This year's convention will, once again, feature celebrity
appearances (by Connie Stevens, Piper Laurie, George Lazenby, and others). The convention's lectures/seminars will include
a history of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer;
the film work of “Buffalo Bill” Cody; and a presentation about W.C. Fields (featuring
Dr. Harriet Fields, Fields' granddaughter, and film historian Rob Farr).
Many nostalgia-oriented vendors
will also be setting up shop at the convention.
I'd like to put in a word for one of them: collector Rick Payne (who has appeared on my "Radio
Once More" talk show, and is a friend). Rick is
an immensely knowledgeable and discerning collector (and preserver) of
Americana.
He has a very beautiful collection
of tickets to old radio and television shows (which he has presented, on
several occasions--via webinar--to the audience of "Radio Once More").
He also collects vintage movie/radio/television magazines, and newspaper comic
strips; sheet music; premiums from radio and television programs; movie posters; radio transcriptions; vintage toys and games; and a great deal more.
I have enjoyed talking with Rick,
over time, about his life as a collector. I like the fact that
he does not only collect popular culture artifacts, and souvenirs--though that
would of course be perfectly fine, on its own; his collection would still be
remarkable. He is also, however, a student of history. He studies the items he finds, the artifacts he locates--gathers
information about them, and items like them--and seeks to situate the artifacts,
seeks to understand them, within the broader cultural and historical realm. He is also, I must add, unusually eloquent in
discussing his sense of the domain, and the meaning, of collecting.
He will be at the convention on
Thursday and Friday, and while I don't know what items he will be offering for
sale, I can guarantee that they will be worth looking at.
Here, for your reference, is
Rick's store on the auction site ebay:
