Episode 21: Hittin' the Town

Cambridge and Mashon is a weird way media podcast. Well here's two eyes. Nobody does it. Dad makes me feel sad for the rest. Nobody doesn't have as good as you, babeyyonre the bed.

Hello and welcome to episode twenty one of Cambridge and with Shon. This is Mark Begley, one of your hosts. Joining me as always is me. Get something Ronny. So I was anticipating, how am I going to do this?

I paused there indiscriminately for some reason, and my nervousness just made me hop on it. We're doing something, okay, I mean we're always doing something different. Well, I shouldn't say that. We've been doing a lot of different things, and this is no different than that. We're talking about a little adventure that Ronnie and I took last week.

We yeah, actually hung out in person for the first time in ages like at least six months, if not longer. I think it might might have been about a year a year. It's been a long time. Yeah, it's been a while. I know.

We met up and exchanged things a while back and kind of did the same thing this time, but also with an agenda in mind to hell. Yeah, some antique stores in our sister city of Clovis. So Fresno and Clovis but upright against each other and are basically seen as one unit for the most part, although there are great differences between the two. Cities, substantial differences. So we're going to talk about that adventure.

But before we get to that, I have got not updates, but related to last episode you talked about Burton Ernie. Yes, we got into the whole thing about the blind box. Oh yeah, deal with Super seven, the reaction blind box, Sesame street figures and my frustration with trying to search for them, and mentioned where to go, and so I did go, yes, and found them and got one. And I also got one of those kid robot plushes. Oh yeah, the funny plush.

They've got the duney and the money and the whatever you inn Why is there thing? For some reason, hipsters, there was an open box there and I didn't. I was tempted to feel in the bag and I didn't for whatever reason. And I, you know. Rattled the boxes to see if I can suss out what was in them.

And I didn't really care beyond not not really wanting Cookie Monster. Even the Chase figure yeah, just because it's like you mentioned a while back, it's kind of a boring figure. But anyway, got home, opened it and that was Burt as well, So I got Burt two Berts. That day you had mentioned the last episode, you know that you ordered another blind box and if it was an Oscar the Grouch, it would be mine. And I went back interesting had to get some other stuff, but I went to that store specifically to do my shopping because I.

Thought, well, maybe i'll maybe. I will poke around that open one and see what it is. I didn't open it. It's been there both times I've gone. That's so funny is that opened one has been there since I first stopped in there.

Right, So I felt it, and I think by that time you had already gotten yours and opened it and it was a third Oscar of the Grouch, a second green one or third green one. You've gotten four oscars. Yeah, that's right, that's right. I felt the bag and it was an Oscar, and I'm like, I'm not going to chance it because you already got to chase. Probably from this, I think they're restocking the box because it has the same amount in it every time I go or the two times.

Either that or. It's just you and me looking at it and the person, the one person that wanted to get some got a bunch already. Well, no, because on your video I saw how many were in there, and there were that many when I went the first time, and there were that many when I. Went the second time. So they're restocking the box interesting.

Unless they're like gremlins and they're replenishing themselves. I did the same thing, rattled the box and thought, I mean, I don't know, we'll see, we'll see what happens. And that was an ernie with the first wave, and you gave me, well, we'll get to that in a minute. But those are pretty much the two figures I was hoping for. And then that at the same time, I was watching going back and watching some old videos of some of the guys that I follow on YouTube just because no one's got anything new, right, and a weekly weirdo of yours popped up, and I'm like, oh, yeah, Ronnie used to do those, that's right, And so I watched a bunch of them.

And on one of the episodes, you talked about one Sesame Street character or another on it, and you mentioned that in your household. You are the Arnie of the house. They overly, almost stomach sickingly over optimistic person. But how would you wouldn't know anything about that behavioral trait in me? And I was like, oh yeah, and you're definitely the Ernie in this pairing.

And I'm definitely the birth of the pragmatic amount of negativity and pessimism. I'm not the appropriate amount just like Bird is, and you're just way too optimistic. That's so true. So I don't know if anybody caught on to my little clips that I used on the last episode for the Burton Ernie stuff, but I'm glad I found it because I ended up using it for two reasons. One is I totally remember that sketch of Ernie eating cookies in bed.

Yes, they must have replayed it numerous times throughout the show's history, because once it started playing, I was like, oh my god, I totally totally remember this. And then, of course the other reason I played it is to you know, kind of take a jab at there implied or inherent homosexuality and Ernie crawling to with Bert at the end there. So if nobody cut onto that little gag, I just ruined it. For you, Burton Ernie. Well, we'll talk more about Burton Ernie, I guess on this episode.

