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Leonard Brown as He Typically Was Seen During His Later Years at Collectors Book Store on Hollywood Blvd., early 1980s

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Artwork Details

Title:	Leonard Brown as He Typically Was Seen During His Later Years at Collectors Book Store on Hollywood Blvd., early 1980s
Artist:	None Specified
Media Type:	Photograph
Art Type:	Other
For Sale Status:	NFS
Views:	409
Likes on CAF:	0 1
Comments:	0
Added to Site:	6/4/2021
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Description

Once Leonard moved from the mezzanine down to the ground floor, I pretty much made myself at home at Collectors Book Store, visiting for hours at a time. Howard Lowery was pretty much able to perform whatever work he needed to do, but, once I became seated in a chair next to Leonard's desk, he was pretty much a captive audience for my endless questioning. I soon became such a nuisance that steps were taken to limit the length of my visits. First came the "question deflection shield," a large piece of illustration board covered with aluminum foil which was passed between Leonard and Howard, depending on who I was interrogating. That device was of limited effectiveness, since I didn't have to actually see the one who I was talking to or questioning to continue with my desired interactions! The replacement means for controlling my disruptive behavior was a simple, two ring holder for note cards, numbered from 2:00 down to 0 with 15 minute intervals in between. We would start at 2 hours, with Howard flipping the cards, one at a time, until we got down to 0:00, at which time I was expected to say my goodbyes and be on my way. It was all in fun, sort of, but I got the hint and attempted to not overstay the 2 hours of tolerance. But, if I actually had business left to do, no one would actually force me to leave.

Despite my nattering away at Leonard, trying to extract as much comic-related knowledge as I could from his mind, he was able to perform his primary activities -- eating packages of still frozen peas and carrots with a fork and drawing graphs of commodity prices with the expectation of making a fortune in the commodities markets. although I knew that Leonard still had a lot of comic books in the store's inventory that I would love to get my hands on, he wouldn't let me do much exploring in the vault, nor would he get up and bring the comics out to me, since he knew I would try to buy most of what he had left. It was only after Leonard retired in the early 1980s that Howard let me loot the inventory, especially most of the near mint - mint copies of Mickey Mouse Magazines which had basically been untouched since Malcolm had brought in the duplicate set that he had obtained through his big trade with the Disney archives, a couple of decades earlier.

Although my comic book collecting was winding down after 20 years of fairly intensive buying, my growing interest in animation art, which Howard Lowery managed for the store, kept me busy and without money for another 20 years, even after Leonard had said his own goodbyes and retired. And, with Leonard's departure, the flip cards and 2 hour limits were discontinued, letting me know what I had suspected all along: that Leonard, the curmudgeon, was really the one who didn't relish my charming, lengthy visits to the store. Even so, by the time he left the business, he had co-founded, I had known Leonard Brown for well over half of my life
[from age 11 until my late 20s], had learned a tremendous amount from him, and missed his presence in my life a great deal. He passed away less than 10 years later.

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	C E
Joined:	April 2006
Last Login:	August 2025
Country:	UNITED STATES
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