BULLETIN PRESIDENT TREASURER EDITOR John Bachochin Loren Moore Mike Prero 15731 S. 4210 Rd., POB 1181 12659 Eckard Way Claremore, OK 74017 Roseville, CA 95678 Auburn,CA 95603 918-342-0710 916-783-6822 530-906-4705

No. 344 ALL DUES DUE APRIL 1st September 2013

by Mike Prero

You may not be into collecting Military as a category in itself, but here‘s a related category that you might wish to consider. It has a lot to offer. Military logos are usually quite colorful and attractive; there is a lot of history connected with each unit represented; and logo ―formats‖ run from crests to cartoon characters and everything in between.

You‘ve certainly got a wide variety of covers to work with here. You‘ll run across logos for individual units ranging in size from companies to entire armies, individual ships to naval groups, squadrons, air wings, and more. Then there are the logos for the different branches within branches. For example, within the Army, you‘d find logos for Army Air Corps, Military Police, Infantry, Armor, Rangers, etc...even bands!

Then there are the logos for the various bases, forts, arsenals, air stations, naval stations, and the list goes on. Of course, you‘ll find basic branch logos for Army, Navy Air Force, Marines, and the like.

And....you‘re certainly not limited to just the U.S. Military. You can find a very nice selection within Canadian Military covers, as well, and the Armed Forces of other countries around the world are fair game, too!

Realistically, however, most collectors would really only have access to to U.S. and Canadian covers....with, perhaps, an occasional foreign entry appearing every once and a great while. There‘s nothing stopping a collector from aggressively going after such foreign covers, though. The main obstacles are postage and finding the right contacts overseas. No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 2 It should be obvious by now that, although we‘re talking about a ―small category‖ [in the sense that it‘s not one of the well-known, widely collected topics, we are talking about sizeable numbers! Just a guess, but looking at my own Military collection, I‘d say you could put together a collection of 2000+ Military Logos fairly easily. Putting together such a collection would be a nice challenge in itself, but searching for a complete set of the covers such as the Disney Pepsi Set to include with it would add even more zest to the hunt!

You‘ll find that 20-strikes are the most common size for Military Logo covers, although the other sizes are represented, as well. And, don‘t forget to make room for an unusually large number of 40-strikes here, since those Universal 40‘s were abundant during World War II, and many will qualify for your Logo collection. As noted above, there are some sets to be found and some Fancies, although very few of the latter.

Also, if you wanted to, you wouldn‘t have to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the definition of ―logo‖ too far to also include covers which show Military rank insignia—and there are several nice old World War II sets of just that very thing [also quite challenging to acquire].

How you organize such a collection would, of course, be entirely up to you. You could divide everything up by countries, then branches, then forts, bases, etc, and finally units. Or, if you‘re artistically inclined, you might devise some format based on the logo design—say, separating the cartoons from the crests, etc. You could even then separate out the Disney-designed cartoon logos.

You know, if you are a Military collector, this might be an interesting method of dealing with your dupes—building them into a second collection!

No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 3

No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 4

Ginger Rogers

Ginger Rogers! If you‘re not old enough to have seen her films, you missed something! She was a very famous actress, singer, and dancer. Her dancing career started when she won a Charleston dance contest. She performed in vaudeville, went on to Broadway, was a Ziegfeld chorus girl, and then on to Hollywood. Her career began during the Great Depression, continued through World War II, and went on to 1969, when she starred in her last Broadway show, Mame. She made 73 films and starred in five Broadway shows during her lifetime.

She was born Vi Catherine McMath on July 16th, 1911, in Independence, MO. Almost 84 years later, on April 25th, 1995, she died. During the space of those years, she had married and divorced five times but never had any children. One of her husbands was Lew Ayers, who just recently passed away. ―Ginger‖ came about because one of her little cousins pronounced ―Virginia‖ as ―Ginga,‖ and ―Rogers‖ came from her stepfather, who had legally adopted her. She was a devout Christian Scientist. She owned, and lived on, a ranch along the Rogue River in Oregon. She was tall and had chestnut brown hair, though in most of her movies she appeared as a blonde.

