CCMB 20th Anniversary

[Mr. Manderley]

I just realized that the CCMB is twenty years old this year. Can you believe it. Anyone still remember the early days? I think Kurt has the posts archived somewhere. 

[Chris Ellis]

Hard to fathom it has been that long but it was about that time that I rediscovered the Chan films I liked as a youth and went searching the internet for information! I remember posting here around that time along with Judge Ed Kasprowicz (who knows more trivia about Chan films and other mystery films than any other person I know). There are few posts these days so I expected that the popularity of such films may be waning. On the other hand, Chan books still appear and the movie posters including lobby cards continue to sell for record prices! Chris.

[John Cucinotta]

I joined this site a few years after it began.  I have been a Charlie Chan fan since I was a teenager, and I'm now in my 60's.  Your lobby card posted above reminds me of how I found this site by "accident".  I had won the bidding on a Charlie Chan Lobby Card on eBay, and the seller had a link to the CCMB as part of the Lobby Card description.  I clicked on the link, and promptly found this site.  I was a "lurker" for a while, since it seemed like most of the people posting messages knew much more about old movies than I did, but eventually I started participating.  Although the site has now become fairly quiet, I know it is still a place to have a discussion about old films, and I have had many great times discussing Chan items and related topics over the years.

[Ed Kasprowicz]

Thanks for the kind words, Chris. I actually looked to guys like you, Howard Berlin, Ken Hanke, John Betancourt, Joe, John C., Kurt, and so many of other regular posters of the early days, for good insights on the Chans, and other series that we discussed. It was all new territory then, so researching the movies, books, etc. was a lot of fun, and friendly competition. I may actually have printed copies of the early posts somewhere. But, there's no guarantee that I can find them. It was good fun to go back and watch all of the Fox Chans this past winter. I'll have to give the Monograms a shot next.

Here's to the next 20 years... Ed K.

[Chris Ellis]

Thanks you for the kind words Ed! But I stand by my statement that your knowledge on Chan related matters is up there! I still remember you answered very rapidly what I thought was a very difficult trivia question I devised which was: Which character, played by the same actor, appears in three different 20th Century Fox mystery series (including of course, the Chan series)? -- or something to that effect. However, mentioning Ken Hanke (and I recall others others such as Ed LeZotte who sent me the unsolicited gift lobby card pasted in below for sending him some videos) reminds me how many of our merry band have passed on...Cheers, Chris.

[Henry (number one son)]

Happy 20th Anniversary indeed! I too found this site in 1998 and remember many of our members from back at that time. It is indeed sad to know that many of them have had the Black Camel kneel at their door. In those early days this site was very much dedicated to some hardcore research and fact finding about our favorite detective. Still so much fun after all of these years even if collectively we’ve answered many of the questions from those early days.

Henry (number one son in books)