Maybe. Yeah, they're the ultimate pairing is a great truth in solid relationships that balance each other. If both people are exactly the same, they might get along for a period of time. That's a difficult scenario. I think it's I think Burton Ernie teach us really early on that you don't have to be exactly like another person in order to become close with them, and in fact, those differences can often make a relationship stronger.

So love it. And as negative as Bert is, he's still a nice guy deep down inside. Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely so there, So there's some Burton Ernie history for you folks. Mark is still a nice guy deep down inside. And through my optimism, I'm constantly crying so and constantly annoying me.

That's right. So our big meetup was for two reasons. For one thing, we needed a swap birthday presence. Finally, you've hang on mine for a while or ordered it a while ago, that's right, and kept trying to get me to meet with you. And because you're so disgustingly optimistic, I really didn't want to meet up with you.

No one wants to sit across from that person. Our schedules don't really vibe very well. And then I had lucked up on something that you had mentioned in a past episode and have mentioned before that you wanted and related to what you talked about last time. And I was kind of rubbing my hands the whole time you were talking about that last episode because I knew what I had. So we swapped gifts.

You can tell people what I got you, yeah. And I am anxious to do so because this just blew my mind. Number one. I mean, gifts that. Are surprises are always the best gifts.

Unless you get a surprise that's like uh, but it's the surprise of the thought, you know. And so it's always interesting to think, like, oh, what did this? What would this person be thinking that I would want and that they'd want to surprise me with. Anyways, this was a home run gift right here. And Mark gave me the Count von Count Fisher Price Little Person.

Oh hello, it design the Count. I've called the Count because I love to count that and I inherited my father's royal title. I absolutely love it. And and something to be noted here is that he is an excellent shape. There are close to zero flaws with this.

Yeah, close to zero flaws with this. It's beautiful. Yeah, so thank you Mark. As I mentioned to you, the pictures weren't that great on the list, but it looked better than most that I had seen. I couldn't see any major scuffs or rubs on the face, and that's always kind of the big thing, and everything else looked good.

But when it showed up I was pleasantly surprised that it looked to be an even better shape than I had imagined from the pictures. I think that only flaws on this, which is really amazing, especially how old this is. The only flaw is that I can tell are like mold flaws, like little lines in the plastic. There's one in the back on his collar that we were talking about, and one that goes slightly across his face. But you would get those flaws even if it was brand new, So it's almost like this is a brand new nineteen seventy.

Three count Vaughan count. It's beautiful. And then related to that, in a way, you got me the Mayor mccheese. What do they call product palsy? From Dustin Cropp's boy, who we've mentioned numerous times on the show.

It is in the scale and in the style of Fisher Price Little People, but he is doing old mascots for different products. Yep. The first one was a Mayor mccheese, which relates to our interests. And he's great in good shape as well, even though I dropped him immediately on the asphalt. We both gasped yeah when that happened.

But he survived, he did. I was surprised. And also the extra one of the extra Oscar the Grouch's Reactions figure, blind box Guys and his scarbage can. So I've got that. I've got three of those figures now, the three that I would have wanted.

Yeah, So that was cool. And then we started out on our adventure. What was the first place we hit? Ronnie? Well, hey, this is a chance for me to say, go watch our video of our journey through the.

Thing that we're going to be talking about today. I mean, I was going to say that at the end, but whatever, go ahead, Why don't you just take over hosting this episode? Do whatever the hell you want. Buster. We stopped off at a book barn, which is otherwise more commonly known as the Book Barn or Clovis Book Barn, but we stopped at the store called a book Barn in Clovis first and founding.

It's confounding to me. Listen, if you're going to be something, be definitely be one of those somethings. Be the I don't get why it's and see, I've just now realized that because I actually followed them on Instagram and I was like, oh wait, I keep calling at the Clovis book Barn and it's a book Barn, And I'm like, why did they choose a instead of the Is there a mothership the book barn somewhere in this country? Yes, it's called Owls. It's called the Owls.

You've been there, Yeah, So we started there. And whenever I go to the Bookbarn, my goal is to first stop by the local authors section. But on this particular trip, I knew I would have to stop by that section and have a look because I just love that stuff. But I wanted to follow Mark's lead. Because he had mentioned these particular books that he had been collecting, and I was really anxious to see to see those books.

We stopped briefly at the local authors section. We said hello to Derek, the guy who works there that I've known for ages, and then we be lined it over to the sci fi fantasy section and checked out those books that. Has come up a couple times. I mentioned it. I guess last episode when we talked about our travels, that was one of the things I got over at the coast and I beline it to the sci fi section.

I don't read science fiction. Whether I've read, oh gosh, quite a few Philip K. Dick books over the years. It's sort of like the surf stuff. I have this interest in something particular, things about something, but I have no interest in making a deep dive into the topic.

