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Your narrator, the Leader
The Leader attended the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Con at the Hunt Valley Wyndham hotel in Maryland on 17 and 18 September 2015. This is his favorite show of the year because he can see lots of popular culture artifacts which interests him and he can do so without the noisy crowds and congestion that go with larger shows. The Leader was pleased to see his old friends and associates Chuck Rogers, Rick Payne, Art Harvey, Robert Lentz, Brendan Faulkner, James Turiello and of course his favorite comic book dealer, the legendary Gene Carpenter. The Leader also notes with a note of melancholy the absence from this show of his long time friend Charles F. Miller, Chuck to his friends. Chuck was a veteran science fiction expert, rare book dealer and former co-owner of the Underwood-Miller publishing company. Chuck has passed from this mortal plane and gone on to that big bookstore in the sky.

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Main Dealers’ Room On 2nd Floor

Dealers’ Room
The main dealers’ room is on the second floor of the hotel. Lots more dealers like Art Harvey, Ron Adams and Rick Payne, the movie room and seminar room on the first floor.
Dealers’ Room
Closer view of the main dealers’ room.
Dealers’ Room
Another view of the main dealers’ room.
Tony Albert
I see Tony Albert every year at this show and he always has something new and interesting. Here’s Tony with a rare 1959 New York Mirror Magazine with Mamie Van Doren cover, $35. The framed item is an ultra rare, probably unique 1930s baby towel featuring the Disney cartoon characters Horace Horsecollar and Mickey Mouse, $150. That seems a reasonable price for something nobody else on planet Earth has.
Tony Albert
Tony Albert Tony with a nice Disney Jungle Book framed movie display.
Tony Albert
A closer look at Tony’s table of cool pop culture collectibles including a Six Million Dollar Man framed poster at far left.
Brendan Faulkner
Brendan Faulkner of R&B Enterprises always has some of the most esoteric items at this show. The Maila il Vampiro is an Italian “fumetti” magazine from 1964 which presents the movie with still photos from the movie with captions and dialog balloons printed onto them. The bald guy on the cover is actor George Zucco from the 1943 movie Dead Men Walk that this fumetti magazine was derived from. The obligatory babe isn’t in the movie or the magazine according to Brendan. The Destination Moon Fawcett Movie Comic is from 1950 and based on the famous George Pal produced movie.
Brendan Faulkner
The table in front of Brendan has stacks of rare motion picture press books. They are large magazine style publications with illustrated or photo ads and articles to promote their respective movies. They were published by the motion picture studios and mailed mostly only to movie theater owners to help the owner advertise the movie in his local town newspaper. Press books are hard to find and sought after by collectors
Chuck Rogers
I see Chuck Rogers of Noonan, Georgia every year at this show and also at the Williamsburg Film Festival in Virginia in March. Here’s Chuck with a pop-up display book of scenes from famous movies. This particular scene is the climax to the Gary Cooper western High Noon.
Collector’s Corner
Here’s Matt of the comic book store Collector’s Corner in Baltimore, Maryland with an impressive of large posters of Silver Age Marvel comic books.
Keith Hurd
Veteran autograph dealer Keith Hurd of Hurd’s Outpost in Cortland, Ohio is another dealer I always see at this show and the Williamsburg Film Festival. Here’s Keith presiding over his four table displays of albums and plastic tubs of thousands of collectible autographs.
Stephen St. John
I had never seen Stephen of Silver Spring, Maryland at the show before but he had some interesting movie memorabilia that caught my eye, like this life size cardboard display of John Wayne.
Stephen St. John
I really liked these prints of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff signed by Famous Monsters Of Filmland cover artist Basil Gogos. I had a few Famous Monsters magazines when I was a kid and still have a sentimental soft spot for them.
Stephen St. John
Steve with a nice Ten Commandments movie poster and partially visible at upper left another poster for The Magnificent Seven, both movie starring Yul Brynner. The sexy Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira Mistress of the Dark cardboard display behind Stephen turned a few heads at the show. Stephen was a photographer for National Geographic magazine and I enjoyed talking shop with him about my tricky Canon 90mm tilt/shift lens I was using at this show for the first time.
Robb Versandi
Robb Versandi of Toys Around The Clock always has some of the best popular culture toys at this show.
Robb Versandi
A closer look at Robb’s toys.
Robb Versandi
Robb with a rare Spider-Man game showing three of Spidey’s villains: the Lizard, the Rhino, the Green Goblin.
Gene Carpenter
Here’s the Leader’s favorite comic book dealer Gene Carpenter of All American Comics chatting with some potential customers. Gene always sets up at this show and has the best Silver Age and Golden Age comic books. Because this show is not a comic book show Gene brings lots of collectible stuff besides comics.
Gene Carpenter
The Outer Limits is a 1960s fanzine based on the popular TV show. The Jap Beast is a rare propaganda magazine from about 1942. There can’t many copies of that around, but leave it to Gene to have one.