For people who watch the History Channel's Pawn Stars show, they will recognize the man with the flat Amish style hat, Mark Hall-Patton. This picture was taken in the Barnes and Noble store in Henderson, NV where WWA book-signing event. I didn't sell, but I bought way too many. And then as I lugged the heavy bag into the hotel, I wondered if I would be able to pack everything and get it home. Hall-Patton spoke to the group twice, here, and the next day at a breakout session at the convention. He says he will not tell anyone what an item is worth and usually doesn't know. What he does is authenticate it as real or call it fake. As for the show, he said it is produced. That is, an interesting subject is lined up and then they call him to come in, something which takes a half-hour to travel from one of the three museums he manages. People were interested in the personalities on the show, mostly the old man and Chumlee. Is the old man as grumpy as he appears? As a matter of fact he is, but he suffers from migraine headaches and has a reason for it. Why does Chumlee stick around with all the guff he takes? Don't worry about Chumlee, he's laughing all the way to the bank. We passed the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop one day in the bus when it was 111 degrees. I guess some people like to suffer, because a long line stood outside the shop waiting to be admitted.
The mystique of the
American mob drew a busload of WWA convention-goers to the National
Museum of Organized Crime & Law Enforcement, better known as The
Mob Museum, on Thursday, June 27. The city of Las Vegas deems it
important, because, after all, its website proclaims, “The Vegas of
today wouldn't exist without the mob of yesterday.” Housed in the
city's old federal courthouse and post office, the museum's three
floors have been re-purposed to hold memorabilia, photos, films,
documents, and interactive displays featuring well-known crime
figures and some dogged lawmen who pursued them. That the mob
continues to draw interest among the public can be illustrated by the
accolades given to actor James Gandolfini after his recent death.
The character he played was a murderous mobster.
Two .45 Thompson
sub-machine guns were used to slaughter five members of Chicago's
North Side Gang on February 14, 1929, thus the eponymous St.
Valentine's Day Massacre. The very brick wall the victims faced when
shot in the back has been dismantled brick by brick, moved to Las
Vegas, and reconstructed. The profusion of bullet holes in those
bricks gives testament to the grim facts of the scene. A glass case
displayed one of the guns used. If eyes had not seen, an observer
would never have believed that a petite, young lady could pick up a
Thompson and begin firing away at a human target in the museum, but
assuredly, it did happen that day. It must be disclosed, though,
that the gun, however lifelike, was an electronic simulator.
These conventions are very interesting for me. A person doesn't even know who he doesn't know. At the Saturday night banquet I sat at a table with some folks, one of whom's name was Andrew Fenady. It meant nothing until he told me he was a movie producer, and among other movies had produced John Wayne's "Chisum." He told some great stories about the business and about John Wayne. He writes a lot of books, too, and gave me one that evening. I'm halfway through already. It's a good one.
Another fellow I visited with, William McGee, gave me a very good lead on finding research material. I told him I was very interested in writing a story centering on the horses during World War I that European buyers came here looking to buy. European countries couldn't keep the armies supplied because they were being killed off on the battlefields. He said it was a story he always wanted to tell, but now at the age of 88 and with only 10% vision remaining, he can't do it. He was knowledgeable of the topic; his father worked as an agent buying those horses.
Next year we head to Sacramento, CA for the convention, and I plan on taking Mary with. I know she will enjoy it.
