Russell Johnson, Seattle Children's Theatre, and Me.

Way back when, when I was at Seattle Children's Theatre, (see the four-part series I have about this period.. Trust me, it’s good) we were going through a “bad management” phase. Morale was, well, non-existent. I myself was under fire from the management. They were working to shove me out but I was resistant. God knows why they wanted to get rid of me, and why I felt I needed to resist. But I did, some 16 pounds worth, if I remember correctly (I do).

At the time, I was often at comic conventions, selling comics, and arranging interviews with professionals for the magazine I was working for. At the cons were many celebrities from old TV and movies, people who didn't work that much anymore, but had been a star for a brief, shining moment to the years gone. I loved talking to them, and if 20 bucks for a signature bought me a few minutes of their time to chat, I was happy to give it to them.

That's when I started thinking: maybe my friends at the theatre would appreciate them as well. I started collecting signed photos, addressed to the Seattle Children's Theatre to put up in the break room. I got a lot of people to sign, and some insisted on no charge, or gave me an extra for free. People like Bob Denver, Russell Johnson, Denny Miller Cathy Garver, Erin Gray, Johnny Wittiker, Yvonne Craig, Peter Mayhew, and more gave me photos addressed to SCT. I put them up and they were well received among the staff. Except for the management, who asked me what I was up to. Really, 'What are you up to with these?'

What was I up to...

Probably just trying to cheer people up, share something I liked, a small little bit of my childhood, my life, with a cold, blank wall, with a staff I loved and seemed stressed and in pain. I didn't have much longer there. It was the best job I ever had, but even I could see I wasn't wanted there anymore. I left a few months later but insisted on leaving the photos behind as a gift. I was told management took them down and they were grabbed up by staff. That's fine.

I think of this because I came across one of those photos sent to me by Russell Johnson (the Professor on Gilligan's Island). I paid him for a photo for the theatre, and he sent me one for free, just for me. It shows the Professor, as an 'old coot knight', from a dream sequence, a little bird resting on his finger. He wrote "Hey bird, That Tom Stewart is OK"

Thanks, Russell, I needed that right now.