"Back in the Seventies, when Happy Days was big, everybody wanted the Fonz, Henry Winkler," says Parker. "But I was really cautious. I only bought a couple of Winkler pieces for really dedicated customers because, like most hot TV stars, their popularity fades relatively fast. And as it turns out, I did the right thing. Today you couldn't give away a Henry Winkler piece." That's why Parker stresses upon his customers the importance of buying what they like, as opposed to buying a piece simply as an investment. "I never push value," he says emphatically. "Let's face it, this stuff is totally useless--but it adds an extra quality to your life. It should be fun."
@rule:
@body:To the true fan, no celebrity-linked item is too mundane, no price too high. "I have one customer, an older man with a lot of money, and he calls up once a year to see if I have any personal items of James Dean," says Parker. "This man doesn't care what it is--an ink pen that he might have touched, a napkin that he used, a shoestring, anything that James Dean might have touched. And each year, it's the same story. I have to tell this man that I don't have any Dean items, he gets very disappointed and he always winds up crying." Parker shrugs. "How you'd ever go about proving that James Dean--or anyone else, for that matter--really used a particular ink pen 40 years ago, I have no idea." Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped any number of unscrupulous dealers from filling such needs with all manner of fakes and forgeries. "I went to an autograph show in California two years ago and there wasn't one authentic Lucille Ball," claims Parker. "There were probably 15 Judy Garlands, and none of them were authentic, either. As soon as something becomes big business, the forgers move in. And there's nothing easier on Earth to forge than an autograph. All you need is a piece of paper and a pencil."
@rule:
@body:Although Parker now obtains autographed items through a national network that includes auction houses, dealers, estate sales, personal stakeouts and other avenues of acquisition he'd rather not discuss, his favorite method appears to be chance meetings decreed by the Fates.
Such was the case when he was wandering through the fresh produce aisle of a Safeway supermarket in Los Angeles in 1978. "There was this old woman in a lime-green spandex pantsuit," Parker recalls. "The only reason I paid any attention to her at all was that she had three colors of blond hair--her own hair, plus two mismatched wiglets. I looked closer and it was Mae West!
"She looked horrible," says Parker, who wasn't about to let the aging sex symbol's appearance interfere with a request for an autograph. "Her eyes were literally going in different directions. She was trying to smile, but she had no muscles in her face so her false teeth were just kind of rolling around in her mouth. She looked a wreck, but she signed that autograph." @rule:
@body:Parker jokes that, ideally, he dreams of the day when he can combine his nursing career with his autograph business.
Referring to the movie-industry rest home located in Woodland Hills, California, Parker laughs. "What I'd really like to do is get a job at the Motion Picture Country Home. That way I could hold all these stars' pain medicine and heart medication for ransom and make them sign for it.
