Glenda Moore
"I started the Gene Barry fan page when I realized that my internet service provider would give me space for a Home Page. I certainly didn't want to fill that space with information about me (can you say, "boring"?). There were two things that I had always been interested in - cats, and Gene Barry. I had some information and pictures of Gene Barry already in a folder tucked away in the back of a closet. My collecting had been very sporadic over the years, but I managed to fill in several gaps by rigorously searching the internet and local library."
"Filling my web space has been a wonderful hobby for me, and I'm almost constantly revising, updating, or changing something. I've "met" some wonderful people who have visited the Gene Barry Fan Page and my other site, CatStuff -- I was thrilled on Christmas eve 1996 to receive an email from Gene Barry's grandson, telling me that he would tell his grandfather about the site. When Nan discovered the page and emailed me, I knew I'd found a real jewel, someone who had tons more information than I had ever been able to find. With her help, the Gene Barry Fan Page -- which is, by the way, the only one in existence -- has become an extremely comprehensive resource of information about him."
Nan Jarrett
"I enjoyed the elegant and suave Gene Barry in his premier television role as Bat Masterson. After that, another series, "Burke's Law", was on my must-see TV schedule, and that superb series was followed a few years later by my favorite Gene Barry performance in "The Name of the Game." I had been searching for a special character for a novel that I had begun, and Glenn Howard filled the bill. However, with raising a family and pursuing a career, my writing was put on the back burner for quite a few years."
"Then, in early 1992, I pulled out my notes and began writing again. I felt a need to know more about Glenn Howard, as portrayed so artfully by Gene Barry, and began searching for information that would aid in building my character. Very little was learned about Mr. Howard, but much about Mr. Barry, and, in time, I concluded that their characteristics and personality were parallel to each other. Ultimately, I became interested in the actor's career, and Glenn Howard was left far behind. So, what began as a curiosity about a character on television became a major research project about the multi-talented man."
"In 1994, with the revival of "Burke's Law" on the small screen, I put my research in high gear, delving intensively into the vast resources of my local libraries, the Library of Congress, the New York Library for the Performing Arts, as well as libraries in Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hollywood and Beverly Hills. After four years of searching through books, periodicals, and newspapers, with the help of friendly librarians, computers, microfilm and catalogs, I have accumulated an enormous collection of pictures, articles and interviews depicting the actor's life and career."
"Today, I have 158 videos, three bulging scrapbooks, an array of valuable memorabilia, and a 200+ page journal detailing chronologically my experience in a most rewarding project, accompanied by a complete bibliography of sources from which my acquisitions were obtained."
"When Glenda invited me to become the co-developer of the Gene Barry Fan Page, I was exuberant to be able to share my treasured assemblage with Mr. Barry's fans and have made many new friends because of my interest in research and collecting."
"I was elated recently to receive a note from Mr. Barry expressing his appreciation of our efforts on his behalf in developing the Gene Barry Fan Page, and experienced an even greater joy when I later spoke with him on the telephone. The only thing that could top these two memorable occasions would be an opportunity to meet our favorite celebrity and speak with him personally to wish him continued success and happiness."
Nan came across this Gene Barry Fan Page in July 1997; since then, we've merged the information from her voluminous collection with the information and pictures I already had.
A side note about Nan: she's written and published her autobiography. "Nancy has a talent so many of us wish we had - total recall. Southern Born, Southern Bred is a brilliant autobiography that covers the beauty, the trauma, the humor and joy of growing up in the South." And, she finished that novel, too!
