'My Old Toppies' Directory' 

Of Selected Actors and Actresses.

The idea of this book came to me after I started collecting classic films for my father. I thought it would be interesting to have a short biography on the leading stars like Clark Gable, John Wayne, Greer Garson to name a few, to jog his memory of these great people and I knew that he would enjoy reading about them.

At that time I was still working on an electric typewriter and did my research via libraries and The National Film, Video and Sound  Archives. Thén I got my 'Schweetheart' and the Internet soon followed. Needless to say I got so involved with this new found resource at my finger tips that the book grew from leading to supporting stars with the end result being, a three part book covering approx 715 pages, 370 pictures and 23 maps.

Book 1 (A to F) - Consists of an introduction to the "Stars" showing how the stars have been immortalized through the years. Subjects covered include streets named after them, a tour to The Mann's Chinese Theatre's Forecourt of Stars' Footprints, a walk down the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Wax Museum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, Official stamps issued from the USA Postal Service and much more. That is followed by the alphabetical biographies of the stars. Each stars profile includes :

1. Photo.

2. Birth name, place and date of birth.

3. Marriages.

4. Children.

5. Date, cause and place of death.

6. Followed by a short biography, describing the stars discovery and road to fame.

7. Trivia.

8. Personal Quotes.

9. If still alive 'Where are they now."

10. A list of the films they appear in, which is part of our collection.

Book 2 (G-N) - Biographies continue.

Book 3 (O-Z) - Biographies continue  followed by a section "This and That" 

Lists containing: 

• AFI Recognizes the 50 Greatest American Screen Legends

• AFI 100 Greatest Films

• Empire Magazine - Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time

• Empire Magazine - Top 100 Sexiest  Stars in Film History

• Playboy's - 100 Sexiest Stars of the Century

Last but not least a tour to the various cemeteries throughout America and Europe showing where and how these stars found their final resting places.

It took me 2 years and 8 months to complete this book. Unfortunately I can't publish it due to copyright but a few printed copies are floating around. I have received the following revue on them from Trevor Moses, who assisted me finding hard to get photo's of the early 30's stars. Trevor works for the The National Film, Video and Sound  Archives.

A couple of Saturdays ago,  I had two extremely rare pleasures. The one was to spend time with a very wonderful, beautiful and 100% kosher human being (there are very few of those left, even if this particular one gets angry with you if you say you want nothing else to eat and drink other than a toasted cheese sandwich and a moerse jug of coffee!!) and the other was to read a wonderful book that this person has created. We share a passion ~ movies,  films and pictures. This book has it all and the sheer labour of love that it is makes one misty eyed for the past. Distant memories (seemingly long forgotten) drift up when one pages through it, and one is reminded that movies (no matter what genre) make the people who create movies (from the actor to the floor sweeper) immortal. This is a work to be treasured and it should be published in some form, copyrights be damned.

My sincere thanks for taking the time from your busy schedule to read them.

It still amazes me when I page through them, the amount of interesting information I collected with a touch on a keyboard. I am very proud of these books and the satisfaction that my father enjoys in reading every word in them, that is what counts, after all, I did it for him and enjoyed every minute of it. It taught me so much about the 'old' magical Hollywood and the people who were so much a part of it.

As a tribute to a few of the "Greats" 

I include the following pages from 'My Old Toppies' book. 

Click to view the following :