(402) DICK KLEINER "THE RECORD SHOP" : DICKS PICKS

Dick Kleiner mentioned me and a couple of my records in his nationally-syndicated column, called. "The Record Shop" which began in 1953. I don't think I ever met Dick, but I know that his column appeared in dozens of small newspapers around the country. I believe he went on to write Hollywood journalism. I haven't been able to find out too much about him but like so many others who influenced my life in good ways, I wish I had a way to find him and say hello and Thanks!

THANK YOU TO MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS

Just want to say "THANK YOU" to all of you who have been supportive of my efforts these last few years.
It means a lot to me. Wes

(401) MIDNIGHT EARL WILSON : HE ANNOUNCED THAT I LOOKED A LOT LIKE JAMES DEAN

An Evening News copy of an Earl Wilson Column that mentioned me! (We couldn't get it to enlarge so you could read it, but you can try!)

EARL WILSON was the syndicated columnist who announced that I'd been signed to United Artists and that I looked a lot like James Dean. One of the hardest working journalists that ever lived, Earl didn't just rely on contacts to give him information, he continued to interview even as the years went by. Being mentioned by Earl ever so briefly was a dream come true for the up and coming actor - singer - songwriter I was back in New York.

We're linking to his New York Times obit above which sings his praises.

We learned that Earl's son, Earl Junior, gave his father's papers to Ohio State college, the school he had graduated from.

(399) STRICTLY OFF THE RECORD : SALT LAKE TRIBUNE REVIEW :

Some newspapers used pictures of me supplied by United Artists and other's went without. Here's one that the Salt Lake City Tribune Review published with one of my publicity photos. Christine and me found this one in a newspaper database. My father was the person on the family who kept scrapbooks of my career when I was too busy on the road to keep track.

VETERANS DAY

(398) MEDIA HOLLYWOOD STYLE : HEDDA HOPPER

Who better to move their careers to writing about Hollywood than a once very pretty young woman who came to Hollywood from a small town in Pennsylvania to act herself?

We're linking to a Biography.com which has a comprehensive biography of Hedda, who made films from 1916-1940 and then hosted Playhouse type TV shows in the 1950's.

By the time I got to Hollywood I knew Hedda was a respected and feared personality, known for feuding with her counterpart Louella Parsons. Both probably made and broke the careers of a number of Hollywood personalities but I had nothing to fear. She was in her seventies when I met her and kept an office not far from where I would once set up my own.

"In 1937, the Esquire Feature Syndicate was looking for a Hollywood columnist and found one in Hopper. Untried, her column was sold to 13 papers and a career was launched... When the column began appearing in the prestigious Los Angeles Times, her status shot upward and her power grew. Her column appeared in 85 metropolitan papers, 3000 small-town dailies, and 2000 weeklies. When she replaced John Chapman at The New York Daily News, she picked up an additional audience of 5,750,000 daily and 7,500,000 on Sunday. She appeared on weekly radio shows and wrote two best sellers: From Under My Hat and The Whole Truth and Nothing But."

IT WAS GREAT MEETING AND GETTING TO KNOW

It was great meeting and getting to know some of the artists who were covered in these magazines. As a teenager I ate up the stories in magazines like these. But once I was a star myself, I learned that some writers made up sensational stories without even talking to the artist and some publishers published anyway.

Debbie Reynolds was just in the news because she put some of her Hollywood memorabilia collection up for auction, including some dresses that Marilyn Monroe wore in her films that earned Debbie millions.

SHARTA GADISON Quote on Friendship

"Some friends come and go like a season. Others are arranged in our lives for good reason." - Sharita Gadison