Here, hundreds of researchers, businesses and progressive home- owners will be living and working side-by-side, along with great food, drink and entertainment venues. A collection of stunning public spaces for everyone, of all ages, to use.

Everyone here is united by one purpose: to help families, communities and cities around the world to live healthier, longer, smarter and easier lives. In short, to live better. In the process, our businesses will continue to grow, employ more local people and help ensure Newcastle excels.

 

The Biosphere

The Biosphere is home to an inspiring collection of tenants within tech, medicine and healthcare. It offers regional facilities with a global vision a buzzing space of collaboration and innovation.

 

The Biosphere includes commercial laboratories, conference space, Grade A offices and support services. It is an ideal home for ambitious companies in life sciences, healthcare and biotechnology.

 

The Biosphere is the first of its kind for Newcastle. It is now an important part of the region's burgeoning life sciences sector. The Biosphere is a specialist facility tailored to the commercialisation of life science and innovation, research and development in the North-East.

 

Within an hour's jounrey of The Biosphere are all the partners needed to undertake full bench-to-bedside development, from discovering molecules and clinical trials to manufacturing in pharmaceutical plants.

 

"The range and quality of the science happening in The Biosphere is remarkable and I have no doubt that more and more academics and entrepreneurs will choose Newcastle as a base to commercialise their products and new discoveries." Dr. Fiona Marshall, Global Head of Neuroscience Discovery, MSD

 

Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a member of the Russell Group, an association of research-intensive UK universities.

 

The university finds its roots in the School of Medicine and Surgery (later the College of Medicine), established in 1834, and the College of Physical Science (later renamed Armstrong College), founded in 1871. These two colleges came to form the larger division of the federal University of Durham, with the Durham Colleges forming the other. The Newcastle colleges merged to form King's College in 1937. In 1963, following an Act of Parliament, King's College became the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

 

The university subdivides into three faculties: the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Faculty of Medical Sciences; and the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering. The university offers around 175 full-time undergraduate degree programmes in a wide range of subject areas spanning arts, sciences, engineering and medicine, together with approximately 340 postgraduate taught and research programmes across a range of disciplines.[6] The annual income of the institution for 2022–23 was £592.4 million of which £119.3 million was from research grants and contracts, with an expenditure of £558 million.

 

History

Durham University § Colleges in Newcastle

The establishment of a university in Newcastle upon Tyne was first proposed in 1831 by Thomas Greenhow in a lecture to the Literary and Philosophical Society. In 1832 a group of local medics – physicians George Fife (teaching materia medica and therapeutics) and Samuel Knott (teaching theory and practice of medicine), and surgeons John Fife (teaching surgery), Alexander Fraser (teaching anatomy and physiology) and Henry Glassford Potter (teaching chemistry) – started offering medical lectures in Bell's Court to supplement the apprenticeship system (a fourth surgeon, Duncan McAllum, is mentioned by some sources among the founders, but was not included in the prospectus). The first session started on 1 October 1832 with eight or nine students, including John Snow, then apprenticed to a local surgeon-apothecary, the opening lecture being delivered by John Fife. In 1834 the lectures and practical demonstrations moved to the Hall of the Company of Barber Surgeons to accommodate the growing number of students, and the School of Medicine and Surgery was formally established on 1 October 1834.

 

On 25 June 1851, following a dispute among the teaching staff, the school was formally dissolved and the lecturers split into two rival institutions. The majority formed the Newcastle College of Medicine, and the others established themselves as the Newcastle upon Tyne College of Medicine and Practical Science with competing lecture courses. In July 1851 the majority college was recognised by the Society of Apothecaries and in October by the Royal College of Surgeons of England and in January 1852 was approved by the University of London to submit its students for London medical degree examinations. Later in 1852, the majority college was formally linked to the University of Durham, becoming the "Newcastle-upon-Tyne College of Medicine in connection with the University of Durham". The college awarded its first 'Licence in Medicine' (LicMed) under the auspices of the University of Durham in 1856, with external examiners from Oxford and London, becoming the first medical examining body on the United Kingdom to institute practical examinations alongside written and viva voce examinations. The two colleges amalgamated in 1857, with the first session of the unified college opening on 3 October that year. In 1861 the degree of Master of Surgery was introduced, allowing for the double qualification of Licence of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery, along with the degrees of Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine, both of which required residence in Durham. In 1870 the college was brought into closer connection with the university, becoming the "Durham University College of Medicine" with the Reader in Medicine becoming the Professor of Medicine, the college gaining a representative on the university's senate, and residence at the college henceforth counting as residence in the university towards degrees in medicine and surgery, removing the need for students to spend a period of residence in Durham before they could receive the higher degrees.

 

Attempts to realise a place for the teaching of sciences in the city were finally met with the foundation of the College of Physical Science in 1871. The college offered instruction in mathematics, physics, chemistry and geology to meet the growing needs of the mining industry, becoming the "Durham College of Physical Science" in 1883 and then renamed after William George Armstrong as Armstrong College in 1904. Both of these institutions were part of the University of Durham, which became a federal university under the Durham University Act 1908 with two divisions in Durham and Newcastle. By 1908, the Newcastle division was teaching a full range of subjects in the Faculties of Medicine, Arts, and Science, which also included agriculture and engineering.

 

Throughout the early 20th century, the medical and science colleges outpaced the growth of their Durham counterparts. Following tensions between the two Newcastle colleges in the early 1930s, a Royal Commission in 1934 recommended the merger of the two colleges to form "King's College, Durham"; that was effected by the Durham University Act 1937. Further growth of both division of the federal university led to tensions within the structure and a feeling that it was too large to manage as a single body. On 1 August 1963 the Universities of Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne Act 1963 separated the two thus creating the "University of Newcastle upon Tyne". As the successor of King's College, Durham, the university at its founding in 1963, adopted the coat of arms originally granted to the Council of King's College in 1937.

 

Above the portico of the Students' Union building are bas-relief carvings of the arms and mottoes of the University of Durham, Armstrong College and Durham University College of Medicine, the predecessor parts of Newcastle University. While a Latin motto, mens agitat molem (mind moves matter) appears in the Students' Union building, the university itself does not have an official motto.

 

Campus and location

The university occupies a campus site close to Haymarket in central Newcastle upon Tyne. It is located to the northwest of the city centre between the open spaces of Leazes Park and the Town Moor; the university medical school and Royal Victoria Infirmary are adjacent to the west.

 

The Armstrong building is the oldest building on the campus and is the site of the original Armstrong College. The building was constructed in three stages; the north east wing was completed first at a cost of £18,000 and opened by Princess Louise on 5 November 1888. The south-east wing, which includes the Jubilee Tower, and south-west wings were opened in 1894. The Jubilee Tower was built with surplus funds raised from an Exhibition to mark Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887. The north-west front, forming the main entrance, was completed in 1906 and features two stone figures to represent science and the arts. Much of the later construction work was financed by Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell, the metallurgist and former Lord Mayor of Newcastle, after whom the main tower is named. In 1906 it was opened by King Edward VII.

 

The building contains the King's Hall, which serves as the university's chief hall for ceremonial purposes where Congregation ceremonies are held. It can contain 500 seats. King Edward VII gave permission to call the Great Hall, King's Hall. During the First World War, the building was requisitioned by the War Office to create the first Northern General Hospital, a facility for the Royal Army Medical Corps to treat military casualties. Graduation photographs are often taken in the University Quadrangle, next to the Armstrong building. In 1949 the Quadrangle was turned into a formal garden in memory of members of Newcastle University who gave their lives in the two World Wars. In 2017, a statue of Martin Luther King Jr. was erected in the inner courtyard of the Armstrong Building, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his honorary degree from the university.

 

The Bruce Building is a former brewery, constructed between 1896 and 1900 on the site of the Hotspur Hotel, and designed by the architect Joseph Oswald as the new premises of Newcastle Breweries Limited. The university occupied the building from the 1950s, but, having been empty for some time, the building was refurbished in 2016 to become residential and office space.

 

The Devonshire Building, opened in 2004, incorporates in an energy efficient design. It uses photovoltaic cells to help to power motorised shades that control the temperature of the building and geothermal heating coils. Its architects won awards in the Hadrian awards and the RICS Building of the Year Award 2004. The university won a Green Gown award for its construction.

 

Plans for additions and improvements to the campus were made public in March 2008 and completed in 2010 at a cost of £200 million. They included a redevelopment of the south-east (Haymarket) façade with a five-storey King's Gate administration building as well as new student accommodation. Two additional buildings for the school of medicine were also built. September 2012 saw the completion of the new buildings and facilities for INTO Newcastle University on the university campus. The main building provides 18 new teaching rooms, a Learning Resource Centre, a lecture theatre, science lab, administrative and academic offices and restaurant.

 

The Philip Robinson Library is the main university library and is named after a bookseller in the city and benefactor to the library. The Walton Library specialises in services for the Faculty of Medical Sciences in the Medical School. It is named after Lord Walton of Detchant, former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Professor of Neurology. The library has a relationship with the Northern region of the NHS allowing their staff to use the library for research and study. The Law Library specialises in resources relating to law, and the Marjorie Robinson Library Rooms offers additional study spaces and computers. Together, these house over one million books and 500,000 electronic resources. Some schools within the university, such as the School of Modern Languages, also have their own smaller libraries with smaller highly specialised collections.

 

In addition to the city centre campus there are buildings such as the Dove Marine Laboratory located on Cullercoats Bay, and Cockle Park Farm in Northumberland.

 

International

In September 2008, the university's first overseas branch was opened in Singapore, a Marine International campus called, NUMI Singapore. This later expanded beyond marine subjects and became Newcastle University Singapore, largely through becoming an Overseas University Partner of Singapore Institute of Technology.

 

In 2011, the university's Medical School opened an international branch campus in Iskandar Puteri, Johor, Malaysia, namely Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia.

 

Student accommodation

Newcastle University has many catered and non-catered halls of residence available to first-year students, located around the city of Newcastle. Popular Newcastle areas for private student houses and flats off campus include Jesmond, Heaton, Sandyford, Shieldfield, South Shields and Spital Tongues.

 

Henderson Hall was used as a hall of residence until a fire destroyed it in 2023.

 

St Mary's College in Fenham, one of the halls of residence, was formerly St Mary's College of Education, a teacher training college.

 

Organisation and governance

The current Chancellor is the British poet and artist Imtiaz Dharker. She assumed the position of Chancellor on 1 January 2020. The vice-chancellor is Chris Day, a hepatologist and former pro-vice-chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

 

The university has an enrolment of some 16,000 undergraduate and 5,600 postgraduate students. Teaching and research are delivered in 19 academic schools, 13 research institutes and 38 research centres, spread across three Faculties: the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; the Faculty of Medical Sciences; and the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering. The university offers around 175 full-time undergraduate degree programmes in a wide range of subject areas spanning arts, sciences, engineering and medicine, together with approximately 340 postgraduate taught and research programmes across a range of disciplines.

 

It holds a series of public lectures called 'Insights' each year in the Curtis Auditorium in the Herschel Building. Many of the university's partnerships with companies, like Red Hat, are housed in the Herschel Annex.

 

Chancellors and vice-chancellors

For heads of the predecessor colleges, see Colleges of Durham University § Colleges in Newcastle.

Chancellors

Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland (1963–1988)

Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley (1988–1999)

Chris Patten (1999–2009)

Liam Donaldson (2009–2019)

Imtiaz Dharker (2020–)

Vice-chancellors

Charles Bosanquet (1963–1968)

Henry Miller (1968–1976)

Ewan Stafford Page (1976–1978, acting)

Laurence Martin (1978–1990)

Duncan Murchison (1991, acting)

James Wright (1992–2000)

Christopher Edwards (2001–2007)

Chris Brink (2007–2016)

Chris Day (2017–present)

Civic responsibility

 

The university Quadrangle

The university describes itself as a civic university, with a role to play in society by bringing its research to bear on issues faced by communities (local, national or international).

 

In 2012, the university opened the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal to address issues of social and economic change, representing the research-led academic schools across the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences[45] and the Business School.

 

Mark Shucksmith was Director of the Newcastle Institute for Social Renewal (NISR) at Newcastle University, where he is also Professor of Planning.

 

In 2006, the university was granted fair trade status and from January 2007 it became a smoke-free campus.

 

The university has also been actively involved with several of the region's museums for many years. The Great North Museum: Hancock originally opened in 1884 and is often a venue for the university's events programme.

 

Faculties and schools

Teaching schools within the university are based within three faculties. Each faculty is led by a Provost/Pro-vice-chancellor and a team of Deans with specific responsibilities.

 

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape

School of Arts and Cultures

Newcastle University Business School

Combined Honours Centre

School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences

School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics

School of Geography, Politics and Sociology

School of History, Classics and Archaeology

Newcastle Law School

School of Modern Languages

Faculty of Medical Sciences

School of Biomedical Sciences

School of Dental Sciences

School of Medical Education

School of Pharmacy

School of Psychology

Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology (CBCB)

Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering

School of Computing

School of Engineering

School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics

School of Natural and Environmental Sciences

Business School

 

Newcastle University Business School

As early as the 1900/1 academic year, there was teaching in economics (political economy, as it was then known) at Newcastle, making Economics the oldest department in the School. The Economics Department is currently headed by the Sir David Dale Chair. Among the eminent economists having served in the Department (both as holders of the Sir David Dale Chair) are Harry Mainwaring Hallsworth and Stanley Dennison.

 

Newcastle University Business School is a triple accredited business school, with accreditation by the three major accreditation bodies: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS.

 

In 2002, Newcastle University Business School established the Business Accounting and Finance or 'Flying Start' degree in association with the ICAEW and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The course offers an accelerated route towards the ACA Chartered Accountancy qualification and is the Business School's Flagship programme.

 

In 2011 the business school opened their new building built on the former Scottish and Newcastle brewery site next to St James' Park. This building was officially opened on 19 March 2012 by Lord Burns.

 

The business school operated a central London campus from 2014 to 2021, in partnership with INTO University Partnerships until 2020.

 

Medical School

The BMC Medicine journal reported in 2008 that medical graduates from Oxford, Cambridge and Newcastle performed better in postgraduate tests than any other medical school in the UK.

 

In 2008 the Medical School announced that they were expanding their campus to Malaysia.

 

The Royal Victoria Infirmary has always had close links with the Faculty of Medical Sciences as a major teaching hospital.

 

School of Modern Languages

The School of Modern Languages consists of five sections: East Asian (which includes Japanese and Chinese); French; German; Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies; and Translating & Interpreting Studies. Six languages are taught from beginner's level to full degree level ‒ Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese ‒ and beginner's courses in Catalan, Dutch, Italian and Quechua are also available. Beyond the learning of the languages themselves, Newcastle also places a great deal of emphasis on study and experience of the cultures of the countries where the languages taught are spoken. The School of Modern Languages hosts North East England's only branches of two internationally important institutes: the Camões Institute, a language institute for Portuguese, and the Confucius Institute, a language and cultural institute for Chinese.

 

The teaching of modern foreign languages at Newcastle predates the creation of Newcastle University itself, as in 1911 Armstrong College in Newcastle installed Albert George Latham, its first professor of modern languages.

 

The School of Modern Languages at Newcastle is the lead institution in the North East Routes into Languages Consortium and, together with the Durham University, Northumbria University, the University of Sunderland, the Teesside University and a network of schools, undertakes work activities of discovery of languages for the 9 to 13 years pupils. This implies having festivals, Q&A sessions, language tasters, or quizzes organised, as well as a web learning work aiming at constructing a web portal to link language learners across the region.

 

Newcastle Law School

Newcastle Law School is the longest established law school in the north-east of England when law was taught at the university's predecessor college before it became independent from Durham University. It has a number of recognised international and national experts in a variety of areas of legal scholarship ranging from Common and Chancery law, to International and European law, as well as contextual, socio-legal and theoretical legal studies.

 

The Law School occupies four specially adapted late-Victorian town houses. The Staff Offices, the Alumni Lecture Theatre and seminar rooms as well as the Law Library are all located within the School buildings.

 

School of Computing

The School of Computing was ranked in the Times Higher Education world Top 100. Research areas include Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and ubiquitous computing, secure and resilient systems, synthetic biology, scalable computing (high performance systems, data science, machine learning and data visualization), and advanced modelling. The school led the formation of the National Innovation Centre for Data. Innovative teaching in the School was recognised in 2017 with the award of a National Teaching Fellowship.