Though she did many other things in her lifetime, she remains best known for her wonderful films with Fred Astaire. When the two first met in Flying Down to Rio, in 1933, no one could have foreseen the string of nine other films to follow: The Gay Divorcee, Shall We Dance, Top Hat, Swing Time, Carefree, Follow the Fleet, The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, Roberta, and their last film to together, The Barkley’s of Broadway, all of which, I believe, were made for R.K.O. Radio Pictures. Many of the songs she sang in their appearances together were actually originally intended for Astaire, but he declined and gave them to her. These films were very popular; they were made during the Depression; audiences wanted to forget their troubles, and what better way than with such magical fantasies. Though they clicked on screen, there was never any romance. In fact, Astaire never even liked to kiss her in the movies because he said it made his wife uncomfortable.

Ginger Rogers loved musical comedy, but she always wanted to be a great dramatic actress. She achieved that goal in 1940, when she received an Academy Award for Kitty Foyle, a drama about a young woman struggling with two suitors. When called to accept her award, she stood at the podium for a minute, looked straight at her mother, and said, ―This is the greatest moment of my life.‖ The place erupted in applause and cheering that drowned out whatever else she might have said. She always regretted that she didn‘t have the opportunity to do more dramatic acting.

Always true to her beliefs, she fought for performers‘ rights. She was one of the founders, for example, of the Screen Actors‘ Guild, a group of performers who joined together to improve working conditions for actors and actresses. She was very vocal in her efforts to help her fellow workers. In later years, she appeared before Congress as part of the effort to bring a halt to the studios‘ ‖colorizing‖ older black and white films, since she and many others in the industry were adamantly against the process.

Ginger Rogers...captured forever on film...and on matchcovers!

No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 5

MS Sails Into History

MS Pacific is a owned and operated by the Brazil-based Viagens CVC. She was built in 1971 by Nordseewerke, Emden, West Germany as Sea Venture for Flagship Cruises. She operated cruises be- tween the United States and Bermuda, which had been settled by the survivors of the wreck of the original Sea Venture in 1609.

In April 1975, she was sold to P&O's newly acquired along with sister ship Island Ven- ture. The pair were renamed Pacific Princess and Island Princess, the latter now operating as Discovery.

In 1998, Pacific Princess was impounded by police in Piraeus, after 25 kg of heroin was found on board, smuggled by two Filipino crew men. According to police sources quoted in the BBC report at the time, there was evidence the ship had become a major tool for drug smugglers in the Mediterranean.

Pacific Princess was sold in 2001, but was leased back and continued to operate as part of the Princess fleet until 2002, when the former Renaissance Cruises R3 replaced her and took her name. She made her final voyage with Princess Cruises in October/November 2002, sailing from New York City to Rome, . She then began operating for of Spain as Pacific, sailing in the . She was later operated by CVC in Brazil during the Southern summer and by Quail Cruises in Spain during the Northern Summer. She was reportedly seized by the Italian Coast Guard in 2008 for a repair bill owed by her former own- ers . In order to satisfy the debt, Italian authorities tried to sell Pacific at auction three times between 2010 and 2011, but no bids were received. In March 2012, a sale for scrap fell through; the ship once again was up for sale, and in August 2013, it was announced that she was headed for the scrap yard.

Why is any of this of note, you ask....The Pacific Princess was ! Princess Cruises agreed to have the ship featured in the television romantic sitcom ―The Love Boat,‖ which debuted in 1977. The term "Love Boat" was heavily used by Princess Cruises in their marketing, and became synonymous with Pacific Princess. The success of the show, 1975-1986, is largely credited with the increase in popularity of cruise ship travel. No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 6 An American Tour: 73

Los Angeles’s Brown Derby

The Brown Derby was the name of a chain of restaurants in Los Angeles, California. The first and most famous of these was shaped like a man's derby hat, an iconic image that became synonymous with the Golden Age of Hollywood. A chain of Brown Derby restaurants in Ohio are still in business today.

