My personal collection of signatures and reflections of meeting Mr. Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) and his lovely wife Miss Delores Taylor (Jean Roberts), over the weekend of October 4 & 5, 2008, in Burbank, California.   All autographs herein are signed by Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor, unless otherwise noted.

I first saw the film “Billy Jack, as a very young boy way back in 1971/1972 at a long since demolished movie theater in San Gabriel, California. I was very young and very naïve, yet at my urging and probably constant nagging at both my parents, they reluctantly took their 8 year old son to see it. To this day it is my earliest memory of going to the movies. Though I probably at the time did not understand the full meaning of the movie, and the deeper messages to be learned from (that would come later), I understood clearly that Billy Jack was one protective bad ass of the kids and his friends at the Freedom School. The hit song, “One Tin Soldier” became a favorite song of mine, and to this day, I still have the 45rpm single.

Later came “The Trial of Billy Jack”, then the re-release of “The Born Losers”, and eventually one by one all were released to the network televisions. Finally, video found its way to the Billy Jack films and now I can say with ease, I have seen all these films collectively, including the very rare, “Billy Jack Goes To Washington”, well over 100 times. For over 35+ years, the Billy Jack films stayed with me as a representation of hope, fairness, justice and as the message of the song lyrics say, “peace on earth”, really was all it said. For 35+ years, and especially the 20+ years of my celebrity encounters and collecting, I always wanted to meet and obtain an autograph, in person, from the legend himself, Mr. Tom Laughlin. At the Hollywood Collector’s Show in Burbank, Ca., October 4 and 5, 2008, I finally was able to meet and obtain in person, the attached autographs that you see here from Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor.
 

“Billy Jack” Paperback Book	45rpm of “One Tin Soldier” in original sleeve

Billy Jack “In Person” Poster

On Sunday, June 21, 2009, the 1971 landmark film, "BILLY JACK" had it's world premiere in 1080p HD master, during the L.A. film festival at the Billy Wilder Theater, Westwood, California. In attendance, was Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor, along with supporting cast members Lynn Baker, Vic Izay, Susan Sosa, Debbie Schock, Teresa Kelly and Susan Foster. It was a reunion, that publicly, hadn't happened for almost 40 years. The newly restored film brought forth detail, quality and sound not even heard before in it's theatrical release. The restoration was so well done.

Equally awesome, was to be in the same room, listen to the Q&A, after the show, meet these amazing actors and actresses, obtain autographs, and simply talk BILLY JACK, as if it was 1971 all over again. It was a very special and rare chance that may never happen again. I simply cannot begin to express the joy that these several few hours brought to me. If even for a little while, one tin soldier was riding again.

Remember the part in "Billy Jack" that the above photo is from? On Tuesday September 15th, 2009, I visited the still-to-this-day malt and burger shop where this very scene was filmed. It's located at 113 Cortez Street in Prescott, Arizona, and - though the shop has been completely remodeled inside - 40 years later it is still there. I also visited the location across the street at the town park that has all the trees and park benches where that famous, "whooping on that side" of Posners face (and he couldn't do a damn thing about it) was filmed (Cortez St. just north of Gurley).

Please click on any of these images to see what they look like today.
 

On the night of July 2, 2010, the Cinefamily Theater in Los Angeles hosted screenings of the films, "Billy Jack" and "The Born Losers".  In attendance was Tom Laughlin and Delores Taylor. The autographs and photos below were obtained and taken from that evening.