The Other Luke Duke: John Schneider

I’m going to ask for a very little latitude here. I know that John Schneider is primarily known for television, being both Bo Duke from The Dukes of Hazzard and Jonathan Kent from Smallville, but he *has* done movies (everyone remembers Lake Placid 2, right?) and there are *both* Dukes and Superman movies, he’s just not in them. So it’s a stretch, but I’m pretty sure that you’ll forgive me once you keep reading….

So John Schneider came out to do a signing on Saturday at the Motion Car Show (for those of you in Toronto it was at the Direct Energy Centre). My husband got all jumpy as soon as he heard and set about making something for him to sign. S.O.P.* So off we went on Saturday morning. We got there a little after 11 and he was already signing. I’m rarely star struck. Very rarely. But when I rounded the corner and caught my first glimpse of all six feet of the muscle, tan and charming smile that is Superman’s dad, I nearly lost my sh*t.

From a distance you could tell that he was really nice. He stopped and took a few moments for each of the people and, even though you were paying for the picture with him, he still took some time, set up the shot and smiled big. Basically, he looked genuinely pleased to be there. Trust me when I say that’s rare.

So we finally get up to his people and we ask, very politely, if he’s signing non-Dukes stuff. At first they were confused, but when we explained that it was Superman stuff, they beamed and said they thought he’d be pleased. And he was.

So we walk over, say hello and plunk down my Reeves accurate Superman crest (which my husband had whipped up for me a day before, impressing almost everyone in the theatre at the time). Do you know what he said to me? He said:

Thank you so much! No one’s ever asked me to sign a cape before!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! A dude that *I* was paying for his signature and that *I* shlepped halfway across God’s paved acre to see thanked ME for wanting HIS signature on something. I almost fell over. I popped Pa Kent’s cape cherry. Me.

Awesome.

Then he was equally as impressed with my husband’s section of ‘car door’ from the General. You can see him smiling in both pictures while he’s signing. It was incredible. A few minutes after that was the Daisy Duke look alike contest which was a little lame, to be honest, but you know what? John was a great sport and had a wonderful time just chillin’ with the Dukes fans and the Canadian Dukes. Pics attached of us with him, him signing and the sigs themselves. This one will totally go down as one of the better celebrity signings I’ve ever had… if not the single best. Dood. I met Superman’s dad. What a perfect day.

*Standard Operating Procedure.

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