Hi Mopo-
I turned 67 on Aug 11- wow
My son called and brother...Tommy is healing from bipolar depression and
schizophrenia I guess he's taking medication now but since he's an adult
I'm not allowed to talk to the doctors I told him prayer was the best
answer for stress I understand very well and I discovered why tell me it
was taking some of my items personal belongings was because he was never
prepared for what if his dad dies and I think he just had a complete
meltdown mentally from the stress the answer was for me to forgive him
let him keep the items that he took when I asked God what do I so I got
was what's more important your son or some memorabilia
Many families fight over their parents estate or belongings or financial
property it's a horrible thing and when I thought there was a
possibility I might end up in a nursing home it was stressful for me
also so what did I do? I said Lord God if it is your will where I end up
in a nursing home and everything I own be taken away let it be done as I
believe it's your world not mine the lesson I learned was it's not about
time martins well it's about Jesus Christ well it's a hard concept when
you wonder who's in control me the doctors a social service group my son
the courts who is in control?
When I was younger in my 20s and started this business it was about
accumulating making as much money as possible and buying stuff like cars
houses and other property I never planned on long-term what happens when
I'm 67 years old and I'm in pour house and have my foot amputated Indian
partially blind what do I do then?
I found in my own personal researchers we never plan on our demise we
try to plan on accumulating even more because we are addicted to saving
stuff example is old men keep boxes of nuts and bolts in baby food jars
that they never will use because when they're young they say I need one
of these someday so they squirrel in the way thinking that they will use
it again problem is after they start losing your memory they forget they
have
in the garage or basement is full of boxes of small parts that will
never get used then the family airs have to have garage sales to sell
all of grandpa's or dad's stuff after he croaks fact how I found a lot
of my memorabilia is attending estate sales and garage sales
We find stuff like limited-edition books that were stashed away by
grandpa and grandma years ago that the families have no clue what it's
worth in the estate sale vendors just want to get rid of it as fast as
possible within days so I have watched entire lifetimes of collectibles
be liquidated in a few days then people put it on eBay if they discover
a trophy or collectible
As you all know dealers basically process with their knowledge and get
it to the market and then if you're lucky it might end up on a very high
cost auction house like Heritage or Bruce and Garner big results but
first it starts at the garage sale or estate sale then it goes to a
specialist dealer regionally who then passes it on to another dealer
that's larger than eventual goes to auction to all the wealthy bidders
Funny thought I need to go while I was sleeping I had a dream that I had
an order that needed to be filled for my copper boards and in my mind I
was thinking it through what I needed to do as far as processing the
parts which is almost laughable since I don't even have a foot right now
but I was logistically planning it out in my sleep when I woke up I
thought wow I'm so glad I don't have an order because I'm proud of
myself I'm always delivering the goods that's one of the frustrating
things about being ill is when you cannot do what you used to do that
even happens to major sports figures like Simone the acrobat runner
sometimes people need time to recharge and reestablish their mind and
thoughts or even resuscitate their business even corporations do that
all the time that's why many of the fortune 500 companies or big bucks
big commerce companies I've had to do the same
When I look at companies I found in my company partially on Sears
roebuck and I watch the company we run into the ground by a hedge fund
investor who just started bottom-line profit margin instead of taking
care of the customers and taking care of his employees I'm a firm
believer that the employees help build the company but if you don't have
a major compassion for your customers you might as well throw in the
towel because what builds a business is the treatment of the customers
in times when it looks like you're losing money but you're actually
investing in your business because businesses based om Goodwill
I would tell my employees I'll never be angry with you for taking too
good of care of a customer pretend that each package is a Christmas gift
and packet as well as you can offer some free lagniappe show gratitude
and give a little extra even if it's just for a $10 order or a five
dollar order because in the customers mind that could be a actual gift
for a graduation or a Christmas gift birthday present or something else
and it's very important to them
One of my employees now works for I believe Spielberg or Kate Capshaw in
in Los Angeles and he sent my son Tommy a present once in the mail and I
could tell it was a former employee packet because I had a specific way
we peptides we would put tape over the mailing label we would package it
very securely and I thought whoever sent this package just like I would
end it arrived in great shape it was a toy for my son employee used to
babysit Tommy when he was like two or three
So several times this week customer service people have told me they
needed to hear my message to them because they were having troubles and
stress in their own personal life and I said well you know it's not a
coincidence God put you on my past today for his purpose to help you and
I agree and I mean I've talk to customer service people all over the
world when was in the Philippines when was in El Salvador you name it
somewhere in the US
I had talked to my lender of my house insurance people all kinds of
people and I always tell them some of the stories I learned from my
mentors like Mel Blanc
Because many people just need encouragement and to know they're not
alone with the trials they are suffering from in health or money or
business choices or even marital problems which I am totally
understanding of since I have suffered everything you can imagine and so
I find myself educating customer service people how does a blind guy see
