Video Store Memories and a pic from K-mart
Long before Blockbuster became the scourge of the video world, we had stores like Video World, Movie Mart, Video-To-Go, AVN American Video Network with 16, 000 (milliontrillionbazillion) movies! And many, many others. It wasn't unusual for them to hold some sort of local event or meet and greet.
These were taken at a Movie Gallery, if memory serves, where my buddy, Justin, and I were brought to an almost certainly unlicensed visit by a certain popular extraterrestrial. Also, Billy Bob of Showbiz Pizza fame was there, but that's a discussion for another day.
In my early youth I had thoughts of being a scientist or an astronaut, mostly to create and/or befriend an alien. After I saw E.T. though, that changed. I didn't like the way they treated E.T., but I still wanted create and befriend aliens. So I got into special effects.
When I was 11, my friends and I were regularly dropped off at the Fashion Square mall. Across the street there was a theatrical make-up store that also had magic tricks and masks and how-to books and mags. It was called Paramount (until the cease and desist) and I ended up making friends with the owner, Madge. She hooked me up with a special effects guy she knew, Allen Duckworth. I ended up spending the day at his house one day and he showed me how to make eye mechanisms and hand mechanisms and different things in his workshop. Then he showed me his little gallery of monster suits and puppets. And guess who was hanging there...
It was E.T.
Allen was the scientist guy holding E.T. at the Movie Gallery! The synchronicity still blows my mind and warms my heart.
And just today I found out that he later went on to do some set construction for a 1988 straight to VHS that is a featured Best of the Worst favorite of mine called... Christmas With Dennis.
The Polaroid looking picture was taken at my local K-mart. This E.T. was a mask, gloves, and sheet type, closer in quality to the creepy ass Easter Bunny I loved that also visited K-mart and was quite possibly the same employee.
