I Can’t Get Over the Alps!
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008
The Wileys and I had gotten a fairly good night’s sleep in our separate rooms in Lyon, France and were up and ‘at ’em’ bright and early the morning of Wednesday, July 16, 2008. The hotel had been nothing to write home about, but the breakfast was once again outstanding. In fact, I became less impressed with the Disney breakfast after seeing virtually the same layout in the breakfast room of the tiny Campanile hotel. Lunchmeat, sausages, eggs, cheeses, breads, you name it. I was a little later at getting down to breakfast than the Wileys so I dined alone. I was so excited with the food that I left my water bottle at the hotel before I rushed out with my luggage to meet them in the lobby. 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. 
By the Summer of 1973, my parents had decided that although our house on John Glenn, which we had been renting from my Grandma Range, had served our little family well, it was time to move on to the next chapter in our lives. They didn’t care all that much for the area where the John Glenn house was located and wanted a bit more room both inside and outside. They had seen a listing for a nice little white house built in 1953, located in the Country Acres sub-division in the up-and-coming suburb of Beavercreek, Ohio. It had a spacious yard perfect for tending a nice, garden – and sending their kid out to play. It even had room to add on an additional garage where Mom and Dad could store their growing number of cars. In short, the house (seen above with our green ’65 Volkswagon Squareback and Oscar’s Buick in the driveway) was the perfect place to start. 
P.J. Soles was an attractive young actress who made her mark in several notable movies of the the mid-1970’s through the early-1980’s. Among the memorable films in which she appeared were Brian DePalma’s Carrie, the classic John Travolta TV movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Rock ‘n’ Roll High School, and Private Benjamin. The roles that I knew best though were her portrayal of Lynda, the doomed high schooler who had a penchant for saying “Totally!” in the classic horror flick Halloween – and her part as MP Stella Hansen in the Bill Murray comedy Stripes (above right), which I used to watch repeatedly in the early 80’s. Also noteworthy was that she had a part in one episode of one of my favorite sitcoms Cheers in 1984. 
I must confess that as I look at some of the photos from the 1986 Valley Forge Sons of the Desert convention, I get a little bit annoyed at myself for not spending more time with my family. As I was fourteen years old, it might be tempting for me to say that I thought I was a little too cool to hang out with them – but the fact is that they simply weren’t geeky enough for me. Whereas Mom, Dad, and Denise were hanging out together and snapping photos of Denise mingling with the celebrities (and the great family shot at left, which I missed out on), I was off alone hob-knobbing with the stars and club ‘bigwigs.’ So while my goal at that time didn’t involve getting pictures with any of them, Denise ended up with a whole slew of great shots. Dumb kid.