Trick or treat? (october vs september)

Time to wrap up and review another month. I had a "Return To Sender" (RTS) last Thursday (10/27) on Ryan McPartlin. For some reason I just can't find a address where my letter actually can get to him. Plus I recently heard his show "Living With Fran" got the axe. Back to the drawing board on him. Now looking back at this month I have to say I was pleased overall.

October 2005 autographs

Autographs received (real or believed to be): 8.5 (Josh Holloway counted as a half)
Out of that number, the amount that were purchased: 0
Pre prints: 1 (autopen)
RTS: 1
Other: 2 in-persons
Total sent out in October: 19


September 2005 autographs


Autographs received (real or believed to be): 14
Out of that number, the amount that were purchased: 0
Pre prints: 0
RTS: 0
Other: 2 unexpected autographs as gifts
Total sent out in September: 16

Hello Dolly!

Last night I saw Dolly Parton on her "Vintage" tour. I had incredible seats and was fortunate enough to be able to go backstage before the show and visit with Dolly. This was the third time I had met her. She was just as kind and fun as the previous times and a very easy person to talk to.

Dolly Parton - In person: 10/29/05. I'm lucky enough to have several things already signed by Dolly so I didn't know what to chose to have her sign this time. I decided upon bringing her big RCA box set up (although I wish it would have had her photo on the front). I have some other box sets signed so I thought it would be nice to have this one signed as well. The autograph was only one part of the great night I had at her show.
















In person autograph from Dolly Parton

To the batcave! (or the peach pit)

Double success today.

Christian Bale - Sent: 6/10/05 Received: 10/25/05. Over the weekend I bought the "Batman Begins" DVD and last night I was watching the bonus features disc and I remember thinking that I need to find another address to try Christian Bale at. Then today I got a big surprise when I opened my mail and found that he did sign my "Batman" photo. This is so cool. I know he has to be getting flooded with mail too. Christian is the third "Batman" that I have (next to Adam West & Val Kilmer) in my collection. This success has made me very happy. I also can't wait until the next "Batman" film is released.




















Christian Bale as "Batman" (click to enlarge)


Joe E. Tata - Sent: 10/18/05 Received: 10/25/05. High school memories. My school wasn't anything like "Beverly Hills 90210" but I still watched it ever week. Joe E. Tata played "Nat" the owner of "The Peach Pit" where all the kids hung out at. He sent me a great "90210" promo pic plus a note responding to my asking where I could find a picture of him when he guest starred on "Wonder Woman" at. All of this in one weeks time.




















Joe E. Tata ("Nat" from "Beverly Hills 90210")
















Note from Joe E. Tata

Where's Walt?

I'm still surprised at how much of the "Lost" cast responds to fan mail with their show being as big as it is. Today's mail brings another "survivor".

Malcolm David Kelly - Sent: 9/23/05 Received: 10/24/05. Malcolm is 13 years old and plays "Walt" on the TV show "Lost". I wrote to him via the Hawaii set address but the photo came back postmarked LA. I'm sure with school and the show he has little free time so he signed a stack of photos that they distribute when requests come in. Even though the photo isn't personalized it has a real signature on it. He's a great actor and pulls off a lot of tough scenes on the show. I'm sure he will go far.
















The "others" don't have Walt's autograph, I do!

What was I thinkin?

When the mailman doesn't bring you an autograph, you go get your own!

Dierks Bentley - In Person: 10/21/05. I saw Dierks Bentley last night in concert. He put on a very high energy show which included his hits (such as "Lot Of Leavin' Left To Do", "How Am I Doin'?", "Come A Little Closer" and "What Was I Thinkin"). I met him before the show. He was very nice and talkative. I had the cd insert of his debut cd with me which he signed for me. Dierks is also the latest (and youngest) member of The Grand Ol' Opry.




















Dierks Bentley (and his dog Jake)

Charlie ... mission accomplished

I'm a little behind on getting new requests out this week. But getting a new success always helps remotivate me to send out. Two envelopes in today's mail (and one real success).

Jaclyn Smith - Sent: 9/26/05. Received: 10/17/05. Jaclyn is probably the best of all the "Angels" when it comes to signing for her fans. There doesn't seem to be a limit as to how often or how much she will sign for you. I try not to take advantage of that fact (as I hope others do). But I knew when it came to completing this "Charlie's Angel" photo it would be a piece of cake to get her (which is why I saved her for last). Plus she usually is a quick reply too. I started this photo on May 18th of this year and completed it (by all three) today. Not bad at all. (To follow the progress of this photo also see my postings on May 26th and September 24th of this year). I'm working on completing two other "Angels" cast items. (one of which only needs Kate Jackson, the other needs Kate Jackson & Farrah Fawcett).


My favorite angel "Kelly" (Jaclyn Smith) completes this season 4 cast photo.