 

Cavitation tunnel

Newcastle University has the second largest cavitation tunnel in the UK. Founded in 1950, and based in the Marine Science and Technology Department, the Emerson Cavitation Tunnel is used as a test basin for propellers, water turbines, underwater coatings and interaction of propellers with ice. The Emerson Cavitation Tunnel was recently relocated to a new facility in Blyth.

 

Museums and galleries

The university is associated with a number of the region's museums and galleries, including the Great North Museum project, which is primarily based at the world-renowned Hancock Museum. The Great North Museum: Hancock also contains the collections from two of the university's former museums, the Shefton Museum and the Museum of Antiquities, both now closed. The university's Hatton Gallery is also a part of the Great North Museum project, and remains within the Fine Art Building.

 

Academic profile

Reputation and rankings

Rankings

National rankings

Complete (2024)30

Guardian (2024)67

Times / Sunday Times (2024)37

Global rankings

ARWU (2023)201–300

QS (2024)110

THE (2024)168=

 

Newcastle University's national league table performance over the past ten years

The university is a member of the Russell Group of the UK's research-intensive universities. It is ranked in the top 200 of most world rankings, and in the top 40 of most UK rankings. As of 2023, it is ranked 110th globally by QS, 292nd by Leiden, 139th by Times Higher Education and 201st–300th by the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Nationally, it is ranked joint 33rd by the Times/Sunday Times Good University Guide, 30th by the Complete University Guide[68] and joint 63rd by the Guardian.

 

Admissions

UCAS Admission Statistics 20222021202020192018

Application 33,73532,40034,55031,96533,785

Accepte 6,7556,2556,5806,4456,465

Applications/Accepted Ratio 5.05.25.35.05.2

Offer Rate (%78.178.080.279.280.0)

Average Entry Tariff—151148144152

Main scheme applications, International and UK

UK domiciled applicants

HESA Student Body Composition

In terms of average UCAS points of entrants, Newcastle ranked joint 19th in Britain in 2014. In 2015, the university gave offers of admission to 92.1% of its applicants, the highest amongst the Russell Group.

 

25.1% of Newcastle's undergraduates are privately educated, the thirteenth highest proportion amongst mainstream British universities. In the 2016–17 academic year, the university had a domicile breakdown of 74:5:21 of UK:EU:non-EU students respectively with a female to male ratio of 51:49.

 

Research

Newcastle is a member of the Russell Group of 24 research-intensive universities. In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF), which assesses the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, Newcastle is ranked joint 33rd by GPA (along with the University of Strathclyde and the University of Sussex) and 15th for research power (the grade point average score of a university, multiplied by the full-time equivalent number of researchers submitted).

 

Student life

Newcastle University Students' Union (NUSU), known as the Union Society until a 2012 rebranding, includes student-run sports clubs and societies.

 

The Union building was built in 1924 following a generous gift from an anonymous donor, who is now believed to have been Sir Cecil Cochrane, a major benefactor to the university.[87] It is built in the neo-Jacobean style and was designed by the local architect Robert Burns Dick. It was opened on 22 October 1925 by the Rt. Hon. Lord Eustace Percy, who later served as Rector of King's College from 1937 to 1952. It is a Grade II listed building. In 2010 the university donated £8 million towards a redevelopment project for the Union Building.

 

The Students' Union is run by seven paid sabbatical officers, including a Welfare and Equality Officer, and ten part-time unpaid officer positions. The former leader of the Liberal Democrats Tim Farron was President of NUSU in 1991–1992. The Students' Union also employs around 300 people in ancillary roles including bar staff and entertainment organisers.

 

The Courier is a weekly student newspaper. Established in 1948, the current weekly readership is around 12,000, most of whom are students at the university. The Courier has won The Guardian's Student Publication of the Year award twice in a row, in 2012 and 2013. It is published every Monday during term time.

 

Newcastle Student Radio is a student radio station based in the university. It produces shows on music, news, talk and sport and aims to cater for a wide range of musical tastes.

 

NUTV, known as TCTV from 2010 to 2017, is student television channel, first established in 2007. It produces live and on-demand content with coverage of events, as well as student-made programmes and shows.

 

Student exchange

Newcastle University has signed over 100 agreements with foreign universities allowing for student exchange to take place reciprocally.

 

Sport

Newcastle is one of the leading universities for sport in the UK and is consistently ranked within the top 12 out of 152 higher education institutions in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) rankings. More than 50 student-led sports clubs are supported through a team of professional staff and a network of indoor and outdoor sports facilities based over four sites. The university have a strong rugby history and were the winners of the Northumberland Senior Cup in 1965.

 

The university enjoys a friendly sporting rivalry with local universities. The Stan Calvert Cup was held between 1994 and 2018 by major sports teams from Newcastle and Northumbria University. The Boat Race of the North has also taken place between the rowing clubs of Newcastle and Durham University.

 

As of 2023, Newcastle University F.C. compete in men's senior football in the Northern League Division Two.

 

The university's Cochrane Park sports facility was a training venue for the teams playing football games at St James' Park for the 2012 London Olympics.

 

A

Ali Mohamed Shein, 7th President of Zanzibar

Richard Adams - fairtrade businessman

Kate Adie - journalist

Yasmin Ahmad - Malaysian film director, writer and scriptwriter

Prince Adewale Aladesanmi - Nigerian prince and businessman

Jane Alexander - Bishop

Theodosios Alexander (BSc Marine Engineering 1981) - Dean, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology of Saint Louis University

William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong - industrialist; in 1871 founded College of Physical Science, an early part of the University

Roy Ascott - new media artist

Dennis Assanis - President, University of Delaware

Neil Astley - publisher, editor and writer

Rodney Atkinson - eurosceptic conservative academic

Rowan Atkinson - comedian and actor

Kane Avellano - Guinness World Record for youngest person to circumnavigate the world by motorcycle (solo and unsupported) at the age of 23 in 2017

B

Bruce Babbitt - U.S. politician; 16th Governor of Arizona (1978–1987); 47th United States Secretary of the Interior (1993–2001); Democrat

James Baddiley - biochemist, based at Newcastle University 1954–1983; the Baddiley-Clark building is named in part after him

Tunde Baiyewu - member of the Lighthouse Family

John C. A. Barrett - clergyman

G. W. S. Barrow - historian

Neil Bartlett - chemist, creation of the first noble gas compounds (BSc and PhD at King's College, University of Durham, later Newcastle University)

Sue Beardsmore - television presenter

Alan Beith - politician

Jean Benedetti - biographer, translator, director and dramatist

Phil Bennion - politician

Catherine Bertola - contemporary painter

Simon Best - Captain of the Ulster Rugby team; Prop for the Ireland Team

Andy Bird - CEO of Disney International

Rory Jonathan Courtenay Boyle, Viscount Dungarvan - heir apparent to the earldom of Cork

David Bradley - science writer

Mike Brearley - professional cricketer, formerly a lecturer in philosophy at the university (1968–1971)

Constance Briscoe - one of the first black women to sit as a judge in the UK; author of the best-selling autobiography Ugly; found guilty in May 2014 on three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice; jailed for 16 months

Steve Brooks - entomologist; attained BSc in Zoology and MSc in Public Health Engineering from Newcastle University in 1976 and 1977 respectively

Thom Brooks - academic, columnist

Gavin Brown - academic

Vicki Bruce - psychologist

Basil Bunting - poet; Northern Arts Poetry Fellow at Newcastle University (1968–70); honorary DLitt in 1971

John Burgan - documentary filmmaker

Mark Burgess - computer scientist

Sir John Burn - Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University Medical School; Medical Director and Head of the Institute of Genetics; Newcastle Medical School alumnus

William Lawrence Burn - historian and lawyer, history chair at King's College, Newcastle (1944–66)

John Harrison Burnett - botanist, chair of Botany at King's College, Newcastle (1960–68)

C.

Richard Caddel - poet

Ann Cairns - President of International Markets for MasterCard

Deborah Cameron - linguist

Stuart Cameron - lecturer

John Ashton Cannon - historian; Professor of Modern History; Head of Department of History from 1976 until his appointment as Dean of the Faculty of Arts in 1979; Pro-Vice-Chancellor 1983–1986

Ian Carr - musician

Jimmy Cartmell - rugby player, Newcastle Falcons

Steve Chapman - Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University

Dion Chen - Hong Kong educator, principal of Ying Wa College and former principal of YMCA of Hong Kong Christian College

Hsing Chia-hui - author

Ashraf Choudhary - scientist

Chua Chor Teck - Managing Director of Keppel Group

Jennifer A. Clack - palaeontologist

George Clarke - architect

Carol Clewlow - novelist

Brian Clouston - landscape architect

Ed Coode - Olympic gold medallist

John Coulson - chemical engineering academic

Caroline Cox, Baroness Cox - cross-bench member of the British House of Lords

Nicola Curtin – Professor of Experimental Cancer Therapeutics

Pippa Crerar - Political Editor of the Daily Mirror

D

Fred D'Aguiar - author

Julia Darling - poet, playwright, novelist, MA in Creative Writing

Simin Davoudi - academic

Richard Dawson - civil engineering academic and member of the UK Committee on Climate Change

Tom Dening - medical academic and researcher

Katie Doherty - singer-songwriter

Nowell Donovan - vice-chancellor for academic affairs and Provost of Texas Christian University

Catherine Douglas - Ig Nobel Prize winner for Veterinary Medicine

Annabel Dover - artist, studied fine art 1994–1998

Alexander Downer - Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (1996–2007)

Chloë Duckworth - archaeologist and presenter

Chris Duffield - Town Clerk and Chief Executive of the City of London Corporation

E

Michael Earl - academic

Tom English - drummer, Maxïmo Park

Princess Eugenie - member of the British royal family. Eugenie is a niece of King Charles III and a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II. She began studying at Newcastle University in September 2009, graduating in 2012 with a 2:1 degree in English Literature and History of Art.

F

U. A. Fanthorpe - poet

Frank Farmer - medical physicist; professor of medical physics at Newcastle University in 1966

Terry Farrell - architect

Tim Farron - former Liberal Democrat leader and MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale

Ian Fells - professor

Andy Fenby - rugby player

Bryan Ferry - singer, songwriter and musician, member of Roxy Music and solo artist; studied fine art

E. J. Field - neuroscientist, director of the university's Demyelinating Disease Unit

John Niemeyer Findlay - philosopher

John Fitzgerald - computer scientist

Vicky Forster - cancer researcher

Maximimlian (Max) Fosh- YouTuber and independent candidate in the 2021 London mayoral election.

Rose Frain - artist

G

Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster - aristocrat, billionaire, businessman and landowner

Peter Gibbs - television weather presenter

Ken Goodall - rugby player

Peter Gooderham - British ambassador

Michael Goodfellow - Professor in Microbial Systematics

Robert Goodwill - politician

Richard Gordon - author

Teresa Graham - accountant

Thomas George Greenwell - National Conservative Member of Parliament

H

Sarah Hainsworth - Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University

Reginald Hall - endocrinologist, Professor of Medicine (1970–1980)

Alex Halliday - Professor of Geochemistry, University of Oxford

Richard Hamilton - artist

Vicki L. Hanson - computer scientist; honorary doctorate in 2017

Rupert Harden - professional rugby union player

Tim Head - artist

Patsy Healey - professor

Alastair Heathcote - rower

Dorothy Heathcote - academic

Adrian Henri - 'Mersey Scene' poet and painter

Stephen Hepburn - politician

Jack Heslop-Harrison - botanist

Tony Hey - computer scientist; honorary doctorate 2007

Stuart Hill - author

Jean Hillier - professor

Ken Hodcroft - Chairman of Hartlepool United; founder of Increased Oil Recovery

Robert Holden - landscape architect

Bill Hopkins - composer

David Horrobin - entrepreneur

Debbie Horsfield - writer of dramas, including Cutting It

John House - geographer

Paul Hudson - weather presenter

Philip Hunter - educationist

Ronald Hunt – Art Historian who was librarian at the Art Department

Anya Hurlbert - visual neuroscientis

I

Martin Ince - journalist and media adviser, founder of the QS World University Rankings

Charles Innes-Ker - Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford

Mark Isherwood - politician

Jonathan Israel - historian

J

Alan J. Jamieson - marine biologist

George Neil Jenkins - medical researcher

Caroline Johnson - Conservative Member of Parliament

Wilko Johnson - guitarist with 1970s British rhythm and blues band Dr. Feelgood

Rich Johnston - comic book writer and cartoonist

Anna Jones - businesswoman

Cliff Jones - computer scientist

Colin Jones - historian

David E. H. Jones - chemist

Francis R. Jones - poetry translator and Reader in Translation Studies

Phil Jones - climatologist

Michael Jopling, Baron Jopling - Member of the House of Lords and the Conservative Party

Wilfred Josephs - dentist and composer

K

Michael King Jr. - civil rights leader; honorary graduate. In November 1967, MLK made a 24-hour trip to the United Kingdom to receive an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law from Newcastle University, becoming the first African American the institution had recognised in this way.

Panayiotis Kalorkoti - artist; studied B.A. (Hons) in Fine Art (1976–80); Bartlett Fellow in the Visual Arts (1988)

Rashida Karmali - businesswoman

Jackie Kay - poet, novelist, Professor of Creative Writing

Paul Kennedy - historian of international relations and grand strategy

Mark Khangure - neuroradiologist

L

Joy Labinjo - artist

Henrike Lähnemann - German medievalist

Dave Leadbetter - politician

Lim Boon Heng - Singapore Minister

Lin Hsin Hsin - IT inventor, artist, poet and composer

Anne Longfield - children's campaigner, former Children's Commissioner for England

Keith Ludeman - businessman

M

Jack Mapanje - writer and poet

Milton Margai - first prime minister of Sierra Leone (medical degree from the Durham College of Medicine, later Newcastle University Medical School)

Laurence Martin - war studies writer

Murray Martin, documentary and docudrama filmmaker, co-founder of Amber Film & Photography Collective

Adrian Martineau – medical researcher and professor of respiratory Infection and immunity at Queen Mary University of London

Carl R. May - sociologist

Tom May - professional rugby union player, now with Northampton Saints, and capped by England

Kate McCann – journalist and television presenter

Ian G. McKeith – professor of Old Age Psychiatry

John Anthony McGuckin - Orthodox Christian scholar, priest, and poet

Wyl Menmuir - novelist

Zia Mian - physicist

Richard Middleton - musicologist

Mary Midgley - moral philosopher

G.C.J. Midgley - philosopher

Moein Moghimi - biochemist and nanoscientist

Hermann Moisl - linguist

Anthony Michaels-Moore - Operatic Baritone

Joanna Moncrieff - Critical Psychiatrist

Theodore Morison - Principal of Armstrong College, Newcastle upon Tyne (1919–24)

Andy Morrell - footballer

Frank Moulaert - professor

Mo Mowlam - former British Labour Party Member of Parliament, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, lecturer at Newcastle University

Chris Mullin - former British Labour Party Member of Parliament, author, visiting fellow

VA Mundella - College of Physical Science, 1884—1887; lecturer in physics at the College, 1891—1896: Professor of Physics at Northern Polytechnic Institute and Principal of Sunderland Technical College.

Richard Murphy - architect

N

Lisa Nandy - British Labour Party Member of Parliament, former Shadow Foreign Secretary

Karim Nayernia - biomedical scientist

Dianne Nelmes - TV producer

O

Sally O'Reilly - writer

Mo O'Toole - former British Labour Party Member of European Parliament

P

Ewan Page - founding director of the Newcastle University School of Computing and briefly acting vice-chancellor; later appointed vice-chancellor of the University of Reading

Rachel Pain - academic

Amanda Parker - Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire since 2023

Geoff Parling - Leicester Tigers rugby player

Chris Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes - British Conservative politician and Chancellor of the University (1999–2009)

Chris M Pattinson former Great Britain International Swimmer 1976-1984

Mick Paynter - Cornish poet and Grandbard

Robert A. Pearce - academic

Hugh Percy, 10th Duke of Northumberland - Chancellor of the University (1964–1988)

Jonathan Pile - Showbiz Editor, ZOO magazine

Ben Pimlott - political historian; PhD and lectureship at Newcastle University (1970–79)

Robin Plackett - statistician

Alan Plater - playwright and screenwriter

Ruth Plummer - Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at the Northern Institute for Cancer Research and Fellow of the UK's Academy of Medical Sciences.

