end there. Who would have thought that I’d be getting autographs, sometimes actually corresponding, and even more out of the realm of possibility, meeting these television icons.