IF: influence

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The Illustration Friday word of inspiration this week in “influence”.
I don't believe I remember writing that, Dr. Franklin
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”

The man who said that began his celebrated literary career as a printer, then on to the unlikely path of master riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. After a short and failed attempt at gold mining, he became a reporter. During his time as a reporter, he wrote the humorous story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.  The tale enjoyed widespread popularity and Samuel Clemens was on his way to becoming one of the greatest names in American literature. He adopted his nome de plume  while working on the riverboats. When a boat was about to enter water depths of two fathoms – safe for passage -the riverboatman would call “Mark Twain” signalling the mark of fathoms and twain for two.

Although he was a successful novelist and public speaker, gaining praise from peers and critics alike, he was a poor manager of money and an unwise investor. He eventually filed for bankruptcy. Later in life, he overcame his financial difficulty and paid his creditors, even-though his bankruptcy relieved him of that responsibility.

Mark Twain was born in 1835. For his entire life, he remarked that he came into the world in the year of Halley’s Comet and he would go out with it. He once said: “The Almighty has said, no doubt: ‘Now here are these two unaccountable freaks; they came in together, they must go out together.’” On April 21, 1910, he died of a heart attack, one day after Halley’s Comet reached it’s closest proximity to Earth since Mark Twain’s birth. He is buried in Elmyra, New York, under a headstone that measures twelve feet – two fathoms.

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DCS: marie mcdonald

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Oh Marie Oh Marie In your arms I'm longin' to be
Marie McDonald, daughter of a Ziegfeld girl, began modeling as a teenager. Her aspirations took her to Hollywood where she danced at nightclubs and sang with big bands, including a brief stint with Tommy Dorsey. She was soon signed to a contract with Universal Pictures and got her first credited role in Abbott & Costello’s 1942 comedy Pardon My Sarong.  The film tagged her with the nickname “The Body” (for obvious reasons), a name that followed Marie for her entire career. Marie was relegated to mostly low-budget “B” pictures, but she was a very popular pin-up girl during World War II, after her photo appeared in the US Army-published YANK  Magazine.

But, things got weird.

Marie was an alleged mistress of gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, a claim neither one acknowledged. She was married briefly to Richard Allford in 1940. It was the first of seven marriages for Marie. She married shoe magnate Harry Karl… twice. She and Harry adopted two children before giving birth to a daughter, after several miscarriages. During her second marriage to Harry, she claimed to have been kidnapped by two men who forced her from her home. She was found in her pajamas with a black eye and two missing dental caps. Subsequent investigations cast numerous doubts on her story. It was dismissed as just another in Marie’s on-going efforts at “headline-grabbing”. Harry thought she was nuts and the couple divorced again. Tabloids regularly reported on her romances (including affairs with Eddie Fisher and Michael Wilding, both of whom would eventually marry Elizabeth Taylor), her mysterious auto accidents and even an escape from a psychiatric hospital.

In 1957, Marie returned to music and recorded “The Body Sings” for RCA Records. She followed that with a popular nightclub act. She also made several appearances on Steve Allen’s and Red Skelton‘s variety shows. With renewed interest in her talents, she was cast opposite Jerry Lewis in 1958’s The Geisha Boy.  Marie ended her film career in 1963 with a role in the post-Hays Code sex farce Promises! Promises!  The film’s draw was multiple nude scenes featuring fellow tabloid darling Jayne Mansfield. Later in ’63, Marie was arrested and convicted of forging prescriptions for Percodan.

In early 1965, Marie launched a cosmetic business that proved unsuccessful. In October 1965, her husband Donald Taylor, the producer of Promises! Promises!,  found her dead with an empty Percodan bottle by her side. The overdose was ruled accidental. Marie was 42. Three months later, on New Year’s Day 1966, Donald committed suicide. Marie’s children, from her marriage to Harry Karl, went to live with Harry and his new wife, actress Debbie Reynolds (who was previously married to Eddie Fisher).

Hooray for Hollywood!

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from my sketchbook: michael wilding

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I can't stand up for falling down
After finishing school, Michael Wilding got a job in the art department of a London film studio. Despite his ability as an artist, he was recruited and groomed by the studio to be a movie star. With his dashing good looks and relaxed demeanor, he launched what would become a three-decade career in 1933. He starred in numerous British films including two of Alfred Hitchcock’s lesser-known efforts Under Capricorn and Stage Fright.

In 1952, Michael divorced his wife of fifteen years to marry Elizabeth Taylor, who was twenty years his junior. It was the second marriage for each. The marriage lasted five years and produced two children. The couple had an amicable split and remained friends after their divorce. Just after his divorce, he began a secretive affair with actress Marie McDonald, until he broke it off to remarry in 1958.