Poh Kwee Ong - Deputy President of SembCorp Marine

John Porter - musician

Rob Powell - former London Broncos coach

Stuart Prebble - former chief executive of ITV

Oliver Proudlock - Made in Chelsea star; creator of Serge De Nîmes clothing line[

Mark Purnell - palaeontologist

Q

Pirzada Qasim - Pakistani scholar, Vice Chancellor of the University of Karachi

Joyce Quin, Baroness Quin - politician

R

Andy Raleigh - Rugby League player for Wakefield Trinity Wildcats

Brian Randell - computer scientist

Rupert Mitford, 6th Baron Redesdale - Liberal Democrat spokesman in the House of Lords for International Development

Alastair Reynolds - novelist, former research astronomer with the European Space Agency

Ben Rice - author

Lewis Fry Richardson - mathematician, studied at the Durham College of Science in Newcastle

Matthew White Ridley, 4th Viscount Ridley - Chancellor of the University 1988-1999

Colin Riordan - VC of Cardiff University, Professor of German Studies (1988–2006)

Susie Rodgers - British Paralympic swimmer

Nayef Al-Rodhan - philosopher, neuroscientist, geostrategist, and author

Neil Rollinson - poet

Johanna Ropner - Lord lieutenant of North Yorkshire

Sharon Rowlands - CEO of ReachLocal

Peter Rowlinson - Ig Nobel Prize winner for Veterinary Medicine

John Rushby - computer scientist

Camilla Rutherford - actress

S

Jonathan Sacks - former Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

Ross Samson - Scottish rugby union footballer; studied history

Helen Scales - marine biologist, broadcaster, and writer

William Scammell - poet

Fred B. Schneider - computer scientist; honorary doctorate in 2003

Sean Scully - painter

Nigel Shadbolt - computer scientist

Tom Shakespeare - geneticist

Jo Shapcott - poet

James Shapiro - Canadian surgeon and scientist

Jack Shepherd - actor and playwright

Mark Shucksmith - professor

Chris Simms - crime thriller novel author

Graham William Smith - probation officer, widely regarded as the father of the national probation service

Iain Smith - Scottish politician

Paul Smith - singer, Maxïmo Park

John Snow - discoverer of cholera transmission through water; leader in the adoption of anaesthesia; one of the 8 students enrolled on the very first term of the Medical School

William Somerville - agriculturist, professor of agriculture and forestry at Durham College of Science (later Newcastle University)

Ed Stafford - explorer, walked the length of the Amazon River

Chris Steele-Perkins - photographer

Chris Stevenson - academic

Di Stewart - Sky Sports News reader

Diana Stöcker - German CDU Member of Parliament

Miodrag Stojković - genetics researcher

Miriam Stoppard - physician, author and agony aunt

Charlie van Straubenzee - businessman and investment executive

Peter Straughan - playwright and short story writer

T

Mathew Tait - rugby union footballer

Eric Thomas - academic

David Tibet - cult musician and poet

Archis Tiku - bassist, Maxïmo Park

James Tooley - professor

Elsie Tu - politician

Maurice Tucker - sedimentologist

Paul Tucker - member of Lighthouse Family

George Grey Turner - surgeon

Ronald F. Tylecote - archaeologist

V

Chris Vance - actor in Prison Break and All Saints

Géza Vermes - scholar

Geoff Vigar - lecturer

Hugh Vyvyan - rugby union player

W

Alick Walker - palaeontologist

Matthew Walker - Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley

Tom Walker - Sunday Times foreign correspondent

Lord Walton of Detchant - physician; President of the GMC, BMA, RSM; Warden of Green College, Oxford (1983–1989)

Kevin Warwick - Professor of Cybernetics; former Lecturer in Electrical & Electronic Engineering

Duncan Watmore - footballer at Millwall F.C.

Mary Webb - artist

Charlie Webster - television sports presenter

Li Wei - Chair of Applied Linguistics at UCL Institute of Education, University College London

Joseph Joshua Weiss - Professor of Radiation Chemistry

Robert Westall - children's writer, twice winner of Carnegie Medal

Thomas Stanley Westoll - Fellow of the Royal Society

Gillian Whitehead - composer

William Whitfield - architect, later designed the Hadrian Building and the Northern Stage

Claire Williams - motorsport executive

Zoe Williams - sportswoman, worked on Gladiators

Donald I. Williamson - planktologist and carcinologist

Philip Williamson - former Chief Executive of Nationwide Building Society

John Willis - Royal Air Force officer and council member of the University

Lukas Wooller - keyboard player, Maxïmo Park

Graham Wylie - co-founder of the Sage Group; studied Computing Science & Statistics BSc and graduated in 1980; awarded an honorary doctorate in 2004

Y

Hisila Yami, Nepalese politician and former Minister of Physical Planning and Works (Government of Nepal

John Yorke - Controller of Continuing Drama; Head of Independent Drama at the BBC

Martha Young-Scholten - linguist

Paul Younger - hydrogeologist

British postcard by Karizzma Enterprises in the series Coronation Street Hall of Fame, ref K K6. Photo: Granada Promotions, 1986.

 

On 1 March 2016, English television screenwriter Tony Warren (1936–2016) passed away. He is best known for creating the classic soap opera Coronation Street. He was also an actor, created other television dramas and wrote critically acclaimed novels.

 

Coronation Street (1960-) is the world's longest-running TV soap with more than 8,000 episodes. The British series focuses on the everyday lives of working class people in Greater Manchester, England. 'Corrie' is now a significant part of British culture and has been one of the most financially lucrative programmes on commercial television in the U.K., underpinning the success of Granada Television and ITV. The programme centres on Coronation Street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on Salford, its terraced houses, corner shop, newsagents, textile factory and The Rovers Return pub. The fictional street was built in the early 1900s and named in honour of the coronation of King Edward VII. At the centre of many early stories, there was Ena Sharples (Violet Carson), caretaker of the Glad Tidings Mission Hall, and her friends: timid Minnie Caldwell (Margot Bryant), and bespectacled Martha Longhurst (Lynne Carol). The trio were likened to the Greek chorus, and the three witches in William Shakespeare's Macbeth, as they would sit in the snug bar of the Rovers Return, passing judgement over family, neighbours and frequently each other. Other central characters during the 1960s were Elsie Tanner played by Patricia Phoenix and Annie Walker played by Doris Speed. y remained with the show for 20 years and like Ena Sharples became archetypes of British soap opera.

 

Coronation Street was devised in 1960 by scriptwriter Tony Warren at Granada Television in Manchester. Warren's initial kitchen sink drama proposal was rejected by the station's founder Sidney Bernstein, but he was persuaded by producer Harry Elton to produce the programme for thirteen pilot episodes. The first episode was aired on 9 December 1960. Between 9 December 1960 and 3 March 1961, Coronation Street was broadcast twice weekly, on Wednesday and Friday. In March 1961, Coronation Street reached No.1 in the television ratings and remained there for the rest of the year. 15 million viewers tuned into Corrie at the end of 1961, and by 1964 the programme had over 20 million regular viewers. Coronation Street's creator, Tony Warren continued to write for the programme intermittently until 1976.Coronation Streetis made by Granada Television at MediaCity near Manchester and shown in all ITV regions, as well as internationally. On 17 September 2010, it became the world's longest-running TV soap opera in production. Coronation Street is noted for its depiction of a down-to-earth working class community combined with light-hearted humour, and strong characters. After appearing in 288 episodes, Violet Carson and her character Ena Sharples left the series in 1980. William Roache, who plays Kenneth Barlow, is the only remaining member of the original cast,Coronation Street. This currently makes him the longest-serving actor in Coronation Street , as well as in British and global soap history. Emily Bishop (Eileen Derbyshire) has remained in the series since first appearing in early 1961, when the show was just weeks old. Helen Worth as Gail Platt, who appears since 1974 in the series, has played in the most episodes: 1.780, according to IMDb. Today, the programme still rates as one of the most watched programmes on UK television for every day it is aired. Coronation Street is also shown in various countries worldwide. In Australia it was in 1966 more popular than in the UK. Other countries which aired - or still air - Coronation Street are Canada, Ireland, United Arab Emirates and the Netherlands, where it was broadcasted by the Vara between 1967 and 1974. I dearly remember watching the series as a kid with the whole family.

 

Sources: Wikipedia (English and Dutch) and IMDb.

Comic Relief is a British charity organisation that was founded in the United Kingdom in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis in response to famine in Ethiopia. The idea for Comic Relief came from the noted charity worker Jane Tewson, who became head of a British NGO Charity Projects and was inspired by the success of the first four Secret Policeman's Ball comedy benefit shows for Amnesty International (1976-1981). Initially funds were raised from live events and the best known is a comedy revue at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London which was finally broadcast on television on the 25 April 1986.

 

One of the fundamental principles behind working at Comic Relief is the 'Golden Pound Principle' where every single donated pound is spent on charitable projects. All operating costs, such as staff salaries, are covered by corporate sponsors or interest which is earned while money raised is waiting to be spent (granted) to charitable projects.

 

Red Nose Day is the main way in which Comic Relief raises money. It is held in the spring every other year, and is often treated as a semi-holiday, with, for example, schools having non-uniform days. The day culminates in a live telethon event on BBC One starting in the evening and going through into the early hours of the morning, but other money-raising events take place. As the name suggests, the day involves the wearing of plastic/foam red noses or simply doing something funny. (My office had a cake bake and wear something red for a donation).

 

We are wearing the official RND ’09 T-shirts designed by Stella McCartney, and feature pictures of The Beatles and Morecambe & Wise, with the essentail red nose of course! They’re made from 100% organic Fairtrade cotton and have been manufactured in Africa.

 

Since the Charity has started in the 1980s, Comic Relief has raised over £600 million.

 

Dramatic cover shot of the very first novel entitled "Para Kay B" of Filipino scriptwriter Ricky Lee during the launch last November 30, 2008 at the University of the Philippines. Shot with my Nikon D40 and level adjusted with Adobe Photoshop CS3.

UAAP Logo

UAAP Season 71 Opening Ceremonies

Host-School: University of the Philippines

Araneta Coliseum

05 July 2008

 

Artistic Director: Dexter M. Santos

Head Choreographer: Van Manalo

Choreographers: Lalaine Perena, Jerome Dimalanta, Jojo Carino

Production Designer: Tuxqs Rutaquio

Lighting Designer: John Neil Ilao Batalla

Music Design: Carol Bello

Scriptwriter: Sir Anril Tiatco

Technical Director: Voltaire de Jesus

Production Manager: Theresa Gonzalez

Performers: UP Filipiniana, UP PEP Squad, UP Dance Company , UP Dancesport and the UP StreetDance.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7705/1, 1932-1933. Photo: British European Film. Brigitte Helm in The Blue Danube (Herbert Wilcox, 1932). Collection: Geoffrey Donaldson Institute.

 

German actress Brigitte Helm (1908-1996) is still famous for her dual role as Maria and her double the evil Maria, the Maschinenmensch, in the silent SF classic Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927). After Metropolis she made a string of over 30 films in which she almost always had the starring role. She easily made the transition to sound films, before she abruptly retired in 1935.

 

Brigitte Helm was born as Brigitte Eva Gisela Schittenhelm in Berlin, Germany, in 1906 (some sources say 1908). Her father was a Prussian army officer, who left his wife a widow not long after. Brigitte gained her acting experience in school productions but never thought of acting classes. After her school exams, she wanted to be an astronomer. But then she was discovered by the famous director Fritz Lang for the lead in Metropolis (Fritz Lang, 1927), then the most expensive German film ever made. Her mother had sent a photograph of her beautiful 16-years-old daughter to Lang's wife, scriptwriter Thea von Harbou. Helm was invited to the set of Die Nibelungen and was given a screen test. She got the double role of the noble and virginal Maria and her evil and sensual twin, the Maschinenmensch, a robot created to urge the workers in revolting and destroy their own city. In their 1996 obituary in The New York Times, Robert McThomas and Peter Herzog note: "The film depicts the world of 2006, a time, Lang envisioned, when a ruling class lives in decadent luxury in the loft heights of skyscrapers linked by aerial railways, while beneath the streets slave-like workers toll in unbearable conditions to sustain their masters. But for all the steam and special effects, for many who have seen the movie in its various incarnations, including a tinted version and one accompanied by music, the most compelling lingering image is neither the towers above nor the hellish factories below. It is the staring transformation of Ms. Helm from an idealistic young woman into a barely clad creature performing a lascivious dance in a brothel." Metropolis made Brigitte Helm a star overnight.

 

UFA gave Brigitte Helm a contract, and over the next 10 years, she acted in 29 German, French, and English films. She was cast as the evil but oh so seductive protagonist in the Sci-Fi-horror film Alraune. First in the silent version of 1928, directed by Henrik Galeen. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Hanns Heinz Ewers' grim science-fiction novel 'Alraune' has already been filmed twice when this version was assembled in 1928. In another of his 'mad doctor' roles, Paul Wegener plays Professor Brinken, the sociopathic scientist who combines the genes of an executed murderer with those of a prostitute. The result is a beautiful young woman named Alraune (Brigitte Helm), who is incapable of feeling any real emotions - least of all guilt or regret. Upon attaining adulthood, Alraune sets about to seduce and destroy every male who crosses her path. Ultimately, Professor Brinken is hoist on his own petard when he falls hopelessly in love with Alraune himself." Two years later Helm also starred in the sound version, Alraune/A Daughter of Destiny (Richard Oswald, 1930), for which the Dutch postcard lower in this post was made.

 

Brigitte Helm played a helpless blind woman who is seduced by a rogue in the wartime melodrama Die Liebe der Jeanne Ney/The Love of Jeanne Ney (G.W. Pabst, 1927). It was Brigitte Helm's first project with Georg Wilhelm Pabst, the director who could - better than any other director - bring out her mysterious adaptability. In his films Abwege/The Devious Path (1928) and L’Atlantide/Die Herrin von Atlantis/Queen of Atlantis (1932) she proved that she could perform more restrained and emotionally expressive characters. In Abwege, she portrays a spoilt woman of the world who from sheer boredom almost destroys her own life. In L'Atlantide (1932), Helm plays a goddess, the mere sight of whom makes men crazy. Werner Sudendorff wrote in his obituary of Helm in The Independent: "Her power is not of this world, but incomprehensible, magical. This was Helm's last really great role, a legendary mysterious sphinx of the German cinema." These films and Marcel L'Herbier's late silent film L'Argent/The Money (Marcel L’ Herbier, 1928) allowed Helm to act outside the tired cliches she was later often subjected to by scriptwriters and producers.

 

Brigitte Helm's first sound film was the musical Die singende Stadt/City of Song (Carmine Gallone, 1930) with Jan Kiepura. She also appeared in the French and English versions of her German films. Werner Sudendorff: "In her films of the early 1930s, Brigitte Helm became the embodiment of the down-to-earth, affluent modern woman. With her slim figure and austere pre-Raphaelite profile, she seems unapproachable, a model fashion-conscious woman, under whose ice-cold outer appearance criminal energies flicker." However, her sound films, like Gloria (Hans Behrendt, 1931), The Blue Danube (Herbert Wilcox, 1932), and Gold/L’Or (Karl Hartl, 1934), do not have the artistic cachet of her best silent films. Her relationship with the Ufa happened to be very rocky. While the studio had made her a star and kept increasing her pay, the actress was unhappy with the material the Ufa offered her and she was annoyed about the restrictive clauses dictating her weight.

 

Reportedly Brigitte Helm was Josef Von Sternberg's original choice for the starring role of Der Blaue Engel/The Blue Angel (1930), but the part went to Marlene Dietrich. Helm was also James Whale's first choice for his Bride of Frankenstein (1935), but reportedly she refused to go to America. In 1935, angered by the Nazi control of the German film industry, she didn’t extend her contract with the Ufa. Perhaps another reason for her decision were the negative press reports about her many traffic accidents and the short prison sentence as a result of it. Her last film was Ein Idealer Gatte/An Ideal Husband (Herbert Selpin, 1935), an adaptation of the play by Oscar Wilde.

