Scott Radley: A Stoney Creek man’s hobby of collecting autographs from the famous and accidentally famous has led to an incredible — and incredibly unique — historical record
Like so many millions of Beatles fans, Mike Tabone was crushed when John Lennon was gunned down. The hero of his youth was gone. One of the voices of his generation was silenced.
Years later while watching a documentary on the slaying, the Stoney Creek man decided he was still bothered by what happened that day in 1980. So, he decided to write to the assassin in prison to tell him how much his actions had hurt him.
He nearly fell off his chair not long after when he saw what came back.
I got an apology from Mark David Chapman," Tabone says.
Not a form letter. A personal note from the killer himself.
First, let me start with an apology for my crime, and the way it deeply affected you," Chapman wrote to him in January 2020. I am sorry. I certainly did not wish in reality to cause you heartache, which is what you must have felt ... This was an extremely selfish and evil act, causing GREAT pain for many, many people."
If that was the only letter from a famous - or infamous - person Tabone had ever received it would still be a magnificent conversation starter. But then you crack open one of his albums and find a note from real-life hero Jim Lovell who was commander of the Apollo 13 mission that didn't make it into the moon but became a hit movie years later.
Turn the page again and there's a note from Russell Gackenbach, a navigator who was part of the missions that dropped atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Another flip and there's a letter from the last surviving witness of the Hindenburg Disaster. Then a thumb print from the animator of Fred Flintstone.
It's just the start.
If Tabone doesn't have the most-incredible collection of first-hand history in this area, we can't imagine who's beating him. Billy Joel could have saved himself some time when writing the lyrics to We Didn't Start The Fire" if he'd simply swung by the retired steel-company manager's place for reference points.
Sure, there are famous signatures. Everyone from Bob Hope to Walter Cronkite to original Beatles drummer Pete Best to the man who played Big Bird (Carroll Spinney) to George from Seinfeld" (Jason Alexander) to Batman (Adam West) to Beatles producer George Martin to endless huge-name singers and musicians.
Grace Slick sketched out a rabbit," the 63-year-old says. Isn't that odd?"
There are actors including Dick Van Dyke, Carl and Rob Reiner. There are the voices of Sleeping Beauty (Mary Costa), Belle (Paige O'Hara), Pluto and Goofy (Bill Farmer), Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan's Wendy (Kathryn Beaumont) and others.
There are athletes like Rocket Richard, Arnold Palmer and O.J. Simpson. The latter having signed before the murders.
His picture hung in (my son's) room for many years until my wife said, That has to come down now,'" Tabone chuckles.
But the truly fascinating letters and autographs come from those who didn't seek fame but saw it land in their lap. The Forrest Gumps of the world.
The detective in the white Stetson escorting Lee Harvey Oswald when he was shot by Jack Ruby - and the man who took that stunning photo - both wrote to him. As did several secret service agents who were in Dallas the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, two doctors who'd been in the trauma room at Parkland Hospital and four pallbearers from the presidential funeral.
Tabone even received correspondence from JFK's special assistant who he found by writing to the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. Which was a challenge since he had no address. So he made out the envelope to:
Texas School Book Depository
Somewhere on Elm Street. Dallas. Texas
Mailman, help me out here a bit.
I don't target just people who are famous," he says. I target people whose lives intersected with a moment in history."
The project started in the early 1990s when he decided he would see if he could get some famous people to write a note to his then-infant son, Chris, as something of a unique historic record. People he'd seen on the cover of The Spectator while delivering 122 papers a day as a boy.
Space pioneer John Glenn was the subject of his first request. When Tabone received a lovely note on Sen. John Glenn letterhead, he decided he was on to something.
That winter, I wrote 157 letters by hand," he says.
It wasn't easy. There was no Google then. He'd head to the downtown library when he could get there and search for addresses in the book Who's Who In The World." Each request would include a photo and a self-addressed return envelope to make it as easy as possible. And an explanation what this was all about.
About a third came back with a signature or a full letter. Many blew his mind. No way was he going to hear back from them, he figured. But he did.
Like letters from the sailor who kissed the woman in Times Square at the end of the war that became a Life Magazine cover, the woman on her knees screaming in the everybody-knows-it photo of the Kent State Incident, a sailor who'd been on the USS Arizona during the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a secret service agent shot during the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan and Woodstock producer Michael Lang.
The notes just kept coming. He broadened his goal from just building a record for his son to doing it for his grandchildren, too. And they kept arriving. Still do.
It makes going to the mailbox interesting."
