A Lady who knew Edna...

This morning in my 2007 post, I mentioned about finding new information about Edna. Well, I just had a wonderful post from a lady whose Grandmother knew Edna during Edna's days in San Francisco. Here is part of her post:

"I just wanted to let you know that my grandmother was very good friends with Edna Purviance when she lived in San Francisco. They were in business school together there, and she remembers Charlie offering Edna a job. My grandmother also volunteered her housecoat as one of the props that was needed for one of his early films. My grandmother died in 1988, but she always told us the story of Edna and Charlie..."

Thank you Marilyn for sharing your special story... Linda

2007 - A Look Ahead...

Happy 2007 to everyone! One never knows what a new year has in store, but we hope this year will be a successful one for all!

When 2006 started, we had no idea we would be in Hollywood Labor Day Weekend showing the first documentary on Edna. I knew we had a great interview with Lita Hill, but I didn't even have my computer fully working to edit any of the video on January 1, 2006.

Who knows what this year will bring, but we do know we have a lot of work in the office to do this year!

As for the Lita Hill video, it is planned to be released after the our Edna Purviance biography is done, which will be sometime in 2008.























This year, we have Edna's first book The Sea Gull in the works. We nearly have all our test copies back and will start the re-write shortly. I don't have a date yet, but decided to start a contest for fans to be the first to know the release date. Later, these same fans will get updates and special information about Edna.

Besides The Sea Gull, we will be working on the biography about Edna and her family. At this point, it will take most of this year to prepare it. I have about 2/3 of the draft written, but it will go through many re-writes before it is finished. Lita Hill is also working on it, to help cover the later years of Edna's life. All this material has to be combined into one book. As I mentioned before, Edna's life has never been fully researched. Many things not fully researched have been written in books, then duplicated in other books. It takes much time to research all this material and to find new original material. I originally planned for The Sea Gull to be second, but The Sea Gull will be a special book for Edna and Chaplin fans to enjoy first. More on The Sea Gull, as we get closer to release.

On January 17th, 2007, I plan to make a special announcement at ednapurviance.org and Edna's Place. You will just have to come back for that one.

Dominique has informed me 'Santa' was very giving this Christmas with new Chaplin books. You will be seeing his new additions in the coming weeks, but first I have some special news coming about the library. The Chaplin Library will be seeing major changes this year, due to some very special work from one of our special Edna fans. As the English would say, I was gobsmacked upon the news! I am thrilled about the changes and I know fans should really like it too. I will fill you in with a special post in the coming weeks!

We will also be keeping an eye on the Kevin Brownlow and David Gill Hollywood Series. It was to be released on DVD in 2006, but held up due to copyright issues.

We like to thank all the people who have been entering their names to the Hollywood Walk of Fame Petition. We are continuing to help the Facebook group with gathering signatures for the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The comments alone tell me what a loyal fan base Edna has. It is a long process, but great to see the interest. The deadline for signatures for this year is May 31, 2007. Check this link for more details.

I will be continuing to follow the developments at Grand View (where Edna is interred). This year includes the court cases. We thank Lisa Burks for her continued coverage on GV. I have been in contact with a few people on this matter and will be looking into it more this year.

One never knows for sure what the year will bring. Some are better than others, but I do know a lot of work will be involved as we work on two books about Edna Purviance. So I will be seeing lots of the office this year as work on the book kicks into high gear. Always nice to hear from fans, so do drop a note by once and while. I have one idea for an special event, but nothing in the works. But the first thing is to get The Sea Gull done and prepare for the final writing of the biography.

We thank you for visiting and for making 2006 another record breaking year. In fact, smashing last year's record. We thank all our visitors from around the world for your support and return visits!

Last Christmas I said Merry Christmas to the many different visitors in their language. This year, here is a list of some of the countries Edna and Charlie fans that have visited from in 2006: Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Spain, Poland, Japan, China, Australia, South Africa, The Republic of Congo, Italy, France, Germany, Paraguay, Vietnam, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Czech Republic, Peru, New Zealand, Netherlands, Thailand, Switzerland, Georgia, Ireland, Scotland, Korea, Denmark, Turkey, Kuwait, Lithuania, Wales, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Pakistan, India, Philippines, Israel, England and the United States.