Like I really have no interest in reading any of the books. That I've gotten. It's the esthetic of the thing. And as I had mentioned, and as you saw, they're very easy to spot. They have a specific ninety five percent of them have the same color spine and logos.

Pretty easy to spot and being vague because I'm going to talk about them at some point in the future. But it's a particular publisher, but I don't think exists anymore. They might. Most of the books that I look at are definitely seventies and up to mid eighties. I know, I looked at one on that trip that was like nineteen eighty four.

Yeah, there were a ton. Every time I go, there's something to look at, and it seemed like this time there were just tons and tons of I. Feel like there must be a local collector that just, I don't know, drops off a bunch of this stuff, because it seems strange that there would be such a large number of these books. They were probably pretty prolific for one thing, so a lot of different people see I think the same thing too, like, oh, it's one guy that had all these books, but I'm thinking, well, no, it's probably you know, all these sci fi people. This was one of the big publishers like Del Rey.

If you bought science fiction, you ended up with some of these particular books, and then you know, you unload them. So I picked up two of those at the book barn, and you got some stuff there too. We stuck around the sci fi fantasy sections, and of course right near them there. Was a special section for Star. Wars, and then right around the corner there was a children's section for Star Wars.

So I checked out both of. Those sections and I just happened to get to two things that I'd been thinking about getting for a long time. First one is the Star Wars story Book, the picture book. That would coincide with the original Star Wars film previous to it ever being named a New Hope. Obviously, this book came out the same year the movie came out, and it's just a it's like the souvenir books that you get for your kid on their birthday because they love that movie.

And it's got a basic short version of the story and then a ton of film stills. It's just beautiful. All the characters that had. Been cut out from the CANTEENA scene are in these photographs, thank god. And so it's a great document.

Really happy that I found that it's in lousy shape, but for what I think, it was only like four ninety five. Not only that, on the back it has the image of Darth Vader from the first film. That I had as a eleven by seventeen or eight and a half by eleven poster as a kid. The spine is taped together with scotch tape, which is something that I love to see because it looks like it was a loved book. Stoked to find that.

And then right around the corner in near the novels was a Star Wars another Star Wars section. Lo and behold, they had a copy of Alan Dean Foster's Splinter of the Mind's Eye. That was in the sci fi section. Because I was looking at his books that are from the publisher I was talking about. Yeah, and honestly, I've been wanting to get one of these for a long time.

It was only three dollars and fifty cents. Yeah, I remember seeing that constantly after the Yes, you know, like, what is this that very intriguing cover with Luke and Lea there in front of Vader and never read it. I haven't read it either. I'm kind of. Excited to because it's the sequel that we never got.

It was supposed to be a sequel to. Star Wars, the original Star Wars film, but instead we got Empire Strikes Back, which I absolutely love. I'm anxious to read this. I know a little bit of what is supposed to happen in this book. I'm anxious to see how some of that stuff plays out.

Stoked to have that. I'm definitely going to read a percentage of it. That's all I can commit to found those and that was awesome. I felt like I scored just finding those two things. But you found a bunch of or you found a few, but there were As we were looking through some of those covers, I kind of wanted to take home all of them.

I totally see why you liked those books. Yeah, there's a lot of interesting art on them. And most of. What we saw this time, or most of what I looked at was fantasy as opposed to science fiction or I'm not so interested in figures. I kind of like the ones that have ships or something weird or creatures or something on them.

Our main goal was to hit the antique stores. So I have a question for you. Yes, what were you. Hoping to find? Well, okay, so there's always something that I'm looking for and I never find it, and that is the Blue Flash Gordon beast Man.

Whenever I walk into an antique store, I'm always hoping to find the Flash Gordon Blue nineteen seventy six. I think Blue beast Man, and I never do. So that's always in my mind, Like I'm always excited to see what cheap o versions of Star Wars figures that I want to bring home. And what I mean by Cheapo is well priced then Star Wars figures, because as we saw on our journey, sometimes those vinted Star Wars figures are way overpriced. So I'm always looking for a good deal with those.

That's my answer to that question, because it's I always go with the same goal. I do have follow up Blue beast Man information that we will share at a later date. Okay, you cannot marry a woman without guilt from two different words. Well, I love you, I will you find Well, I'm trying to say it. So you were hoping what were you hoping to by.

I was hoping to find, specifically on this trip, a twelve inch Kinner bionic Woman. Yes, action figure for my wife because she just had her hip replaced and she's got a metal hip. So we joked about it early on when she was planning on this surgery, and she mentioned to me, should get me one of those, and so of course I've been looking on eBay, but a man too much for not very great quality figures, and I want the original in her track suit. There were a bunch of versions with gowns and jumpsuits and different clothes, but I want the original track suit, So I was hoping beyond hope to see one of those. Saw a six million dollar man, saw Steve Austin, Yeah, but no Jamie Summers.

