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  Signing history and experience: James McDivitt

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Author Topic:   Signing history and experience: James McDivitt
shawneroo
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Posts: 1
From: Cumberland, WI 54829
Registered: Jun 2001

posted 06-20-2001 05:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for shawneroo   Click Here to Email shawneroo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Just a note to let you know that yesterday (June 19, 2001) I received an 8x10 and SpaceShot card back from James McDivitt that were unsigned. On the folder in which they were enclosed was written "I've retired from autographing."

The message was unsigned and uninitialed, but written in green felt tip pen and unquestionably in Mr. McDivitt's handwriting. Has anyone else experienced this change of signing habit yet?

Matt T
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From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001

posted 06-20-2001 05:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Matt T   Click Here to Email Matt T     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Someone on eBay who is selling a McDivitt 8x10 has stated the same thing, including a scan of the refusal. And I was just picking my favourite Apollo 9 photo to send him only last night...

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 06-20-2001 06:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Anyone have any insight into why he has ceased? Anyone receive an autograph recently that would seem to contradict this note?

Mike
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Posts: 178
From: San Diego, CA, USA
Registered: May 2001

posted 06-20-2001 08:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike   Click Here to Email Mike     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm on vacation here in northern Michigan. I hoped to see the General while here but it looks as if he went out of town. I have one more day here and hope to hear from him before I have to leave.

Jacqueline
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From: UK
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 06-20-2001 10:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Jacqueline   Click Here to Email Jacqueline     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Maybe he got fed up with all the trips to the post office!

eurospace
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From: Brussels, Belgium
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posted 06-20-2001 10:48 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for eurospace   Click Here to Email eurospace     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
From a fellow collector who works for NASA, I've received the following information:
I just received word from James McDivitt that he no longer signs anything through the mail. In a letter returned to me he stated that he has just turned 72 years of age and no longer autographs anything sent to him (I presume he means that, at his age, he's tired of fulfilling such requests mailed to him).
Equally from a collector in California, I hear that his mailing envelope was returned unopened with a scribble saying "Refused" and McD's initials on it.

So I guess we have to state that Brigade General McDivitt has retired from autographing.

bruce
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From: Fort Mill, SC, USA
Registered: Aug 2000

posted 06-21-2001 03:25 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for bruce   Click Here to Email bruce     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I received my Apollo 9 liftoff photo back from General McDivitt two days ago with the words "refused" in bold green sharpie pen across the front of the Priority Mail envelope. I know from previous autographs I've received from him (as recently as two months ago!) that this was McDivitt's handwriting. Also, the green sharpie has always been his pen of choice.

I immediately sent him a "thank you" note for the autographs he'd signed for me over the past 30 years or so, I wished him well and I enclosed a cash token of appreciation for the time he'd taken for me in the past. McDivitt is a unique astronaut who was choosen for two landmark flights. He was also very involved on a lot of the inside management stuff at NASA and was highly respected by his peers for his thoroughness.

I will miss the occasional autograph from him here and there. However, he has more than done his bit for the space cause and the fans. If he wants to retire from autographing, I respectfully accept his decision. Now, if he'd just write a book and do a tour!

mensax
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From: Virginia
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 04-11-2006 06:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mensax   Click Here to Email mensax     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Is anyone acquainted with Jim McDivitt's handwriting? Is his handwriting legible?

mjanovec
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From: Midwest, USA
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posted 04-11-2006 06:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mjanovec   Click Here to Email mjanovec     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The few examples I've seen appear pretty neat and not too small. Granted, these examples might be 10-30 years old, so there's no saying what his current handwriting skills are like (since age isn't kind to handwriting). He was never one to write anything more than his name, so examples of lengthy inscriptions are rare.

Some examples show him writing "A-9" on the Apollo photos he signed. It looks like those are recent signatures and it appears they are nicely legible... granted, it's hard to be too messy when writing A-9.

Ken Havekotte
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From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-11-2006 07:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
McDivitt's penmanship on the average is good and quite legible. True, he rarely uses lengthy inscriptions, but has signed "G-IV," "A-9," and even "Apollo 9" on several of my pieces.

For many years the Gemini and Apollo veteran commander used — and he still may — green ink that has become somewhat of a trademark with the retired Air Force one-star general's signature habits. It appears that he started using the "green" pens after his retirement from the Air Force and NASA in 1972 and all throughout his career with Pullman, Inc. during the 1970s and 80s.

Rob Joyner
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From: GA, USA
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posted 04-12-2006 12:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rob Joyner   Click Here to Email Rob Joyner     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Anyone know why 'green'?

spaced out
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From: Paris, France
Registered: Aug 2003

posted 04-13-2006 06:58 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaced out   Click Here to Email spaced out     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The longest inscription I can find in my own collection is "Best Wishes." Not much but at 10 characters it seems to hold the record so far. The text is certainly legible.

I do have an Apollo 9 crew-signed piece with a long inscription in green ink but on closer inspection it appears to have been written by Scott, who also signed using McDivitt's pen.

Ken Havekotte
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From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001

posted 04-13-2006 08:28 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Ken Havekotte   Click Here to Email Ken Havekotte     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My longest inscription from McDivitt was in fact the first autograph that I got from him thru the mail during the early 1970s. He signed and inscribed an 8x10 portrait litho of himself with, "Best Wishes to Ken" and signed "James A. McDivitt," but... it wasn't in green ink, but a "red" flair pen!

