In the early 1920s, young Lee Nash developed a comedy vaudeville act and was soon joined by his childhood friend Morris Horowitz. Lee, now known by the stage name “Ted Healy”, told jokes onstage and was heckled by Morris, who was planted in the audience. Morris would then come up to the stage and engage Ted …
No one played the tramp like Gloria Grahame. After her 1944 film debut as trampy Sally Murfin in Blonde Fever, Gloria shot to stardom as trampy Violet in the Frank Capra holiday favorite It’s A Wonderful Life. She went on portray sluts, bad girls and tramps in a career that spanned five decades. With her pouty …
After appearing in bit parts in films throughout the late 1930s, Carole Landis made a huge splash as “Loana” in the 1940 prehistoric fantasy One Million BC. That film was a springboard for her career. Carole was cast in 22 films over the next eight years, mostly due to her secret affair with powerful producer …
This week’s challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “burning”. At 2 AM on July 2, 1951, Pansy Carpenter smelled something burning. She checked on the finicky water pump in her apartment building’s basement, since it had a tendency to overheat. Concerned for the safety of her tenants, she turned the pump off and …
Roger C. Carmel and Richard Deacon were mainstays of episodic television from the 1950’s through the early 1980’s. Roger was best known for his role as intergalactic criminal Harry Mudd in two episodes of the original Star Trek series. Roger made many one-shot guest appearances in TV sit-coms and dramas throughout his career, including memorable …
Continue reading ‘from my sketchbook: roger c. carmel and richard deacon’ »
My wife has celebrated 28 birthdays since we met. Last year, we enjoyed a wonderfully intimate concert by banjo impresario Tony Trischka at the elegant, historic Elkins Estate, around the corner from our house. Two years ago, we spent a wonderful birthday in New York City. We went to a huge street festival on Sixth Avenue, wandered around …
This week’s challenge word on Illustration Friday is “spooky”. (This is the third illustration I’ve done for this week’s word. HERE is the first and HERE is the second.) After a failed attempt at becoming an opera singer in the style of Paul Robeson, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins settled on playing piano and singing standard blues. …
Lindsay Lohan? Lightweight! Paris Hilton? Amateur! They can’t compare to Scotty Beckett. Scotty made his debut in the Our Gang comedies playing Spanky’s best friend for a little over a year until he left to star in feature films. He was replaced by Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer. From 1936 until the early 1950s, Scotty was one …
The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “transportation”. In 2001, after a buzz of preliminary publicity, a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle was introduced to the public. It was called the Segway. By 2006, approximately 23,500 had been sold. In December 2009, British billionaire Jimi Heselden bought the company Segway Inc. On September 26, 2010, …
Wallace Wood began his influential career in art as an apprentice under several of his own influences, Will Eisner and George Wunder, who had taken over the popular comic Terry and the Pirates from creator Milton Caniff. Wallace, a graduate of New York’s School of Visual Arts. soon moved on to famed horror comic publisher …
