Okay... Enough of the 'commercial' presentation...

Back to this year's person I've selected for my annual Thanksgiving blog post.

First... Here are the re-posts from the previously posted archived blogs combined together in one long blog post along with the 2012 entry added at the bottom.

There are some minor updated revisions since the original postings several years ago, where needed:

Part I - Stan Lee, who will be celebrating his 90th birthday this year, (2012)! Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers were the reason I started collecting comics, instead of just reading 'funnybooks'. (Note: It started with the cover of Journey Into Mystery #72.)

Stan is shown to the left, signing my personal copies of Fantastic Four #1 and Strange Tales Annual #2 for me several years ago. Below is the text from that blog post:

Today is the time of year that many Americans stop, reflect and give thanks...

I am no exception to this as Tina and I get ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I was thinking about this as I was getting cleaned up just a few minutes ago...

I am thankful for many things, which is why this is but Part I, but one of the earliest things I can remember being thankful for was the early ability to read and comprehend which helped me become an 'A' Student in High School.

I have of course my great aunt and uncle who started me off with 'funnybooks', but it was pretty much one writer that moved me to look up new words in our dictionary that he wrote on his pages! Stan Lee also introduced new concepts and other genres of writing besides superheroes to me.

Additionally he made me and probably millions of others feel that we were part of a different world, that of 'Marvelmania' via his 'Bullpen Pages' where he wrote to fans like me!

His gift was that he never wrote 'down' to his readers, and his writing improved my vocabulary and started my interest in other pop culture items like Movies and TV Shows, etc.

I am thankful that he and I have finally seen the fruits of his early labors make it to the 'Big Screen' in the past few years. I am truly thankful that my love of comics in printed format have finally been transformed to good/great comic book movies that I am viewing today 49+ years later!

Part II - Engineer Bill... who has passed away since this blog was first posted. (William "Bill" Stulla (May 24, 1911 – August 12, 2008.) He had a great afternoon kids show with cartoons in Los Angeles during my childhood there. Below is the text from that post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part II, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was when my dad was stationed in Long Beach.

It was then that Engineer Bill (Stulla) hosted a kid's TV show on KHJ Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

He was a favorite TV show host during the 1950's and 1960's.

His show was broadcast on every week day about when school had been out for a while.

What really stuck out in my memory was his 'Red Light - Green Light' portion of the show, where my brother and I would drink, stop, drink, and so on when he would say 'green light' for us kids to drink the milk out of the glass, and 'red light' to stop drinking!

Some of the things that stick in your mind don't always make sense years later, but it was here that I found that drinking and eating what's good for you was fun!

By the way, other local televised kid's shows of Los Angeles during that time were Sheriff John, Chucko the Clown, and Bozo the Clown.

I don't remember many 'National' shows that I watched during that time but one for sure was Captain Kangaroo seen in black and white format.

Part III - Sheriff John, (John Rovick born October 2, 1919)... who also died since this blog post was published, (he passed in 2008). He was another of my favorite kids TV Shows hosts in Los Angeles. Below is the text from that post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part III, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was when my dad was stationed in Long Beach.

It was then that 'Sheriff' John (Rovick) hosted a kid's TV show on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles.

He hosted the show from 1952 to 1970!

His program would open with Sheriff John entering his office while lip-syncing to the record lyrics of "Laugh and be happy and the world will laugh with you when people see you smiling, they can't help smiling, too..."

After that Sheriff John would go on to the check list, the bulletin board for pictures about safety, and then to the US flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The big thrill for kids with birthdays would be to hear your name called on the show!

Plus a birthday cake would be decorated with thick frosting, candy and lollipops. Then while Sheriff John sang the birthday song, the carousel cake spun in a circle while displaying the words "Happy Birthday Brigadiers" on the side of the cake!

It may sound cornball by today's standards, but it was fun in those days! Plus it started me on the 'straight and narrow'!

Part IV - Fess Parker.... aka Davy Crockett... who unfortunately passed away since this earlier annual blog post. One of my best Holiday Seasons was in 2003 when we stayed at his Inn in Los Olivos, California! (See photo of us with him to the left.) Below is the text from that Blog Post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part IV, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was our black and white TV set where I saw several TV Shows including one of my folks' favorites, 'Walt Disney'.

