Newspaper article about my SC Film Exhibit
Posted on January 21st, 2008
This article appeared on the Columbia SC newspaper The State on Sunday, January 20, 2008. Read the rest of this entry »
My New Alamo Essay
Posted on January 12th, 2008
My friend Peter Rollins did me the honor of inviting me to contribute an essay to the new book Why We Fought: America’s Wars in Film and History, edited by Peter and John E. O’Connor. Read the rest of this entry »
Christmas Questionnaire 2007
Posted on January 11th, 2008
Okay, this isn’t, strictly speaking, a Holiday Greeting but I thought it sort of fit in with the rest of my messages of hope and head cheese. I was emailed this Christmas questionnaire and tried to answer as honestly as I could. I think you’ll agree that it reveals some of the inner workings of that Thompson we call Frank. No matter what time of year you read this, I think it will put you in a warm holiday mood.
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My Museum Exhibit
Posted on January 10th, 2008
A little over a year ago, I was in Columbia, South Carolina, visiting with two of my childhood friends, Joel Rice and Allen Roberson. Allen is the director of a very neat Civil War museum, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Museum, which is located in the same complex as the South Carolina State Museum. I told them about the “Texas Movies” exhibit, for which I served as Guest Curator in 2005 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. Before I knew it, we were talking about the possibility of mounting a similar exhibit in South Carolina. Read the rest of this entry »
Holiday Greetings from Claire and Frank (2007)
Posted on December 21st, 2007
Welcome to our seventh bi-annual Holiday Letter which we send out three times a year, but always on the same day, which sometimes varies. The response to our previous missives has been staggering. For example, we never knew there was such a thing as an email restraining order. And a cabal of Nairobi businessmen has sued us for giving spam a bad name. Read the rest of this entry »
At the Alamo - a new DVD
Posted on November 14th, 2007
My pals Rusty and Kathy Kern, of Playset Magazine, have just released a new DVD celebrating the world of Alamo toys and playsets. And if there were nothing but pictures of these great playsets, it would be worth the price of purchase. But there’s a whole lot more. There are interviews with Fess Parker, Virginia Shahan (widow of my friend Happy Shahan, owner of Alamo Village in Brackettville, Texas) and me. There’s also a tour of the John Wayne Alamo set as well as a visit to the real Alamo in San Antonio. Read the rest of this entry »
Jerry Hadley
Posted on July 12th, 2007
My dear friend Jerry Hadley put a bullet into his head yesterday. He had been having a very rough time recently. He confided in me that he was filing for bankruptcy and was taking medication for depression. He also had some pretty severe family problems stemming from a bad divorce. Read the rest of this entry »