Have you ever watched an old movie on television and a nameless character actor prompts the rhetorical question, “How did this guy ever become an actor?” I’m sure Dwight Frye and Skelton Knaggs have evoked that query many times. Dwight Frye made a career playing mentally unbalanced and deranged characters. He earned himself the nickname …
Continue reading ‘from my sketchbook: dwight frye and skelton knaggs’ »
What if super hero costumes were just another option for everyday clothing available to everyone? I guess super heroes would seem less super.
This week’s Illustration Friday suggested topic is “asleep”. The morning began like every morning begins. My alarm went off at six and I smacked the snooze button every ten minutes until I kicked myself out of bed at 6:30. I showered, brushed my teeth and checked the mirror to see if I could get away …
Eighteen year-old Leo Gorcey had just lost his job as a plumber’s apprentice. His father and younger brother, both successful vaudeville performers, persuaded Leo to try out for a part in the play Dead End. The Gorceys each got small roles as members of a street gang. When featured actor Charles Duncan left the production, Leo …
Summer 1979. My friends and I had just graduated from high school. We were all turning eighteen, the then-legal drinking age in New Jersey. Four of us ― Alan, Scott, Sam and ol’ Josh Pincus ― crossed the Pennsylvania border, headed for Atlantic City, for what would be a beer-soaked, debauchery-filled last hurrah before college. Atlantic City …
While visiting her aunt in New York City, 16 year-old Peggy Shannon (then, just little Winona Sammon from Pine Bluff, Arkansas) was hired for the Ziegfeld Follies. She was spotted on Broadway by a production head from Paramount Pictures and was offered a contract. Whisked off to Hollywood, she was touted as the next “It” …
Pete Ham formed his first band at the age of 14. The band evolved over the next few years, experiencing personnel changes until they gained local notoriety as The Iveys in 1965. The Iveys caught the attention of Mal Evans, personal assistant to the Beatles, and they were soon signed to Apple Records. Changing their …
This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “safari”. Every kid grows up listening to novelty songs and every generation had their favorites. From the early 20th century’s “K-K-K-Katy” and “Yes We Have No Bananas” to the wildly popular “Der Fuher’s Face” during World War II, novelty songs have always been crowd-pleasers. When I was in …
In the late 70s, Glenn Shadix left his Bessemer, Alabama roots behind him and headed to New York City with dreams of a career in show business. While working as a production assistant at the St. James Theater in Manhattan, Glenn began a friendship with legendary playwright Tennessee Williams. Young Glenn spent long hours at the …
Michael Dunn wasn’t going let a little thing like dwarfism stand in the way of his career aspirations. A veritable child prodigy (reading at one; spelling bee champ at 13), Michael also began to develop his entertainment skills as a youngster. He would often gather small audiences on street corners and give an impromptu singing …
