In 1941, Agnes Moorehead made her impressive debut as a member of Orson Welles‘ Mercury Players in the masterpiece Citizen Kane. She began a thirty-plus year career than gained her admiration and critical acclaim, as well as four Academy Award nominations. Agnes appeared in 58 films before she signed on for the role as Samantha …
The current illustration challenge on the Monday Artday website is “monkey”. The early morning campfire gathering that is the current “Today” show came from very humble beginnings. “Today”, the brainchild of then NBC vice-president Pat Weaver (actress Sigourney‘s father), made its debut on January 14, 1952. Weaver hand-picked Dave Garroway, a television journalist who hosted a …
In 1980, a little band from Akron, Ohio called The Waitresses released the catchy novelty song “I Know What Boys Like” to relatively no recognition. The song was re-released in 1982 as the first single from the Waitresses’ debut Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful. This time, the song reached number 62 on Billboard Magazine’s Top 100. In …
This week’s Illustration Friday‘s challenge word is “brave”. John Sedgwick graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1837. He entered the artillery as a lieutenant and fought uneventfully in the Seminole Wars and the Mexican-American War. However, upon his return from Mexico and he entered the U.S. Cavalry as a major. Sedgwick …
It’s hard to believe that an entire generation missed out on the humor of Paul Lynde. Paul Lynde started his career as a stand-up comic, even recording a comedy album. He moved to Broadway, where he appeared in his most famous role as Harry McAfee, the concerned but overprotective father of Kim in Bye Bye …
In 1958, when nine-year old Connie Mierzwiak was belting out Brenda Lee songs, she actually had designs on kicking rock and roll’s ass. A little girl with a giant voice, she was signed to a recording contract and released her first album in 1971 under the name Ruby Jones. She performed regularly in her native Toledo, …
This week’s challenge word on the Illustration Friday website is “perspective”. Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-surrealistic painter and an early influence on Salvador Dalí. His works from the early twentieth century were jumbled assemblages of shapes and arches and empty buildings and mannequins in skewed perspective and random placement. As his career progressed, he adopted …
On this date, February 21, in 1958, Gerald Holtom was commissioned to design a logo for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament’ upcoming march in London against nuclear war. The march was scheduled for Easter 1958, a little over a month away. Holtom, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, combined the semaphore sign for “N” …
The Monday Artday current challenge is “caricature”. I’ll be honest, I went the easy route and drew two famous people who are pretty easy to caricature (because they are almost caricatures themselves), George Burns and Jack Benny. Despite the on-stage jabs at each other, George Burns and Jack Benny were the best of friends. George …
Remember Saturday afternoon kiddie matinees at the movies? Thank K. Gordon Murray. Murray, an entrepreneur as early as his teen years, set up a makeshift bingo game in one of his funeral director father’s cemetery tents. He took his game on the road with a carnival, eventually becoming the traveling show’s manager. In the late …
