Some of my readers were familiar with Bob, if not on a personal basis at least by reputation.

The auction, to be held in Frederick, Maryland on May 15th, will feature approximately 50% of Bob's banner collection, along with other collectible items assembled over the years. There will be a color catalogue available shortly and information regarding the auction company, location and other pertinent data appears at the end of this newsletter.

Keith Spurgeon, the dealer/collector from whom I learned of the auction, tells me that the banners will be offered in two seperate auctions, this one in May and the next on an undetermined date in the fall. There are approximately 120 banners that comprise the entirer estate offering.

Although this would seem to qualify as a "Lifetime collection" it, in fact, only represents a relatively short segment of McCord's life. To understand the seemingly short, (mid 90's to mid 2000's), period in which all of the collection was assembled, you'd have to understand McCord himself. This is a formidable task but I'll attempt it in the form of a short biography.

Bob McCord was born into the technical end of the Hollywood film industry, his father being a highly respected lighting specialist. As a youngster, Bob spent many of his early days on the sets of both motion picture and television productions, eventually working with his dad on such iconic T.V. shows as Death Valley Days and Gunsmoke.

As is the case with many children who grow up in an industry that appears exciting and glamorous to the outside world, Bob became restless and bored. He had plenty of company in his apathy, as he was surrounded by other sons of actors and technicians who were equaly as jaded by their surroundings.

There were many distractions readily available in a money glutted environment, one such diversion, (besides the obvious ones), was planes, Many of his friends had pilot's licences and some owned light planes. The desert locations where many of the westerns were filmed were natural runways for small aircraft.

So it was that one scorching hot afternoon Bob and a couple of his cohorts, numb from a day of "hurry up and wait", a situation symtomatic to all film making, taxied their four seater past the movie set and lifted off toward the nearby cloudy mountain range.

The following afternoon the shattered remains of Bob McCord awoke on a rock mountain top to observe the dead body of one of his friends a few yards away amidst the rubble. Around dusk a search party reached him and air lifted him to a hospital.

As Bob told me, his long recouperation afforded him a lot of time to ponder what his life had been and to begin forming a vision of what he wanted to do with the rest of it. There was no forehead-smacking "eureka, that's it!" epiphany here. He just knew that a major life style change was in order.

ENTER CALABASAS

Forty years ago, Calabasas California looked much like any small town in America distinguished only by it's star resident, The Motion Picture Actors Home. It was a suitably tranquil location for the elderly and infirm who'd once graced theater screens around the world. It was here that Bob started a business that became one of the most popular restaurants in the Greater Los Angeles area, the Sagebrush Cantina.

Built in stages and having a sort of jigsaw puzzle appearance, the patrons of the Cantina were has eclectic as it's decor. Seated at one of the enormous dining patios you might see movie stars like Sylvester Stallone, a group of leather-clad bikers and the mayor all enjoying the sumptuous Mexican cuisine that the place was famous for. When you tired of the people-watching you could let your eyes wander through the ever growing collection of things that sat on rooftops, hung from walls or leaned in corners. See that thing on top of the bandstand? It is a bobsled! Bob sponsored the Jamaican Bobslet Team and wardrobed them for the Olympics. See the stage under it? I performed on it for a week! See that tall, gangly guy over there? That's Bob McCord. Although he was there most of the time, many of the clientel didn't know who he was! I did. He was a true friend to me.

Bob died last year but his myriad interests remain in the form of his collections. Go see and bid on his banners. This is an opportunity to take home not only a valuable piece of Americana but a tiny piece of a truly unique individual who loved all things unusual as much as you do!