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Old 02-19-2018, 12:43 PM
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pterodactyl pterodactyl is offline
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Join Date: May 2007
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Jerry,

Neil Armstrong developed a defensive posture toward exploitation of his image and name due to a few unfortunate events perpetuated by unscrupulous actors. He would happily grant photo-ops to well wishers, but if he sniffed commercialism his shields would go up.

Consider the following partial list of scams foisted on him:

- a school teacher in Florida had his class write letters to Armstrong and included photos and autograph requests. Armstrong signed all the photos and returned them to the teacher who then used a solvent to wash the inscriptions ("To Johnny") and sold the autographed photos on the open market. The kids just thought Armstrong never responded. The teacher should be in jail, but nothing happened.

-Armstrong's barber from Lebanon, Ohio was caught selling his hair clippings to a celebrity dealer (the barbershop is now out of business)

-Hallmark produced a Christmas ornament using Armstrong's voice recordings without seeking permission. The Purdue band got a nice donation from that faux pas by Hallmark.

When he saw the unfortunate lawsuit between Chuck Yeager and his new wife and Yeager's children take place he passed the rights to his name and image to Purdue University.
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