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Names is his game
Photo
David Dermer | The Vindicator — Autograph collector David Powers shows off a Lucille Ball autograph at his Youngstown home.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Stan Laurel, Dom DeLuise, Joan Crawford, Vincent Price, Harry Houdini, Bob Hope, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Joe DiMaggio, Lucille Ball, President Jimmy Carter, Gene Kelly and Red Skelton are, of course, all household names — and all are names in David Powers’ household.
“I began in 1964, the same year I developed an interest in magic,” Powers explained about his burgeoning interest in collecting autographs from icons who included movie stars, musicians, political figures and athletes.
The 61-year-old Powers spoke recently from his Youngstown residence about his extensive autograph collection, which consists of numerous scrapbooks, posters, letters, show tickets, invitations and autobiographies he’s amassed from countless celebrities over the years.
He also spoke on his talents as a magician while conducting a demonstration.
When he was a child, Powers’ parents, David Sr. and Garnet Powers, took him to the Kenley Players, a troupe founded in the 1940s by John Kenley, a theater impresario well known for taking large-scale shows to small and medium-size cities and featuring big headline acts such as Burt Reynolds and many others. For years, they performed in Warren.
On one occasion, Powers heard the Kenley Players when they were interviewed on WKBN Channel 27. It wasn’t long after the interview that Norm Berger, the station’s longtime program director, tipped him off as to when certain stars were to appear, Powers explained.
Soon after, he wrote a letter to Stan Laurel of the famous Laurel & Hardy comedy team. Within a few weeks, Laurel sent Powers a signed black-and-white photograph of the duo, which he has in a small frame.
He also sent correspondence to and received replies from numerous film and television legends such as Lucille Ball, Andy Griffith, Don Knotts and others, many of whom performed at Warren’s Packard Music Hall.
“I would go back after every performance and meet them,” said Powers, who also works for the Schwebel Baking Co.
In the early 1970s, Powers wrote to Joan Crawford to express his desire to meet the screen legend during a trip to New York City. Unbeknownst to him at the time, however, Crawford had become increasingly reclusive.
In an Oct. 4, 1973, typewritten letter, she replied: “I deeply regret that I will not be in NY during your visit, as I will be touring for Pepsi.”
In the 1950s, Crawford married Al Steele, Pepsi Cola’s chief executive officer, and was on the company’s board of directors. In reality, however, Crawford’s reclusiveness prevented her from meeting Powers, he explained.
One of his scrapbooks contains autographed photographs of Adam West and Burt Ward, who portrayed Batman and Robin, respectively, in the original “Batman” show, and were in and out of costume.
In some cases, Powers’ correspondence with famous figures extended beyond words and scrawls on a sheet of paper or a poster. On occasion, friendships formed.
“He also had an interest in magic, and he took an interest in me,” Powers said, referring to actor, comedian, film director, chef and author Dom DeLuise, who died May 4, 2009.
In 1976, DeLuise performed in Warren, then met and had lunch with Powers, he said proudly. In addition, Powers visited DeLuise at his Pacific Palisades, Calif., home, he continued.
Other “thrills” for Powers included having met Milton Berle, Red Skelton, Gloria Swanson and actress and singer Marlene Dietrich, he recalled.
“I met her after a Broadway show in New York City,” Powers said of Swanson.
He also has a room filled with signed posters and autobiographies, including one titled “Have Mercy!” by Wolfman Jack, a famous disc jockey in the 1960s and ’70s. Jack died the day after signing Powers’ copy, he said.
Before showing his dining-room table filled with such memorabilia, Powers enlisted the help of friend and co-worker Stacey McLain of Youngstown to conduct an illusion he calls “The Frame of Life and Death.”
While playing an instrumental version of the popular song “Impossible Dream,” Powers placed McLain’s head in an opening that resembled a frame, then made light and other adjustments to make her face slowly disappear and seem to turn into a skeleton. Then he removed a plastic skull and gradually returned McLain to her normal look.
So what does the future hold for Powers’ huge autograph collection? It’s hard to say, but it’s a sure bet that it won’t vanish anytime soon.