 

In private, Brigitte Helm was a timid, modest, and not very ambitious personality. In 1935, after a short but prolific career of 32 films, she married Dr. Hugo Von Kunheim, a German industrialist of Jewish descent, and retired. Bruce Eder at AllMovie: "in addition to no longer needing to pursue her acting, with which she was never 100-percent comfortable, she was repelled by the takeover of the German movie industry by the Hitler government. Her marital status, coupled with her anti-Nazi political views, made it impossible for Helm to continue working in movies or living in Germany. From 1935 onward, the couple lived in Switzerland. After the war, they divided their time between Germany and Switzerland, but Helm chose to live quietly and remain anonymous." The pair would raise four children. In 1968 Helm received the Filmband in Gold for “continued outstanding individual contributions to German film over the years". She steadfastly refused to appear in a film again, nor even grant an interview about her film career, but she always answered requests from her old fans for her signature. Brigitte Helm died in 1996 in Ascona, Switzerland. In particular, her Evil Maria won't be forgotten. Apt for her is the Mae West line: "When I am good, I am very good; but when I am bad, I am better."

 

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli (Le dive del silenzio), Robert McThomas and Peter Herzog (The New York Times), Werner Sudendorff (The Independent), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Thomas Staedeli (Cyranos), Film Reference, Lenin Imports, Wikipedia, and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Aunt Julia and the scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa, published by Faber and Faber

Un film est une oeuvre d'art, et ceux qui le font en sont les artistes. (E.Buriez)

 

ht.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Buriez

 

www.agencesartistiques.com/Fiche-Artiste/453401-emmanuel-...

Rajkumar Patra Writing

scriptwriter

[Taken in Paris (France) - 08Apr10]

 

The Forum des Images organizes the first season of the "Series Mania" festival, showing a selection of around 80 episodes of 33 different tv-shows from around the world.

Conferences, debats, and presentations with and from writers, creators, and specialists take place during the entire week. Two entire seasons (True Blood season 2, and Mad Men season 2) are shown during two 12 hours screening marathons.

 

See all the photos of this festival in this set : 06-11Apr10 - Séries Mania Saison 01 [Event]

See all the iPhone Hipstamatic app photos in this set : [iPhone - Hipstamatic]

See all the random portraits in this set : Portraits [Random]

See all the photos with written words in this set : [Messages]

Italian postcard by G.B. Falci Editore, Milano, no. 320. Photoi: S.A.G. Leoni. Gina Manès as Josephine de Beauharnais in Napoléon (Abel Gance, 1927).

 

French actress Gina Manès (1893-1989) starred in some 90 films between 1916 and 1966. She is best known for Coeur fidèle (Jean Epstein, 1923) and Thérèse Raquin (Jacques Feyder, 1928).

 

Gina Manès was born as Blanche Moulin in Paris in 1893, as the daughter of a furniture salesman. After small roles at the Theatre du Palais Royal and other theatres, and dance performances in the revues by Rip, she was discovered by actor René Navarre. He considered her photogenic and introduced her to film director Louis Feuillade. Changing her name to Gina Manès, she made her film debut in Les Six Petits Coeurs des Six Petites Filles/The Six Hearts of Six Little Girls (Edouard-Emile Viollet, 1916). After some more years on the stage, her film career went off with L’Homme sans visage/Eyes Without a Face (Louis Feuillade, 1919). She became a well-known film actress thanks to her role as the innkeeper’s daughter in L’Auberge Rouge/The Red Inn (Jean Epstein, 1923), who subsequently gave her the lead in his Coeur fidèle/The Faithful Heart (1923) both opposite Léon Mathot. In this film, Manès is a woman married to a drunken brute from whom she does not dare to separate, although she dreams of running off with a sympathetic dockworker. Next, she played an actress in a film by the avant-garde director Germaine Dulac, Ame d’artiste/Heart of an Actress (1924).

 

Because of her troubling beauty, her heavy and poisonous look and her feline movements, Gina Manès soon became type-casted as a seductress and femme fatale. Her nicknames became 'The Vamp with the Emerald Eyes', and 'The Athena with the Green Look'. In 1927, director Abel Gance cast her as Joséphine de Beauharnais in his epic production Napoléon (1927). Gance asked her to do a screen test in the studio dressed only in a nightgown and jewels, Directoire styled. "I had to hum a cheerful song, then a complaining song, after which he decided that I was the perfect character for the role, as I had the historic Creole mood." In the following year, Jacques Feyder directed Manès in what is considered to be her best role, the title character in Thérèse Raquin/Shadows of Fear (1928), after the novel by Émile Zola. The film was a Franco-German production, involving German scriptwriters, a German production manager, art direction by a Russian and a German, cinematography by a Dane and a German, and both French and German actors (including Hans Adalbert Schlettow and La Jana). The story deals with a truck driver (Schlettow) who kills the husband of the woman (Manès) he loves, but a blackmailer threatens to reveal the murder. Unfortunately, no copy of the film remains. In the late 1920s foreign studios called, so Manès acted in Germany and Sweden in Die Heilige und ihr Narr/The Saint and Her Fool (Wilhelm Dieterle aka William Dieterle, 1928), Die Todesschleife/Looping the loop (Arthur Robison, 1928), and Synd/Sin (Gustav Molander, 1928) with Lars Hanson. Manès married Georges Charlia, her partner in Naples au baiser du feu/The Kiss of Fire (Serge Dadejdine, 1925) and Le trains sans yeux/Train Without Eyes (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1927). The following years they were often coupled in films.

 

The arrival of sound cinema did not change her status and Gina Manès continued to be a star. She had a big commercial success in 1931 as – again – a vamp in Une belle garce/A Beautiful Bitch (Marco de Gastyne, 1930). At the apex of her career, Manès quit it all and with her husband Georges Charlia, she went to Morocco to open a bar on a road 100 km from Marrakech. When she returned after two years, the film business considered her too old to be a star – she was 40 by now. Younger actresses such as Ginette Leclerc, Mireille Balin and Viviane Romance had taken over as the femme fatales of the French cinema. Manès had to be content with secondary roles as older women still in love but neglected, such as the plotting demi-mondaine Marinka in Mayerling (Anatole Litvak, 1935) starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux. In Les caves du Majestic/Majestic Hotel Cellars (Richard Pottier, 1944) she even became the female equivalent of Emil Jannings in Der letzte Mann/The Last Laugh (Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, 1924): a toilet cleaner.

 

More and more attracted to the circus, Gina Manès started an act with tigers at the Cirque du Hiver and the Médrano. But in November 1942 she was severely wounded by a wild animal and had to retire. After the war, while in Morocco for the shooting of La Danseuse du Marrakech/The Dancer of Marrakech (Léon Mathot, 1949), Manès stayed there and opened up a drama course in Rabat. She acted in two shorts but was disappointed and returned to France in 1954. Almost forgotten, she only was offered bit parts in French cinema – which she played frequently in the mid-1950s. She turned towards the stage with the Grenier de Toulouse, where she could play parts that fit her age. After two memorable film roles in Bonheur est pour demain/Happiness is for Tomorrow (Henri Fabiani, 1960) and Pas de panique/No Panic (Sergio Gobbi, 1966) with Pierre Brasseur, Gina Manès ended her career. Gina Manès moved to a home in Toulouse, France, where she died in 1972, at the age of 96.

 

Sources: Wikipedia (English and French), and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

Blue Building on the corner was a bar called "Raw Hide" when I lived in the Quarter. The red brick building on the corner across teh street was a laundrymat.. also where a scene from the movie adaptation of Aunt Julia & the Scriptwriter was filmed.

FOR 40 years, Ernie Wise was half of the greatest comedy double act in the history of British television, Morecambe and Wise.

 

Wise, the smaller in stature (a disparity in height being the feature of all the finest comedy duos), was the butt of Eric Morecambe's jokes, referred to as the one with the "short, fat, hairy legs", and teased about his non- existent toupee with the words "You can't see the join".

 

It was Wise who opened each show with the greeting, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show", and revelled in boasting of "a play wot I wrote", while Morecambe proceeded to sabotage such literary efforts, determined to knock his supposedly pompous partner down a peg or two.

 

"What do you think of it so far?" Morecambe would ask, replying himself, in ventriloquist style, "Rubbish!"

 

Morecambe and Wise's Christmas shows were consistently ratings-toppers, with audiences of as many as 28 million, and stars queued up to appear on screen with the pair, often only to be sent up.

 

Glenda Jackson performed with Morecambe in a pastiche of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance routine that finished with the Oscar-winning actress vanishing over the top of a staircase that led nowhere.

 

The newsreader Angela Rippon danced deftly across the screen in an evening dress split to the thigh.

 

The conductor Andre Previn leapt into the air while conducting his symphony orchestra so that Morecambe, playing a Grieg piano concerto rather amateurishly, could see him over the piano lid.

 

Even the former prime minister Harold Wilson appeared in one sketch.

 

The list of personalities who joined Morecambe and Wise on screen down the years read like a roll-call of Britain's finest actors and entertainers.

 

The joke was that Wise would grovel to these luminaries while Morecambe treated them with contempt and consistently forgot their names.

 

Morecambe and Wise had originally modelled their cross-talk act, combining quickfire gags with visual jokes, on the film giants Abbott and Costello and the more short-lived but hugely popular Wheeler and Woolsey - to whom they bore a remarkable physical resemblance - but their brilliant timing later caused critics to liken them to Laurel and Hardy.

 

In their act, crafted in music halls and variety theatres, Wise was the straight man, on the receiving end of Morecambe's buffoonery and insults, although this one-sidedness gradually changed as greater subtlety and characterisation took over.

 

The partnership ended only with Morecambe's death in 1984, which left Wise with the task of rebuilding his career.

 

Although he never reached the same heights as he had with his bespectacled partner, he branched out to work as both a West End stage actor and television game-show panellist.

 

He was born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds in 1925, and had his first taste of show business at the age of seven performing in northern working men's clubs alongside his father, a railway porter, in the amateur double act Carson and Kid, later known as Bert Carson and His Little Wonder and, at times, The Two Tetleys, after the local beer.

 

It was a songs-and-gags act but also included the youngster performing a high-speed clog dance.

 

"The faster I danced, the faster the crowds threw money," he later recalled.

 

He made his professional debut in January 1939 in the bandleader-turned- impresario Jack Hylton's stage production of the popular BBC radio programme Band Waggon, alongside Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, at the Prince's Theatre, London, after being auditioned by a talent-spotter, Bryan Michie, who had tipped off Hylton.

 

Just a couple of weeks after the production opened, the 13-year-old Wiseman was brought in to add a juvenile flavour to the proceedings, earning six pounds a week, three times his father's weekly wage.

 

It was Hylton who changed Wiseman's stage name to Wise.

 

In the same year, he was chosen to star in Bryan Michie's stage "discovery" show Youth Takes a Bow, again presented by Jack Hylton.

 

Sitting alongside the former bandleader in a Manchester cinema, Wise watched an audition at which the comedian John Eric Bartholomew did impressions of Flanagan and Allen and Fred Astaire.

 

Bartholomew, who had made his debut as a "gormless" comic in variety at the Empire, Nottingham, and was later to adopt the name of his Lancashire birthplace, Morecambe, joined Michie's touring show, but it was Wise who gained rave reviews as "the Jack Buchanan of tomorrow", "the young Max Miller" and "Britain's own Mickey Rooney".

 

Spurred on by Bartholomew's mother, Sadie, the pair eventually formed a double act, which they first performed as Morecambe and Wise at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, in 1941, while still in Youth Takes a Bow.

 

They subsequently appeared two years later in the George Black revue Strike a New Note, which starred the legendary comedian Sid Field, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, although they were only understudies in that and performed their double act just twice.

 

However, they gained good broadcasting experience by landing regular work in the BBC radio series Youth Must Have Its Fling.

 

Then both went their separate ways to do National Service, Wise joining the Merchant Navy and Morecambe - after working for a short time with the comedian Gus Morris - becoming a Bevin Boy down the coalmines, only to be discharged after 11 months with a weak heart.

 

In 1947, the two met again by chance, when Morecambe joined Lord George Sanger's Circus and Variety Show as feed to the resident comic, who turned out to be Wise.

 

Standing in the centre of the circus ring, wearing dinner suits and gum-boots, they would sometimes perform with not a soul in the audience.

 

After the show folded, they eventually found an agent who booked them for a show at the Walthamstow Palace, in east London, where the duo were billed as Morecambe and Wisdom because there was already an act called Campbell and Wise on the bill.

 

They subsequently entertained the troops with Ensa (the Entertainment National Service Association) and performed at the famous Windmill Theatre in Soho, and in nude touring shows, providing comic relief in between the star turns.

 

After further work in variety theatres - working their way up to become second on the bill to international entertainers such as Lena Horne - and guest spots in the radio show Workers' Playtime and a long run in the broadcast revue Variety Fanfare, they landed their own series, You're Only Young Once, in the BBC's northern region, which cast them as owners of the Morecambe and Wise Detective Agency, with a guest celebrity bringing the pair of bungling sleuths a new case to tackle each week.

 

Then, in April 1954, the duo began their first television series, Running Wild, but the six BBC shows proved a disaster and took them several years to live down.

 

During that time, they continued to develop their act on radio and in summer shows.

 

After regular appearances in 1960 on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the following year they bounced back on to television, on ITV, with The Morecambe and Wise Show.

 

It ran for seven years and established them as major stars.

 

It was during this series that they adopted a Johnny Mercer number, "Two of a Kind", as one of their theme tunes. Later, "Bring Me Sunshine" was to become their trademark song, played at the end of the show as they exited with a hornpipe-style dance, hands behind backs.

 

Their venture into feature films, with three comedy-thrillers - starting in 1965 with The Intelligence Men, followed by That Riviera Touch and The Magnificent Two in each of the following years - was less successful.

 

The Morecambe and Wise humour was never successfully translated to film, with storylines that were far removed from their usual patter and a method of shooting that did not suit their off-the-cuff style, but lack of success in this medium did nothing to abate their small-screen popularity.

 

They even travelled to America to appear regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show and had their own series, Piccadilly Palace, made in Britain by Lew Grade for screening in the United States.

 

The ITV show finished in 1968, when Eric Morecambe suffered a heart attack, but he recovered and The Morecambe and Wise Show switched channels, with Eddie Braben replacing Dick Hills and Sid Green as scriptwriter a year later after work lured the original writers to America.

 

The duo's 10 years at the BBC proved to be their most popular.

 

The series was a ratings topper and the annual Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show became an institution.

 

The sight of Morecambe wearing glasses on the side of his head and slapping Wise across the face was a guaranteed audience-puller and enticed some of the biggest stars to join them in front of the cameras during this time - so it was a blow to the BBC when the pair returned to ITV with their show in 1978.

 

They were lured back by Thames Television with the promise of more money and a chance to appear in films but, with a change of scriptwriters, The Morecambe and Wise Show never reached the heights it had done and only one television film was made, the poorly received Night Train to Murder (1984).

 

The BBC cashed in by repeating old programmes under the title Morecambe and Wise at the BBC and repackaging them into 70 half-hour shows for screening in America.

 

The move to ITV also saw Morecambe and Wise making a guest appearance in The Sweeney (1978), with Regan and Carter conducting an investigation at a club where the pair were supposedly performing in cabaret.

 

A year later, Morecambe suffered his second heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery.

 

Then, in 1984, after finishing a real-life stage show, at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, he died of another attack.

 

His death, at the age ot 58, signalled the end of British television's best-loved comedy duo, who had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances.

 

Picking up the pieces of his career, Wise had the difficult task of being the straight man who had to find new vehicles for his talents.

 

He performed in cabaret in Australia in 1986, played the chairman, William Cartwright, in the London West End musical version of the unfinished Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Savoy Theatre, 1987), which ran for only 10 weeks, and Det Sgt Porterhouse in the farce Run for Your Wife (Criterion Theatre, 1988) and was on television as a regular panellist in What's My Line?, as well as appearing in three Telethons in New Zealand and one in Australia.

 

He acted in the American television comedy series Too Close for Comfort (1985) and, back in Britain, presented The Morecambe and Wise Classics, featuring some of the duo's finest performances from their BBC shows.

 

Wise was also the subject of This is Your Life (1991) and a 40 Minutes programme subtitled The Importance of Being Ernie (1993), which charted the problems of facing up to life as a solo performer after years of endearing himself to the nation as half of a double act. "We were ordained for each other," he said. "I wouldn't have teamed up with anybody else, only Eric. It was like a marriage."