I kind of figured that we would run into some Fisher Price Little People. I was hoping for some Sesame Street figures, which we did not encounter. And then actually I was hoping to see a Bob's Big Boy that I might not already have, and Pillsbury Doughboy, which for some strange reason I want to get for my grand niece. Oh. I was looking for one of those and didn't see any.

I was surprised. Usually see like two or three Bobs and a couple of Pillsbury. Dough Boys, not a one unless I totally missed them. We saw one Bob's at the very end. Yeah, but that of our journeys, that ain't what I'm talking about, I know.

Yeah, you know what. The Fisher Price Little People thing too was in the back of my mind as well, because we've been talking about them quite a bit. Yeah, we found some. Yeah, and I even mentioned on the. Last episode that should start getting some of the regular guys.

Yeah, but we'll get to that. The first place we stopped at and I don't remember any of the names of any of them. Had some interesting items related to the last episode as well. That's right, Well what did you find there? If you remember?

It was a great joy seeing you try on a straw bodor what I say, monorail it. As soon as we. Walked in, we ran into a straw boat that was missing its strap, incomplete, an incomplete straw boat, but it was your size and it fit snugly right on top of your head. Looks great. Weird fit though they're way too oval.

They are. It's almost like they're built to set on your head rather than hug it. Interesting. So let's see the first one that was that, the one with the kittens? Was that?

The second one though, that's where the boater was. That's where the boater was. What else did we run into a top hat? Oh? Yeah, So at the beginning of that store we saw the boater and then we walk around the whole store.

Come around. You know how antique stores usually like in the shape of a U. Like the aisles are like a U shape or a W. One of the last booths we stopped by, they had a top hat there that was definitely authentic. Yeah, but not my top hat though.

Not the pop up kind. I gotta split hairs here because you're like, oh, yeah, this is perfect, and I'm like, no, it's thinking in my head. No it's not because it's not silk. It was beaver fur or something. Yeah, and it was falling apart and you glad you didn't you tried it on.

No, I did not try it on. I have no interest in getting lace, even though I put on that strawboder but they're not gonna live in straw. No, I'm not putting shit on my head at an antique store. Also, they used to bind the beaver fur with mercury. So yeah, smart to not put it on.

Having said that, though, my buddy that finds all this stuff for me, Jeff lamb again, thank you. Jeff sent me the other day a pose that he came across his feed from Facebook marketplace of the exact kind of top hat I was talking about. It was what ear did it's Oh I didn't say what year. It was a pretty good price, but anyway, silk. So I actually did a quick search after that because it had the name of the maker, and so I did a search for Dobbs top hat and it came up the exact same listing came up on Craig's list, and so that's how I knew they have it listed as child's size yep, because it.

Says it was custom it's a custom fit. Hat appears to be child size, silk and collapsible yep. So they do exist, the silk top hat, fancy but collapsible. The other thing was it was local pickup. They weren't shipping it, and I'm not going to have Jeff go and buy a fucking kid's top hat.

I mean, it probably would fit my head. Like I've said, it's very small, but I would never ask someone to Nico pick up that top hat for me for a sixty bucks ship it out here. I don't want one that badly. If I was a kid still, that would be a different story. But that is the top hat I always pictured in my head wanting.

I got to jump in here because folks Mark sent me a picture of this hat, and it is in beautiful shape, honestly, for sixty dollars a hat that's genuinely the hat that you want, the hat that I wanted, the hat that you wanted, Okay, wanted. That's the key here. If it was your size, though, this would it become a challenge for you to say no no. If that had been the hat at the antique store at that price, silk collapsible, I probably would have gotten it for shit and giggles. Yeah, there you go.

But other than that, I'm not hunting down the perfect. No, it was a childhood thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's not like a. Straw boater that you could actually wear out right. Yeah, I'd look like a fucking idiot if I wore that Gazebo Gardens for or the Big Gig or something.

Especially if it was the child's side said it was small, So sitting on top of my at WC. Fields or something, Oh. My god, that just tickled me. Yeah. So someday, though, Mark, we will find you that top hat.

I ran into a boater at one of those stores that was my size, and I keep thinking about it. But one of these days we will show up to Gazebo Gardens or Adorable Hats. Knowing the name of that manufacturer though, kind of unlocked a lot. When I looked at Dobbs top Hats, it brought up a lot of different listings. That's one of those helpful items that narrows your search.

