Collecting Autographs

Celebrity spotting is like the IRS – get an autograph as a receipt or no one will believe you.

Although fame seems terrific from the outside, most of us would probably choose to hold on to our privacy and anonymity rather than face screaming fans and a wall of paparazzi. I myself would be content to rub elbows with the famous and still be able to buy kids’ cereal at the supermarket without hassle.

For many, owning something once held by a famous person bring them closer to that person, and collecting autographs from celebrities and historical personages continues to be quite popular.

I haven’t come across very many celebrities in my time, and the few times I have, I wasn’t able to think much past gaping. So I don’t have the autographs to document it. However, as a kid I happily brought my autograph book to amusement parks such as Disneyland, and waited for costumed mascots of my favorite cartoon characters to scrawl their names in my autograph book. Chip and Dale? Got ‘em. Daisy Duck? You betcha. What it must have been like for a college kid sweating in the summer sun to write DOPEY over and over again, I don’t know. But I’ve got that signature to prove that I’ve met some of the greats.

Today rather than stand in line waiting for a guy in a suit, I prefer to collect drawings of my favorite cartoon characters. And if those drawings also happen to have the signature of the artist who created them? I can’t help feeling a little bit famous myself.