As I've also mentioned in my postings the site may have a little hangover of its own as the import didn't really go as smooth as I had hoped, plus Microsoft is no longer supporting the technology that enables my slide shows and a few other features -- this will be a plus moving forward, but more work for me in the short term. In the meantime I'm trying to be as cagey as possible with site updates to keep all existing pages and functions working as they always have.

I am enjoying the new computer though and haven't run into any terrible problems with Vista. That said, I had been using a system with Windows 98 and if I had XP I probably wouldn't have upgraded. Having used both on a limited basis I'll confirm what I've read from from people much more qualified to comment on the subject--Vista is a lot like XP with a lot of little Mac features worked into it. But, coming from Win98 as I have, it's a huge upgrade and I love it!

By the way, if you use eBay's Turbo Lister and have upgraded to Vista yourself, you've probably become quite frustrated, as they're not compatible. Up until a few days ago at least I hadn't noticed any real help from the "pinks" on eBay's boards, so I wanted to pass along the gist of a reply I received from Powerseller support -- supposedly an updated Turbo Lister that is Vista compatible is on the way in early March (crossing fingers!)

Now back to our regularly scheduled issue, which definitely has some neat stuff inside:

Photo ID Guide: 1916 MJ Moriarty Playing Cards (Updated)
We'll lead off with this updated Photo ID Guide because it is both updated for content as well as updated for necessity -- the gallery didn't import and so I've rebuilt the entire page. I think it's a cleaner look and like the fact that I can now link to the profile pages of the stars from their names under their thumbnails (a frustrating previous limitation).

The new content comes courtesy of Garry from Australia, who has added two new cards to both our checklist and gallery. Both fit into the group of cards where the same image is repeated however these photos are found on newly numbered and suited cards. More simply put, Garry adds another Crane Wilbur (Jack of Hearts) and Richard C. Travers (9 of Spades) to the checklists of completists.

Photo ID Guide: 1940's 8x10 Color Premiums (New)
Here's a new Photo ID Guide, though it's much heavier on photos than on IDs. Not much clue as to who actually issued these, except that they were received in an envelope from Irving Klaw. I'm assuming Klaw had them in bulk from another source and was simply fulfilling an order when he mailed these out.

The basics are 8" x 10" color images on paper stock.

A past customer was kind enough to write to let me know that the Better Grable image is the same one used on her 1943 Dixie Premium and that the Bing Crosby was familiar from another Dixie Premium.

Most Popular Movie Stars in 1935
This is an expanded feature begun in the last issue of my magazine collecting newsletter. It fits better over here anyway.

This info comes from the January 1936 issue of the American Magazine and I felt it warranted a spot on the site as it was very similar to the 1917 Film Star Poll I had previously posted.

View the details over on the site, but the basics are it's a presentation of the 53 most popular movies stars from throughout 1935 as compiled by the article's author, A.H. Blank, who had charge over 75 Mid-Western movie theaters at the time.

Billie Burke by Tammy Stone
Part of The Silent Collection by Tammy Stone

I have to admit that Billie Burke is close to my heart. The Wizard of Oz (1939) in one of my favourite films of all time, for its mastery of colour and structure, its perfectly drawn characters and for the fact that despite having gone through four directors and eleven screenwriters, it comes across as one of the most seamlessly-wrought cinematic pieces in movie history. The film made young Judy Garland a star, but for Billie Burke, who played the Good Witch of the North, it was yet another masterpiece in a long and illustrious career as a feisty entertainer.

Billie was born with the very odd full name of Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1884. Her father Billy – whose name she eventually adopted – was a performer, meaning that young Mary had a life on the road. While still a child, she traveled across America and Europe watching her father entertain global audiences as a singing clown; he was actually quite famous at the time in this capacity. Eventually, after his tenure with the circus was over, he settled his family down in London, England, where Mary was privileged enough to have access to some of the world’s best theatre productions. As you can imagine, it wasn’t long before Mary decided she wanted to entertain like her father. The stage was calling.

Notes
That's about it, hope you're continuing to enjoy the new format. I did receive a couple of nice comments, so thank you again to those of you who did take the time to write.

Now that we're on a paid service, I'd like to find a way to get more subscribers. I added a java pop-uunder to the archive and guidelines page, but that's honestly not a very highly trafficked page. I'm considering adding one to the home page, but I know that bothers people so I'm hesitant to do so. What's pushing me in that direction is the pure effectiveness of the method, as a much newer newsletter that I have on my other site already has subscription numbers approaching this newsletter in about 1/5th the time -- quite honestly, this newsletter is better, so the numbers puzzle me. In the meantime, feel free to forward this along to a friend, perhaps they can make use of the "Join Our List" field up on the left side of the page.

Time is such a valuable commodity, especially when trying to keep so many projects fresh, so I will end with a link to the new store with mention that there may not be very many new items listed there since last issue. I scanned some older stock that I came across last week (1939 Film Fantasy Cards and some Lambert & Butler tobacco cards) that I hope to add this week, but we'll see if time permits.

I'll assume I'll be much better adjusted to the new computer by next issue, which hopefully means we can all count on it being on time...that would be March 15th. Until then, have a great month!

Clifford Aliperti
things-and-other-stuff.com