Oh, yeah, for sure. So yeah, we kept on going after that. I you know, other than the Clovis Antique Malon, I think there was one of the places was called the Fifth Street Antiques or something. I don't really recall any of the names. We hit the antique mall is I think the place that I always, yeah, stumble upon things that I don't necessarily buy, but that kind of make me think, oh, maybe I should have picked that up.

Mm hmm. And that's where we saw all the Fisher Price Little People. Yeah, there's that one antique store that has the little back corner toy area. The guy who runs that booth, he's got an amazing collection of stuff that he sells there. I've gotten several things from him over the years.

We were cruising through the rotating what do they watch displays or jewelry displays or whatever they display. Yeah, and we happened upon a whole row of Fisher Price Little People, and lo and behold the characters that we've been talking about, not the Sesame Street characters, but the other the generic characters were there. And I got a couple of them. I know you did too. They were really well priced too.

They were like, whoa three dollars. Or something like that, two bucks apiece, two bucks apiece, My god. And we ran into some others in a different antique store and they were like six bucks apiece. Yeah, they were between five and six, and they were in a little better shape. Yeah.

It was the basic, the girl with the yellow bob, the anger faced boy with the ball cap. Yep. I got a couple of the cowboys, a father and son cowboy set. And the dog. You got the dog, the ubiquitous dog that everybody had.

I think it came in multiple sets. Oh yeah, yeah, the dog was everywhere. They had some of the farm animals, the chicken, the pig, and the sheep I think, and then other larger fissure price items in a different section. But it was still the same cellar. Yeah, all in great shape.

That helicopter was in great shape. That folding like camping set that I opened up the people can see on the video. It's like a barbecue camper. It was so cool. School bus.

The parking structure, which is always fun. Every kid wants to parking structure to play with. I used to be so fascinated by that. You could roll the cars down if you had any of the vehicles, so that was always fun. I spotted the Sesame Street Sanitation Department little car bus thing.

Yeah, I snagged it from you right away. We were walking down the down the hallway. I was like, wait a minute, did you want this? Not I just because I just grabbed it from him. I was so excited because now I have a little car that my Burton Ernie can hang out in the Sesame Street Sanitation Department.

Vehicle is great and it was an amazing shape too. I'm looking at it right now in fact, and it's gorgeous. Yeah. We wandered through a couple other stores. What else did we find?

Did we find anything else? Or was that pretty much it? There was a lot of power of the forests. Yeah, out of that at. One of the places.

I think it was that same place, the upstairs section. Nothing really all that great this time Popeye Marionette, I remember, Yeah, that was cool. That was cool, Not that it was disappointing, but I'm going back to, you know, things I was hoping to find, like mascot figures, the vinyl any of them. Yeah. I did realize though that I totally missed watching the video, that same area where the Fisher Price little people were in the display cases where he had all the like et figures and those little packaglan and that shelf of Masters of the Universe.

Well, on one of those shelves was a Freaky's magnet Snorkel dork and I didn't even see it when we were there. I saw it in your video and I was like, damn, I would have picked that up. Freaky's is part of a good breakfast, and you get a free freaking magnet in especially mock boxes. That's part of the reason why I make these videos. I've discovered over the years, Like when I made my very first store walk through video, I realized the true benefits of documenting stuff like that is that you get to see what's there that you didn't see when you were making the video.

So I'm glad you saw that I didn't. I need to rewatch it too, so I can see that totally missed it. And I was like, oh crap, because that stuff is ridiculously priced now on eBay. Used to be able to get those for like five dollars. Oh wow, the magnets because they weren't as sought after as the little plastic figures, right, and or the cars or the boats or whatever else they had.

But I remember having quite a few of the magnets when I was a kid too, And I would assume since he was selling those little people for like two bucks apiece, probably five bucks for that magnet. Maybe, Yeah, if it was ten, I may have even considered it. I don't know when I'll be back there. I'm not driving all the way over there to get a Freaky's magnet. But now I have to remember the next time I do go to look in that case again and see if it's still there.

If I get down there, I'll take a look to see if it's there. I'm trying to think if there's anything that I saw that other than that watching your video, I don't think there was anything like, Oh I should have taken. I probably could have picked up a couple more little people for that cheap of a price. Yeah, brunch or lunch or whatever was more. Than YE think I bought that.

It's about two books and two Fisher Price little people, and I think it was about twelve bucks. I spent about twenty time. Yeah, definitely. First of all, it was great that we found such a good deal on those Fisher Price little people. And then a book.

Barn books are priced so fantastically generally. Yeah, we did run across a couple of cases of like vintage stuff that you probably can't handle, antiquarian things that are probably pricey. But I think we did pretty well for what we got and what we spent. It was a cheap day out. When that happens, I think, well, maybe I should have bought more, But you know, I'm happy with what I came home with, So that, plus the gifts and all that was Yeah, it was plenty.

