Celebrities
of the Past Return
By BOB THOMAS,
Associated Press Writer
reprinted from May 10, 2000 issue of the
"Los Angeles Daily News"
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Four weekends a year, in the ballroom of a
Holiday Inn just over the hill from Hollywood, vintage
celebrities - or near-celebrities - arrive to meet their public.
And this is not just any Holiday Inn.
Officially, it's "Beverly Garland's Holiday Inn,"
owned and operated by the 1950s B-movie queen in a corner of the
San Fernando Valley known as North Hollywood.
Names from the past, who are seated along rows of folding
tables like exhibits at a trade show, greet hordes of adoring
fans who have paid $10 to file past them - and up to $20 more for
autographed photos.
Sometimes Beverly Garland sits at one of the tables along
with other cast members from "My 3 Sons".
Don't have exact change? No problem. These
current and one time stars of stage and screen will give you
change - themselves.
Welcome to the "Hollywood Collectors and Celebrities
Show", where mostly retired actors, singers, even bit
players, can return to the limelight, if only for a weekend.
The show is run by Ray Courts and his lovely wife
Sharon. He grew up in Milton, W Va., a town so small it
didn't have a movie theatre. He compensated by watching
films on television, especially Westerns. He began
attending Western nostalgia conventions, which featured old-time
cowboy stars along with movie memorabilia.
He began collecting western paraphernalia and soon became a
dealer.
"When we started the show in 1991, everybody thought we
were crazy," said Courts. "To build a show around
celebrities?"
"But you know something" I was a dealer for
23 years. I would go to California every now and then to do
a show. I discovered promoters would not even let the
celebrities come in."
One promoter told Courts that celebrities were a distraction
and that he wanted collectors to spend all their time and money
with the dealers and the vendors.
"I said, 'You're crazy. I came 3,000
miles. I want to see celebrities.' So my wife
and I started this show." Courts explained.
The couple started their enterprise modestly, offering
celebrities and memorabilia relating to Western movies. As
the show grew, it attracted Mickey Rooney, Jonathan Winters, Dom
DeLuise, Gene Autry, Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows.
On a recent Saturday, the hotel parking lot is jammed, and
all the parking spaces for blocks around are taken. A few
hundred excited fans wait in line for the 10 a.m. opening, eager
to find their longtime idols.
When the doors open, the crowd pours in. By the end of
the day, about 3,500 fans will have attended the show.
Courts stands by the entrance, attending to myriad details
including helping celebrities find their assigned tables.
This morning's most popular attraction is Don Knotts, 75, one
of the stars of the '60s sitcom "The Andy Griffith
Show". He is signing his book, "Barney Fife and
Other Characters I Have Known." The line extends out
the hall and around the corner.
Knotts, wearing a cap and glasses, signs his name, leaning
over just a few inches from the books and photos. When
asked if the adoring crowd makes him nervous, he laughs
indulgently and says, "Not really. I'm here to sell
the book. I'm having fun. I'd come again."
Don Adams, Nanette Fabray, Linda Christian, Jon Provost
("Lassie"), Morgan Brittany ("Dallas"),
Susanne Foster (the 1934 film "Phantom of the Opera")
and singer Gogi Grant are among those in attendance.
Charlton Heston and Penny Singleton (the 1934 film
"Blondie") are due at 1 p.m.
"This show is OK," Adams, 74, remarks.
"What else is there to do on a Saturday afternoon except
watch golf on TV?"
With his white hair and full mustache, he is hardly
recognizable as the klutzy secret agent Maxwell Smart of the
sitcom "Get Smart," which ran form 1965 - 1970.
The show was revived briefly in 1995.
Grant, the sultry singer of the 1940s and '50s, is seated
behind a sign that reads: "Photos $5, CDs $20, vintage
photos $3." She is talking to a young man who claims
to have collected all her single records. He buys a CD of
songs from "The Helen Morgan Story." Grant dubbed
the vocals of the 1957 film for star Ann Blyth.
"I love this show," she insists. "What
could be wrong with somebody coming up and saying, 'I loved your
records'? At my age, 75, it is wonderful."
Does she still work?
"Once in a while. I don't have an agent, but if
somebody calls and wants me, I'll go. The voice is still
there."
Not everyone is a famous face. But tiny Margaret
Pellegrini, wearing a starched fairy-tale dress, looks like a
munchkin, the role she played in the 1939 film "The Wizard
of Oz". She is one of three munchkins attending the
show.
"I was 15 when I did the movie, I am 76 now," she
declares in her midget voice. "I didn't keep working
after 'The Wizard." I got married and had two
children. Now I have four grandchildren and seven
great-grandchildren. They're all big people."
Around the wall of the big room, concessionaires sell movie
photos, advertising posters and other collectibles. Five
other areas in the hotel offer posters, photos, books and a
variety of memorabilia. Concessionaires pay for space;
celebrities don't.
The Courts conduct business from their home in Spring Hill,
Florida.
The couple take the show to Chicago on May 20-21 and again on
Oct. 7-8, then it's on to San Francisco Nov. 18-19.
Down on one of the aisles this Saturday sit William
Sanderson, Tony Papenfuss and John Volstad.
Who?
Fans remember them as Larry, Darryl and Darryl, the bumbling
handymen of the "Newhart" sitcom, which ran on CBS from
1982 to 1990. Larry spoke in the series, the two Darryls
did not. This is their third appearance at this show.
Have they been working since "Newhart" ended?
"Intermittently," admitted Volstad.
"People didn't know whether we could talk. They bring
us into auditions just to hear us talk."
Return to Hollywood Collectors Show,
Inc. Homepage
Click here to go to.....