There's Gloria Steinem, Bishop Desmond Tutu, one of the Band of Brothers, Mohamed Al-Fayed, the creator of Bugs Bunny, three U.S. presidents (Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush, who Tabone spilled wine on while trying to get a signature), two first ladies (Rosalind Carter and Lady Bird Johnson), prisoners of war, the last marine to board the last helicopter out of Saigon, and astronaut Sally Ride.
There's even Manson Family killer Tex Watson and the Son of Sam, David Berkowitz.
It's endless," Tabone says.
But, for a kid who grew up a devotee of the space race, nothing tops the autographs of seven of the 12 men who have walked on the moon. Including a cancelled cheque from James Irwin (Apollo 15) which was sent because he'd died by the time Tabone reached out and that's the only signature his wife had to offer.
The stories behind so many pieces in his collection are incredible. Among them ...
Dr. Robert McClelland
On Nov. 22, 1963, Dr. Robert McClelland was in a training seminar at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas when John F. Kennedy was rushed in having been shot.
Standing at the top of the bed with a direct view of the president's head, McClelland performed a tracheotomy on JFK and then massaged his heart when his chest was opened as everyone frantically tried to keep him alive.
When Tabone reached out, the doctor responded with a most-unique offering: His signature on a full-page, rather graphic medical sketch.
My drawing of President Kennedy's head wound," he wrote.
Plus a second signature on a photo of himself holding the shirt he was wearing that day that's stained with JFK's blood.
Clint Hill
Speaking of the Kennedy assassination, Clint Hill was the Secret Service agent who climbed on the back of the president's limousine as Jackie Kennedy started climbing out.
He was one of a number of agents Tabone tracked down and who responded.
I look back at my almost 85 years of life and look back at all that has happened with hopes we learn from the past to better life for everyone," Hill wrote. President Kennedy did just that - learned from the past to improve things in the future. He was a great man."
Jerry Maren
Four weeks after Tabone wrote to the last living munchkin from The Wizard of Oz," he got a note back letting him know an autograph cost $10.
That was no problem. What struck him as funny though, was that Jerry Maren hadn't replied with the self-addressed envelope that had been included but bought his own stamp.
This guy just spent $2 of the $10 on postage," Tabone laughs.
Feeling generous, he sent $20. And he got his signed photo.
Bill Wyman
When one request to get an autograph from the former Rolling Stone got no response, Tabone sent another. Then another. Then another and another and another and another and another.
Finally, he sent one final note saying he'd tried seven times with no luck. Five weeks later an envelope arrived with no return address and no signature. Inside, a plain white card read, How many times? You're a cheat! Not a fan."
At first, he had no idea what this was about or who it was from. Then he started to wonder if it might be Wyman. Comparing the writing to examples of the bass player's writing online, he decided it was him. So he wrote back.
Only this time he wasn't happy. He uncharacteristically ripped into the rocker letting him know he was a huge fan, Wyman knew nothing about him and his response was rude.
A few weeks later he received another envelope. When he opened it, there was a photo of the ex-Stone. With an autograph.
Love Bill Wyman," it said.
Tex Watson
There have been more than 20 films, at least 15 books and innumerable references in music made about the Manson Family murders. More than half a century later, the group's wanton killing spree still horrifies, fascinates and serves as pop-culture fodder.
So staring at a handwritten jailhouse letter from family member Tex Watson that casually begins, Dear Mike ..." is more than a little surreal.
His hand killed everybody in that case," Tabone says. That same hand wrote that letter."
Russell Gackenbach
While it was incredible to get a signed photo from a navigator on the plane that accompanied the Enola Gay to its target as it dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and then flew in the Enola Gay to do weather surveillance before the bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days later, the real treasure from Russell Gackenbach might be the second photo that came in the package.
Gackenbach had smuggled a camera into the plane and took a haunting shot of the mushroom cloud as it formed over Hiroshima. The original later sold for $50,000. The autographed print is a treasure.
It is my hope that no person, nation or terrorist will ever set off a nuclear bomb," he wrote.
Carroll Spinney
The note that arrived from the man who played Big Bird for 49 years on Sesame Street" didn't just include a few words and a signature.
Carroll Spinney had drawn and coloured a beautiful picture of the character he'd made famous.
Juan Valdez
Not the coffee guy, the last marine to climb aboard the last helicopter leaving Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.
Never sought out to be a piece of history," he wrote. It was just one of those random acts of fate."
Mary Ann Vecchio
Mary Ann Vecchio was 14 when she was captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph looking anguished as she knelt beside Jeffrey Miller who'd been shot by the Ohio National Guard during protests at Kent State University in 1970. The moment that spawned the Crosby Stills Nash and Young song, Ohio." She signed a copy of that photo with the words No good comes out of war!"
