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Comings and Goings:

Gail Gerber will be beach balling back to New York from Chicago permanently beginning July 1. Glad to have you back Gail!

You folks in LA make sure to check out Ray Courts’ Hollywood Collectors Show in Burbank this weekend. Among the starlets in attendance will be Francine York; Bond Girls Shirley Eaton, Lana Wood, Gloria Hendry and Trina Parks; Jo Morrow from Gidget; and everybody’s favorite Bad Seed, Patty McCormack.

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Well, I just got back from the Memphis Film Festival and it was extremely disappointing book sale-wise! Bond Girl Lana Wood wasn’t kidding when she cracked that when she walked into the convention area she brought the avergage age down to 60. This convention was the walk of the living dead! I haven’t seen so many canes, walkers and wheel chairs in one place since Sophia Petrillo escaped from Shady Pines on The Golden Girls.

The organizers made a huge mistake by moving the festival from Memphis to Bum Fuck, I mean Olive Branch, Mississippi, home of every fast food joint you can think of. Hard core old-time film buffs and autograph seekers showed up for the weekend but tourists and day trippers were few and far between. The festival also erred by not courting the Elvis fans by having actresses from his films as guests. Instead we had B-western starlets of the 40s and 50s most of whom I never heard of!

The one saving grace was that I got to hang out with the guys from McFarland and Company–talented designer Mark Durr, who’ve I done Chiller Theatre Conventions with, and McFarland marketing newcomer, Adam Phillips. Both guys are extremely nice and friendly. Adam made me laugh the whole time otherwise I would have been crying in my stacks of unsold books. He’s also a huge Elvis fan (he’s been to Graceland 6 times!) and using his own words “was jacked” to hang out with a fellow admirer (me) of the King. Thanks again guys for that wonderful dinner at Buckley’s in Memphis!

I’ll be posting PICs in the days to come.

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Well tomorrow I am off to Olive Branch, Mississippi for the 31st Annual Memphis Film Festival. I’ll be at my publisher, McFarland & Company’s table signing copies of my books including Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies and Drive-in Dream Girls on Friday and Saturday. The convention is being held at the Whispering Woods Hotel and believe it or not all 200 some-odd rooms are sold out! Hope this means we’ll do lots of business.

The official guest list of celebrities include Lana Wood, Ty Hardin, Will Hutchins, William Smith, Casey Rogers of Bewitched, footballer-turned-actor Roman Gabriel, Marjorie Lord from Make Room for Daddy, Denny “Tarzan” Miller, and Tim O’Connor from TV’s Peyton Place, among others.

Surprisingly, since we are oh-so-close to Graceland where I will be paying my homage to the King on Sunday, there will be only one starlet from an Elvis movie. It is an obscure actress (even by my standards) named Dororthy Green who had a small role in It Happened at the World’s Fair.

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Hi folks. The first official book review of Hollywood Surf and Beach Movies has rolled in from OutSmart, Houston’s Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans Magazine. Thanks guys for the chuckle and kind words! Check it out on the Gay and Lesbian Book Blog.

Other web site news, Michael who created the Village of the Giants Fan Page , which contains everything you ever wanted to know about that cult flick, has just added a wonderful tribute page to the lovely Gail Gerber called The Gail Gerber Fan Gallery. Lots of photos and scoop, some directly from my publications. Thanks Michael for the plug!