Michelle Pfeiffer - Sent: 10/3/05 Received: 10/17/05. Two weeks ago I saw a "Star Archive" user post an authentic success on Michelle Pfeiffer. I was very excited (since she is on my "Top 12 most wanted" list) and sent three photos to the same address. After I mailed out my package the user posted their scans on Star Archive. I started looking at them and how the signature is exact on both. The same space between the each letter, the dot from the "I" in the same place, ect and I thought it must have been autopenned. Today all three of my photos came back (plus an extra one they sent) and they are all autopenned. I will say it's almost convincing. Had I not had multiple items and able to compare the signature and strokes of the pen and length of the letters I might have been fooled. With an autopen machine it's my understanding that you place whatever item you need signed underneath the autopen machine, insert a writing utensil and then it lowers itself down and recreates the original signature plate on your item. The "Star Archive user" must have realized this as well. I see he has changed his scans to "probably autopenned" instead of the "probably authentic" listing he had on them originally.


How great this would have been if it was real


Not only do I need Michelle for my "Catwoman" collection, but also for my "Grease 2" collection.


The autopenned photo they included with mine

On the third photo I sent (not scanned) the autopen rubbed off of it completely onto the back of the previous photo. It was even more clear then that it wasn't real. I enclosed that scan below.



I know if I could ever get my letter to Michelle and she read it she would sign for me. Until then I guess I just wait and try for a better address.

A great 'dae' for an autograph

At first I didn't think I had anything new for today. When I peaked down at my mailbox I didn't see any large size envelopes on top of the mailbox. But today's success was inside my mailbox. Normally that wouldn't make me happy, but we had a homecoming parade going on and a lot of people were outside on the street. So I'm glad they kept it "out of sight" so it wouldn't get stolen.

Daniel Dae Kim - Sent: 9/15/05 received: 10/15/05. Another success from "Lost" today. Daniel Dae Kim plays "Jin Kwon". When I wrote my letter to him I read his acting bio/resume and realized I had seen him somewhere before. (I thought he looked familiar to me). He had small parts in "Spider-man 2" and "Hulk". The inscription on the photo says "MAHALO!" . Mahalo is a Hawaiian word used to respectively say "Thank you". ("Lost" is filmed in Hawaii if you didn't know). Cool success (and I love the pictures that the "Lost" cast sends out).


Daniel Dae Kim is "Lost" ("Jin")

"Russell"ing up a success

Monday is Columbus Day so today was my last chance for a success until Tuesday (at the earliest). And one did arrive today. I used to never get a success in the mail on a Saturday. (I don't know why). But lately that's been changing. Maybe the "Saturday curse" is over.

Earle Hyman - Sent: 9/23/05 Received: 10/8/05. I've been meaning to write to this guy for a few months now and finally got around to it a few weeks ago. You might not recognize him by name but Earle Hyman has been working as an actor since 1945. In 1984 he landed the recurring role of "Russell Huxtable" on "The Cosby Show", which is probably his best known role. Another piece of triva, he provided the voice of "Panthro" & "Redeye" on "The Thundercats" cartoon. He is currently doing "Medea" in New York City.
















Earle Hyman (click to enlarge)

Look what I found....

Last night I watched "Lost" which was another exciting episode. Today I found some of the cast at my mailbox. I'll list them for you the way I opened them today:

Terry O'Quinn - Sent: 8/13/05 Received: 10/6/05. Last nights episode had a "backstory" about Terry's character "Locke". Although Terry O'Quinn has 25 years of work on his resume, I wasn't really aware of him until "Lost". He's a great actor though. This appears to be one of his own photos that he provided and not the "Lost" fan photos that he has sent out to other people. Great photo and success none the less.


Terry O'Quinn as the mysterious "Locke" on "Lost"


Harold Perrineau Jr. - Sent: 8/13/05 Received: 10/6/05. For a show that's as big as it is right now much of the "Lost" cast is very receptive to fan mail. Harold plays "Michael" who is involved in a big story arch right now. He was nice enough to send me one of those great signed promotional pictures from the show.


Harold Perrineau Jr. (aka "Michael" from "Lost")


Josh Holloway - Sent: 9/3/05 Received: 10/6/05. AAARGHHHHH. Ok now I feel just a little bit better. I don't know what to call this. First if you aren't aware of what happened last time I wrote him see my August 30th posting. I sent the pre-print back with a very nice letter asking if he could actually sign and personalize the photo for me. He personalized it and inscribed it (handwriting matches others successes) but did not actually sign it and left the pre-printed signature as his autograph. AAARGHHHHH! I'm just going to have to get a photo myself and send it to him with another request. I better not wait long to do this because I know his fan mail is sky rocketing. I think sending out pre-prints is his first step to starting not to sign anymore. But I have to get a "completed success" from this guy. He's now my favorite on the show.


Not giving up on you yet Josh Holloway! ("Sawyer")

Movin' on up!

FLASHBACK- "Weezy" Jefferson

I thought it would be fun to do another "pre-blog flashback" before I started out a new month of successes.

Isabel Sanford - Sent: 11/3/2003 Received: 3/19/2004. For many reasons this is a special autograph for me. Isabel was best known for playing "Louise 'Weezy' Jefferson" on "The Jeffersons" and "All In The Family". In the summer of 2003 I finished watching a huge "Jeffersons" marathon on TV and I did a search online for information on Isabel. That search led me to her page on "Star Archive" (the autograph site). That got me interested in the entire site, which got me more interested in starting to collect autographs. So partially my collecting came about because of Isabel. When I started collecting, she was one of the first people I wrote to. A few months after my success Isabel passed away (7/9/2004). I remember reading her obituary which mentioned how much she still loved receiving and reading her fan mail. Gone... but not forgotten.