This newspaper clipping of Charlie & Arthur Duncan is from the 1972 Napa Town & Country Fairgrounds, where a life-long memory was created for him... and for me. Almost 40 years later, I was able to locate Charlie, and we talked for hours about that fair, about our moms who were always backstage supporting us, about his amazing stories... about life. And we talked about this picture, of which he has the 8x10 black & white, which he got signed by Mr. Duncan many years later.
At the end of our first phone conversation, he said, "I know our moms are looking down on us right now and smiling."
After he read the script, he graciously agreed to fly out to Rohnert Park and play himself in the movie. We talked. We laughed. We danced in the lobby during a break.
He had always been an amazing dancer and teacher, but he was also a genuinely kind, down-to-earth man who will be sorely missed and never forgotten by the many people whose lives he touched. My thoughts go out to his family and friends.
His cameo at the end of the movie had always been poignant to me. It is even more so now.