In the Valley of Death

Kingston Trio: Both Eras

I was a big fan of the Kingston Trio, who first came to prominence when I was in high school and were the front runners of the Folk Era in popular music. Although Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds and Bob Shane began singing together in California bars, the formal origin of the group began as Dave Guard, Nick Reynolds, Joe Gannon and Barbara Bogue performing as Dave Guard and the Calypsonians. Nick Reynolds left shortly after and was replaced by Don McArthur and the group became known as The Kingston Quartet. When a publicist took an interest in the group, he suggested they get rid of the bass player and Gannon was let go. Barbara quit when that happened. But then both Shane and Reynolds came back and they became The Kingston Trio and an album was released under that name. "Tom Dooley", a song on that album was released as a single, went to the Billboard Top Ten and sold three millions copies. This was in July 1958.

In 1961, Dave Guard wanted to take the group in a different direction. Bob and Nick weren't happy with the idea and the group broke up. Shane and Reynolds continued as The Kingston Trio with Jon Stewart replacing Guard. They continued to have hits and popular albums for the next six years.

Dave Guard formed a new group called Dave Guard & the Whiskeyhill Singers, which consisted of Guard, Judy Henske, Cyrus Faryar and Dave Wheat. They did not do so well.

I guess my portrait of the Trio old and new is showing Dave Guard thupping his head saying, "what have I done?"

Actor: George C. Scott

H. P. Lovecraft's "Lurking Fear"

Portrait of a Young Man

Strolling the Garden and Where's Lemmo

There are new blossoms in the Garden today, July 6. Also here is a help on finding Lemmo in all those people.

Comedians of my Youth: Bob Hope

Comedians of my Youth: Red Skelton as Red Skelton

As a boy I was very fond of the Red Skelton Show. It was live in those days and one never knew what might happen. Skelton could go off joking on anything and he walked a thin line between what was acceptable in the highly censored and naive TV of the 'fifties. But it wasn't just the surprise moments and not just his pantomime and clownishness, things even a young child could grasp and giggle at, it was the warmth and gentleness that came from this man. Despite the mischief often in his eyes and the devil in his dimpled grin, he seemed shy and sometimes almost embarrassed that people would applaud him. I recall each December he would do a Freddy the Freeloader skit based on an O. Henry short story about a down and out man trying to get himself arrested so he has a warm place to spend Christmas. Of course, there was a twist, this being O. Henry, but the nature of the sketch encapsulated the humor amd humanity of Red.

Where's Waldo...er...LEMMO?

Let's have a little fun. Can you find me?



This is the front and back cover of the WTC 1989 Annual Report. The company decided to dedicate their annual report to the employees that year. We were requested to report (after work, of course) to the University of Delaware Stadium for a photo shoot. You will notice the pinched faces. We were facing the late afternoon July sun. The photographer was up at the top of the opposite grandstand. It was brutally hot and took forever to get everyone placed and the picture snapped. A few people did faint.



1,400 plus of the 1,882 staff members of WTC showed up and are on the cover. They provided a large spread of picnic foods under the grandstand for us. I just wanted to get home and skipped the feast. This was a good choice. Quite a number of people got food poisoning from the potato salad, which had been sitting out in that high temperature for hours.



I weighted more in 1989 and had no beard, just thinning gray hair. I was not in the center of the stands. Those people ended up on the binding of the report and are not in the two pictures above. It was actually one continuous photograph, but I had to scan it in parts.

The Swimmer 1968

My interpretation of the near-climactic moment of the story. One of my all time favorites. I have both read the short story and seen the movie several times. The promo tagline for the film (below) doesn't quite capture the depth and essence of the story, despite its hyperbole.

The famed John Cheever short story appeared in the New Yorker and people talked. Now there will be talk again. When you sense this man's vibrations and share his colossal hang-up . . . will you see someone you know, or love? When you feel the body-blow power of his broken dreams, will it reach you deep inside, where it hurts? When you talk about "The Swimmer" will you talk about yourself?

President Dwight David Eisenhower

Laughing Man 1963

Judy When it Wasn't Oz Anymore Either

Bobby Darin 1965

Beatles in Simple Style

Deliberance 1958

Jean O'Heaney 1961

Comedians of my Youth: ???

I can't not recall who this is. It was a comedian popular in the early 1960s, I am certain, but no name comes to mind with the face. Take a guess.

Comedians of my Youth: Garry Moore

Strictly speaking, I suppose Garry Moore wasn't a comedian. He was a TV personality. he hosted game shows and his own afternoon show ala Art Linkletter. he had a successful prime time variety show for several years and he introduced Carol Burnett to the public.

Comedians of my Youth: Jonathan Winters and some comments

Jonathan Winters was one of my favorite comics. He was overweight with a rubbery face and a quick and innovative wit. I have read he was an inspiration to Robin Williams. He was someone who could be handed a broom and sweep the audience away with a stream-of-consciousness improvisation that went from one application of a broom to another. He was a true comic genius. His personal life was not always so funny and he had many troubles.

Another genius in those days that I never missed watching was Ernie Kovaks. He died young in a car crash. These two guys were different than the other comedians of the time, doing the unexpected, experimenting, going out on a thin limb that they sometimes sawed off behind them, but they were great.

Comedians of my Youth: Red Skelton as "Clem Kiddlehopper"

    

Comedians of my Youth: Sid Caesar

Comedians of my Youth: Jackie Gleason

Comedians of my Youth: Dick Van Dyke

Pieta

Upper Darby Class of 1959

Children - American 1963

by Lem

Top to Bottom, OJR 1959

High School can be a place of glory for some and for others a place of torment. Often image rules and good looks trumps brains. This caricature was of two classmates from my senior year, both of whose first names began with R. Beyond that commonality, they may as well have come from different planets.

R.-left was considered a heart-throb by the girls, R-right was ignored by the girls. The one strutted through the hallways with a smile and wavy hair; the other slunk along with a bad haircut and never smiled.

Heart-throbs age and the wavy hair goes out to sea. Here is R-left, 35 years out of high school at a class reunion. He still has the smile.


I have no later image of R-right. He never came to any class reunions. I hope he was successful after high school. I hope he sometimes smiles.

Sinking in the Waves or Oil Slick, OJR 1959

Judge Owen J. Roberts 1959

I graduated from Owen J. Roberts High School in 1959. This was my caricature of the school's namesake.

The Three Faces of Bob Dylan

I met a Lady Who Sang the Blues Janis