John, David and Diane.  Smile, y'all.

The reason my wife Diane and I went to Chiller was to see David Hedison.  In addition, we met a lot of great people like Kevin McCarthy, Ron Harper [Planet of the Apes TV series and Garrisons Gorillas], Connie Stevens, Ruth Buzzi, John D'Aquino, Del Monroe, Allan Hunt [who is a director] and more.  Just the same, for us, Mr. Hedison was, as always, the man to see.      It was Ron Harper's first con and he

greeted fans by shooting out his hand and saying, "Hello, I'm RON HARPER."  It scared a few fans as they had never been greeted that way by an actor before. They are used to "WHAT DO YOU WANT?" for the most part.  I told him to never change his greeting.      The guests were outside in a huge tent as the two big rooms inside the hotel were filled with dealers who I heard didn't sell much.  I saw lots of fans in the dealer rooms but very few were carrying any items.       Which brings up some of the fans who came to David's table which I was helping at.  There were at least five people who said virtually the same thing, "I waited forty years to meet you and I am your biggest fan." Not necessarily the biggest, but they sure

John & Kevin (Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers) McCarthy.

David Hedison, John Kachmar, Martine Beswick.

were the cheapest.  Not one purchased a photo!  I was told that at least two fans were mad because Adam West asked for money after signing photos obtained elsewhere.  We had one of those at David's table.  He still wanted a discount as it was HIS photo.      Most of the fans David got were males, average age was about 50.  There was one geek fan with dozens of buttons all over his clothes doing some kind of nervous dance while saying, "I LOVE YOU MR. HEDISON."

      The strangest thing that happened was when an average looking man in his 40s wearing a Yankee hat came up to the table and said to David "YOU'RE A HANDSOME BASTARD" at least 3 times and left.  During the rest of the con every few hours David and I would turn to each other and say "YOU'RE A HANDSOME BASTARD."

David sold Voyage, Bond and Fly photos in that order and sold all the 5 Fly mini posters that he had brought.  One fan had him sign a Voyage laser disc that can be seen in one of the photos (at right) we gave to Mike.  One expensive item was a repro Seaview model kit signed by all four cast-members.  David had the largest selection of photos -- about 25 including some prints I made up which can be seen hanging up behind the table for sale.  Del, Allan and Terry had about 5 each.      The best part of the con was Saturday in our room when David

gave an interview for an upcoming book about Richard Basehart.  Richard's nephew Bruce was there and brought photos that David was thrilled to see.  Sunday we hugged David good-bye as he left for the airport with Allan Hunt who we were sure was going to get crushed by his huge suitcase that he shared the back seat with.  It was the best time we ever had at a con.