March 18, 2009
In meetings most of the day, developing a new category for True West. We flew in an experienced editor from Minneapolis who is an expert on the category and we discussed ways to make it pay (i.e. mo' ads).

Trish and Michelle are on their way to Festival of the West to set up our booth down at Westworld. It runs thru Sunday. I'll be out there all day Saturday.

Yesterday, I got a phone message: "Bob, this is Wallace. Call me." I thought to myself, hmmmmm, there is only one person I know with the first name Wallace and he did a legendary kid show with Ladmo for thirty years. He left a number. I called it, and asked to speak to Wallace. It was him. He wants me to come speak to his group of friends down at the old Bud Brown's Barn on Friday. I'm going.

The May issue goes out the door in about an hour. Kind of quiet in the office. Robert Ray brought in a homemade trifle and I had some of that.

Got this from our movie editor, Henry Beck, yesterday:

By the way, Lee Marvin's estate in Tucson—7000 sq ft house, 12 acres, Joseas Jessler design, is up for sale. She was asking 6mil but has dropped that a bit. Wanna split the difference?

Lee Marvin's estate, check it out.

When I lived in the Old Pueblo, I ran into Lee on South Fourth Avenue in the mid-seventies. He was just an old guy in a white t-shirt, cordial, but kind of shy, or, standoff-ish.

Just the other night I saw him on The Westerns Channel in "Pocket Money" which was filmed in Tucson around that time. I remember not liking the movie at the time. Paul Newman plays an airhead cowboy trying to buy Mexcian cattle for a crooked cattle dealer (Struther Martin). Lee Marvin plays a shifty, blow hard gringo in Mexico and he is just brilliant. It must be age dependant (written for people of a certain age) because I thought it was great this time around.

Ex-employee and current friend, Rob Bandhauer dropped by the office and gave me a present:

Thanks Rob.

"History is not life. But since only life makes history, the union of the two is obvious."
—Louis D. Brandels