We hope you enjoy your visit at Edna's and look forward to your return!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Follow up: I do watch American Football (well, I never liked it growing up, but my husband got me hooked many years ago) and we follow the Denver Broncos. Sunday the team lost their chance to be in the playoffs. Actually, they were not playing well enough this year to be in it, so just as well to 'call it a day' Sunday. We thought that was it until next year.

Monday morning the alarm goes off and the first words off the NPR station was the tragic drive-by shooting of Denver's starting CB, Darrent Williams, who was killed in his limo. He was actually a bright spot on the team, with some of the best plays for the year. No one has been arrested for the shooting as this writing. He was a kid who made it out of the 'other side of the tracks' as the saying goes.

While the day started off on a tragic note, the day ended with the best college football game I personally ever seen. Boise State Broncos (who wear the same colors and name as Denver) won against Oklahoma in overtime. The team best known for their blue turf and being from the potato state, played a whale of a game and smashed their way through to a perfect season. Nice to see the old home state do well! Go Broncos!

(Boise, Idaho is the most likely place where Edna's parents first met.)

Lisa Burks - Edna Purviance Grandview article

Los Angeles writer, Lisa Burks, who has been writing about Grand View Memorial this pass year, just posted her story about Edna Purviance at Grand View.

It is true that we like to move Edna out of Grand View. It would be most fitting if we can return Edna back to the place she originally wanted to be, Forest Lawn. I have received some information on this and will be looking into this matter.

We like to thank you (our readers) for you continued interest. Lisa will be continuing to write about Grand View in the coming year. Lisa's blog link is under Edna's Place links. We like to extend our special thanks to Lisa for all her work. Edna's Place will continue to update on Grand View in 2007.

What president did Chaplin picture in his films?

We hope your New Year holiday weekend starts off well! When I first started Edna's Place I use to place a question of the day. So to stay on the president theme I started in the last posting:

'Do you remember what US President was pictured in the background in a few of Chaplin's films?'

As before you can post in the comments or email.
Happy New Year Everyone!

The Day I met former President Gerald Ford

Photo by Linda (Wada) February 1977 - Bob Hope Classic
It seems not to fail that well-known people pass during the holiday season. Singer James Brown joins Charlie Chaplin for passing away on Christmas Day.

This evening, I read the BBC news and saw that former president Gerald Ford passed away at the age of 93. I remember meeting Gerald Ford just after he left office in 1977.

My father took us to see the Bob Hope Golf Classic in Palm Springs, California in February 1977. Oddly enough, I spent part of this Christmas cleaning a storage area that had items from Christmases past, and one of the items was the program from that Hope Classic. It has a few autographs tucked away inside I gathered that day on the course.

During that February day we got to walk with the 'stars of the day' like Bob Hope, Sammy Davis Jr, Andy Williams, golf-pro Arnold Palmer, Flip Wilson, Lawrence Welk, and many more.

At one point, I walked up to a fairly tall man standing next to the ropes wearing a blue shirt and white pants. I didn't know who he was at first, but as he turned his head I could see it was Mr. Ford. Well, it is not everyday you can stand by a former president of the United States and not have anyone else around. So without really thinking about it, I tapped Mr. Ford on the shoulder. He turned around.

Mr. Ford was very nice and as we exchanged names, he shook my hand. We talked for a little bit when he was called away to take his next shot in the game. Later, I took the photo seen here on top with Mr. Ford in the crowd. I didn't vote for Mr. Ford in November 1976 (my first election), but again, it is not everyday you meet a president. In later years, both former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter became good friends.

Gerald Ford was the longest living president at age 93. He became president after Mr. Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal. Mr. Ford is not the only president I have seen in person. I got to photograph Ronald Reagan for a photo shoot at a college I was working for in the mid-80s.

Happy New Year!

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

Looking forward to 2007 with news to bring and our first book.

More to come...

THE SEA GULL - WIN A COPY - featuring Edna Purviance & Charlie Chaplin

Have a chance to WIN a copy of the upcoming book "The Sea Gull" (A Woman of the Sea). Sign up for our FIRST TO KNOW the release date list. We will place your name in a special drawing to win a copy of this first ever book about Edna Purviance and the lost Charlie Chaplin production, 'A Woman of the Sea', directed by Josef von Sternberg.
Open to Edna Purviance and Charlie Chaplin fans WORLDWIDE! See this LINK for full details!

