Doug Kenney was one of the founders of National Lampoon magazine. He served as writer and editor from its inception in 1972 until 1977, when he left to pursue his dream of screenwriting. Along with Chris Miller and Harold Ramis, he co-wrote the screenplay for National Lampoon’s Animal House. Kenney even had the small role …
Karl Wallenda was born in Germany in 1905 to a circus performing family. He himself began performing at age 6. In 1922 he put together his own act with his brother Herman, a family friend, and a teenage girl, Helen Kreis, who eventually became his wife. The act toured Europe for several years, performing some …
Sarah Holcomb only appeared in four movies in her brief three-year career. Chances are, you’ve seen half of them. At 18, Sarah made her film debut in National Lampoon’s Animal House as Clorette DePasto, the underage virginal daughter of shady mayor Carmine DePasto. She meets Larry (played by future Academy Award nominee Tom Hulce) when …
When I was a kid, my mom introduced me to what would become my life-long appreciation for novelty records. As long as there have been different genres and trends in popular music, there has been someone making fun of it. In my mom’s era, there was Spike Jones. My mom had several of Jones’ 78s …
Lena Zavaroni grew up on the Isle of Bute (a part of Scotland) and began singing at the age of two. At nine, she appeared on the British talent search program, Hughie Green’s Opportunity Knocks and won the show for a record-breaking five consecutive weeks. She released Ma, He’s Making Eyes At Me, a collection …
The Monday Artday challenge word this week is “lucky”. On June 2, 1925, Yankees manager Miller Huggins replaced regular first baseman Wally Pipp in the starting lineup. Pipp was in a slump, so Huggins made the change to boost the team’s overall performance. Huggins started Lou Gehrig instead. He stayed in the lineup for fourteen years. Although he played …
The inspirational word on Inspire Me Thursday is “petals”. Long before Stephen Lynch and Weird Al Yankovic and Allan Sherman, there was Spike Jones. Spike Jones and his City Slickers kept Americans laughing from the early 1940s through the 1960s with his crazy versions of classical and big band standards. In addition to the usual …
The illustration friday challenge word this week is “contagious”. The Masque of the Red Death was written and published in 1842 by Edgar Allan Poe. It tells the story of a horribly contagious plague, called The Red Death, that is sweeping across the land. The symptoms of the Red Death are gruesome. The victim is …
The inspirational word on the Inspire Me Thursday illustration website is “family”. Two women meet on the street. “Oh my goodness! How have you been, Mrs. Nolan? How are your sons?” “Well, my sons! Let me tell you! My son Christopher, you know, is a big-shot Hollywood director! Oh, yes! He directed that backward movie, …
This week, the challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “parade”. It has been made clear that I am a big fan of Disney theme parks. I’ve been to Walt Disney World in Florida and Disneyland in California many, many times. I have written about and illustrated many of my adventures in ol’ Walt’s entertainment …