a computer for instance and I mentioned to them that I have
accessibility built in
Center of Toledo gave me a yellow keyboard there is a PC keyboard but
when I move my mouse it zooms out in it makes me able to see small print
up to 4 inches tall by just scrolling out when I'm writing these emails
I use the Dictation program and I just speak into my computer and it
types out the words I still don't have a great education on grammar or
punctuation but I'm learning at 67 years old
You have to consider I was expelled from high school at age 15 for
drawing a picture of Led Zeppelin in art class the principal said I was
only the second person who expelled the other guy was in Flint Michigan
named Mark Farner from a band called Grand Funk railroad
Who is 15 years old and so I started playing in bands and nightclubs
when I was 15 first doing country western
then by the age of 17 I joined a famous band from the 50s call Johnny
and the hurricanes I know Greg would know who I'm talking about they
were very big in 1959
Networked with some of the biggest agencies like William Morris and Marv
Tobolsky from Regency artist in Los Angeles and I did split commissions
on bigger gigs for some conventions and I learned quickly I was actually
offered a job by a very big model agency handling their print and
commercial TV commercials in Chicago but I was so overwhelmed at 20
years old I didn't think I could handle a $900 a monthI was just so
clueless that I could be making 100,000 a year in Chicago to start in
commissions just booking talent for TV commercials these guys were huge
and they took me out to the Playboy club in Chicago for dinner and they
really believed in me it was a husband and wife team and I turned it
down in exchange for a local recording studio and said they would record
album of my songs for free if I stayed in ToledoI was just so clueless
that I could be making 100,000 a year in Chicago to start in commissions
just booking talent for TV commercials these guys were huge and they
took me out to the Playboy club in Chicago for dinner and they really
believed in me it was a husband and wife team and I turned it down in
exchange for a local recording studio and said they would record the
album of my songs for free if I stayed in Toledo choices right??
So I went to Hollywood at the invitation of Mel Blanc try to not work
with me with some of the recording companies because he was with capital
records one of the largest labels in the world and I met bol Donaldson
in the Heywoods they were from Ohio and the mother worked for playboy
records and promoted the group
I got to meet Herb Cohen who is Frank Zappa's manager and Fabians
manager in many industry people including snuff Garrett listen to my
record who was shares
I was excepted to do the songwriter showcase by BMI at the improv on
Melrose but I chickened out and came back to Toledo because I wanted to
band to back me instead of playing solo on a piano I'm a horrible
pianist
So once back in Toledo I started selling mail order movie memorabilia in
film collectors world which later turned in the movie collectors world
and I advertised in Gold mine toy shop, buyers guide all the all the
collectors magazines I have an advertised in Rolling Stone magazine one
year was like 3000 bucks for 1 AM
So I did a lot of advertising trying to build up the brand name of my
company
The best part was I love friendship with people in the industry and I
loved hearing stories of the authors of books like herb bridges with one
of my customers and other people when we develop friendships long-term
it goes beyond just business we learn about their background their
family how they got in the business can you find that we all share a
deep passion for motion pictures or music or television or all the above
can you find out the people that were in the business that we respect
also have stories of how they got in the business and it's usually about
friendship and helping each other and giving
So I just mention today to a museum Director intern Evelyn how I did two
different jobs for Robert De Niro because today was his birthday and I
did Bronx tale I did 15,000 of my movie real clocks for Warner Brothers
and I did guilty by suspicion a clapper clock and I really like the work
of Robert and also of Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese was also a film
collector of 16 mm film and I found many of these directors also have
from collections going back to Buster Keaton and all kinds of people
Matter fact Mr. Rogers mention that Michael Keaton the actor is actually
named Mike Douglas when he changed his name because they're already was
the TV host Mike Douglas show Magine that Michael Keaton worked on the
Mr. Rogers show in Pittsburgh how ironic
People are such a wealth of information in their lives are just like
encyclopedias and then never know how deep they go I know Sue Heim
worked with Whoopi Goldberg and John Kish Took all the pictures for the
toy packaging of Pee-wee Herman and you all the people on the show such
a small world and John is one of the people that helped me through the
years when I couldn't afford it he would do trade outs for ads in the
poster price almanac he actually called me on my birthday the other day
and he's been retired from box office for many years but it's our
friendship and goes back close to 40 or 50 years that's why Jerry
Weintraub in his book you'll know I'm dead when I stop talking is
similar to mine because he said after he lost everything movie studios
he was at the top of the game he had promoted some of the biggest
all-time movies like karate kid in the oceans movies and worked with a
Who's Who and he promoted the Elvis concerts Frank Sinatra concerts Led
Zeppelin and John Denver and yet at the end of his life in the end of
the book he said the greatest lesson he learned was that it's about God
family and friends that's the same lesson that I've learned and 67 years
old all the other stuff is in material as far as our bank acc
Are collections and our portfolio of assets the greatest thing that we
have is our family and friends and kids
My friend Bob Vale I'm box office magazine the movie theater in motion
picture trade magazine would help me make products in exchange for ads
in their magazine
GOD BLESS..I THINK WHENWE GET OLDER WE REPLAY MEMORIES IN OUR HEAD AND
DREAMS\
AND MOPO AND ITS MEMBERS HAVE BEEN PART OF MY DREAMS THANK YOU ALL
KINDEST REGARDS, TOM
HOLLYWOOD DREAM FACTORY®
SINCE 1977
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