I was 5 when I saw my first movie star -- Gene Autry -- in person. I went to Cleveland Arena with my cousin Regina & her father. a year later Regina & I collectd Disney images which were printd on bread end labels.
we taped them together in long strings (perhaps in imitation of Aunt Sophie's shortsnorter?). I was probably 10 when I startd writing to movie stars requesting photographs. I suspect the impetus came -- again -- from Regina. here's her Stewart photo which I presume came from the era of the Anthony Mann westerns.
when she outgrew fandom Regina gave me her photo collection. she also gave me a stack of movie magazines. I clippd from some of them for the movie scrapbooks I began to keep in 1953 (see "Sonny's Scrapbooks" in the first issue of Court Green). if I kept them all these years I'd be sitting on a retirement nest egg.
at 12 I began a short correspondence with Joan Crawford & by high school I was interviewing Lila Lee & Vincent Price.
of course it's never stoppd. & now it so informs my writing that it's a part of me.
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