I spent a lot of time as a real young kid watching movies and have a keen memory of the films I saw even from an age of 8-9 years, in them old days of the silents. My heroes then were Chaplin, Chaplin, Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Raymond Griffith, Lloyd Hamilton, Leon Errol [I particularly remember his “Clothes Make the Pirate” that I saw in Ojai when I was about 6!], and of course my super-hero, super-comedian Douglas Fairbanks.

Then my family moved across the country to Tulsa, Kansas City and Chicago, and I continued to watch my heroes in reprised silents. But there was a big change when I got to Chicago. The “talkies” came in! And with that event came a new set of heroes: Charlie Chase, Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Wheeler & Woolsey and W.C. Fields.

We moved to Carmel in 1931 and my “new” heroes continued to enchant me. I had no interest whatsoever in the “big” stars such as George Brent, Greta Garbo and Kay Francis but I never missed a movie that featured a famed comedian.

Shortly after the talkies over-took the country, we were swamped with musicals such as “Gold Diggers of 1933” and others starring Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Astaire & Rogers — and those films introduced me to another member of my own Hall of Fame of Comedians, Sterling Holloway [What?: you’ve never heard of him? Shame on you!].

One day in 1934, I was walking up the hill on the south side of Ocean Avenue when who came walking down the hill but Sterling Holloway himself! As we passed at about the Charmack and Chandler Store (better known later as Derek Raynes), I looked at him and said with beating heart

“Enjoy yourself in our town, Mr. Holloway”

and with a quick flick of an eye to me, he responded

“Thanks, kid!”

and continued on his way.

I talked to a movie star!