Back from shopping...

It was a good weekend, generally speaking. I got into New York around eight in the morning, and met up with an old friend for breakfast and conversation. From there, I hit Jim Hanley's, where I spent approximately an hour and change waiting for former CWN editor Rachel Gluckstern to show up (not that I'm complaining. You could spend many more hours in JHU and still not see everything). I picked up the Haunt of Fear hardcover collection for the wife, making me the best geek husband in the world. The rest of the weekend was spent in New Jersey with my best friend, his wife, and their daughter.

Friday, though... I got into the Poconos around 5PM. Although she had said she'd be taking the night off, my mother was still at work, prompting me to toss in the DVD of Love Actually (yes, I'm a sucker for Hugh Grant). On the chair, I noticed a small, self-published book my grandmother had written. I knew she was planning on putting together her "life story" for family and friends, but I didn't know she was going to have it printed up, chapbook style. Having yet more time to kill, I read through it. Although it borders on sentimentality more often than not (I'd particularly like to hear more of the difficulties - that's where all the good stuff is - rather than triumphs), it was comforting to see stories I had heard before set in print. It's the new details, though, that got my attention.

You see, my grandmother was always a career woman. She started out working with Fred Waring at the height of his popularity (so, yes, this is going back quite a way). When she decided to settle down and marry, she left his music enterprise and went to manage the resort he owned in the Poconos. This much, I knew. I knew that she had met all sorts of celebrities and quasi-celebrities through these jobs, but there was one section that stood out to me:

It's the only autograph I have of all the celbrities I have met, except for autographed sketches by a couple of cartoonists. They came to Shawnee for an annual outing which Mr. Waring hosted every June to celebrate his birthday.

When the National Cartoonists came to Shawnee, it was a time they all came together for a busman's holiday - golf and tennis during the day. After the evening entertainment provided by Mr. Waring, they charmed all of us with their inimitable style of humor and talent demonstrations. All the greats in that art field were there - Mort Walker, Stan Drake, Milt Caniff, Charles Schulz and many others. I can still visualize Hal Foster, on one of their trips, standing before a large easel in the lobby of the Inn drawing his famous "Prince Valiant." In fact, I treasure a copy of that drawing which is truly more art than cartoon. We were so fortunate to witness such talent.

It goes on for a while longer, detailing how the cartoonists would draw on the tables as part of their time at the resort, and that these sketches are available for viewing at Penn State's Fred Waring America Collection, which means I'm going to have to make a trip to the campus sometime in the near future.

Perhaps geekdom is genetic.