Bumping into Howard Hughes
I was looking through some old family papers tonight and I came across a letter from my grandfather to my mother postmarked 20 August 1968. Included with it was a clipping of a letter he had sent to a local columnist in El Paso named W.J. "Bill" Hooten who had published it in his paper there.

HOWARD HUGHES' AUTOGRAPH

Jake Shapiro is a retired telegrapher whom I have known for many years. Being one myself, we talk the same language on some subjects.

Saturday's mail brought this from Jake who is summering in Ruidoso:

Dear Bill:

In connection with the feature story in Sunday's Parade magazine concerning Howard Hughes which features the theme that he is one of the most invisible men of modern times I would like to tell a story about that.

You might remember this incident. It was back in 1946 as I remember it, there was a news item that on a flight east from Los Angeles, Howard Hughes accompanied by Cary Grant was forced down somewhere between Chihuahua and El Paso, the exact location was not known. About two days later I was down in the coffee shop at the Municipal Airport as it was called then and two guys walked in and sat down just opposite to where I was sitting. I recognized one of them immediately as Cary Grant but I had no idea who the other was for I had forgotten about the news item. I kept looking at Cary but paid no attention to the other fellow. Finally I pulled a piece of-paper out of my wallet, walked over to Cary and said boldly —'how about signing this, Cary?' Just like that. He never hesitated, pulled a pen out of his vest pocket and put his John Henry down. Getting bolder I said, 'How about your friend,' never realizing who he was. Without further ado, this guy pulled out a pen and signed it 'Howard Hughes.' I then remembered the news item, as it rang a bell. I walked back to where I was sitting and from then on out I forgot all about Cary Grant and kept looking at Howard Hughes. I wish I had that piece of paper but I lost it.

I thought I might recall the incident as it would interest you.

I notice you had a great time in Wa-hoo. That must be some place and I've never been there.

As ever, I have to smile at the course such pieces of the past can take. Would my Daddo have ever imagined that his grandson could take that clipping, run it through a machine that was a cross between a typewriter, a TV, and a waffle iron with a pane of glass and a flashlight in it, and then instantly share it with anyone else in the whole wide world who also had another such contraption ---all in the space of about five minutes?

These are fascinating times in which we live, aren't they?