Despite a rainy Memorial Day weekend, hundreds of visitors flocked to Lehigh County Historical Society’s Heritage Museum in Allentown for a History Expo celebration, which included presentations by two famous celebrities.

Always prepared to invoke Plan B, the museum’s staff moved outdoor exhibits and activities indoors, including the displays of approximately 20 local historical societies and history organizations, and patriotic artwork by Allentown School District students.

The Brandywine Colonials Fife and Drum Corps from Topton, Berks County, performed rousing military field music, with an emphasis on tunes from the American Revolution.

Joshua Fink, the Corps’ drum major, explained the fife and drum were used during the American Revolution in several important ways.

The music regulated the camp’s daily routine by letting soldiers know when to get up in the morning and when it was time to eat, for example.

The musicians also performed signals on the battlefield; their communications could be heard for miles. During marches, the corps provided cadence.

In addition, the fife and drum musicians entertained the troops, keeping up the morale, Fink said.

Josh Siegel, the youngest county executive ever elected in Pennsylvania, spoke about his lifelong love of history and the lessons it teaches us.

“America is an aspiration, not a destination,” Siegel, Lehigh County executive, declared, adding that our country’s 250th anniversary this year is “a call to action, to recommit to working together to build a better world.”

He noted that all of us share the same ideals and are active participants in our country’s history, through voting, military service, remembering our veterans, and visiting museums, which are valuable repositories of our history.

Highlighting the expo was a visit by actor Jon Provost, who spent seven years playing Timmy on the CBS television series, “Lassie,” a role he won by accident. The program aired in the late 50s and early 60s.

As Provost recalls, his mother was a huge fan of actress Jane Wyman and was determined to get Wyman’s autograph.

When Mrs. Provost saw an audition was being held at the studio where Wyman worked, she took Jon, hoping to meet her idol.

“She had no interest in the audition,” Provost said, laughing. About 200 hopeful kids showed up to try out for the part, he was told.

“I got the part and Mom eventually got the autograph,” Provost said.

He admitted he “had no training and learned from being there (on set) and watching.”

Revealing he had dyslexia, Provost said he could not read or write, so he had to memorize his lines, which his mother read to him repeatedly.

In his role as Timmy, Provost got to travel extensively, including to Japan for three months.

He said the studio filmed 35 to 37 episodes a year.

He also told the rapt audience that every Lassie was a male, and all were descendants of the original Lassie, Pal, a rescue dog from a shelter.

Provost worked with three Lassies, he recalled.

Provost said, “Every offspring of Lassie that did not become an actor was given to charity, never sold.”

At age 14 Provost quit the “Lassie” show and joined the “Mr. Ed” series.

He quipped, “I told my parents I wanted to keep acting, so I went from working with a dog to working with a horse.”

Provost’s close relationship with the Lassie dogs led to his animal activism in adulthood.

While playing Timmy, he said he witnessed the profound effect the dog had on patients when he and Lassie visited children’s hospitals, and that led to his involvement with organizations that provide service dogs and those that promote adoption of senior rescues.

Provost’s wife, author and comedian Laurie Jacobson, is a star in her own right, who had the Heritage Museum audience in stitches as she dished Hollywood tidbits.

“I grew up in St. Louis and moved to California in the 70s to become a great star,” she explained, adding, “I became a great waitress.”

That fate actually helped her career and led to her enchantment with Hollywood history.

“The waiters and waitresses knew everything about everyone,” she noted. “I got fabulous stories and found out a lot of secrets.”

Today Jacobson is a respected authority on Hollywood history and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows.

She also has written and produced documentaries and TV specials and costarred in the film, “Not Fade Away.”

Her book, “Top of the Mountain,” about the Beatles’ concert at Shea Stadium in 1965, drew a lot of interest from museum visitors who lined up to buy signed copies.

According to Jacobson, that concert “changed rock ‘n’ roll.”

It was the first concert to be held in a baseball stadium, which 56,000 fans filled to capacity, and it marked the birth of the now-common stadium concert.

Her book recreates the excitement of that event by including first-person memories from performers, fans, promoters and celebrities.

Meryl Streep, who was 16 at the time, told Jacobson she was sitting so far up in the stadium, she had a better view of New Jersey than she had of the Beatles, according to Jacobson.

American photographer Linda Eastman, who later became Paul McCartney’s wife, was a young fan attending the concert and was interviewed for the book.

Jacobson said 1965 was the peak of Beatlemania, but it also was the beginning of the Beatles heading in separate directions, following their own paths.

Jacobson elaborated: George was fond of Indian music and wanted to incorporate the sitar instrument in his songs.

Ringo wanted to focus on acting and starred in the movie, “Hard Day’s Night.”

John, who had an attraction to older women, according to Jacobson, wanted to concentrate on studio work.

And Paul wanted to do more tours.

Jacobson said she was told in interviews that “nobody could hear the Beatles, because of all the screaming.”

As she did research for her book, she was given slides of the concert and “found out a lot of secrets,” which she says are revealed in the book.

One not-so-secret of her own that she disclosed to her audience: “Jon (Provost) is a great cook, because I’m not!”

Despite their celebrity status, both Jacobson and Provost were down-to-earth and approachable.

They were the perfect fit for the Heritage Museum’s History Expo, combining fascinating history with easy accessibility, which the museum, an institution of lifelong learning, is noted for.