 

Morecambe and Wise wrote two autobiographies together, Eric and Ernie (1973) and There's No Answer to That! (1981), as well as several other books based on their television shows, including The Best of Morecambe and Wise (1974) and Morecambe and Wise Special (1974).

 

Wise later wrote his own autobiography, Still on My Way to Hollywood (1990).

 

Ernest Wiseman (Ernie Wise), comedian and actor: born Leeds 27 November 1925; OBE 1976; married 1953 Doreen Blyth; died Wexham, Buckinghamshire 21 March 1999.

 

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ernie-w...

American postcard by Fotofolio, no. F 528. Photo: Greg Gorman. Caption: Nicolas Cage, Los Angeles, 1990. Proceeds from the sale of this card benefitted Make Love, Not Aids.

 

Nicolas Cage (1964) is an American film actor and producer, who often plays eccentric wisecracking characters. His breakthrough came at the end of the 1980s with the Oscar-winning comedy Moonstruck (1988) and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), which was awarded Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Cage won the Oscar for Best Actor with Leaving Las Vegas (1995). The action films The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) gave him four of his biggest box office successes in the years that followed. He received another Oscar nomination for his performance as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002).

 

Nicolas Kim Coppola was born in Long Beach, California, in 1964. He was the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola and dancer and choreographer Joy Vogelsang. His grandfather is the composer Carmine Coppola. His father is the brother of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. His mother suffered from severe depression, which also led to hospitalisation. His parents divorced in 1976, but Nicolas always kept in touch with his mother. He was interested in the film business from an early age. He took professional acting lessons at the age of 15. Two years later, he dropped out of high school to concentrate on his career. Nicolas had a small role in his film debut Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Most of his part was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) landed him a role in that film. He changed his name to avoid taking advantage of his uncle's success and being accused of nepotism. He chose the name 'Cage' after comic book hero Luke Cage and the avant-garde artist John Cage. In the same year, he broke through with a lead role as a punk rocker in the comedy Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983). Many films followed. For his role in Birdy (Alan Parker, 1984) with Matthew Modine, he had a tooth extracted without anaesthetic to immerse himself in his role. His passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984). In 1987, he starred in two of the most successful films of that year, proving his status as a major actor. In the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987), he played a dim-witted crook with a heart of gold who wants to start a family with agent Holly Hunter. In Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987), he played the man Cher falls in love with. The latter film earned him many female admirers and a Golden Globe nomination.

 

In 1990, Nicolas Cage played a violent Elvis fan in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Another important role was Leaving Las Vegas (1995), in which he plays a suicidal alcoholic who falls in love with a prostitute (played by Elisabeth Shue) in Las Vegas. For his role in Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage received the Academy Award for Best Actor. After proving himself as a serious actor in 1995, a series of big-budget action films followed, such as The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996), Con Air (Simon West, 1996) and Face/Off (John Woo, 1997). He played an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan in City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) and returned to action films with Gone in 60 Seconds (Dominic Sena, 2000). In the 21st century, he also started a new career, as a film producer. Among others, he produced The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), with Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey. In 2002, he played a heavy double role in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. in which he played both scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman and his (fictional) brother Donald. For this role, he received his second Oscar nomination. In World Trade Center (Oliver Stone, 2006), he played Brigadier John McLoughlin who became trapped under the collapsed WTC for three days. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2012) was the sequel to the Marvel comic adaptation Ghost Rider (Mark Steven Johnson, 2007). In recent years, Cage has been facing major financial problems. Despite receiving over $150 million in total fees throughout his career, he had run out of funds and owed $14 million in taxes due to his lavish lifestyle (including buying exotic properties) after the housing bubble burst. In 2009, he had to sell two of his houses and several cars and boats. In 2022, Cage stated that he had paid off his debts. He also pointed out in a '60 Minutes' interview that he never went bankrupt to avoid having to pay off the debt. He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in the action Horror film Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018), the drama Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021), the action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) and the comedy fantasy Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023). Cage was married to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016). and make-up artist Erika Koike (2019), but this marriage was annulled the same year. Cage married Riko Shibata in 2021. He has three sons. His eldest son, with Christina Fulton, Weston Coppola Cage a.k.a. Wes Cage, is the singer and guitarist of the oriental metal band Arsh Anubis. In 2014, Nicolas became a grandfather at age 50 when Weston welcomed a son, Lucian Augustus Coppola Cage. Alice Kim gave birth to Cage's second son Kal-El (2005), named after the Kryptonian name of Superman. Cage is a confessed comic book fan.

 

Sources: Dan Hartung (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

French postcard. Editions Cinémagazine, nr. 59. Film Abel Gance. A postcard for the film La Roue (Abel Gance 1923).

 

French actor Séverin-Mars had a very short career in film, but played in two masterpieces by Abel Gance: the First World War drama J'accuse! (1919), and the epic and touching drama La Roue (1921-1923). In J'accuse! he is the stubborn brute François Laurin, who maltreats his wife Edith (Maryse Dauvray), while she feels more for the gentle poet Jean Diaz (Romuald Joubé). The threesome seems to explode, when the war breaks out. The men meet again in the trenches, bond and share their love for Edith. Meanwhile she is raped by German soldiers and returns to the village with a child. Mars goes from sadism to jealousy to rage to lucidity to heroism and to sacrifice, displaying intense emotions without any histrionic acting.

 

Séverin-Mars, originally Armand Jean de Malafayde, was born in 1873 in Bordeaux. In 1910 he debuted in film in Le crime de grand-père, a Gaumont production directed by Léonce Perret and scripted by his future regular director: Abel Gance. After further short films (Le duel du fou, 1913, Macbeth, 1915;Trois familles, 1918, L'habit de Béranger 1918), Severin-Mars had his breakthrough in feature films with Abel Gancé's melodrama La dixième symphonie (directed in 1917 but released in November 1918, just before the end of the war). In this film he played a composer who is unknowing of the adventurous past of his wife (Emmy Lynn), who is blackmailed by her former lover (Jean Toulout) to consent to the marriage between her ex and her daughter. When the composer realizes what is happening, he writes a symphony of pain.

 

After this followed La nuit du 11 septembre (Dominique Bernard-Deschamps 1919), with Russian actress Vera Karalli, and the film Jacques Landouze (André Hugon 1919), with again Toulout, after which the above mentioned anti-war film J'accuse! by Gance followed. The film was a success because it was the first production to show real footage of the carnage of the war; Gance had been filming in the trenches in 1918, after having served there. After J'accuse! Séverin-Mars played in Haceldama ou Le prix du sang (1919) directed and written by a debuting Julien Duvivier; it was a kind of French western, driven by revenge and lust for money.

 

In 1921 Séverin-Mars was very active. With Jean Legrand he co-directed his first film, Le coeur magnifique, in which he played the lead, together with France Dhélia and Léon Bernard, and he was also the scriptwriter. It was the story of a marquis who, disgusted by an immoral woman, finds love and peace with the neighbour's daughter. With Gaby Morlay he performed in L'agonie des aigles (1921), co-directed by Duvivier and Bernard-Deschamps. The film, based on the novel by Georges Desparbès, dealt with a man who protects the King of Rome, Napoleon II, the son of the famous French Emperor. The gala premiere of this film was at the Paris Opera and coincided with the birthday of Napoleon; it was a charity night to help war widows and orphans.

 

Séverin- Mars 'last role was his most famous one: that of the railwayman Sisif in Abel Gance's La Roue (released in 1923). Sisif falls in love with his foster daughter Norma (Ivy Close), saved from a train wreck and raised like his daughter; Sisif's son Elie (Gabriel de Gravone), however, loves Norma too. The epic film originally ran nine hours. Gance explains that his companion Ida Danis was struck by tuberculosis while he was surviving the Spanish flu during the preparation of La Roue in 1920. Her need for recovery brought the crew to constant different places, while Gance adapted the narrative to her needs. Gance's wife eventually died during the editing phase and Gance went away to the States for four months, angering the Pathé company. His discovery of the American fast paced editing made him change La Roue entirely, and after a full year of editing, La Roue was finally shown in 1923 appalling critics and audiences. Despite its 8 hours length it was hailed such a masterpiece that audiences cried for more. Gance: The only thing we could think of was to show the last reel once more.' For the general release in 1924, it was cut back to 130 minutes.

 

Séverin-Mars was also ill while shooting La Roue. Soon after production, he died of a heart attack in July 1921, at the height of his career, and deplored by his favorite director.

 

Sources: IMDB.

from a music video "Fusedmarc - Easier" www.vimeo.com/15527684 (director, scriptwriter, cameraman, visual editor gipsas)

FOR 40 years, Ernie Wise was half of the greatest comedy double act in the history of British television, Morecambe and Wise.

 

Wise, the smaller in stature (a disparity in height being the feature of all the finest comedy duos), was the butt of Eric Morecambe's jokes, referred to as the one with the "short, fat, hairy legs", and teased about his non- existent toupee with the words "You can't see the join".

 

It was Wise who opened each show with the greeting, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show", and revelled in boasting of "a play wot I wrote", while Morecambe proceeded to sabotage such literary efforts, determined to knock his supposedly pompous partner down a peg or two.

 

"What do you think of it so far?" Morecambe would ask, replying himself, in ventriloquist style, "Rubbish!"

 

Morecambe and Wise's Christmas shows were consistently ratings-toppers, with audiences of as many as 28 million, and stars queued up to appear on screen with the pair, often only to be sent up.

 

Glenda Jackson performed with Morecambe in a pastiche of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance routine that finished with the Oscar-winning actress vanishing over the top of a staircase that led nowhere.

 

The newsreader Angela Rippon danced deftly across the screen in an evening dress split to the thigh.

 

The conductor Andre Previn leapt into the air while conducting his symphony orchestra so that Morecambe, playing a Grieg piano concerto rather amateurishly, could see him over the piano lid.

 

Even the former prime minister Harold Wilson appeared in one sketch.

 

The list of personalities who joined Morecambe and Wise on screen down the years read like a roll-call of Britain's finest actors and entertainers.

 

The joke was that Wise would grovel to these luminaries while Morecambe treated them with contempt and consistently forgot their names.

 

Morecambe and Wise had originally modelled their cross-talk act, combining quickfire gags with visual jokes, on the film giants Abbott and Costello and the more short-lived but hugely popular Wheeler and Woolsey - to whom they bore a remarkable physical resemblance - but their brilliant timing later caused critics to liken them to Laurel and Hardy.

 

In their act, crafted in music halls and variety theatres, Wise was the straight man, on the receiving end of Morecambe's buffoonery and insults, although this one-sidedness gradually changed as greater subtlety and characterisation took over.

 

The partnership ended only with Morecambe's death in 1984, which left Wise with the task of rebuilding his career.

 

Although he never reached the same heights as he had with his bespectacled partner, he branched out to work as both a West End stage actor and television game-show panellist.

 

He was born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds in 1925, and had his first taste of show business at the age of seven performing in northern working men's clubs alongside his father, a railway porter, in the amateur double act Carson and Kid, later known as Bert Carson and His Little Wonder and, at times, The Two Tetleys, after the local beer.

 

It was a songs-and-gags act but also included the youngster performing a high-speed clog dance.

 

"The faster I danced, the faster the crowds threw money," he later recalled.

 

He made his professional debut in January 1939 in the bandleader-turned- impresario Jack Hylton's stage production of the popular BBC radio programme Band Waggon, alongside Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, at the Prince's Theatre, London, after being auditioned by a talent-spotter, Bryan Michie, who had tipped off Hylton.

 

Just a couple of weeks after the production opened, the 13-year-old Wiseman was brought in to add a juvenile flavour to the proceedings, earning six pounds a week, three times his father's weekly wage.

 

It was Hylton who changed Wiseman's stage name to Wise.

 

In the same year, he was chosen to star in Bryan Michie's stage "discovery" show Youth Takes a Bow, again presented by Jack Hylton.

 

Sitting alongside the former bandleader in a Manchester cinema, Wise watched an audition at which the comedian John Eric Bartholomew did impressions of Flanagan and Allen and Fred Astaire.

 

Bartholomew, who had made his debut as a "gormless" comic in variety at the Empire, Nottingham, and was later to adopt the name of his Lancashire birthplace, Morecambe, joined Michie's touring show, but it was Wise who gained rave reviews as "the Jack Buchanan of tomorrow", "the young Max Miller" and "Britain's own Mickey Rooney".

 

Spurred on by Bartholomew's mother, Sadie, the pair eventually formed a double act, which they first performed as Morecambe and Wise at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, in 1941, while still in Youth Takes a Bow.

 

They subsequently appeared two years later in the George Black revue Strike a New Note, which starred the legendary comedian Sid Field, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, although they were only understudies in that and performed their double act just twice.

 

However, they gained good broadcasting experience by landing regular work in the BBC radio series Youth Must Have Its Fling.

 

Then both went their separate ways to do National Service, Wise joining the Merchant Navy and Morecambe - after working for a short time with the comedian Gus Morris - becoming a Bevin Boy down the coalmines, only to be discharged after 11 months with a weak heart.

 

In 1947, the two met again by chance, when Morecambe joined Lord George Sanger's Circus and Variety Show as feed to the resident comic, who turned out to be Wise.

 

Standing in the centre of the circus ring, wearing dinner suits and gum-boots, they would sometimes perform with not a soul in the audience.

 

After the show folded, they eventually found an agent who booked them for a show at the Walthamstow Palace, in east London, where the duo were billed as Morecambe and Wisdom because there was already an act called Campbell and Wise on the bill.

 

They subsequently entertained the troops with Ensa (the Entertainment National Service Association) and performed at the famous Windmill Theatre in Soho, and in nude touring shows, providing comic relief in between the star turns.

 

After further work in variety theatres - working their way up to become second on the bill to international entertainers such as Lena Horne - and guest spots in the radio show Workers' Playtime and a long run in the broadcast revue Variety Fanfare, they landed their own series, You're Only Young Once, in the BBC's northern region, which cast them as owners of the Morecambe and Wise Detective Agency, with a guest celebrity bringing the pair of bungling sleuths a new case to tackle each week.

 

Then, in April 1954, the duo began their first television series, Running Wild, but the six BBC shows proved a disaster and took them several years to live down.

 

During that time, they continued to develop their act on radio and in summer shows.

 

After regular appearances in 1960 on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the following year they bounced back on to television, on ITV, with The Morecambe and Wise Show.

 

It ran for seven years and established them as major stars.

 

It was during this series that they adopted a Johnny Mercer number, "Two of a Kind", as one of their theme tunes. Later, "Bring Me Sunshine" was to become their trademark song, played at the end of the show as they exited with a hornpipe-style dance, hands behind backs.

 

Their venture into feature films, with three comedy-thrillers - starting in 1965 with The Intelligence Men, followed by That Riviera Touch and The Magnificent Two in each of the following years - was less successful.

 

The Morecambe and Wise humour was never successfully translated to film, with storylines that were far removed from their usual patter and a method of shooting that did not suit their off-the-cuff style, but lack of success in this medium did nothing to abate their small-screen popularity.

 

They even travelled to America to appear regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show and had their own series, Piccadilly Palace, made in Britain by Lew Grade for screening in the United States.

 

The ITV show finished in 1968, when Eric Morecambe suffered a heart attack, but he recovered and The Morecambe and Wise Show switched channels, with Eddie Braben replacing Dick Hills and Sid Green as scriptwriter a year later after work lured the original writers to America.

 

The duo's 10 years at the BBC proved to be their most popular.

 

The series was a ratings topper and the annual Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show became an institution.

 

The sight of Morecambe wearing glasses on the side of his head and slapping Wise across the face was a guaranteed audience-puller and enticed some of the biggest stars to join them in front of the cameras during this time - so it was a blow to the BBC when the pair returned to ITV with their show in 1978.

 

They were lured back by Thames Television with the promise of more money and a chance to appear in films but, with a change of scriptwriters, The Morecambe and Wise Show never reached the heights it had done and only one television film was made, the poorly received Night Train to Murder (1984).

 

The BBC cashed in by repeating old programmes under the title Morecambe and Wise at the BBC and repackaging them into 70 half-hour shows for screening in America.

 

The move to ITV also saw Morecambe and Wise making a guest appearance in The Sweeney (1978), with Regan and Carter conducting an investigation at a club where the pair were supposedly performing in cabaret.

 

A year later, Morecambe suffered his second heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery.

 

Then, in 1984, after finishing a real-life stage show, at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, he died of another attack.

