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The Greatest Adventure Chapter 2

This chapter Geoff wrote about me. I learned a number of new things I did not know from it.

The Apple Valley Inn as it was around the time my mother worked there. There was not much in Apple Valley, where I was born. Amazingly, when my mom worked there, the Apple Valley Inn was a celebrity hot spot, and Geoff explains why my mom really disliked Jerry Lewis.


Geoff is great at research and dug up an interesting story about a ranch not far from where I lived, with great stuff about the ground breaking Herbert Jeffrey, better known as Herb Jeffries. He was the last of the singing cowboys and an amazing singer.


The major discovery my Dad made in Antarctica


The home in Los Angeles where L. Frank Baum wrote several Wizard of Oz stories. These were my favorite stories growing up, and Geoff has some great information about Baum and his possible connection to famed magician Harry Keller.


A rare autochrome of magician Harry Keller and Houdini.


Compare this picture of the Wizard of Oz drawn by William Wallace Denslow in 1900 with the picture above of Keller and decide for yourself.


L. Frank Baum’s Mother-in-Law, Matilda Joslyn Gage, who was so amazing. She is not well remembered today but really should be. The Matilda Effect is named after her.


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