josh pincus is crying

Boris Sagal, father of Married with Children star Katey Sagal, was a busy director from the middle 1950s until his death in 1981. He directed mostly episodic televison, including Mike Hammer, Peter Gunn, and several installments of anthology series like Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Boris had a few forays into theatrical features, directing Elvis Presley in 1965’s Girl Happy and Richard Chamberlain in his first film Twilight of Honor. In the 70s, he helmed The Omega Man, a reworking of Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend, with Charlton Heston. But, he returned to televison to direct a long progression of made-for-TV movies and more episodic programs.

In 1981, while filming the TV movie World War III  with Rock Hudson and Brian Keith, Boris had returned from setting up aerial location shots by helicopter. The helicopter landed in a parking lot. Preoccupied with his work, Boris inadvertently turned the wrong way upon getting out of the helicopter and walked directly into the rear rotor blade. He was rushed to a hospital 60 miles away in Portland, Oregon. He died of severe head and shoulder injuries. Filming resumed the very next day with a new director.

Earlier in his career, Boris had directed the pilot episode of the World War II drama Combat!  starring Vic Morrow. Ironically, Morrow would die in a similar helicopter accident less than one year later on the set of John Landis’ Twilight Zone - The Movie.

The current challenge on the Illustration Friday is “confined”.

Colleen Stan’s seven year nightmare began when she was hitching a ride to a friend’s birthday party in May 1977.

Twenty-year old Colleen accepted a ride from a couple with a baby. While they drove, the man, Cameron Hooker, made idle conversation with Colleen as she sat in the back seat with his wife, Janice, and the baby. Soon, Hooker drove to a remote area and shut off the car’s engine. Janice took the baby and left the car. Colleen was confused, until Hooker put a knife to her throat and told her he would kill her if she didn’t do as he instructed. Hooker blindfolded and handcuffed Colleen. Janice returned to the car and they resumed driving. Unknown to Colleen, Hooker had made a deal with his wife. He would allow her to have a baby and, in exchange, he would be allowed have a fantasy slave.

They arrived at the Hooker home and Colleen was led to the basement where she was stripped naked and hung by her wrists several feet off the ground. Hooker and his wife had sex on the floor beneath Colleen. Sometime later, Hooker returned alone to beat and torture Colleen. He did this regularly, sometimes several times a day. When she wasn’t being tortured, Colleen was confined to a locked wooden box hidden beneath Hooker’s bed. After seven months of regular beatings and rapes, Colleen was forced by Hooker to sign a slavery contract that he had prepared. He convinced Colleen that their activity — their every move— was being watch by a powerful, all-seeing organization called “The Company”. He created an elaborate story about “The Company” finding her family and killing them if she tried to escape. Constant reinforcement of this idea eventually brainwashed Colleen. Her daily routine of torture, beatings and rape continued for years, as did her confinement to the wooden box.

After four years, Colleen was granted privileges including permission to work in the Hooker’s yard and care for the Hooker’s children. (Janice had delivered a second baby on the bed under which Colleen was held captive.) Colleen was even allowed to visit her family, while accompanied by Hooker posing as her boyfriend. She was so terrified by the idea of “The Company” that she did not dare reveal the truth about her situation to her parents. She appeared happy and smiling. Her parents were concerned at first, but they were so pleased to see her, they didn’t wish to pressure her, fearing they’d never see her again.

Hooker told Janice he wanted more slaves. Janice was fearful of her husband for years, but that suggestion was all she could take. After seven years, in August 1984, while Hooker was at work,  Janice told Colleen “The Company” didn’t exist. She drove Colleen to the bus station and then went to the police. Janice told of Colleen’s abduction, the torture, the beatings and the brainwashing. She eventually testified in court against her husband. Hooker was sentenced to 104 years in prison. Janice and Colleen were relocated with new identities. 

The current Monday Artday challenge is “mystic”.

“I am a mystic who is trying to convey the mysteries that have become available to me.”
― Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

The first Illustration Friday challenge of 2010 is “renewal”.

“Lover’s quarrels are the renewal of love.”
— Terence, Roman playwright (185–159 BC)

Roy Kinnear began his career in repertory theatre before making his film debut in the early 1960s. He worked mostly in his native Great Britain appearing in popular sitcoms and variety shows. He was most successful in films directed by his good friend Richard Lester, including Help! with The Beatles, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Forum, How I Won the War and the Three Musketeers series of the late 1970s and 1980s. He is most recognized as Veruca Salt’s exasperated father in 1971’s Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

In addition to film roles, Roy lent his voice to several cartoons including Watership Down, The Princess and The Goblin and the British favorite Super Ted.

In September 1988, while filming The Return of the Musketeers in Spain, Roy fell from a horse and sustained a broken pelvis. He was taken to hospital in Madrid, and died from a heart attack the following day. He was 54 years old.

The film’s director, Roy’s longtime friend Richard Lester, was so distraught over the incident that he never directed another film.

Martha Mansfield was an active and popular actress in silent movies.

On November 30, 1923, while working on location in San Antonio, on the film The Warrens of Virginia a Civil War costume epic. Martha was playing the role of Agatha Warren and had just finished her scenes and retired to a car when a crew member accidentally tossed a lit match. The flame ignited Martha’s hoopskirt costume. Her leading man, Wilfred Lytell, threw his heavy overcoat on Martha’s face to protect her from the quickly spreading fire. She was rushed to a hospital in San Antonio, where she died in less than twenty-four hours. Martha was 24 years old.

Although she made over twenty-five films in her short career, few of them survive.

J. G. Parry-Thomas was a race car driver who at one time held the Land Speed Record.

On April 27, 1926 at Pendine Sands Beach in Wales, Parry-Thomas took his car to over 170 miles per hour, despite poor conditions and soft, wet sand. The record would stand for almost a year until it was broken by rival driver Malcolm Campbell on the same beach.

Parry-Thomas was anxious to recapture the record and the glory that came with it. His modified car used exposed chains to connect the engine to the drive wheels and the way that the high engine was situated required him to drive with his head tilted to the right. On his attempt at regaining the Land Speed Record, the right-hand drive chain broke at a speed of 170 miles per hour. The chain whipped up and Parry-Thomas was decapitated.