The chain was started by Robert H. Cobb and Herbert Somborn (a former husband of Gloria Swanson). It is often incorrectly thought that the Brown Derby was a single restaurant, and the Wilshire Boulevard and Hollywood branches are frequently confused. Gus Girves started the Brown Derby chain in Ohio in 1941.

Opened in 1926, the original restaurant at 3427 Wilshire Boulevard remains the most famous due to its distinctive shape. Whimsical architecture was popular at the time, and the restaurant was designed to catch the eye of passing motorists. It is said that the shape of the hat worn by New York governor and 1928 Democratic Party presidential candidate Al Smith, a personal friend of Somborn's, was an inspiration. Another theory claims that Somborn was told a good restaurateur could serve food out of a hat and still make a success of it.

The small cafe, close to popular Hollywood hot spots such as Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, became successful enough to warrant building a second branch.

The original, derby-shaped building was moved in 1937 to 3377 Wilshire Boulevard at the northeast corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Alexandria Avenue, about a block from its previous location (just north of the Ambassador Hotel).

The Brown Derby began its licensing program in 1987 with Walt Disney Company for a replica of the original Hollywood Brown Derby at the new Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida. In 1996, a ten-year agreement was entered into with MGM Grand Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada; in 1998, the MGM Grand Detroit, Michigan temporary facility was added. http://en.wikipedia.org The original Wilshire Boulevard Brown Derby No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 7 Ads auctions, cigar box trading, No date was given for the bingo, plenty of freebies, holder, but it‘s referred to as a

Saturday banquet. Free hot ‗HALLMARK ANTIQUE‘. NEED YOUR SCANS, buffet breakfast for hotel guests. That raised a question. Does the PLEASE: I list the Oldies. Hotel has heated pool and seller mean ‗Hallmark‘ or Please send me color scans of workout area for guest. ‗hallmarked‘? what you have for possible listing. I would very much AMCAL 2014: Next year's I don‘t think it would be appreciate it. Mike Prero, 12659 AMCAL Convention will be Hallmark, although that Eckard Way, Auburn, CA 95603 held--Thursday-Saturday, May company was founded in 1910— [email protected] 1st, 2nd, & 3rd at the Monrovia which would make its early

DoubleTree Hotel (just as it was products qualified for an WANTED: grey, slotted album in 2011). Lodging rates for the ‗antique‘ rating. But, the pages, new or used. Mike Prero, DoubleTree and The Oak Tree company‘s history doesn‘t same as above Inn will be announced soon (no mention any other early products

one can commit this early). other than cards., and it didn‘t WANTED: Lion 30 & 40 FMI: Chester or Cheryl Crill expand into related products STICK, 21- & 22-Feature (30s & ([email protected]) until recent decades. 40s) and Feature Match Book

(20s) manumarks. Unstruck ______Not that this isn‘t a nice item covers. No books. Prefer to Hmmmm? (it sold for $78.74), but it‘s trade for my dupes in these another example (again) why categories or I have front-strike ebay item from Aug: buyers really have to check into Hotels, Eating & Drinking considered purchases. And I Places, Animals, Chefs & Chef LARGE SILVER MOUNTED learned something here: ‗match Hats, Top Hats and Midgets – all RARE SHAPE GLASS CONE striker‘ holders and ‗match‘ unstruck. Mike Schwimmer, MATCH STRIKER HOLDER holders are the same thing! [email protected], (508)- HALLMARK ANTIQUE [Many thanks to Gayle 896-7024. 30 Corncob Ln., Hofacker, OH, for this] Brewster MA 02631-2002. ______

Coming Up Oops!