I definitely can remember those early years of watching Fess Parker as 'Davy Crockett' and made sure I would re-watch them when they were repeated years later!

Tina and I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fess Parker a few years ago at his Hotel/Restaurant in Los Olivos, California.

We had visited his Fess Parker Winery, his Hotel/Spa in Los Olivos, and had a great dinner in his restaurant while visiting 'Wine Country' in the Santa Inez Valley.

I appreciated finally meeting the man who had given me so many years of entertainment and was a good role model for me while growing up!

Part V - Howard and Marge McIntosh.... My Great Uncle and Aunt who are both responsible for giving me the first comic books to read at their house years ago!  Sadly Uncle Howard passed away on April of this year, following his wife's passing.  Here is the story:

Years ago when my folks would drive to Howard and Marge's house in Los Angeles, Howard & Marge would have 'funnybooks' for my brother and I to read in the back patio, so we wouldn't either bother the adults or get bored listening to the adults talk! The 'funnybooks' were a different world for me, and led me to really look forward to our regular visits to their house. Because we could take the 'funnybooks' home with us!

We are sharing this year's Thanksgiving Day with Great Uncle Howard with my folks. Howard turned 96 years old this year. Sadly, Marge passed away a few years ago.

Definitely Howard and Marge were instrumental in getting me to enjoy reading more via funnybooks, and that in turn led me to read the comic book that Jack Kirby / Dick Ayers illustrated, (mentioned in Part VI), that started me collecting comics!

Part VI - Jack Kirby, who 'showed' me that comics were made by real people and didn't all have to be 'funnybooks', as evidenced by the cover of Journey Into Mystery #72, which featured the 'Blob' - a MoNSter that stuck in mind for years! That comic book is what started me 'collecting' comics instead of just reading them....

Definitely that led to my life long fascination with reading and collecting comics, even though my tastes in comics have changed since I first started reading 'funnybooks'. In the photo to the left: Jack is shown at the left, with inker Joe Sinnott shown at the right.

Plus it was his artwork that kept going with comics, when I was told that 'comics' were for kids. I knew different as I watched Jack's pencils become more and more illustrative in the late 1960's and into the mid 1970's. Now it's known that comics aren't just for kids! Sadly though, most comics are printed for 'kids' anymore either... Thanks Jack for keeping comics important in my life during those transition years of 'comics are for kids'!

Part VII - Tina LoSasso, with whom I celebrated our 11th year of marriage this month!

As shown at the photo to the left... we are on quite a journey!

It's like I've stepped into a different portal to a new life being with her!

It's Tina who has merged my love of comics and her love of books into what we are both doing today; a business built on promoting comics and books, book launches and other publicity, including attending comics conventions, book signings and blogging!

(Tina has her own websites, including MakeItSoMarketing.com & her Facebook Fan Page:  Make It So Marketing Inc.) 

Here's the shout out from that year's blog post:

Today is the day that I give thanks to Tina for a Great Eight Years, and here's to many more!  

She would be here blogging too with an addendum, but she's been baking pies for two different Thanksgiving Dinners we are attending on Thursday!

Part VIII - Francis and Lois Hamersky, besides being my folks, were instrumental in giving me an 'allowance' during my early childhood, thus 'allowing' me to buy more comics to feed my 'collecting bug'!

In the photo to the left, my little brother Frank, and I are shown in the front of the Disneyland car, with Mom and Dad in the back. This is from a 1959 photo of my family when we were chosen 'Navy Family Of The Month' at the Naval Base in Los Alamitos, California, and awarded an all expense paid trip to Disneyland!

(Francis has his own web site, Whirlibirds.com, and his own Facebook Fan Page for:  Whirlibirds.com Fan Page For Whirligigs.)

Today is the time to thank them also for helping form my life. Thanks Mom & Dad!

BTW, I must have gotten that 'collecting bug' from my Dad, as he had a great coin collection for many years!

Part IX - Now for the 2010 entry! It was a 'toss-up' as to which of the two persons I first thought about would be selected and listed here... And then a third person came to mind. Since I only have time to do today's post, instead of a series of blogs, I've gone with...

Annette Funicello  Here's why!

When I was much, much younger, I of course was influenced by the Mickey Mouse Club on TV! Which Annette was first discovered by America and became a major star on this series!