 

His death, at the age ot 58, signalled the end of British television's best-loved comedy duo, who had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances.

 

Picking up the pieces of his career, Wise had the difficult task of being the straight man who had to find new vehicles for his talents.

 

He performed in cabaret in Australia in 1986, played the chairman, William Cartwright, in the London West End musical version of the unfinished Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Savoy Theatre, 1987), which ran for only 10 weeks, and Det Sgt Porterhouse in the farce Run for Your Wife (Criterion Theatre, 1988) and was on television as a regular panellist in What's My Line?, as well as appearing in three Telethons in New Zealand and one in Australia.

 

He acted in the American television comedy series Too Close for Comfort (1985) and, back in Britain, presented The Morecambe and Wise Classics, featuring some of the duo's finest performances from their BBC shows.

 

Wise was also the subject of This is Your Life (1991) and a 40 Minutes programme subtitled The Importance of Being Ernie (1993), which charted the problems of facing up to life as a solo performer after years of endearing himself to the nation as half of a double act.

 

"We were ordained for each other," he said. "I wouldn't have teamed up with anybody else, only Eric. It was like a marriage."

 

Morecambe and Wise wrote two autobiographies together, Eric and Ernie (1973) and There's No Answer to That! (1981), as well as several other books based on their television shows, including The Best of Morecambe and Wise (1974) and Morecambe and Wise Special (1974).

 

Wise later wrote his own autobiography, Still on My Way to Hollywood (1990).

 

Ernest Wiseman (Ernie Wise), comedian and actor: born Leeds 27 November 1925; OBE 1976; married 1953 Doreen Blyth; died Wexham, Buckinghamshire 21 March 1999.

 

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ernie-w...

FOR 40 years, Ernie Wise was half of the greatest comedy double act in the history of British television, Morecambe and Wise.

 

Wise, the smaller in stature (a disparity in height being the feature of all the finest comedy duos), was the butt of Eric Morecambe's jokes, referred to as the one with the "short, fat, hairy legs", and teased about his non- existent toupee with the words "You can't see the join".

 

It was Wise who opened each show with the greeting, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show", and revelled in boasting of "a play wot I wrote", while Morecambe proceeded to sabotage such literary efforts, determined to knock his supposedly pompous partner down a peg or two.

 

"What do you think of it so far?" Morecambe would ask, replying himself, in ventriloquist style, "Rubbish!"

 

Morecambe and Wise's Christmas shows were consistently ratings-toppers, with audiences of as many as 28 million, and stars queued up to appear on screen with the pair, often only to be sent up.

 

Glenda Jackson performed with Morecambe in a pastiche of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance routine that finished with the Oscar-winning actress vanishing over the top of a staircase that led nowhere.

 

The newsreader Angela Rippon danced deftly across the screen in an evening dress split to the thigh.

 

The conductor Andre Previn leapt into the air while conducting his symphony orchestra so that Morecambe, playing a Grieg piano concerto rather amateurishly, could see him over the piano lid.

 

Even the former prime minister Harold Wilson appeared in one sketch.

 

The list of personalities who joined Morecambe and Wise on screen down the years read like a roll-call of Britain's finest actors and entertainers.

 

The joke was that Wise would grovel to these luminaries while Morecambe treated them with contempt and consistently forgot their names.

 

Morecambe and Wise had originally modelled their cross-talk act, combining quickfire gags with visual jokes, on the film giants Abbott and Costello and the more short-lived but hugely popular Wheeler and Woolsey - to whom they bore a remarkable physical resemblance - but their brilliant timing later caused critics to liken them to Laurel and Hardy.

 

In their act, crafted in music halls and variety theatres, Wise was the straight man, on the receiving end of Morecambe's buffoonery and insults, although this one-sidedness gradually changed as greater subtlety and characterisation took over.

 

The partnership ended only with Morecambe's death in 1984, which left Wise with the task of rebuilding his career.

 

Although he never reached the same heights as he had with his bespectacled partner, he branched out to work as both a West End stage actor and television game-show panellist.

 

He was born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds in 1925, and had his first taste of show business at the age of seven performing in northern working men's clubs alongside his father, a railway porter, in the amateur double act Carson and Kid, later known as Bert Carson and His Little Wonder and, at times, The Two Tetleys, after the local beer.

 

It was a songs-and-gags act but also included the youngster performing a high-speed clog dance.

 

"The faster I danced, the faster the crowds threw money," he later recalled.

 

He made his professional debut in January 1939 in the bandleader-turned- impresario Jack Hylton's stage production of the popular BBC radio programme Band Waggon, alongside Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, at the Prince's Theatre, London, after being auditioned by a talent-spotter, Bryan Michie, who had tipped off Hylton.

 

Just a couple of weeks after the production opened, the 13-year-old Wiseman was brought in to add a juvenile flavour to the proceedings, earning six pounds a week, three times his father's weekly wage.

 

It was Hylton who changed Wiseman's stage name to Wise.

 

In the same year, he was chosen to star in Bryan Michie's stage "discovery" show Youth Takes a Bow, again presented by Jack Hylton.

 

Sitting alongside the former bandleader in a Manchester cinema, Wise watched an audition at which the comedian John Eric Bartholomew did impressions of Flanagan and Allen and Fred Astaire.

 

Bartholomew, who had made his debut as a "gormless" comic in variety at the Empire, Nottingham, and was later to adopt the name of his Lancashire birthplace, Morecambe, joined Michie's touring show, but it was Wise who gained rave reviews as "the Jack Buchanan of tomorrow", "the young Max Miller" and "Britain's own Mickey Rooney".

 

Spurred on by Bartholomew's mother, Sadie, the pair eventually formed a double act, which they first performed as Morecambe and Wise at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, in 1941, while still in Youth Takes a Bow.

 

They subsequently appeared two years later in the George Black revue Strike a New Note, which starred the legendary comedian Sid Field, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, although they were only understudies in that and performed their double act just twice.

 

However, they gained good broadcasting experience by landing regular work in the BBC radio series Youth Must Have Its Fling.

 

Then both went their separate ways to do National Service, Wise joining the Merchant Navy and Morecambe - after working for a short time with the comedian Gus Morris - becoming a Bevin Boy down the coalmines, only to be discharged after 11 months with a weak heart.

 

In 1947, the two met again by chance, when Morecambe joined Lord George Sanger's Circus and Variety Show as feed to the resident comic, who turned out to be Wise.

 

Standing in the centre of the circus ring, wearing dinner suits and gum-boots, they would sometimes perform with not a soul in the audience.

 

After the show folded, they eventually found an agent who booked them for a show at the Walthamstow Palace, in east London, where the duo were billed as Morecambe and Wisdom because there was already an act called Campbell and Wise on the bill.

 

They subsequently entertained the troops with Ensa (the Entertainment National Service Association) and performed at the famous Windmill Theatre in Soho, and in nude touring shows, providing comic relief in between the star turns.

 

After further work in variety theatres - working their way up to become second on the bill to international entertainers such as Lena Horne - and guest spots in the radio show Workers' Playtime and a long run in the broadcast revue Variety Fanfare, they landed their own series, You're Only Young Once, in the BBC's northern region, which cast them as owners of the Morecambe and Wise Detective Agency, with a guest celebrity bringing the pair of bungling sleuths a new case to tackle each week.

 

Then, in April 1954, the duo began their first television series, Running Wild, but the six BBC shows proved a disaster and took them several years to live down.

 

During that time, they continued to develop their act on radio and in summer shows.

 

After regular appearances in 1960 on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the following year they bounced back on to television, on ITV, with The Morecambe and Wise Show.

 

It ran for seven years and established them as major stars.

 

It was during this series that they adopted a Johnny Mercer number, "Two of a Kind", as one of their theme tunes. Later, "Bring Me Sunshine" was to become their trademark song, played at the end of the show as they exited with a hornpipe-style dance, hands behind backs.

 

Their venture into feature films, with three comedy-thrillers - starting in 1965 with The Intelligence Men, followed by That Riviera Touch and The Magnificent Two in each of the following years - was less successful.

 

The Morecambe and Wise humour was never successfully translated to film, with storylines that were far removed from their usual patter and a method of shooting that did not suit their off-the-cuff style, but lack of success in this medium did nothing to abate their small-screen popularity.

 

They even travelled to America to appear regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show and had their own series, Piccadilly Palace, made in Britain by Lew Grade for screening in the United States.

 

The ITV show finished in 1968, when Eric Morecambe suffered a heart attack, but he recovered and The Morecambe and Wise Show switched channels, with Eddie Braben replacing Dick Hills and Sid Green as scriptwriter a year later after work lured the original writers to America.

 

The duo's 10 years at the BBC proved to be their most popular.

 

The series was a ratings topper and the annual Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show became an institution.

 

The sight of Morecambe wearing glasses on the side of his head and slapping Wise across the face was a guaranteed audience-puller and enticed some of the biggest stars to join them in front of the cameras during this time - so it was a blow to the BBC when the pair returned to ITV with their show in 1978.

 

They were lured back by Thames Television with the promise of more money and a chance to appear in films but, with a change of scriptwriters, The Morecambe and Wise Show never reached the heights it had done and only one television film was made, the poorly received Night Train to Murder (1984).

 

The BBC cashed in by repeating old programmes under the title Morecambe and Wise at the BBC and repackaging them into 70 half-hour shows for screening in America.

 

The move to ITV also saw Morecambe and Wise making a guest appearance in The Sweeney (1978), with Regan and Carter conducting an investigation at a club where the pair were supposedly performing in cabaret.

 

A year later, Morecambe suffered his second heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery.

 

Then, in 1984, after finishing a real-life stage show, at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, he died of another attack.

 

His death, at the age ot 58, signalled the end of British television's best-loved comedy duo, who had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances.

 

Picking up the pieces of his career, Wise had the difficult task of being the straight man who had to find new vehicles for his talents.

 

He performed in cabaret in Australia in 1986, played the chairman, William Cartwright, in the London West End musical version of the unfinished Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Savoy Theatre, 1987), which ran for only 10 weeks, and Det Sgt Porterhouse in the farce Run for Your Wife (Criterion Theatre, 1988) and was on television as a regular panellist in What's My Line?, as well as appearing in three Telethons in New Zealand and one in Australia.

 

He acted in the American television comedy series Too Close for Comfort (1985) and, back in Britain, presented The Morecambe and Wise Classics, featuring some of the duo's finest performances from their BBC shows.

 

Wise was also the subject of This is Your Life (1991) and a 40 Minutes programme subtitled The Importance of Being Ernie (1993), which charted the problems of facing up to life as a solo performer after years of endearing himself to the nation as half of a double act. "We were ordained for each other," he said. "I wouldn't have teamed up with anybody else, only Eric. It was like a marriage."

 

Morecambe and Wise wrote two autobiographies together, Eric and Ernie (1973) and There's No Answer to That! (1981), as well as several other books based on their television shows, including The Best of Morecambe and Wise (1974) and Morecambe and Wise Special (1974).

 

Wise later wrote his own autobiography, Still on My Way to Hollywood (1990).

 

Ernest Wiseman (Ernie Wise), comedian and actor: born Leeds 27 November 1925; OBE 1976; married 1953 Doreen Blyth; died Wexham, Buckinghamshire 21 March 1999.

 

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ernie-w...

FOR 40 years, Ernie Wise was half of the greatest comedy double act in the history of British television, Morecambe and Wise.

 

Wise, the smaller in stature (a disparity in height being the feature of all the finest comedy duos), was the butt of Eric Morecambe's jokes, referred to as the one with the "short, fat, hairy legs", and teased about his non- existent toupee with the words "You can't see the join".

 

It was Wise who opened each show with the greeting, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show", and revelled in boasting of "a play wot I wrote", while Morecambe proceeded to sabotage such literary efforts, determined to knock his supposedly pompous partner down a peg or two.

 

"What do you think of it so far?" Morecambe would ask, replying himself, in ventriloquist style, "Rubbish!"

 

Morecambe and Wise's Christmas shows were consistently ratings-toppers, with audiences of as many as 28 million, and stars queued up to appear on screen with the pair, often only to be sent up.

 

Glenda Jackson performed with Morecambe in a pastiche of a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers dance routine that finished with the Oscar-winning actress vanishing over the top of a staircase that led nowhere.

 

The newsreader Angela Rippon danced deftly across the screen in an evening dress split to the thigh.

 

The conductor Andre Previn leapt into the air while conducting his symphony orchestra so that Morecambe, playing a Grieg piano concerto rather amateurishly, could see him over the piano lid.

 

Even the former prime minister Harold Wilson appeared in one sketch.

 

The list of personalities who joined Morecambe and Wise on screen down the years read like a roll-call of Britain's finest actors and entertainers.

 

The joke was that Wise would grovel to these luminaries while Morecambe treated them with contempt and consistently forgot their names.

 

Morecambe and Wise had originally modelled their cross-talk act, combining quickfire gags with visual jokes, on the film giants Abbott and Costello and the more short-lived but hugely popular Wheeler and Woolsey - to whom they bore a remarkable physical resemblance - but their brilliant timing later caused critics to liken them to Laurel and Hardy.

 

In their act, crafted in music halls and variety theatres, Wise was the straight man, on the receiving end of Morecambe's buffoonery and insults, although this one-sidedness gradually changed as greater subtlety and characterisation took over.

 

The partnership ended only with Morecambe's death in 1984, which left Wise with the task of rebuilding his career.

 

Although he never reached the same heights as he had with his bespectacled partner, he branched out to work as both a West End stage actor and television game-show panellist.

 

He was born Ernest Wiseman in Leeds in 1925, and had his first taste of show business at the age of seven performing in northern working men's clubs alongside his father, a railway porter, in the amateur double act Carson and Kid, later known as Bert Carson and His Little Wonder and, at times, The Two Tetleys, after the local beer.

 

It was a songs-and-gags act but also included the youngster performing a high-speed clog dance.

 

"The faster I danced, the faster the crowds threw money," he later recalled.

 

He made his professional debut in January 1939 in the bandleader-turned- impresario Jack Hylton's stage production of the popular BBC radio programme Band Waggon, alongside Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch, at the Prince's Theatre, London, after being auditioned by a talent-spotter, Bryan Michie, who had tipped off Hylton.

 

Just a couple of weeks after the production opened, the 13-year-old Wiseman was brought in to add a juvenile flavour to the proceedings, earning six pounds a week, three times his father's weekly wage.

 

It was Hylton who changed Wiseman's stage name to Wise.

 

In the same year, he was chosen to star in Bryan Michie's stage "discovery" show Youth Takes a Bow, again presented by Jack Hylton.

 

Sitting alongside the former bandleader in a Manchester cinema, Wise watched an audition at which the comedian John Eric Bartholomew did impressions of Flanagan and Allen and Fred Astaire.

 

Bartholomew, who had made his debut as a "gormless" comic in variety at the Empire, Nottingham, and was later to adopt the name of his Lancashire birthplace, Morecambe, joined Michie's touring show, but it was Wise who gained rave reviews as "the Jack Buchanan of tomorrow", "the young Max Miller" and "Britain's own Mickey Rooney".

 

Spurred on by Bartholomew's mother, Sadie, the pair eventually formed a double act, which they first performed as Morecambe and Wise at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, in 1941, while still in Youth Takes a Bow.

 

They subsequently appeared two years later in the George Black revue Strike a New Note, which starred the legendary comedian Sid Field, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, although they were only understudies in that and performed their double act just twice.

 

However, they gained good broadcasting experience by landing regular work in the BBC radio series Youth Must Have Its Fling.

 

Then both went their separate ways to do National Service, Wise joining the Merchant Navy and Morecambe - after working for a short time with the comedian Gus Morris - becoming a Bevin Boy down the coalmines, only to be discharged after 11 months with a weak heart.

 

In 1947, the two met again by chance, when Morecambe joined Lord George Sanger's Circus and Variety Show as feed to the resident comic, who turned out to be Wise.

 

Standing in the centre of the circus ring, wearing dinner suits and gum-boots, they would sometimes perform with not a soul in the audience.

 

After the show folded, they eventually found an agent who booked them for a show at the Walthamstow Palace, in east London, where the duo were billed as Morecambe and Wisdom because there was already an act called Campbell and Wise on the bill.

 

They subsequently entertained the troops with Ensa (the Entertainment National Service Association) and performed at the famous Windmill Theatre in Soho, and in nude touring shows, providing comic relief in between the star turns.

