"Priscilla Queen of the Desert"

Received a cast-signed playbill today from the Broadway production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.  As you may or may not remember, I was tempted to request a signed playbill after receiving my cast-signed Sister Act playbill last month.  Well, that's exactly what I did and, like most cast-signed playbills in my collection, the request was fulfilled incredibly fast.  While I would have preferred a color cover, it is customary for a long-running show to start printing black and white covers after the first few months of performances.  Needless to say, I am always thrilled to receive a reply and am certainly not complaining -- add another one to the basket!

Rob Reiner

Received my photo back yesterday signed and personalized from director Rob Reiner.  I have been a huge fan of Mr. Reiner's work ever since first seeing his performance as Michael "Meathead" Stivic on All In The Family back in the day, but now have great respect for him as a director.  He has directed numerous films since appearing on All In The Family, including The Bucket List, When Harry Met Sally..., Misery, Sleepless In Seattle, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me (with Ensign Wesley Crusher...Wil Wheaton himself!), and my personal favorite, The Princess Bride.  If you have seen any of the aforementioned films, you know Mr. Reiner is an artistic visionary and, well, he knows how to tell a great story! I sent my request towards the end of July and am quite pleased with how soon this was returned to me.  He even added a piece of sturdy backing to prevent the photo from getting bent -- how thoughtful!

Christopher Plummer

You may recall me mentioning at the end of one of my posts awhile back (my Chris Noth success, I believe) that I had received two signed and dedicated photos from the incomparable Mr. Christopher Plummer, but they were signed in silver and returned smeared beyond recognition.  I resent to him soon after, this time enclosing two photos that would not warrant a silver signature, and yesterday received them back signed and dedicated...and in black permanent marker, too. Woo! Now here's another pair of beautiful photos to add to the autograph book.  I'm telling you, this second autograph book is getting close to being full!

Christopher Plummer is a legend in the entertainment industry, both on stage and on film.  For me, he will always be known as either Captain Von Trapp from The Sound of Music with Dame Julie Andrews (and you all know how much I love her) or General Chang from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, but his phenomenal performances in Up and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus also deserve recognition.  Both were great movies.  This winter, he will appear in the highly-anticipated film adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo with Daniel Craig and Jennifer Lawrence.  Although I have not read the books, the teaser trailer had me on the edge of my seat and I cannot wait to check out the film this December.

Overall, I am thrilled to be able to add this man's signature to my collection.  Now I have two photos signed by Christopher Plummer and two books signed by Dame Julie Andrews.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would possess their autographs.  This is an extraordinary hobby and, although you must have patience to be successful, the returns are the greatest things in the world.

Brooke Shields

WHAT a fantastic way to celebrate my 21st birthday! I came home from class and renewing my driver's license to find an envelope from the one and only...Brooke Shields! Suddenly Susan herself! At first I was getting worried because other members on my fanmail website were receiving a different signed photo instead of Brooke actually signing the photos they sent (her photo was an 8x10" and my envelope only held a 5x7", so you can see the dilemma at hand).  But alas, the fanmail gods are in my corner once again! Details in a moment... (insert Julie Chen/Big Brother angle change)

But first, here's the backstory...I have always been a fan of Brooke since I first saw her on Suddenly Susan back in the day.  While the characters and plot are a bit fuzzy (its been years since I've actually seen an episode), I remember her and Kathy Griffin were GREAT together.  Plus, the theme intro was pretty sweet.  Additionally, her involvement at the 2011 Tony Awards was PRICELESS -- just check out the video below to see what I'm talking about! So, naturally, when I heard she would be replacing Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia Addams in the Broadway musical centered around the gothic family, I knew I had to write. Anjelica Houston did a phenomenal job in the movies, and I think it's the character of Morticia Addams in general that attracts me to The Addams Family.  I can only imagine Brooke is doing an amazing job.  You go, Brooke!