My apologies if this is the wrong place for this post but I am desperately trying to identify a small convention my wife and I attended on a whim in Las Vegas (at Bally’s) in Winter 1997.
Basically, it was an autograph show where you paid an admission fee and then walked around a room where all these washed up or lesser known older movie and TV stars were selling pictures of themselves, autographing them and letting you take pictures of them. My wife and I really enjoyed the show and have talked about going back to it again but can’t figure out how we heard about it back in 1997 and what these kind of shows are even called.
If it helps, I can tell you some of the stars that were there:
Linda Blair
Billy Barty
Jennifer O’Neil (Summer of 42)
Adam West
Rip Taylor
Steve Allen
Robert Vaughn
Jimmie Walker (Good Times)
John Saxon
Erin Gray and Gil Gerard (of Buck Rogers fame)
We are very interested in going to whatever the modern day version of this show is in either Las Vegas or Los Angeles. Can anyone tell me what this show was called or at least turn me on to a similar one that is its replacement?
This sounds very similar to a show that seems to be held regularly at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn in Studio City. I don’t know what it’s called, I’ve never been, can’t vouch for it blah blah blah…but you might try calling the hotel.
There used to be a column at the Internet Movie Database called the “Washed Update” that was about faded celebrities like that. I’m sure it mentioned this sort of autograph show at least once. It doesn’t look like it’s still available at the IMDb, but I did a google search and there seem to be a few editions archived here and there. You might be able to refine that search a little bit and find what you’re looking for.
This upcoming event, however, sounds more like what Yarster attended. Frank Stallone, Soupy Sales, Erin Moran, and a cast of thousands (or at least dozens):