It was awesome. It was awesome, and plus it was fun to hang out with you and make fun of stuff as we were looking at it together. The one thing that I do keep thinking about that maybe I should have got was guess what that boater? I do keep thinking about it? The second one, Yeah, the one that fit me because you saw too.

Yeah it was the second. One, the one with the brown strap, the one that actually had a strap that the whole. Thing was brown though, that's true. So that was what I had to throw that out there because like that top hat wasn't what I'm looking for. Yeah, I had to throw that out there.

Like is brown, because I saw it and I was like, ooh. Tan brown. Oh that's weird. That doesn't make sense. Like you want the kind of bright, almost bright white straw boater.

Yeah, that's the thing that people think of when they think of a straw boater. Yeah, or one that is aged. I might have a patina, have a patina, and it kind of looked like it had almost been painted. Yeah, so yeah, you're right. I just keep thinking about it because you know how often you run into top hats out in the wild, like that's how often you run into voters.

And also, as I mentioned in our last episode, they rarely, they rarely fit my gigantic chromagnum skull. Cranium cranium, say cranium, Like there you can go. Yeah yeah. And then so we uh went Nate brunch, I guess at Sandy's Country Junction. Oh yeah, and then.

Took a trip to T and T Collectibles, which you've showcased on your show a couple of times. People can track that down on your YouTube page. And I was kind of exhausted by the time, I know. Honestly, as I'm old. You and I texted afterward and I was like, we were both like nap time.

It's totally nap time. Yeah, well that was partly the food, but yes, also the walking around for an extended period of time. Oh yeah, we're old. That's just the way it is. Yeah.

I'll put a link to the video and you can see some of the stuff we're talking to and it's shorter. You know. That's always good. Yeah, I kind of worry that our shows are too long, but oh. Well, no, our shows are often meandering conversations, which is more fun to honestly, which is more fun to listen to than a meandering video that just goes through the store.

And just I've watched toy store walk through videos that it just like, it's like, you didn't want to edit this at all. I edited, so I shot. I didn't know if I told you this. I shot forty five. Minutes worth of footage that day of you and I walking through the store, and I it took me a long time, but I got it down to twenty minutes, and I was surprised, actually me too.

That brief. I cut some stuff out, but it took me a long time to figure out that all the important stuff was in. So once I figured that out, then I was happy about it, forty five minutes worth. I could have just posted it as is. But I'm glad that I whittled it down for viewing purposes.

And I do edit these. They're always quite a bit longer when I pull the files, just so people know, I do cut stuff out. And most of it, folks, is me going and going on tangents. I cut my tangents out too, so well, I think that does it for me what I can remember. I'll post the link to the video.

You can watch that as well as a companion piece. We'll be back in a little bit with a new section of the show right after these messages. Hey, shooter, haven't you forgotten your nine iron? I've posited a couple of new ideas that I had been mulling over, so we have the local locales that we don't necessarily do it every episode, but that's one of our things. Something that goes along with nostalgia for me and getting those toys or objects is also the treats that I liked as a kid.

That was another thing that I had been mulling over because I'm like, at some point I treated those like I treat the toys. I'm like, I'm an adult, I live by myself. I can buy whatever I want to eat. I'm going to buy this or this as a treat. I'll talk about those sometimes.

And then the other one. I have two words for you before you move on to the other one, Charleston chew. There's all kinds of stuff. I'm not going to go down that road right now, but yeah, that would definitely be a contender. And then the other thing.

I have these weird stories, weird memories that might not be memories, those dreamries I talk about, and I'm calling that personal lore, these weird experiences as a kid that I think about a lot. I don't really share with people. I didn't share with people back then. They just kind of happened. I pitched that to you.

And one of the things I mentioned for myself, and I think I knew this when I mentioned it, is that we have this in common. So we're going to share a personal lower today that is the same story basically, and you guys can tell us which is the better dueling personal lower story. So Ronnie, give us your personal lore for today. All right. So I think I should preface this by saying there are probably several people out there that live in the Central Valley that have had a similar experience.

There's one celebrity that lived in our area up in the foothills actually that we both encountered in different ways. This guy, he was most famous for being the Bond villain Henchman Jaws. So we're talking about Richard Keel. Well, here's to us. For those of you who have an affinity for cult films or sci fi television or James Bond.

You know, Richard Keel was a giant. He happened to live about ten minute drive from where I lived for a while when I was in middle school. When I ended up going. To the high school up there, I actually went to high school with his kids, which was really cool and they were very nice kids. But before I went to high school with his kids, in nineteen ninety, he worked on a film called The Giant of Thunder Mountain up there.