 

After further work in variety theatres - working their way up to become second on the bill to international entertainers such as Lena Horne - and guest spots in the radio show Workers' Playtime and a long run in the broadcast revue Variety Fanfare, they landed their own series, You're Only Young Once, in the BBC's northern region, which cast them as owners of the Morecambe and Wise Detective Agency, with a guest celebrity bringing the pair of bungling sleuths a new case to tackle each week.

 

Then, in April 1954, the duo began their first television series, Running Wild, but the six BBC shows proved a disaster and took them several years to live down.

 

During that time, they continued to develop their act on radio and in summer shows.

 

After regular appearances in 1960 on Sunday Night at the London Palladium, the following year they bounced back on to television, on ITV, with The Morecambe and Wise Show.

 

It ran for seven years and established them as major stars.

 

It was during this series that they adopted a Johnny Mercer number, "Two of a Kind", as one of their theme tunes. Later, "Bring Me Sunshine" was to become their trademark song, played at the end of the show as they exited with a hornpipe-style dance, hands behind backs.

 

Their venture into feature films, with three comedy-thrillers - starting in 1965 with The Intelligence Men, followed by That Riviera Touch and The Magnificent Two in each of the following years - was less successful.

 

The Morecambe and Wise humour was never successfully translated to film, with storylines that were far removed from their usual patter and a method of shooting that did not suit their off-the-cuff style, but lack of success in this medium did nothing to abate their small-screen popularity.

 

They even travelled to America to appear regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show and had their own series, Piccadilly Palace, made in Britain by Lew Grade for screening in the United States.

 

The ITV show finished in 1968, when Eric Morecambe suffered a heart attack, but he recovered and The Morecambe and Wise Show switched channels, with Eddie Braben replacing Dick Hills and Sid Green as scriptwriter a year later after work lured the original writers to America.

 

The duo's 10 years at the BBC proved to be their most popular.

 

The series was a ratings topper and the annual Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show became an institution.

 

The sight of Morecambe wearing glasses on the side of his head and slapping Wise across the face was a guaranteed audience-puller and enticed some of the biggest stars to join them in front of the cameras during this time - so it was a blow to the BBC when the pair returned to ITV with their show in 1978.

 

They were lured back by Thames Television with the promise of more money and a chance to appear in films but, with a change of scriptwriters, The Morecambe and Wise Show never reached the heights it had done and only one television film was made, the poorly received Night Train to Murder (1984).

 

The BBC cashed in by repeating old programmes under the title Morecambe and Wise at the BBC and repackaging them into 70 half-hour shows for screening in America.

 

The move to ITV also saw Morecambe and Wise making a guest appearance in The Sweeney (1978), with Regan and Carter conducting an investigation at a club where the pair were supposedly performing in cabaret.

 

A year later, Morecambe suffered his second heart attack and had to undergo open-heart surgery.

 

Then, in 1984, after finishing a real-life stage show, at the Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury, in Gloucestershire, he died of another attack.

 

His death, at the age ot 58, signalled the end of British television's best-loved comedy duo, who had appeared in five Royal Variety Performances.

 

Picking up the pieces of his career, Wise had the difficult task of being the straight man who had to find new vehicles for his talents.

 

He performed in cabaret in Australia in 1986, played the chairman, William Cartwright, in the London West End musical version of the unfinished Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood (Savoy Theatre, 1987), which ran for only 10 weeks, and Det Sgt Porterhouse in the farce Run for Your Wife (Criterion Theatre, 1988) and was on television as a regular panellist in What's My Line?, as well as appearing in three Telethons in New Zealand and one in Australia.

 

He acted in the American television comedy series Too Close for Comfort (1985) and, back in Britain, presented The Morecambe and Wise Classics, featuring some of the duo's finest performances from their BBC shows.

 

Wise was also the subject of This is Your Life (1991) and a 40 Minutes programme subtitled The Importance of Being Ernie (1993), which charted the problems of facing up to life as a solo performer after years of endearing himself to the nation as half of a double act.

 

"We were ordained for each other," he said. "I wouldn't have teamed up with anybody else, only Eric. It was like a marriage."

 

Morecambe and Wise wrote two autobiographies together, Eric and Ernie (1973) and There's No Answer to That! (1981), as well as several other books based on their television shows, including The Best of Morecambe and Wise (1974) and Morecambe and Wise Special (1974).

 

Wise later wrote his own autobiography, Still on My Way to Hollywood (1990).

 

Ernest Wiseman (Ernie Wise), comedian and actor: born Leeds 27 November 1925; OBE 1976; married 1953 Doreen Blyth; died Wexham, Buckinghamshire 21 March 1999.

 

www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituary-ernie-w...

PERFORMERS: ERIC MORECAMBE & ERNIE WISE

  

(BIOGRAPHY by Peter Tatchell, from LAUGH MAGAZINE #24, 2005)

 

Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were the most successful and best-loved double act in the history of British comedy.

 

In their peak years of the 1970s their television shows achieved huge audiences and attracted the biggest show business names as guest stars.

 

For their last B.B.C. Christmas special nearly half the country watched the two men who had become Royal favourites and national treasures.

 

Eric (born John Eric Bartholomew in 1926) and Ernie (born Ernest Wiseman six months earlier, in 1925) had come a long way since their humble early years in the north of England.

 

They first met as performers in the stage production Youth Takes A Bow in 1940, with Eric’s mother Sadie eventually taking charge of both youngsters and suggesting they form a double act. It lasted until Eric’s death over forty years later.

 

Taking inspiration from their movie heroes Laurel and Hardy and the wordplays of the more recently successful Abbott and Costello, the duo was soon featured in the West End production Strike A New Note and were able to witness the nightly routines of the legendary Sid Field and his straight man Jerry Desmonde.

 

Field’s “overnight success” with the show had taken years of hard work to achieve, and Morecambe and Wise would spend an equally long period climbing their way up the show business ladder.

 

After a short break for war service (Ernie in the Merchant Marine and Eric down the mines) the pair struggled to secure dates with touring shows and in variety theatres but by the early 1950s was popular enough to gain radio spots on Variety Fanfare and Worker’s Playtime.

 

By 1953, engagements in pantomimes and summer seasons also included their own radio series on the Nothern Home Service You’re Only Young Once which ran to three seasons and a number of episodes were rebroadcast nationally on the Light Programme.

 

At the same time, the B.B.C. starred Morecambe And Wise in their first television series, Running Wild, but the venture was a huge disappointment and they retreated to radio work.

 

Commercial television began in Britain soon after and A.T.V. signed them as comedy support to Winifred Atwell in mid-1957, performing scripts by Johnny Speight.

 

The future Till Death Us Do Part writer saw enormous potential in Eric and Ernie, and was probably the first to create material that concentrated on their characters.

 

A year later they were back on B.B.C. screens making appearances on Double Six, before embarking on a successful six month tour of Australia.

 

Upon their return Eric and Ernie were shocked to note the change the coming of commercial television had caused to to the variety stage with theatres closing across the country as audiences stayed home to watch the electronic box in their living rooms.

 

With their futures uncertain, they hired a new agent, Billy Marsh, whose drive and expertise soon had them booked for dozens of appearances on such shows as Star Time, Saturday Spectacular and Sunday Night At The London Palladium.

 

The most tumultuous decade of their careers had begun and Morecambe And Wise were on the threshold of national stardom.

 

Initial approaches to Lew Grade for a series at A.T.V. were unsuccessful, while at the same time the B.B.C. appeared keen to sign the pair (and even had six scripts prepared).

 

But in 1961 Grade suddenly changed his mind and agreed to sign them for a prime weekly timeslot.

 

For their part, Eric and Ernie insisted the show engage the writers Sid Green and Dick Hills (who’d been recommended to them by Jimmy Jewell and Ben Warriss).

 

The first episode of Two Of A Kind (in October 1961) found the stars lost in a procession of sketches surrounded by army of support actors.

 

Fearing a repeat of the Running Wild failure, Morecambe And Wise decided to take a stand but, in a moment of serendipity, Actors Equity suddenly went out on strike.

 

The result was a much less cluttered presentation with Eric and Ernie (who, as members of the Variety Artists’ Federation, were still able to appear) squarely in the spotlight.

 

There was even a touch of irony with writers Sid and Dick forced to appear as bit players in some sketches. As the series progressed, audience figures increased and the two north country comics (after twenty years together) finally had a hit on their hands.

 

Each half hour edition of Two Of A Kind had a strong variety flavour, including a band number and a vocal spot to separate a couple of lengthy comedy routines, with shorter pieces at the opening and closing.

 

By the second season, the following June, the show was moved to a regular Saturday evening timeslot where it stayed for all but its last A.T.V. season.

 

Two Of A Kind opened the door for Eric and Ernie to gain international stardom, to a degree.

 

In February 1964 several seasons of the show began appearing on Australian television screens, with the A.B.C. eventually airing all episodes from series 2, 3 and 4. Later that year an ethusiastic Ed Sullivan was in the audience of their London Palladium season (in support of Bruce Forsyth) and signed them for appearances on his top-rated Sunday night C.B.S. series.

 

Thus began a strenuous period of transatlantic flights which would continue until May 1968 (and a total of some 17 guest spots).

 

Morecambe And Wise’s television popularity led to their 1964 movie debut in a big screen sendup of the James Bond phenomenon,

 

The Intelligence Men (also known as Spylarks).. Written by Hills and Green (who could also be seen in brief walk-ons), it was an enjoyable if unexceptional outing that made enough money to be followed by That Riviera Touch a couple of years later and The Magnificent Two in 1967.

 

After five increasingly successful seasons on A.T.V., Lew Grade capitalized on Eric and Ernie’s ongoing exposure to the Americans (via The Ed Sullivan Show) by signing a deal with the U.S. ABC Network to screen their new season of one hour programmes which, as a result, would be made in colour.

 

Rechristened Picadilly Palace there, they were scheduled as the summer replacement for the Hollywood Palace timeslot, and aired several months before the ten shows could finally seen by British viewers (where I.T.V. was still only able to transmit the recordings in black and white).

 

Though the American venture did not lead to a followup season, Eric and Ernie were keen to continue appearing in colour and when Lew Grade vetoed the idea, they signed with Britain’s only channel then transmitting such programming … BBC2.

 

It was a momentous decision that would result in some of the finest television Britain had seen, but Eric would first have to survive a serious health crisis.

 

A fortnight after the season of eight half hour shows was aired in late 1968, Eric suffered a serious heart attack driving home from a live performance near Leeds, and was lucky to reach a hospital in time.

 

His recovery was slow and frustrating and for a time there was doubt whether the act would be able to continue.

 

When doctors finally gave Eric the go ahead to return to work (to a great sigh of relief from Ernie and the B.B.C.) there was a further complication – contractual problems with scriptwriters Green and Hills had resulted in their signing an exclusive contract back at A.T.V.

 

Their unlikely replacement, Eddie Braben, was best known for supplying one-liners in various Ken Dodd shows, but his contribution to the careers of Morecambe And Wise from that point on turned out to be monumental.

 

Far from merely supplying jokes for the team, Braben reshaped their public personas, replacing the previous comic and straight man roles with humorous character roles for Ernie as well as Eric.

 

The little man with the short, fat, hairy legs was now portrayed as miserly, pompous and childlike whenever the subject of sex. was involved.

 

And he was now a writer of gramatically-incorrect plays … a plethora of them. The addition of Braben and producer John Ammonds took Morecambe and Wise to the next level.

 

To lessen Eric’s workload following the heart attack , the B.B.C. scheduled a season of only four 45-minute programmes to air on a fortnightly basis from late July 1969.

 

As before, the format included a traditional variety mix of guest vocalists, a regular offering by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, a handful of short blackouts (often involving the antics of a couple of monks) and lengthier pieces set in the living room or bedroom of the flat where they supposedly lived.

 

The highlight of that first programme was a “play what Ernie wrote” about King Arthur, with movie great Peter Cushing taking the lead role, and launching an ongoing saga in pursuit of payment for the appearance.

 

Subsequent participants in those early Ernest Wise theatrical offerings included Juliet Mills and Edward Woodward.

 

Also seen at the end of each programme was the ample figure of Janet Webb who (for no apparent reason) suddenly burst forth on to centre stage waving and blowing kisses at the audience.

 

The series was an enormous success and the only downside to the team’s comeback was that year’s festive special, which was almost abandoned with both Eric and Ernie laid low with flu, leaving producers to stitch together a handful of pre-recorded segments and musical items by guest stars.

 

In subsequent years The Morecambe And Wise Christmas Show would become essential viewing for half the nation and a ratings goliath but that first venture was a travesty.

 

Despite being screened by Britain’s third channel (which could not be received by large numbers of viewers), subsequent BBC1 repeats ensured Morecambe And Wise were not lost to those late-1960s audiences and as the new decade began their popularity increased enormously.

 

A dozen new episodes were shown throughout 1970 (in two fortnightly seasons) with notable guests including Fenella Fielding, Diane Cilento, Ian Carmichael and Richard Greene.

 

There was also a special half hour edition entered for the prestigious Montreux festival and a Christmas offering. It was a remarkable turnaround.

 

A heart attack and a change of writers had propelled Eric and Ernie to the top of British television.

 

The golden era of Morecambe And Wise was underway.

 

The fourteen editions produced throughout 1971 included some of their best work.

 

Guests included Flora Robson, Arthur Lowe (and cameo walk ons from the Dad’s Army cast), Francis Matthews, Keith Michel, John Mills and Glenda Jackson as Cleopatra.

 

And that Christmas saw Shirley Bassey in boots and Andre Previn conducting Grieg’s Piano Concerto. It was also the year Janet Webb began thanking everyone for watching her little show and loving us all.

 

After twelve months out of the spotlight, the 1972 Christmas special brought back some favourite guest stars and featured a throwaway jibe about their friend Des O’Connor during a World War 1 sketch. It was the start of a celebrated fued that would last to the end of their career and include a memorable retaliation by Des on their 1975 Christmas Show.

 

(The team had not produced a traditional festive programme in 1974, feeling they didn’t have enough high quality material so a chat with Michael Parkinson was aired instead).

 

As the decade progressed Eric and Ernie began exploiting their musical talents more and more.

 

Throughout their A.T.V. years they had performed the memorable Boom-Oo-Yatta-Ta-Ta (with Sid and Dick), a clever dance sendup of Puttin’ On The Ritz and even Grieg’s Piano Concerto (with Ernie as conductor).

 

Their B.B.C. shows always ended with fairly straight renditions of ballads inspired by the Flanagan And Allen songbook like Following You Around, Don’t You Agree?, Just Around The Corner and the song which would become their signature tune, Bring Me Sunshine.

 

By the 1973 season, Ernest Maxin was creating occasional production numbers which sprinkled humorous bits amongst the song and dance routines.

 

Along with the historical sendups, famous guests and the sketches set in living room or bedroom of their flat, these musical offerings would soon become some of their most fondly remembered work.

 

By the end of 1975, Maxin had replaced Ammonds as the show’s producer and the consequent increased musical content lead to the classic pieces where they prepared breakfast to The Stripper and parodied Singin’ In The Rain.

 

Their Christmas editions of 1975 and 1976 also offered memorable versions of The Liar Song (with Diana Rigg) and Elton John trying in vain to teach Eric how to sing Play A Simple Melody.

 

Then, the incredibly popular festive edition of 1977 when an estimated 28 million people tuned in to see a chorus line of B.B.C. personalities and Penelope Keith awkwardly climbing down the scaffolding from an unfinished stairway.

 

A daring conclusion to the show featured the unexpected return of Elton John for a vocal after the end credits had rolled.

 

Though unknown at the time, the careers of Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise had peaked with that final B.B.C. show.

 

Weeks later, newspaper headlines announced the pair had signed with Thames Television and were headed back to I.T.V.

 

A major factor in negotiations had been the desire by Eric and Ernie to return to the big screen, with Thames (unlike the B.B.C.) then producing movies as well as TV shows.

 

But the fates began working against the team. Writer Eddie Braben was not willing to move across with them and the duo’s first two programmes (aired as one hour specials in late 1978) didn’t capture the usual magic.

 

Then, in early 1979, Eric suffered more life threatening heart troubles and was out of action for the whole year, being barely able to take part in a predominantly talk programme with David Frost that Christmas.

 

And their promised return to cinema screens was put on hold.