But there was a surprise.
Tabone is always meticulous about opening the envelopes cleanly since he keeps them as well. As he opened this one, he noticed something under the flap. Intrigued, he steamed it open to protect whatever was there.
Thank you for being human!" she'd written in a place he might never have found.
Lou Gramm
The lead singer of Foreigner offered some unusual advice in his note.
If you're going to keep singing Cold As Ice' or 1st Time,' I want no hard liquor, no smoking, no drugs, minimal swearing, and absolutely all the pasta you can eat!!"
Marge Thielke
Back in 2009, a newspaper in New Jersey reported that the last surviving witness to the Hindenburg disaster had died. Marge Thielke wasn't happy to read that.
I called the paper to say my brother and I were still alive," she wrote. My brother was 14 and I was 11."
Tabone heard her story and got in touch. In 2017, while in her 90s, she penned a long letter in beautiful handwriting explaining that her brother had now died.
So now I am the last known survivor that witnessed the crash."
Roger Chaffee
Early in 1967, a training session for the Apollo 1 mission turned tragic when a fire broke out in the cockpit. Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee all died. The launch pad on which they perished has become a national monument.
After seeing Chaffee's daughter on a TV show a few years ago, Tabone wrote and asked if she had any signed memorabilia from her dad. She wrote back that she didn't.
But I was able to get to Pad 34 and pick up some concrete," she wrote.
That small chunk of history arrived in bubble wrap along with her letter. It now rests in a shadow box in his office with her letter.
Claudia Lennear
It turns out the Rolling Stones song Brown Sugar" was inspired by a real person. Namely, Mick Jagger's former flame and famed backup singer Claudia Lennear.
It was Mick Jagger who actually said (it was her)," Tabone says.
After he saw her story on a Netflix show, he found her teaching Spanish at a high school in Los Angeles.
Mary Wilson
When Tabone's dad died and his mother moved out of their house, he took just one item. One of those huge, old-fashioned, wooden radio-and-record-player consoles. Some of his dad's old records were still inside, including a few by the Supremes.
Hearing that original Supreme Mary Wilson was still touring, he fired off a note. She wrote a beautiful letter back.
I am so thankful that our music has brought you and your family happiness," she said. My heart is filled with much joy to know that me, Flo and Diane have touched so many people with our songs."
It's one of four or five she eventually sent over a number of years. In fact, one request got delivered to an out-of-date location so she even gave her home address for future requests.
Meyer Steinberg
Getting a response from the last surviving member of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bombs that eventually ended the Second World War was stunning. But more incredible was a piece of paper Meyer Steinberg sent with the note.
It appears to be an authentic document - the water damage and brittle texture suggest it's legit - with the signatures of all the members of the team who were in Los Alamos, New Mexico for the first test of the atomic bomb months before Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Many GI's have thanked me for saving their lives by developing these two weapons," Steinberg wrote. It also sets an example of how devastating nuclear weapons can be and the world should make every effort so as not to have to use them again."
Gord Downie
Tabone only wanted an autograph of the Tragically Hip's frontman. But when his letter came back, Downie had passed around the photo that had been included with the request for the entire band to sign.
It was 16 months before he died."
Gene Kranz
The flat-topped flight director of the Apollo 11 mission, who was made even more famous when he was portrayed by Ed Harris in Apollo 13," has responded to Tabone several times. Each with a different brief message.
Aim high," said one.
Failure is not an option!" read another.
Our finest hour," says a third.
All phrases made famous in the movie. All followed by an autograph.
Pete Best
The Beatles' original drummer has written to Tabone a number of times. Among the pieces, a note to his grandson saying, Grow up strong and proud, loyal and trustworthy. Believe in what you do."
Lenard Phelan and John Marabito
In the aftermath of 9/11, a photo of president George W. Bush comforting a New York City firefighter appearing near tears captured the moment perfectly. The firefighter was Lenard Phelan, whose brother had died in the attack.
Tabone figured the man had to live in New York. Some digging turned up a home address. Not long after, an emotional letter arrived.
9/11/01 was a terrible day for my family and the world as a whole but as the years have pasted (sic) I've seen how people can rise up and help each other in terms of need and crisis," he wrote. Many people have reached out and helped my family since 9/11/01."
It was one of several notes Tabone has received from first responders that day. Another came from firefighter John Morabito accompanied by a photo of him covered in ash.
This photo was taken by a photographer at the scene," he wrote. It is at the time that I emerged from the WTC Tower #1, after the collapse of #2. At that point I thought 10,000 people had just died. And my whole crew was dead. 6 out of 15 were killed."
