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M. T. Graves' Gift to Forry Ackerman
Before Florida broadcasting legend Charlie Baxter died in October 2007 (see obituary),
I, E-gor, had the great pleasure of being in touch with him for about five years.
Charlie's lovable ghoul "M.T. Graves"
was my TV horror host hero when I watched The Dungeon on Miami's Channel 7 when my Navy dad was stationed in Key West in the early 60's.
I also loved his nutty spaceman "M.T. Space" hosting sci-fi flicks, and various other Baxter characters hosting kid shows with sock puppets and robots as sidekicks --
the sort of charming local programming that is almost completely extinct today, and television is much the worse for its passing.
After we began to correspond by phone, letters and packages, one of the first things I wanted to do with and for Charlie was to put him in touch with his old fans.
With his permission, while he was well enough to enjoy it, I announced on this website and on various discussion groups that he was still kicking and that he enjoyed receiving
fan mail, and that anyone could write to him either by e-mail or snail mail, in care of E-gor.
I reproduced some of his original Graves Diggers fan club items, and sent them to Charlie so he could send them to fans who wrote to him.
I suggested to Charlie that he should autograph one of his fan photos for Forrest J Ackerman (sadly also gone now, but never forgotten), in whose fabulous monsterzine a terrific feature article
and several other photos had appeared more than four decades earlier.
Since I had good connections at the Ackermansion, I told Charlie that he could send Forry's signed photo to me, and I would
make sure it got into Forry's hands directly.
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