The CCZCC now stands at 7. It is with cautious optimism that I remind you the previous record was 11.
Dear Mother and Mike,
Well, how are things in sunny Denton? Have you been too busy to notice? L. A. is still the same - crowded, smoggy and lonely.
We surely had a good weekend. Friday, I went shopping with Barbara Hansen while Suzie kept David Wayne. I finally got Wayne something and had the store mail it, and I did the same thing on a birthday present for Mrs. Jennings. I bought a wrap-around, after-shower outfit for Dave also. That night (since I had spent the grocery money) we ate out. We went to Olvera Street with Suzie and Gene and ate Mexican food. After eating, we went to Chinatown. We finally found a bank for David Wayne and we also bought matching red kimonos for each of us. Both Davids looked real good in theirs, but can you imagine a pregnant woman in a kimono?
[I don't know for certain since there are no identifying markings or labels to identify it, but this bank (with the obligatory quarter for scale) is most likely the one I got at Chinatown. It is glazed ceramic, and other than the missing stopper in the bottom it is in very good shape except for a few minor chips (like the one you can see in the picture on the bottom of the bag he's holding.)]
Saturday was a big day - we went on the tour of Universal City Studios. It was just great and I wish I had taken you when you visited us. You'll get to see plenty of it though, as we took three rolls of Polaroid film and two color rolls of film in the little Brownie camera.
[Yes, there are a lot of pictures from Universal City Studios in the photo album. Not as many as you would think given how many rolls of film they took, but certainly more than most places except maybe Knott's Berry Farm.]
First, we started off on a tram around the lot. We went through a sound stage and they picked five people from our tour and they made a scene - one of the persons picked was Gene Dirr! This made the whole trip worthwhile as he really "hammed" it up.
Next we got back on the tram (after walking through Lana Turner's dressing room) and drove around and saw several of the houses used in movies, props (such as break-away furniture and bottles), other dressing rooms used by stars, and really I can't remember what all, but it was every bit interesting.
Then we had a rest stop - but no one rested as there was too much to see and do. We took a picture of David Wayne holding Woody Woodpecker's hand. David Wayne and Suzie had a rock (or boulder) fight with great big foam rubber props. Gene got the action on his movie camera and I took a still picture of David Wayne lifting a big rock over his head.
[Here's the picture of me and Woody.]
[And here is the picture of me holding the big foam rock over my head.]
I also got pictures of David Wayne in Laredo jail, a monkey cage, . . .
[The picture of me in the Laredo jail is blurry, but the one of me in the monkey cage came out pretty good. Yes, that sign on the bottom says "Do Not Feed Monkeys."]
. . . and in an elevator from "Thoroughly Modern Millie" which was the show we saw last week. In the show, Julie Andrews and Mary Tyler Moore did a dance in the elevator so Gene took moving pictures of Suzie and David Wayne dancing. What were the other people doing? Watching us, naturally. We had three cameras - Gene's movie, me on the Polaroid, Dave with the Brownie - snapping our two hams, David Wayne and Suzie. They both performed so well, I expected people to clap or throw pennies at them.
[There isn't a picture of me in the elevator from "Thoroughly Modern Millie" from this trip to Universal City Studios, but I can tell you there is one from another trip because I'm wearing a different jacket. I know you're just dying to see another picture of me, but you'll have to wait until we go back. Sorry that's the rules.]
Suzie and David Wayne got in this old car that bounced around and in the background was moving scenery. It looked very real and, of course, Gene captured the whole thing with his camera but all I got was a big blur. There was a stagecoach with moving scenery, but the few people that weren't watching "our show" were riding on it.
[Although I couldn't ride in it, Mom did get a picture of me in front of the stagecoach she was talking about. It was an armored stagecoach used in the film "The War Wagon" starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, which had just been released in May of that year.]
After the rest (Ha, I was so tired I was glad to sit) we got back on the tram and we rode around the outside locations - western towns, Mexican villages, lakes, foreign scenes, the "Psycho" house (remember that scary movie?), and a waterfall where they just pushed a button to make it a tall one or a little one - amazing! We recognized several sets that we had seen in movies.
[Alas, the picture of the house from "Psycho" isn't very good. Too far away and not from a good angle.]
I guess the last part of the tour was the best and it was getting too dark for us to take many pictures. We saw a make-up demonstration, a stunt man show - where they fought, fell off buildings, hit each other with bottles, etc. You can just imagine how little sadistic David Wayne enjoyed all that violence! We saw how they make fake snow and rain for the movies. We went in the "McHales's Navy" set and best of all, the "Munsters" set.
[Here's me and Mom on the outdoor set of McHale's Navy, which ran from 1962 to 1966. Mom doesn't look very pregnant there, even zoomed in, although you can tell she's wearing a loose-fitting top. On the left side of the picture you may be able to see fake rain coming off the roof.]
[And here is the entrance to the set of "The Munsters," which ran from 1964 to 1966. (It's not the full house that is shown in the opening credits, but they probably used this for the front porch scenes, like in the opening credits where Herman Munster busts through the front door before the other cast members walk through.)]
[Little did I know that just beyond those doors would occur perhaps the most memorable moment from my early childhood. But that will have to wait for Part 2 of this letter.]
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