Ye Ed. screwed up and ran the KEYSTONE/LEHIGH same topic twice! Last issue‘s VALLEY SWAPFEST: feature article was on Historical October 23-27, 2013. Holiday Characters...but May‘s feature Inn, 230 Cherry St., article was on the same thing! Morgantown, PA 19543 (1-800- The first question that Two different articles, but they 339-0264). Rooms: $86. Display occurred to me is what is a basically said the same thing. awards. Club will pay 1/2 the ‗match striker‘ holder? Was this My fault. Sorry. Since I started banquet cost for attendees who meant to hold spare strikers as an editor back in 1983, I‘ve stay Friday & Saturday nights. back in the old days when written some 2,100 articles (and

everyone used wooden box that‘s just Sierra-Diablo, not SOUTHERN SWAPFEST matches? Well, no. It‘s a match counting Lone Star and RMS), 2014: March 18-22, 2014, holder. I checked on ebay, and so sometimes it‘s a little Hilton Orlando/Altamonte there are many of these referred confusing what I‘ve done and Springs, FL. Rate: $79 per night. to as ‗match striker‘ holders. what I haven‘t. Same activities as before - 3 No. 344 SIERRA-DIABLO BULLETIN-September 2013 Page 8

the San Francisco area. AMCAL will be in Southern

Happy Birthday! California, so RMS could be

Some people will make the held in the Sacramento or San Paquin, Dusty...... 9-6 argument that San Francisco or Francisco areas. Prero, Mike...... 9-7 the Los Angeles area would be Dixon, Bill...... 9-20 better, simply because they have Actually, I doubt if San Johnk, Duane...... 9-20 more attractions—ocean, Francisco, itself, would be a Ward, Ruth...... 9-21 Disneyland, Fisherman‘s Wharf, good site...too expensive, too Grant, Alan...... 9-22 and so on. Can‘t argue with that. crowded, and transportation is a Snyder, Ed...... 9-23 And, if that‘s the way people mess...but, say a nearby location, Acus, Joel...... 9-25 wish to go, then, depending on such as San Jose. Robles, R.E...... 9-26 the location of AMCAL that Avitt, Mike...... 10-6 year, we could have RMS in the Bitter, Dan...... 10-9 other direction. COMING Brassard, Ed...... 10-17 King, Ed...... 10-20 Thus, in 2017, for example, UP Messmer, Toby...... 10-27 AMCAL is scheduled to be held in Sacramento, so RMS would be held in the San Francisco or Oct: “Law of Gravity” Los Angeles areas. In 2018, Nov: “Texas Beer!” Editorial September’s Dec: “Christmas Customs” Replace with advertising text Smile SIERRA-DIABLO...we’re Aren‘t we about due for an the hottest club in the RMS convention? The last one hobby! Company Name in the West was Indian Wells, CA, in 2001.

Invariably, when I bring this The Sierra-Diablo Bulletin is a up, I hear, ―We don‘t want it out publication of the Sierra-Diablo Matchcover Club. Deadline for all here; it impacts AMCAL.‖ submissions is 2 weeks before the Hmmmm. Is that true? It doesn‘t issue month. Any information seem to impact UES, or the herein may be reproduced with Southern Swapfest, etc. appropriate credit line. Dues of $5 (e-bulletin); or $10 hard copy (individual), $15 (family), $15 If it is true, we might forego (Canada/Mexico) or $20 (outside AMCAL that year, although I N. America) are payable to the doubt if that would be necessary. Sierra-Diablo Matchcover Club, c/ We didn‘t do that in 2001. o Loren Moore, POB 1181, Roseville, CA 95678

Ideally, Sacramento would be Visit the Sierra-Diablo Web Site geographically best. It‘s at: http://www.matchcover.org/ basically in the middle of the Sierra. You can reach the Ed. on state, and I would assume that line at [email protected] for room rates, etc. would be help with Bulletin/hobby questions, concerns or problems. significantly lower than, say, in