He hired his friends to act in it, he hired a friend to direct it. He basically produced the old Thing, did the location scouting. His daughters even in the movie, and not as a major role but like a background character. And it's basically like a feel good disneyesque Western mythical beast story. Somebody who lives in the mountains is misunderstood and viewed as kind of like a Bigfoot or a giant.

He's a giant, essentially. It's not a great movie, but I've watched clips of it since then, and I just it must just be the fact that I lived up there. I knew all the locations. It brings back a lot of good memories for me. So they had the film premiere up at the little teeny tiny movie Theater in Oakhurst, California.

I was fourteen years old. It was nineteen ninety. I think I'm doing my math right. I went to the premiere. I think I went.

I don't even. Remember who I went with. That's how how how focused I was on him watch the movie. I must have been with my mom or somebody I don't know. And then got to meet him and the co star, William Sanderson, who I was already a huge fan of because I had seen Blade Runner with my dad.

William Sanderson is the toymaker in Blade Runner. He's one of those guys that you see in movies and TV shows, and if you watched Bob Newhart you saw all the time. But you know, one of those great character actors that pops up and you just love it. His character and Blade Runner made the doll that says home again, home again, jiggitty jig. Our daughters know that, because as soon as we get home, I'd say home again, home again, jiggity jag.

Yeah. William Sanderson was there, and I was. Like starstruck, totally starstruck by seeing him there. I don't remember if any of the other people were there. That's kind of sad.

I think I would have remembered if Cloris Leachman was there, because Floris Leachman ran the film, and I was already a huge fan of Young Frankenstein at that stage. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered seeing Chlorus Leachman. I think Jack Elam was there, but I didn't quite understand his relevance until a little bit later on. I walked up. To him to Richard Keel, who was not standing.

He was sitting signing autographs. I told him I was a huge fan of his Bond character, which I definitely was at that stage in my life. At that age, I was reading Ian Fleming Bond books, so I was really into that stuff. Ooh, future topic and shook his hand. It was just the shaking of his hand was epic.

My little hand just disappeared in that gigantic hand. He was very nice. Richard Kiel was a very nice guy, very sweet. For those of you who have not watched sci fi films or TV shows that he's been in, or watched the James Bond movies, you probably know him by being the guy in the crowd, the giant in the crowd of Billy Madison, not Billy Madison, happy Gilmore, always cheering him on and chases down the battie at the end. That's my story of meeting Richard Keel, and I treasure that.

I treasure that memory. So let's hear yours. That's pretty good. I think mine's better, but. We'll see what the audience says.

Jaws was big, and I am not a James Bond fan in any way, shape or form, so when you talk about James Bond, I may be absent from that episode. I tried to watch those movies when they played on Network TV, and they bore it the fuck out of me. Anyway, we're gonna have to talk about this. He was like it for me as far as James Bond was concerned, and he's in two of the films because he was so such a big hit in the first one, This buy who Loved Me that he was in. They brought him back for Moonraker, and so I knew him from that.

But I also, I think mainly knew him from The Longest Yard, which is a Reynolds film. He's in prison. It's the convicts against the guards and this football game, and he is one of the convicts, and I just remember loving him in that. He was also in Silver Streak with Jim Wilder and Richard Pryor. That's right, that goes along with an episode of Wake Up Heavy I just recorded anyway, so I definitely knew who he was at this time.

So my story happens in seventh grade, and I'm not sure if it was beginning of the year or the end of the year, but it was one of those two because I know that it was fair weather because I was playing field hockey at school. I was one of the sports that we did for pe. There were two sort of main rules that you had to follow for safety purposes. One was you couldn't raise the stick above your waist when you were going back to so you had to keep it below your waist so you didn't hit somebody in the face behind you or hit the ball so hard. The ball in that game is very hard rubber, so you couldn't lift your stick too high on your backswing, and if someone fell on the ground, play was to stop immediately.

So we were playing field hockey and one of the kids that I had grown up with that went to elementary school with was also at this school. So I went to a private school from seventh to twelfth grade. So a few of my. Elementary school friends went to the same school. But it wasn't like your normal trajectory of continuing on with the same people forever and ever.

So this dipshit, who I didn't like even before this, we were playing. I fell and the ball was near me. Instead of stopping like you're supposed to, he kept playing. Tried to hit the ball, which was right next to my hand, hit my pinky finger instead and ripped it wide open. I didn't feel anything at the time, but I looked down there was a gaping hole just under my fingernail that he hit.