Michael accepted steady acting roles throughout the 60s. He was forced to cut back on his working schedule due to his life-long battle with epilepsy. In 1979, 66 year-old Michael was at his home in West Sussex, England, when an epileptic seizure caused him to fall down a flight of stairs. He died from head injuries sustained in the fall.

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from my sketchbook: peggie castle

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As you walk on by will you call my name?
In 1947, twenty-year old Virginia-born Peggie Blair was eating at a Beverly Hills restaurant when her striking good looks caught the attention of a talent scout. She began her whirlwind career in Hollywood, using the stage name “Peggie Castle” and started off appearing in a slew of uncredited roles. Peggie was perpetually cast as b-girls, gun molls and other unsavory characters. Her breakout role as the murderous Charlotte Manning in the big screen version of Mickey Spillane’s I, The Jury in 1953, didn’t stray from her usual typecast.

In the 50’s, Peggie found work in television Westerns and landed a regular stint on Lawman as saloon owner Lily Merrill. The show lasted four seasons and she received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame for her contributions to television. In 1964, she retired from acting, now married to her third husband, director/producer William McGarry.

Not content with her life and fleeting fame, Peggie found comfort in alcohol and her use and abuse of it increased. She died of cirrhosis of the liver in a small apartment on Hollywood Boulevard. She was 45 years old.

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IF: swell

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The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “swell”.
Gee I think you're swell and you really do me well. You're my pride and joy, et cetera
“Gee, Dad, as far as fathers go… you’re swell!”

Even as Dennis Mitchell was wreaking havoc in Mr. Wilson‘s petunia bed (no, that’s not  a euphemism), he loved his dad. And what was not to love?

Herbert Anderson was born in Oakland, California in 1917. At 22, he headed to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. After small, uncredited roles in a dozen or so films, he got his break in 1941’s Navy Blues  opposite Martha Raye. He followed that with the World War II epic Battleground  in which he adopted the screen name “Guy Anderson”. Herbert’s regular work continued at Warner Brothers Studios, where he appeared in numerous roles as newspaper men, naval officers, photographers and the occasional “good friend” of the main character. His role of Dr. Bird in the 1955 Broadway production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial  led to a reprise of the part in the film version with Humphrey Bogart. Herbert was the only cast member from the play chosen to do the movie.

The new medium of television offered Herbert more opportunities to play familiar “everyday” characters on sitcoms and Westerns. In 1959, he landed the role for which he would be forever remembered, good natured Henry Mitchell, father to Dennis the Menace. For four seasons and 144 episodes, Herbert, as Henry, puffed his pipe and presided over the household at 627 Elm Street. He passed level-headed judgement and extended unconditional love to his son… even when Dennis and pal Tommy were torturing the hell out of poor Mr. Wilson. He also exercised fair discipline when the situation called for it. Dennis was right. He was a swell dad.

When Dennis the Menace  was cancelled, Herbert found steady work in a number of television series, appearing in guest roles on My Three Sons, Batman, The Patty Duke Show, The Brady Bunch  and many others. He performed as the harried, onscreen manager alongside Herman’s Hermits in the 1966 Beatles rip-off Hold On. In 1994, after twelve years of retirement from the entertainment business, Herbert passed way at age 77 from complications following a stroke.

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from my sketchbook: nafisa joseph

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She went up the stairs/Stood up on the vanity chair/Tied her lamé belt around the chandelier/And went out kicking at the perfumed air.
Nafisa Joseph was born in the southern India city of Bangalore. With the help of a neighbor, Nafisa began a modeling career at the age of twelve. Her beauty caught the eye of Indian fashion designer Prasad Bidapa. With Bidapa’s direction and assistance, she entered the Miss India Universe pageant in 1997 and at nineteen years of age, became the contest’s youngest winner. She placed among the ten semifinalists in the subsequent Miss Universe Pageant.

Her popularity landed her a hosting position on MTV India’s House Full  for nearly five years. She also appeared in CATS,  India’s version of the American show Charlie’s Angels.  Nafisa became the editor of the Indian fashion magazine Gurlz.  In addition, she became a strong and vocal advocate for animal rights, campaigning diligently for PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and various other animal protection groups. She even wrote a weekly column called Nafisa for Animals  for the Bangalore edition of the Times of India.

In 2004, she met and fell in love with businessman Gautam Khanduja and plans were made to marry. Just prior to their wedding, Nafisa discovered that Gautam was already married and lied about his divorce. When questioned further, he refused to answer and could not produce official divorce documents he claimed to have. Nafisa immediately called off the upcoming ceremony and broke off the relationship. She was distraught and sought consolation with her family.

On July 29, 2004, Nafisa hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her home. She was 25.

