From: IMRud@aol.com
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2001 9:38 PM
To: wes_clark@juno.com; Clark, Wes
Subject: Is your name James Rutherford?

Hey Wes!

So War of the Worlds is only "okay" – so-so at best.  As I remember, you had 
a slightly higher opinion of it when we first watched the network premier on 
TV at your house (Burbank, I believe).  We could hardly wait for the thing to 
be over before we sat down and started drawing our own Martian warships 
firing away with red and green rays of destruction -- blasting the hell out 
of the surrounding countryside.

Anyway, that’s the way * I * remember it – and in case you’re wondering who 
* I * am – it’s Jimmy Rutherford.  I can’t imagine what you thought the 
chances of my ever coming across your site might be (and despite the fact 
that I have, once you hear how it happened, you’ll see that it was still a 
considerable long shot at best), it’s really quite special and a bit moving 
that on nothing more than a hope, you’d place a request for my contacting you 
so prominently on your web page.  Some friendships, I guess, never do end.

Anyway, here’s the story on how I come to be e-mailing you:

Most of this week I haven’t been feeling any too great (I’ll spare you the 
details), and many nights I haven’t been getting much sleep.  Thursday night, 
however, I’m feeling a little better, medication is kicking in, and even 
though things start out a little rocky, I’m sound asleep by one and looking 
forward to sleeping in – until Nancy (my wife and the love of my life) wakes 
me up a five-fifteen.  She’s a teacher and leaves early for school.  So here 
it is, Friday morning, Nancy’s checked her email and ready to head off to 
work, but she has this important question she must ask me – that just can’t 
wait.

This is what she asks:
  
"Do you know who Captain Russian is?"  

I don’t have any secrets from Nancy, but in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve 
every gotten around to telling her, title by title, the different comic books 
I used to draw as a kid.  So I had no idea where this was coming from.  Even 
on a morning when I was feeling fine and had a full night’s sleep, this is a 
question that might throw me for a loop.  The best I can do is groggily nod 
my head and mumble, "yeah."

She takes my hand and pulls me up, heading toward her office.

"You have to see this."

I grab my glasses as I’m dragged away, and the next thing I know, I’m 
standing in Nancy’s office, staring down at a monitor (focus is still a bit 
of a problem, but I’m almost awake now) and someone who looks strangely 
familiar is looking back at me.  Actually, there are two strangely familiar 
people looking back at me.  One picture is of him as a kid and the other as a 
teenager.  By now, I’m finally up to speed, all cognitive functions seem to 
be working and everything snaps into focus.  

Wes Clark.  Avocado Memories.  Is your name James Rutherford?  

I’ve got most of the pieces now; I just haven’t found a way to put them 
together so they mean anything.

Nancy:  "Do you know this guy?"

Me:  "Yeah.  That’s Westly." 

But I’m just answering a question at this point, and the impact of what I’m 
saying hasn’t really hit home.  

Nancy clicks on the link.  The screen changes and I’m looking at a series of 
questions: Are you James Rutherford?  Jimmy Rutherford?  Did you create 
Captain Russian?  Did you go to Selma Ave. School?  Did you go to Hollywood 
High?  Did we meet at Disneyland in 1978?  

Yes – to all of them.  Nancy can’t believe it.  I can’t believe it either.

But how did Nancy come across this site?  A friend emailed her about it.  And 
this is a friend she only made within the last month or so.  Recently, Nancy 
has been taking part in on-line journaling at a site called Live Journal, 
where you can read other peoples’ entries and they can read yours.  One of 
the features of this site is something called a "friends list" consisting of 
people who regularly read your journal and email comments about it to you.  
One of these friends had come across Avocado Memories, enjoyed it, and 
emailed Nancy that she should check it out.  This friend didn’t even know 
Nancy’s last name was Rutherford!

So it breaks down like this: Live Journal is something Nancy had been 
thinking about doing for a while, but if she had decided against it, or 
delayed taking part in it, maybe this never would have happened.  Or if this 
friend had come across your site say a month or so earlier, there’s no Nancy 
to tell about it.  Or maybe Nancy’s busy, and just never gets around to 
checking it out.  Happily, none of these things occurred, and a rather 
unlikely series of events result in our contacting each other.

Here are a few quick facts about me you might be interested in:

Job:  Film projectionist in the UCLA Dept. of Film and TV.  If you love film, 
believe me, there is no better job.

Married:  As stated above, to Nancy, for almost six years now.  Life has not 
always seemed to add up to very much and there have been times when I was so 
miserable I used to think to myself – "If I could just be happy one day a 
month – I’d take that – it’d be enough to get me through."  Since marrying 
Nancy, however, I’m pretty much happy 31 days a month, and on my very worst 
days, never anything less than content.  I think, also, I might have figured 
out what this being alive thing is all about a little bit.

Where do I live?

7743 Wilkinson Ave. 
N. Hollywood, CA 91605

Although, hopefully, not for long.  We’re looking to move this year.

Home phone number:  (818) 759-6090.  Work:  (310) 825-8027.

1 dog, 5 cats, but no kids.

There’s also a bunch of other boring stuff I’m sure I’ll get to sometime in 
the near future, but this has been a pretty long email, so I’ll just wrap 
things up and let you take it all in.  I imagine you’ve waited quite a long 
time for this response.  All I can say is, I hope it was worth the wait.  And 
by the way, the web site’s terrific!  But it would take pages to get into all 
the memories it brought back.  

Quick final thought: friendship has always been a very special part of my 
life.  The friends I’ve made since I knew you back in Silver Lake and Burbank 
have all been great guys: funny, loyal, smart.  I’ve known most of them since 
Jr. High -- a few from later on.  Every job I’ve ever gotten has been through 
or because of a friend.  But I know many people who aren’t this lucky.  Some 
people probably aren’t even sure what a real friend is.  I believe one of the 
reasons I’ve been so fortunate is because of our friendship.  If, early on, 
you learn the lessons of trust and sharing, of creative play and seeing each 
day as an adventure, you have a hand in creating and taking part in, if you 
know there’s someone who will always back you up and who is worthy of your 
loyalty, then you will look for these same qualities in people later on in 
life and expect them from every friend you ever make.

It’s great to know you’re still out there, Wes, and I’m looking forward to 
hearing from you.   

Jim (Jimmy) Rutherford