from my sketchbook: joseph kearns

Character actor Joseph Kearns began his career in the heyday of radio in the unlikely role of a pipe organ player. He soon was performing regularly on radio programs like I Married Joan, December Bride, Burns and Allen, Sam Spade and many others. He was the mysterious announcer “The Man in Black” on the radio …

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from my sketchbook: bridgette andersen

Seven year-old Bridgette Andersen stole moviegoer’s hearts in her starring role as the title character in 1982’s Savannah Smiles. She followed that with the horror anthology film Nightmares  in 1983, guest roles on television series like Family Ties, Remington Steel, Fantasy Island,  and a TV movie playing a young Mae West. Despite a part in …

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from my sketchbook: roger c. carmel and richard deacon

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 …

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from my sketchbook: wallace wood

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 …

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IF: atmosphere

This week’s Illustration Friday word is “atmosphere”. “Oh, oh, oh! Let’s go fly a kite. Up to the highest height! Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring. Up through the atmosphere, Up where the air is clear, Oh, let’s go fly a kite!”  — Mary Poppins (1964) Beginning around 1938, a small Hollywood …

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IF: caged

This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “caged”. Walt Disney’s team of Imagineers”, the idea men behind the theme park attractions, conceived a pirate adventure in 1954, a year before Disneyland opened. It was to be a walk-thorough wax museum depicting historical scenes of real pirates. Disney artist (and creator of Tinkerbell) Marc Davis got …

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from my sketchbook: wally cox

Wally Cox hated the role that made him famous. After beginning his career as a stand-up comedian, he starred for three seasons as mild-mannered science teacher Robinson Peepers in “Mr. Peepers”, an early sitcom that co-starred Tony Randall, Jack Warden and Marion Lorne. In interviews, Wally constantly argued unsuccessfully that he was nothing like the shy and timid character he …

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