Mariette Hartley at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Parade

This morning our daughter's high school band marched in the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival parade, held every Memorial Day weekend. The festival was founded in 1958.

Actress Mariette Hartley was the parade's Grand Marshal:

Western fans may find it hard to believe, but it's been 50 years since Mariette appeared with Joel McCrea and Randolph Scott in her first film, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (1962).

It's also been more than a few years since she did those great Polaroid commercials with James Garner. She also worked with Garner in one of my very favorite ROCKFORD FILES episodes, "Paradise Cove."

In the early '80s I saw Hartley in the play PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER at the Coronet Theatre in Los Angeles. She was very gracious about signing autographs after the show, in which she played a mother who falls apart under the strain of caring for her hyperactive son. James B. Sikking (HILL STREET BLUES) costarred.

As it happens, playwright Anne Commire, who wrote PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER, passed away earlier this year at the age of 72.  Hartley and Commire also teamed to coauthor Hartley's autobiography, BREAKING THE SILENCE.

It was great to see Mariette in person again after so many years, as well as enjoy a slice of holiday Americana:

Best wishes to all for a special Memorial Day Weekend!