We had to walk to our field from the school, like down the street. It wasn't accessible to school, so I had to take that trip all the way back to the school. Somebody called my dad or my mom, one of them had to come get me. They took me to Valley Children's Hospital. They said, well.

You're going to need an orthopedic surgeon to fix this, so they wrapped it in gauze or whatever and sent us off up to an orthopedic surgeon which was right next to Saint Agnes Hospital. There's a bunch of different specialty doctor's offices all around the hospital. We went there and they ended up putting a little pin through the tip of my pinky down there to fuse the bone back together, had stitches, had a little one of those little finger casts over it. At some point I had to go back and of course get that pen removed and have X rays and see how everything was going. And so I believe this happened on my return trip, not on the day that I was there and they fixed it.

Although I could be wrong, but I feel like it was the second visit I made to this specialist and they said, oh, hey, Richard Keel is coming by. Do you know who he is? And I was like, yes, I do. Because of James Bond because of these other movies. They're like, yeah, he comes quite often because his joints are so bad from his height and his weight of his body and stuff.

I think we sat around and waited for a little bit until he came strolling in and like, you got to shake his hand, and my hand has completely disappeared. Yeah. I was probably twelve. I may have been thirteen already, depending on what time of the year this took place, so I was just slightly younger than you were at the time. He was very friendly, and I think that's when I discovered that he lived in the area, because I'm like, why is he coming here, you know to I think they even mentioned, you know.

He lives up in the foothills or something like that. Yeah, that's cool. That may have been trying to think if that was my first celebrity encounter. Probably was, well, other than Butch from Little Round Schools that I met on the set of that al Red Cauchet, but yeah, those were probably the first two. I think that was my first celebrity meeting as well.

It's different to see somebody on a stage or see somebody from a distance, and it is to like actually get a chance to talk to them briefly and shake their hand, and then shaking Richard Keel's hand and having your little hand just disappear in there. It's just a phenomenal experience. I think we're really lucky to have had that chance to meet him. I was very saddened when he passed. I got genuinely affected.

And I think it's just because knowing his kids, being acquaintances at school, and driving by his house every once in a while, and going to that movie premiere, and. Yeah, it really affected me. And he's left a really interesting mark on cinema and television. He's a very important figure, and. He's in one of the most famous Twilight Zone episodes.

Yeah, so absolutely don't get on that ship. Rest of the book to serve me, it's a I'm glad we both got to have that experience. And I hope that the listeners vote correctly. They should, because mine's better. I have William Sanderson in mind.

Okay, I mean my pinky is still fucked up, because oh that's messed up. Yeah, yeah, you win has not grown. It's still the same size. I'm sorry. I'm a quarter inch shorter than my other ones.

So yeah, Oh my god, how have we ever talked about this? How come I didn't? How come we've. Never talked about this? That goes to show that friends rarely look at each other's hands.

Why you would? But yeah, I mean there's all kinds of wonderful people from this area we can talk about from time to time. So oh, yeah, for sure some people that are world famous that you would be surprised. Yeah, and he wasn't born here. He was born in Detroit, Michigan.

He was a transplant. Yeah, Central California attracts people sometimes. Well, he probably did some shooting up and around that area, that makes sense, and fell in love with it for whatever reason. The other gentleman that comes to mind is, oh, gosh, I'm forgetting his name. That's a surprise.

I know, the former stuntman who was the lead in A Street Farnsworth. Richard Farnsworth, thank you. Yeah. I never got to see him in the area, but he lived up near where I went to high school. Just knowing that he was out there in the woods somewhere was cool was good enough for me.

Yeah, that's a bummer a story. Yeah, I love seeing him and stuff. I love seeing him in misery I hate it when he gets killed in that. Oh it's devastating. For the same reason I don't like thinking about how he left us.

But yeah, yeah, there's all kinds of folks. I don't want to talk about all of them right now, but there's one guy in particular that I'm thinking of that we'll have to talk about at some point because you probably saw him around town as well. I think if you're talking about who you're talking about, if I think you're talking about who you're talking about, he's Armenian. I don't think I've ever told you this. I never saw him in this area, but I saw him when I lived in Los Angeles, Okay, which I was stoked because I was always jealous that you had opportunities to see him here in our home.

Lots of famous Armenian people from here, oh yeah, world famous. This is all intended to keep you all tuning in every month for a new episode. Famous Armenian we'll be talking about next time. Oh man, I love it. Alrighty, Well, let's wrap this bugger up.

Well, why don't you tick us out with our outro and we'll get the heck out of here and live our. Lives, right remember folks, until we meet again, have fun, stay weird, keep collecting. And thanks for listening. Thank you. I've called the Count because I love the Count.

Cambridge m. Shawn is a weirding Way Media podcast