Others in my collection are inscribed, "My best wishes and sincere thanks" in blue ballpoint pen.

A crew-signed pic, a color glossy, was inscribed by McDivitt to their Deputy Launch Director, "To Kappy, Thanks for Steering our Spacecraft in the right direction."

While it appears McDivitt inscriptions are not that common (a man of few words, huh), apparently he was a good letter writer. I have many signed letters from the veteran astronaut, mostly typewritten, when he was with the astronaut corps as a Air Force captain, colonel, and several when he was manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program office at Houston.

Even though McDivitt wasn't the best autograph inscriber, all throughout his NASA and post-astronaut career, he was one of the best autograph signers in my book.

msdvflorid
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Posts: 137
From: West Palm Beach, FL, USA
Registered: Jul 2002

posted 02-15-2010 01:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for msdvflorid   Click Here to Email msdvflorid     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Does anybody know if James McDivitt still does private or public signings? Thanks.

Editor's note: Threads merged

mjanovec
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From: Midwest, USA
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posted 02-15-2010 02:07 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for mjanovec   Click Here to Email mjanovec     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
He has done a couple of mail-in signings with Novaspace (aka Astronaut Central) in the recent past and was present at their Spacefest gathering in February 2009 (and at an earlier signing at Autographica in the UK). Documentation of all of these events can be found here on cS.

I would guess that if another opportunity arises to obtain a signature from McDivitt, it will be announced here.

JBoe
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From: Churchton, MD
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 05-30-2014 06:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for JBoe   Click Here to Email JBoe     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Does anyone have any recent experience with having James McDivitt signing items sent via mail? I'm just preparing myself for no autographing opportunities at the John Glenn lecture in Virginia in June.

lspooz
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From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Aug 2012

posted 05-30-2014 07:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for lspooz   Click Here to Email lspooz     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
As noted elsewhere, Gen. McDivitt does not sign through the mail.

Not long before I stumbled upon collectSPACE and all the helpful advice I sent him a request to consider signing something for my son.

I learned that I was lucky to have gotten ANY response: a checkmark in the 'no thanks' option on a self-addressed postcard. The only saving grace is that it was in his trademark green ink!

Best to try to catch him at the appropriate time in person...

JBoe
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From: Churchton, MD
Registered: Oct 2012

posted 05-30-2014 09:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for JBoe   Click Here to Email JBoe     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Thanks for the update and advice. It sounds like it may be difficult to get an autograph, even to approach him. Maybe there will be an autograph session of a featured book after the lecture.

Mike_The_First
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From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014

posted 07-29-2016 08:42 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike_The_First   Click Here to Email Mike_The_First     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was just thinking about this after a discussion with my fiancee about how some signatures are recognizable simply by the ink used by the signer, so I figured this would be the best place to ask:

Any idea why he consistently used green? It's a bit out of the ordinary for the hobby (and just in general, as black Sharpies were and are easier to come by) so I was wondering if there was a special reason behind it.

Buel
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From: UK
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posted 07-29-2016 03:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Buel   Click Here to Email Buel     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Interesting opinion of us Brits (apparently).
In 1909, Mansfield Cummings became the first head of MI6 and fell into the habit of signing all of his documents with the letter "C," always written in green ink. There is some speculation that this was a carryover from his days in the armed services, where senior officers supposedly used green ink.

For whatever reason, it became a tradition for the UK's chief spy both to use green ink and to sign only as "C." The green ink practice continues to this day...

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-29-2016 05:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Mike_The_First:
Any idea why he consistently used green?
From McDivitt's 2006 signing at Novaspace Galleries:
He explained why he signs in his trademark green ink, not only is he a devout Irish Catholic, but he wrote most of his NASA memos in green ink so folks would know immediately that it was from McDivitt, and commanded attention.

NovaRob
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From: Tucson, Arizona, USA
Registered: Nov 2008

posted 07-29-2016 09:01 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for NovaRob   Click Here to Email NovaRob     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Actually, McDivitt does not exclusively use green for autographs. In fact, he sometimes hesitates to use green, because he feels like he's signing a NASA memo. We use it on some of our stock photos of Jim as an homage to his NASA memo days, but use black on his hardware photos, and McDivitt is happy to use any color the customer wants.

alanh_7
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Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008

posted 07-30-2016 11:17 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for alanh_7   Click Here to Email alanh_7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Rob is right of course. I have an artist proof (number 8 of 25) of a drawing completed by Paul Calle depicting Jim McDivitt and Ed White walking out for their Gemini IV mission. It is signed in blue and purchased from Chris Calle.

Mike_The_First
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Posts: 436
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2014

posted 07-30-2016 11:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Mike_The_First   Click Here to Email Mike_The_First     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It's not so much that "Gen. McDivitt's signatures are green" — as we've all seen plenty of non-green examples (I think a majority currently on eBay are black) — it's more "Green signatures are Gen. McDivitt's."

Though maybe "consistent" was the wrong word on my part, it's a trait unique to him and it is interesting to (finally) know the story behind it.

Sam
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From: South Africa
Registered: Jun 2014

posted 08-07-2016 10:27 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Sam   Click Here to Email Sam     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I would like to know whether Jim McDivitt still signs through the mail or only at events such as Spacefest?

milkit1
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Posts: 271
From: Springfield Illinois USA
Registered: Sep 2015

posted 08-07-2016 11:51 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for milkit1   Click Here to Email milkit1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
He only signs at events for a fee. I am hoping he will be at ASF this year but no word yet.

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