Phan Thi Kim Phuc
To the world, she was Napalm Girl. The Pulitzer Prize-winning photo of her running naked down the road after her back was badly burned by Napalm as plumes of thick black smoke fill the sky became one of the dominant images of the Vietnam War.
She now lives just outside Toronto.
No more war! No more Kim! With love and peace," she wrote.
George H.W. Bush
When the former president came to Carmen's in Hamilton a few years back, Tabone somehow wandered into the VIP area. Then found himself in line for a greeting.
When he got to the front of the line, he asked if he could get an autograph. No problem, he was told. But when he went to switch his glass from one hand to the other so he could grab an item in his chest pocket he wanted signed, he splashed wine on the president's shoes.
Then when the signature wasn't clear because the Sharpie was wearing out, he grabbed a marker he had with him and handed it over to the president who promptly handed it to security to be checked before opening the lid.
Tabone has the autograph - and the discarded marker - in a glass case.
Mohamed Al-Fayed
Less than a year after Princess Diana died, Dateline NBC did a piece on the crash. Tabone watched and immediately penned a note to Mohamed Al-Fayed, father of Diana's boyfriend, Dodi.
It didn't take long for the response to arrive.
As I am sure you will understand, it was not easy for me to take part, but I do want people to understand why I feel so passionately about exploring every avenue in the search for the truth behind the tragic events in Paris last year," he wrote. The death of two such beautiful young people who shared so much happiness demands no less."
Richard Gaudreau
While watching something about the Kennedy assassination on TV, Tabone learned that soldiers served as pallbearers. The challenge then, was to figure out who they were and find them.
He reached four. Among them, Richard Gaudreau, who explained that there were originally supposed to be six pallbearers - at least one from each branch of the military - but during their exhaustive practice runs it was determined the casket was too heavy and two more men were added.
Those four days (Nov. 22 to Nov. 25, 1963) were the most trying of my military career. The entire Joint Service Casket Team spent hours upon hours preparing for the next event that would take place."
Rudy Cataldi
Of all the signatures that have arrived, only one includes a thumb print. That would be the artist who drew Fred Flintstone.
In a shaky hand, Rudy Cataldi explained that his eyesight was failing with macular degeneration. So he signed a few things. Then pressed his inky thumb onto a page.
Lucky you," he quipped. You have a right hand thumb print of Rudy Cataldi. Wow."
Pete Staples
When Tabone connected with Pete Staples of The Troggs - their biggest hit was Wild Thing" - the two hit it off. The next time Tabone was in England, they got together with their wives for fish and chips.
David Berkowitz
After making contact with Chapman, Tabone decided to try to reach another notorious killer. David Berkowitz. The Son of Sam.
He responded," Tabone says, sounding amazed.
The note from the man who terrorized New York City in the 1970s while killing six people and wounding seven more - initially saying a demon in the form of a dog had compelled him to do these things - arrived just days after Chapman's.
I miss my family the most," Berkowitz wrote. They suffered much in years past because of me. And of course so did many others. How I wish to dear God those crimes and the losses that resulted never happened. I am haunted by it, but I have sought forgiveness from God. And He has watched over me even in these difficult circumstances."
Which brings us back to Chapman.
A few years ago while watching that documentary on Lennon, Chapman's wife, Gloria, was quoted. Somehow Tabone learned she attended church in Hawaii. He immediately googled the church, found an email for the pastor, asked if he could get a message to Gloria and was told that would be fine. He immediately sent his name and contact information.
It's not because I'm a fan," Tabone says. I'm definitely not."
He was amazed when she replied the same day, giving instructions on how to connect with her husband through an app prisoners can use to communicate. He then wrote, bluntly telling Chapman he'd stolen an important person from him and the world.
Not long after, the apology came. More than a bit amazed, Tabone wrote back. Then got another letter. They've now connected a dozen times or so. What to call their relationship - if that's the right word - is complicated.
I wouldn't go as far as saying friends," he says. But I'm on his visitors' list."
Today Chapman is incarcerated at the Wende Correctional Facility just outside Buffalo. It's nearby. Would he ever actually go?
I'm going," he says.
As soon as COVID-19 allows, he's going to make a visit. He says he's got the apology in writing but he wants to hear it while looking at the man in the eyes.
Would he ask for an autograph?
Tabone admits that from the perspective of history and his collection, he'd love one. He had hoped the initial response to his request would've been in writing rather than by email.
But would he ask for one now?
No," he says. I wouldn't dignify him with that."
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com