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IF: imperfect

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The Illustration Friday challenge word this week is “imperfect”.
practically perfect in every way
In November 1960, CBS broadcast an episode of the science-fiction anthology series Twilight Zone  called “Eye of the Beholder” (renamed “A Private World of Darkness” in subsequent rebroadcasts). It was a morality tale that forced viewers to reassess their concept of “perfect” and “imperfect”. The episode involves the final healing stages of an operation to make a woman’s looks more acceptable to society’s standards of beauty. The woman, whose face was concealed by a full covering of gauze bandages, converses with her doctor, hopeful for a positive result. The doctor, nurses and various background staff are all shown in shadow, although the episode is shot in such a way that it is not a focal point. At the story’s climax, it is revealed why the actors were filmed in that manner.

Ironically, in a segment dealing with society’s judgment of imperfection, the bandaged patient Janet Tyler was played by actress Donna Douglas, two years away from her career-defining role as critter-loving hottie Elly May Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies.  However, Donna’s face wasn’t shown on camera until the final minutes of the episode. Janet Tyler’s sultry, resonant voice was provided by actress Maxine Stuart. The producers felt that Donna’s pronounced southern Louisiana drawl would not fit their character or the ominous tone of the story. While her pretty features were exactly what they were looking for, her voice was less than perfect.

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from my sketchbook: marion martin

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Blondes have more fun
Marion Martin was born in Philadelphia and grew up going to private schools and living an entitled Main Line life of as the daughter of a Bethlehem Steel executive. In 1929, her family’s fortune was wiped out in the stock market crash. Twenty year-old Marion pursued a career in show business to help her family’s financial situation. Florenz Ziegfeld signed her to replace famed exotic dancer Gypsy Rose Lee in the Ziegfeld Follies  on Broadway. Her popularity led her to Hollywood where, after a few small, uncredited roles, she got her big break in James Whale‘s desert island adventure Sinners in Paradise  in 1938. Marion starred alongside the top names in Hollywood, such as Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball and Clark Gable. She even had the back of her dress clipped out by Harpo Marx in the Marx Brothers’ 1941 retail romp The Big Store.  Although she found steady work throughout the 1930s and 40s, Marion was typecast as the one-dimensional brassy, buxom blond in countless films.

Not content with the roles she was offered, Marion retired from show business, became happily married and quietly devoted the rest of her life to charitable causes. Still expressing a desire to return to movies in the right role, Marion passed away in 1985 at the age of 76.

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IF: obsession

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This week’s Illustration Friday challenge word is “obsession”.
My fantasy has turned to madness and all my goodness has turned to badness.
Regular readers of my blog (all four of you) are already familiar with my obsession — the one aside  from drawing.

I love old movies, Hollywood scandals, obscure actors and actresses and stories of untimely demise. So, how do I satisfy all of those interests at one shot? I visit cemeteries, specifically the ones that are the eternal home to the famous, infamous and almost famous.

It all started on a trip to Cleveland to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After a full day of touring the museum (jammed with its share of tributes to famous dead people), my family and I ate dinner at the Cleveland branch of the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain. As is the case with touristy restaurants, the friendly waitress asked us the standard questions posed to out-of-towners —where we were from? how long are you in town? what have you visited? Then she recommended an unusual spot for sightseeing – Lake View Cemetery. She told us that it is the final resting place of James A. Garfield, 20th president of the United States and one of eight presidents from Ohio. We finished our dinner, paid and headed back to our hotel – all the while intrigued at the thought of visiting a cemetery.

On our way home to Philadelphia, we stopped at Lake View. Without a map or guidance of any kind, we blindly drove the narrow, winding roads through the grassy expanses of headstones. Garfield’s grave is housed in a huge terra cotta decorated structure that stands tall above the grounds. In addition, Lake View is home to John D. Rockefeller, G-Man Eliot Ness and Ray Chapman, the only baseball player killed as a result of an injury received during a game. It was very cool.

And so it began, my death obsession became even more intensified.

You can see where my obsession has brought me (with my poor family, in tow) at these links:

Enjoy! I know I did.

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from my sketchbook: charles mcgraw

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splish spliash I was taking a bath
Charles McGraw made a career as a B-move leading man. With his hulking build, gravelly voice and craggy looks, he starred as countless military men and law enforcement officers, and the occasional gangster, in over 140 movies and television shows from the early 40s until the mid-70s. Although mostly cast in film noir,  he played Marcellus the gladiator trainer in Spartacus  in 1960, a gruff fisherman in Hitchcock’s The Birds  in 1963 and took a deadpan comedic turn as Spencer Tracy’s assisting officer in the all-star It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World  in 1966. Charles also attempted to fill Humphrey Bogart’s shoes in a television series based on the 1942 classic Casablanca. The show lasted ten episodes.

In 1980, 66 year-old Charles died when he slipped in his shower and crashed through the glass shower door. He had bled to death by the time he was discovered.

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