Years later being a teenager, I was drawn to the Frankie & Annette Beach Party series of films! Of course, what young guy wouldn't be when there were record albums such as the one pictured here from 1963! And yeah, I did have all of her albums and singles!

I also collected the comics that featured Annette on the cover, as well as the Disney films tht she was in and those tht had one-shot comics published.

My 'Annette Funicello' collection at one time was stored in five 'perma-pak' boxes, when I was divorced.

My later girlfriend, Tina LoSasso, thought it ws a little strange that I would have an 'Annette' collection as well as an Elvis Presley collection, and of course a substantial comic book collection! Tina never had the 'collecting bug'!

That was okay though, as when I started selling part of my Annette collection, those items sold paid for Tina's engagement ring!

So my personal thanks to Annette, on whom I had an 'early crush on', which I'm sure thousands of other boys developed during her early career on TV and then the film series! Of course I had to see her last film, 'Back to the Beach', when it came out in 1987!

Thanks, Annette! And a Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!

AND NOW FOR THE 2011 ENTRY:

Part X - I probably gave it away when I posted the photo of the El Cortez Hotel at the top right of this blog!

To the left is a photo of the (co-)Founder of what has been known by several names, including the San Diego Comic Con, and the Comic-Con International: San Diego.

That of course would be Shel Dorf

Yes, there are many others who also participated in the co-founding of this comic con, but several of the earliest founders name him as the 'Founder' of the con, so I'm going to go with that, and not get into the politics of later years.

It was there at the 1972 con, when it was Known as San Diego's West Coast Comic Convention, that I first set up as a comic books dealer, in the basement of the El Cortez Hotel, after buying out a dealer who couldn't stay for the last day of the con.  So I offered him an amount to take over his table and had so much fun that I bought my own table for the 1973 con, which when it was officially named as the 'San Diego Comic Con'!

Thus, Shel Dorf is the person... "Whom I'm Thankful For" this year, as I am continuing today, almost 40 years later, as a comic books dealer! And although I've had a 20 year hiatus of not setting up at comic cons, (since the mid 1990s comics crash), I recently set up at the 2nd Annual SoCal Comic Con that was held in Oceanside, California! Plus I am combining a 'Book Signing' along with setting up a table at the 2011 Nuke The Fridge Con in the City of Industry on December 10th! So after all these years of first selling at the El Cortez Hotel... I am back to my 'roots' as a convention dealer!

Thus, although I had someone else in mind for this year's entry, (who was also one of the three thought of in 2010), I have gone with Shel Dorf. 

Possibly I was swayed by the fact that this year, (2011), I was nominated as one of the five persons for the 'Comics Blogger of the Year' at the Shel Dorf Awards distributed at the Detroit Fan Fair. 

Plus I received my membership card, (shown at the above left), from Greg Koudoulian to the "Shel Dorf Fan Club & Entourage', with the title "Blogger of the Century and Shel's Pal".  Thanks, Greg!  Oh, and here is the link to one of Greg's ventures online, The Planet El Cortez Facebook Fan Page, that I suggest you check out further!

With all of the above events reminding me of Shel Dorf this year... I just had to name him as one of those "Whom I Am Thankful For" in this continuing series of blogs.   Thank you, Shel! 

And just as I ended last year's entry... I am of course also Thankful for a LOT of other people in my life, and they will be mentioned as the year(s) go on in this blog. After all it's just a 'Top Ten List' so far!

Part XI - Elvis Presley

And now for this year's blog post... And whom I probably should have mentioned long before this year!

Yes, that would be Elvis Presley!

It was a combination of Elvis 45s, 33s, comic books with Elvis in them, and Elvis movies that swung me over to liking him in the 1960s to his death in 1977.

At one time I had a massive Elvis Presley collection!  With so much stuff in my collections... and due to my divorce, I decided to start selling a lot of my collections, Elvis, Annette, Marvel Comics, etc.

To this day, I remember so many of the songs that Elvis sung, and the several times I was fortunate to see him in person.  The photos of him in this blog are from times that I saw him.

Matter of fact, here's the link to all of the Elvis Presley blogs or blogs with Elvis's name in them.

Even though I went on to see other bands, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Rick Nelson, Johnny Cash, and many others... None had the charisma that this one man had when opening a concert!

I am truly thankful for having Elvis in my life!

~ Michael D Hamersky