I

know I haven't been the most ambitious today, but I have been around and about Reno looking at the various cars entered in Hot August Nights.

There are some I remember from last year, but there are others which are new to me. I took a couple of rolls of pictures.

It's a bitch, though, not having any money to throw around. Not that it means much, but the Peppermill has several "celebrities" from yesteryear (read has-beens) who are familiar to television buffs and those who were/are fans of the 1974 flick American Graffiti. The Graffiti people, mostly supporting actors including Bo Hopkins, were the same as last year, but the television lineup is a bit different. Just as he was here last year and other years, Frank (Lumpy) Bank , 63 (I know this because he said so today), of Leave It to Beaver fame was back, and co-star Ken Osmond, who played Eddie Haskell, was supposed to be there although he wasn't there when I was around. Paul Petersen*, who has got to be pushing 65 by now, was another relic from the fifties/early sixties who showed up. As we remember or know, he was in The Donna Reed Show before being forgotten. And then there was Jon Provost, who is in his fifties (55) and in better shape than the others, who starred in Lassie for seven seasons back in the late fifties/early sixties, after original Lassie actor Tommy Rettig** (1941-1996) got too old for the role. He was very cute when he was little, and he doesn't look too bad now. He, like the others, had several stills available and to sign, if people wanted them. Unfortunately, I just didn't have the cash to spend, and I was pissed because of it.

It was interesting to hear Provost tell some of the people standing in line about the various Lassies, who were actually Laddies. The first one appearing on the series, which lasted for many years, was the son of the one who was in the movies, and Provost starred with the son of the original, THAT dog's son and I believe the grandson. ALL of the dogs in the series, I believe, came from the same bloodline (and all of course trained by Rudd Weatherwax). The stills he had of himself and the various Lassies were very nice, and I would have loved to have had one or more of them signed by him, but at twenty bucks apiece they were too steep for my shoestring budget.

Frank Bank told the announcer at the Peppermill he liked coming to Reno to Hot August Nights every year. He also wrote his autobiography for some reason. He must have something to say even though he didn't have much of an acting career after Beaver. Perhaps the Peppermill can coax Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers to come to town next year. That would be nice.

After taking several pictures of the cars (and the actors mentioned above), I tried to enter some goddamned contest from one of the radio stations, but I didn't win shit. If I had "won," all that meant was I could go inside some booth and try to catch paper with dollar amounts printed on them or blank paper while a fan was blowing everything which way. One guy who waited two hours ended up winning the drawing, but for all of his waiting won only $1. For all that effort I thought "fuck this" and decided to go home.

When I arrived home, I received a message from the principal at the school I interviewed at today. I didn't get the job. Once again a goddamned TRANSFER got it. I can't believe it. It will take a million goddamned years for me to get hired.

*--Well, I found out he isn't even 60 yet; he will be next month. So much for my estimation of his age.

As some people know, his first wife was actress Brenda Benet, who was best known for her role in Days of Our Lives. After they divorced, she married actor Bill Bixby and they had a son who tragically died in 1981 at the age of six. Benet could not handle the death and committed suicide shortly thereafter.

Petersen is still married to his third wife.

**--According to a People magazine article reprinted on the official Lassie website, Rettig, who battled drug abuse over the years, was not killed by it. Instead it was an Elvis-style diet of too much junk food and too much cholesterol that finally did him in in early 1996.

Rettig died of heart failure.

He appeared on Lassie for four seasons before being replaced by Jon Provost.

Provost's wife, writer Laurie Jacobson, also is here at the Peppermill, but until I looked on Provost's website, I didn't even realize she was his wife. I mean she was unpacking stuff under the tent with him, but it didn't even dawn on me the two were married to each other.

I have a couple of her books on Hollywood, but unfortunately those books are boxed away and I can't retrieve them in time to get her to sign them.