You should receive an email back within 24 hours after we get your entry.

Hommage A Charlot - French Tribute to Charlie Chaplin

Dominique Dugros just sent this very fun link showing a French dancer impersonating Charlie Chaplin. And very well, I must say! So for our French readers, the following:

Hommage A Charlot - Charlie Chaplin sur roller
"Charlot sur des patins ? Bien sûr ! Je n'ai rien inventé... Chaplin, très bon patineur, réalisa en 1916. "Charlot patine", puis fit récidiver son personnage dans "Les temps modernes" (1936), dans cette inoubliable scène de gardien de nuit au grand magasin... La prestation est une évocation du personnage, de ses comportements et de ses émotions avec, à l'appui, quelques clins d'oeil à des scènes mythiques de Charlot."

To see the video available through YouTube, just click on this link HOMMAGE A CHARLOT. Than click on the YouTube video image on the bottom of the page. I found it best to let the video fully load and than watch it again. Video is about three minutes.

Special thanks to Dominique...
Also here is the FRENCH LINK to the Edna video shared earlier:
CHARLOT CHEZ SPIELBERG

New Brief Glimpse - Happy New Year!

Update December 31, 2006: I hope you enjoyed our special holiday message at Brief Glimpse. I placed a brand new special Brief Glimpse to start the new year!

Some Water Back to the Owens Valley

"There it is... it's yours!" were the words said this week in the Owens Valley as gates were open to send water down the Owens River once more.

In our Hollywood Cinecon Report I touched upon the water issues in Los Angeles County and how The Owens Valley had their water taken for LA County use in 1913. Yesterday, a bit of that water has been 'returned' to the Owens Valley after decades of legal battles.

It's not going to return the Owens Valley back to pre-1913 era, when the water was 'aqueduct' away to LA, but will bring life back to a river long dried up. The residents can watch a rebirth of a river.

You can listen to the story at National Public Radio. Having been to the Owens Valley and Lone Pine area a few times, it was very welcome news to wake up too.

Slapstick 2007 - January 11-14 Bristrol, UK

January 11-14, 2007 - Bristol, UK - It is time to mark your calendar for Slapstick 2007 in Bristol! This year's event features guest Paul Merton (known for his successful BBC TV series 'Paul Merton's Silent Clowns'). He will be presenting Buster Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.'

Our Gang star, Jean Darling, will be a special guest for the program 'A Date with Jean Darling', talking about her years in films. Other featured films included Harold Lloyd's 'Get out and Get under" and Laurel and Hardy 'That's My Wife'.

Tickets are available through Slapstick 2007 website. So head to Bristol for a weekend full of fun and laughter!

Grand View - Gag Order Withdrawn

December 4, 2006 - Glendale News report that "Attorneys for Grand View Memorial Park withdraw a motion to restrict speech of opposing lawyers". If this was in place, attorneys would have been kept from speaking publicly about the case.

In other GV news, the LA County Corner's said they will 'announce' the cause of Marsha Howard's death in about seven weeks.

I recently have been in contact with LA writer Lisa Burks. Lisa has taken a personal interest in the happenings at Grand View, since she lives near GV. Her in-depth stories have appeared in LA Daily News and on her blog at valleynews.com.

Lisa has some photos at Grand View. One shows the Edna picture and rose fan Mark McKenzie left for Edna. There are many other GV photos as well.

In the meantime checkout Edna's special page for links and for a time line of the happenings at Grand View. See Lisa's link in Edna's Place Links for reports. Also check back for more updates.

Special Announcement about Edna January 17th, 2007

On January 17th, I will be making a special announcement of a major find about Edna Purviance. That is all I have to say, until the 17th of January.

UPDATE: January 17th LINK

Meridian Radio FM

November 24, 2007 - Meridian FM - BACK ON AIR LIVE until December 22 - For our England visitors, just letting you know Meridian FM is back on the air live 24 hours each day until December 22, 2007. Check MERIDIAN website for the latest news and programing.

Meridian FM - BACK ON AIR APRIL 22nd, 2007 - For our England visitors, just letting you know Meridian FM will be back on the air Sunday April 22nd. Check MERIDIAN website for the latest news and future programing.