User talk:PB49230
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Hi, PB49230.
Thank you! :) Sorry you had to wait so long for a reply; it took me a while to figure out how exactly to do it. The answer is: long and hard research! Well, about two years ago in 2011 was when I started looking for information on him and his films. I really couldn't really find much about him at all, hardly even pictures. I did find the "Jeanie" film online, and I watched it. Then I had an epiphany: why not look him up in online newspaper archives? So I did! Back then, newspaperarhive.com let you read 3 articles a day for free. So over time I copied some articles on paper, and other times I printed them out if there was a picture attached. But even when you read the old newspapers you have to be careful, because, of course, they don't always have their facts straight. For example, some newspapers reported that Bill dated Debbie Reynolds, but it wasn't him. They had him confused with Eddie Fisher. And you can look him up on other newspaper archives online, too. Just Google these words (no quote marks): 'newspaper archives free' and then you will see that people have collected them on websites, divided by state. It's pretty cool! But watch out, it can be frustrating, and some "pay" websites are snuck in there. Also try Google Books, and Google's archive of old newspapers. Just go to Google, type in his quoted name and then type 'site:news.google.com', and you'll get there. It's also helpful to Google 'site:newspapers.com' and type in his name in quotation marks. And you can go to the Media History Lantern, and on eBay. But remember to always go to any 'advanced search' functions you find, and type his name as "Bill Shirley" in quote marks for more relevance. Sometimes even "William" or "Billy" or "Billy J" work, too, as long as the surname "Shirley" follows. But take the results you find with a grain of salt, because his name is a LOT more common than you'd think! If you want to ask questions or see pictures or read articles that I have in my "collection", just ask, and I'll direct you to the links. :) I've been researching Bill since 2011, and I'm still learning new things almost every day. :)