Saturday, February 22, 2014

JM on TV's "American Pickers"

James and Marjorie Melton in 1903 Stanley Steamer


Oh my goodness, one never knows where Melton-related bits will turn up.  The other night, I was watching “American Pickers” on the History Channel. (In case you don’t know, it’s about two guys who, as the website says:  “…are on a mission to recycle America, even if it means diving into countless piles of grimy junk or getting chased off a gun-wielding homeowner’s land. Hitting back roads from coast to coast, the two men earn a living by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory, transforming one person’s trash into another’s treasure…”)

More often than not, the treasures they find have to do with automobiliana—from old gas station signs to vintage oil cans and car parts.

Last Wednesday night, in amongst the stuff of interest to pickers Mike and Frank was a Stanley Steamer pressure gauge (as I recall). There followed a very brief ‘history lesson’ about Stanley Steamers and the Stanley Brothers. By way of illustration of Stanley Steamer cars, there were two photographs shown:  One was of a Stanley in front of our instantly recognizable Weston, Connecticut garage. The other was of my parents waving from a 1903 Stanley Steamer!!! (The photo above.)  Each photo was on the screen for a just few seconds, but they jumped out at me instantly. Of course, the people were not identified, just the cars.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Shirley Temple Black 1928-2014


James Melton, Shirley Temple, 
(does anyone know who the lady in back left is?) 
and my mother, Marjorie


It is with sadness that we note the death of Shirley Temple Black earlier this week at the age of eighty-five.

She and my parents lived next door to one another briefly in 1944, while my father was in Hollywood filming segments for "Ziegfeld Follies.  

For more details on their association, and a slightly different photo of Shirley and my parents, go to my blog post from January 28, 2010.