Maherajah Water Skis 1972...

As a young apprentice sign painter in 1989, I would dig around the shop, through the piles of old signs, artwork and anything else that 40+ years will pile up. One of the items that I came across was this poster from 1972, featuring a very young Suzanne Somers. The poster was not in good shape, as it had been stored rolled up, with boxes stacked on top for years. My boss, saw the poster, and became very protective of it, as if it had been lost, and he had now found it. He then told us that it was very rare, and worth a lot of money. "And don't even think of taking it out of the shop"! Now, I would have thought, from the way he reacted, that he would have taken the poster and stored it away in a better environment, like in the office, but no. He rolled up the poster and threw it behind the easel. Thinking that time would pass, and he would forget about the poster, I waited. For some reason though, he would re-find the poster every year or so. Each time making as big of a deal about it, as he had made the first time around. Several years later, in a rare "freak out", about how cluttered the shop was, he started throwing years of patterns, silk screens, and paperwork in the truck, and had me drive it to the dump. Only after, did I realize, that in his haste, he had thrown out the poster. He never even mention the poster again, perhaps he had finally forgotten. This is more often than not the case, old guys become attached to items, and the won't let them go. Only to misplace them, or decide to throw them out, without placing them in the hands of someone that they know would appreciate them. I sure would like to have that poster for the shop wall, but it was not to be...