Luise Rainer
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
A pessimist such as I might look at the bad news that this posting will eventually get around to revealing: that I did not get to meet, nor did I get an autograph of Luise Rainer. But as I now reflect on the experience of just seeing her in person, I deemed that this event merited a posting of its own. It was on Sunday, April 25, 2010, that Bob and I attended a screening of The Good Earth at the Egyptian Theatre in Burbank. Actually, we didn’t even attend the screening itself. We just stopped in to see Louise Rainer. Read the rest of this entry »
The final installment of the autograph book that I acquired from former Our Gang member Mildred Kornman in 2005, if not the most valuable third of the book, is certainly the most interesting. What is also interesting is that there are two pages at the end of the signatures that have been torn out, as well as one in the midst of the signed pages. I asked Mildred if she recalled what these might have been. It makes the imagination run wild, or some celeb might have needed a piece of scrap paper. All part of the fun and mystery of early Hollywood. 
I had always hoped to get a chance to meet Charles Martin Smith. Not just because of his ultra-memorable and hilarious role as Terry the Toad in American Graffiti. Not just because of his great part in the film version of The Untouchables. Not just for his very early appearance on The Brady Bunch. Not just because he was Carter Pike’s brother Lyman on Picket Fences. Not just because he directed the premier episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I wanted to meet Charles Martin Smith because as a teenager, he was a member of the Sons of the Desert Laurel and Hardy appreciation society. 
What follows is the second dozen signatures that can be found in the autograph book that belonged to Our Gang member Mildred Kornman (seen at right) when she was a child (began