 

By the time he had recovered fully (a further six months later) both Eddie Braben and John Ammonds had been signed by Thames for the proposed series of half hour programmes.

 

Disappointingly, these consisted of almost total reworkings of old B.B.C. sketches, with little new material being included.

 

Eric and Ernie did four seasons for Thames in as many years with original scripting taking second place to the tried and true “old favourites”.

 

At least most of the musical offerings were being done for the first time.

 

Even their prestigious Christmas specials were not immune to the practice, and also fell victim to programming problems from the early 1980s.

 

With the lucrative commercial franchise for London being split between two companies, December the 25th fell outside the evenings covered by Thames from 1981 to 1983.

 

Unwilling to allow their stars’ annual ratings winner to be telecast on London Weekend’s days of operation, it was no longer scheduled on Christmas Day.

 

The 1983 Christmas show was notable for including two particularly successful pieces written by their old scriptwriters Sid Green and Dick Hills, amongst the inevitable updating of old Eddie Braben B.B.C. scripts.

 

Sadly, it was the last programme Morecambe And Wise would ever present.

 

As 1984 commenced, Eric’s health was once again causing concern and he was seriously considering devoting his talents to writing books (he’d already written an handful of novels).

 

He was also unhappy at the lack of originality in their Thames shows and the disappointing quality of a telemovie called Night Train To Murder they had recently recorded.

 

On May 27th Eric took part (without Ernie) in an evening of reminisces at a theatre in Tewkesbury as a favour to his friend Stan Stennett.

 

The show went well but as he walked off stage, he suddenly collapsed in the wings.

 

Five hours later in hospital, Eric Morecambe died.

 

The double act that the British public had taken to their hearts was no more.

 

Though Ernie continued performing (a nostalgic one-man tour of Australia, appearances in the West End musical The Mystery Of Edwin Drood and the longrunning farce Run For Your Wife, plus TV panel games and pantomimes) it could never be the same without his beloved partner.

 

He retired after a series of strokes in the mid-1990s and died in 1999 (aged 73).

 

Thanks to the video taped copies of nearly all of their television work since the 1960s, the magic of Eric Morecambe And Ernie Wise lives on.

 

laughterlog.com/2009/03/14/eric-morecambe-ernie-wise/

JACK KIRBY

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

On 5th May 2011 Master Simon Wong's paintings were in the Dragons in the Lions Den show which exhibited Chinese Contemporary Art from Beijing to London, which was organised by YD Gallery www.ydgallery.co.uk Charlie Pycraft(Photographer) www.charliepycraft.co.uk and Ping Works(Creative network) www.pingworks.org a UK creative hub at Forman's Smokehouse Gallery.

 

"Finally a special thanks to Charlie for spotting the potential" Peng Seng Ong Executive Director MBS Limited

"Wow, what an amazing evening. Thanks to you all for your putting this even together, Ping is on the map!" Philip Mayer BSc (Econ) MIC NLPdip Director MBS Ltd

"Hi Peng…I second that. I thought it was an excellent evening and thanks so much to you and Charlie and all the artists for making it such a success." William Chamberlain Business Affairs Consultant

"Thank you so much to Charlie and Peng for organising the prestigious event, developing the concept, getting the artists together, the copy together, design etc, it all looked great, a lot of hard work and it showed." Kathryn McMann Holistic Marketing Consultancy Integrated Strategic Marketing : Social Media : Project Management : Trans-media : Creative Concepts

 

Master Simon Wong is originally from China and has been a British resident since 1978. Master Simon Wong is a spiritual Master, a Feng Shui Master, a professional Chinese Astrologer, an artist, musician, songwriter, scriptwriter and author. Master Simon Wong does not give names to his paintings. The Tao Te Ching states: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. When the Master uses the finger to point at the moon the student should not just be looking at the finger. The finger is just a tool pointing to the direction. Painting is the same, the medium that is used is not important, it is the mental expression behind the art work that gives a picture its spirit. After perfecting his artistic style for the last 40 years, Master Simon Wong is now exhibiting and selling his work.

Goo Hye Sun will make her onscreen comeback in a new SBS’ drama “Angel Eyes” (temporary title).

Her last work was also an SBS’ drama “Take Care of Us, Captain” in 2011. For the drama this time, she will work again with Jun Jin Ryun scriptwriter who also wrote...

360kpop.info/drama-stories/goo-hye-sun-is-confirmed-to-st...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%c3%a8re_Lachaise_Cemetery

Vintage Swedish postcard. Nordisk Konst, Stockholm, 1688.

 

Helen/ Helene Gammeltoft (1895-?) was an Danish-American actress and scriptwriter.

 

Born 26/3 1895 in Syracuse, America, as Inger Madden or Madsen, she made her debut in film in Britain according to IDMb, in the 1913 film The Eleventh Commandment, and under the name of Helena Callen. The film was also the debut of the popular British stage star Gladys Cooper. The next year, she moved to Denmark, where she debuted at Nordisk Film in August Blom's comedy Bytte Roller/ The Girl of his Heart (1914), starring opposite Nicolai Johannsen as millionnaire Thomas Grey and Frederik Buch as his cook.

 

In 1915, Gammeltoft had leads or important supporting parts in five films at Nordisk: Hans Kusine/ His Cousin (Lau Lauritzen sr.) with Peter Jørgensen, En Død i Skønhed/ Beatrix (Robert Dinesen) with Rita Sacchetto, Olaf Fönss and Nicolai Johannsen, Susanne i Badet (Lau Lauritzen) with Oscar Stribolt, Kærlighed og Mobilisering/ Put me amongst the Girls (Lauritzen) with Frederik Buch, and Den lille Chauffør (August Blom) with Nicolai Johannsen. In 1916 Gammeltoft acted in four films at Nordisk, while in 1917 she acted in six and in 1918 in five films - mostly in the role of 'the pretty girl'. Yet, from 1916 Gammeltoft developed as screenwriter too, writing comedies for Buch, Stribolt, Rasmus Christiansen and others, starting with Den ædle Skrædder (Lauritzen, 1916) and En landlig Uskyldighed (Lauritzen, 1916) - she had the lead in the latter comedy.

 

In 1917-1918 Gammeltoft was most prolific as both actress and screenwriter, mostly in short comedies. She appeared in a small number of 'serious' feature films (e.g. En Lykkeper, Gunnar Sommerfeldt 1918, starring Carlo Wieth) and made just a few films outside Nordisk's direction, Hjerteknuseren (Carl Barcklind, 1919) for Skandinavisk Filmcentral, and Dommens Dag (Fritz Magnussen, 1918) for Olaf Fønss' company Dansk Film Co. After 1918, Gammeltoft's peak as actress and scriptwriter was over, while she did two films in 1919, and the three last films in 1920. In 1920 Lauritzen, who had worked at Nordisk for years, started his own firm Palladium, with which he launched in 1921 the popular comic duo of Long and Short/ Pat & Patachon/ Fy och By, with tall Carl Schenström and short Harald Madsen. Incidentally, Schenström had already played in the comedies by Lauritzen and Gammeltoft at Nordisk.

 

Sources: IMDb, www.dfi.dk/viden-om-film/filmdatabasen/person/helen-gamme..., Danish Wikipedia.

 

German postcard. Verlag Hermann Leiser, Berlin, No. 59.

 

Viggo Larsen (1880-1957) was a Danish actor, director, scriptwriter and producer. He was one of the pioneers in film history. With Wanda Treumann he directed and produced many German films of the 1910s.

I have been busy preparing for my next theater production for the last four months.

Officially the show's called something else now, but for me it will always be The Grand Design since that's what my faith has been re-affirmed in during the making of this show. Right from the stages of conceptualization, to today as I oversee the rehearsals, I have seen so many shades of what's possible. It's hard to explain here why this show is special to me, nonetheless I will tell you this much that there IS a plan, a grand one, waiting for each one of us. The fact that I am doing this show is proof enough for me to believe it!

For the last four months, this show is all I have been thinking of and working on. I have been living every moment of the show in my head over and over again, visualizing how each minute of it will turn out to be on the 28th. The treatment to this show is unique, I have only shared with my team what can be shared. The rest of it remains inside my mind and my heart. But what will be presented on the 28th will be the complete picture; well almost, since my experiences as the scriptwriter and the director will be mine alone. And what I have gained is a sight multitude of possibilities waiting for my touch!

One life, live it large!

.

Tagu-taguan Maliwanag ang Buwan

UAAP Season 71 Opening Ceremonies

Host-School: University of the Philippines

Araneta Coliseum

05 July 2008

 

Artistic Director: Dexter M. Santos

Head Choreographer: Van Manalo

Choreographers: Lalaine Perena, Jerome Dimalanta, Jojo Carino

Production Designer: Tuxqs Rutaquio

Lighting Designer: John Neil Ilao Batalla

Music Design: Carol Bello

Scriptwriter: Sir Anril Tiatco

Technical Director: Voltaire de Jesus

Production Manager: Theresa Gonzalez

Performers: UP Filipiniana, UP PEP Squad, UP Dance Company , UP Dancesport and the UP StreetDance.

British postcard by Boomerang Media. Photo: Touchstone Pictures. Nicolas Cage in Gone in Sixty Seconds (Brian De Palma, 2000). Caption: Ice cold hot wired.

 

Nicolas Cage (1964) is an American film actor and producer, who often plays eccentric wisecracking characters. His breakthrough came at the end of the 1980s with the Oscar-winning comedy Moonstruck (1988) and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), which was awarded Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Cage won the Oscar for Best Actor with Leaving Las Vegas (1995). The action films The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) gave him four of his biggest box office successes in the years that followed. He received another Oscar nomination for his performance as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002).

 

Nicolas Kim Coppola was born in Long Beach, California, in 1964. He was the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola and dancer and choreographer Joy Vogelsang. His grandfather is the composer Carmine Coppola. His father is the brother of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. His mother suffered from severe depression, which also led to hospitalisation. His parents divorced in 1976, but Nicolas always kept in touch with his mother. He was interested in the film business from an early age. He took professional acting lessons at the age of 15. Two years later, he dropped out of high school to concentrate on his career. Nicolas had a small role in his film debut Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Most of his part was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) landed him a role in that film. He changed his name to avoid taking advantage of his uncle's success and being accused of nepotism. He chose the name 'Cage' after comic book hero Luke Cage and the avant-garde artist John Cage. In the same year, he broke through with a lead role as a punk rocker in the comedy Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983). Many films followed. For his role in Birdy (Alan Parker, 1984) with Matthew Modine, he had a tooth extracted without anaesthetic to immerse himself in his role. His passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984). In 1987, he starred in two of the most successful films of that year, proving his status as a major actor. In the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987), he played a dim-witted crook with a heart of gold who wants to start a family with agent Holly Hunter. In Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987), he played the man Cher falls in love with. The latter film earned him many female admirers and a Golden Globe nomination.

 

In 1990, Nicolas Cage played a violent Elvis fan in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Another important role was Leaving Las Vegas (1995), in which he plays a suicidal alcoholic who falls in love with a prostitute (played by Elisabeth Shue) in Las Vegas. For his role in Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage received the Academy Award for Best Actor. After proving himself as a serious actor in 1995, a series of big-budget action films followed, such as The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996), Con Air (Simon West, 1996) and Face/Off (John Woo, 1997). He played an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan in City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) and returned to action films with Gone in 60 Seconds (Dominic Sena, 2000). In the 21st century, he also started a new career, as a film producer. Among others, he produced The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), with Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey. In 2002, he played a heavy double role in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. in which he played both scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman and his (fictional) brother Donald. For this role, he received his second Oscar nomination. In World Trade Center (Oliver Stone, 2006), he played Brigadier John McLoughlin who became trapped under the collapsed WTC for three days. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2012) was the sequel to the Marvel comic adaptation Ghost Rider (Mark Steven Johnson, 2007). In recent years, Cage has been facing major financial problems. Despite receiving over $150 million in total fees throughout his career, he had run out of funds and owed $14 million in taxes due to his lavish lifestyle (including buying exotic properties) after the housing bubble burst. In 2009, he had to sell two of his houses and several cars and boats. In 2022, Cage stated that he had paid off his debts. He also pointed out in a '60 Minutes' interview that he never went bankrupt to avoid having to pay off the debt. He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in the action Horror film Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018), the drama Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021), the action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) and the comedy fantasy Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023). Cage was married to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016). and make-up artist Erika Koike (2019), but this marriage was annulled the same year. Cage married Riko Shibata in 2021. He has three sons. His eldest son, with Christina Fulton, Weston Coppola Cage a.k.a. Wes Cage, is the singer and guitarist of the oriental metal band Arsh Anubis. In 2014, Nicolas became a grandfather at age 50 when Weston welcomed a son, Lucian Augustus Coppola Cage. Alice Kim gave birth to Cage's second son Kal-El (2005), named after the Kryptonian name of Superman. Cage is a confessed comic book fan.

 

Sources: Dan Hartung (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

It all started in 1994. TV scriptwriter Stefan Struik had an interview with a meditating hermit in Baarn (NL) who was complaining about gnomes who disturbed the power network in his house. A month later he ran into trolls in a Norwegian clothing store in the Dutch-Frisian village Dokkum. A year before he got surprised by the amount of one meter high garden gnomes just across the border between Germany and Poland. It all seemed to point into a new direction he would hit a few months later. In December 1994 he opened with his sister a small game and bookstore in Delft (NL), named Elf Fantasy Shop. The games were a golden opportunity. Three years later the duo could open an second store in The Hague.

 

In 1995 Stefan also started a new adventure with a free magazine called Elf Fantasy Magazine. In 2001 the magazine became professionalized and despite it never realised any profits it existed until 2009.

 

Stefan and his sister already organised lectures in the Elf Fantasy Shops about druidism, Tolkien and other fantasy related subjects. In 2001 Stefan decided to combine a few things into a totally new and unique festival concept that later would be copied many times: the Elf Fantasy fair. Starting in the historical theme parc Archeon (NL) it moved the year after to the largest castle in the Netherlands: castle de Haar. With the exception of 2004 (castle Keukenhof, Lisse) it remained in castle de Haar, Haarzuilens since then. In 2009 a second version of the Elf Fantasy Fair started 400 meters from the border with Germany in the small village Arcen in Northern Limburg. In January 2013 the name Elf Fantasy Fair™ was replaced by the name Elfia™. The spring edition of Elfia is also called the 'Light Edition', while the autumn edition is characterized as the 'dark edition'.

 

What a laugh. My first thought, when I saw the headline, was one of disbelief: they've never film that book! But when I read more, if this book really is relevant to the plot of Lost, as is the suggestion, then the only connection I can think of -- apart from the obvious one of everyone on the island falling in love with bicycles -- is the ending the book shares with the ending of that Bruce Willis film...

 

---

 

Surreal bicycle book rides to fame on back of cult TV show

 

Owen Bowcott

Friday February 24, 2006

 

Once rejected for publication as too "fantastic", a surreal Irish novel featuring the interchanging of atoms between a man and his beloved bicycle has been racing off the shelves of American bookshops.

 

Flann O'Brien's dark comedy The Third Policeman was not published until after his death, but its appearance in the cult television series Lost has turned it into a top seller. The TV show chronicles the lives of a cast of photogenic survivors marooned after their aircraft crashes on a remote Pacific island. It involves a sprawling plot that delves into their former lives through flashbacks.

 

The book's cover was on screen for only a flash, but the exposure sent thousands of fans into bookshops eager to discover clues about the TV mystery. Their curiosity was heightened by an interview with the programme's scriptwriter, Craig Wright, who explained the book had been chosen "very specifically for a reason".

 

Read more on Guardian website

 

Blogged.

UCA holds various significant animation archives. The Animation Archives house a unique collection of over one million original materials that document British animation from the 1940's to the present day. The collections contain a vast array of internationally significant research material

 

These images are from the archive of Oscar winning animator, Bob Godfrey.

  

For Bob Godfrey's Biography see here archives.ucreative.ac.uk/Calmview/Record.aspx?src=CalmVie...

 

The archive contains records relating to Bob Godfrey's Animation work. The archive is 2D hand drawn animation.

Records include scripts, pre-production, production, post production, publicity, distribution, and exhibitions. These include scripts, storyboards, correspondence, animation cels, pencil drawings, award certificates and photographs. The archive also includes personal drawings from Bob Godfrey and photographs of Bob Godfrey, his animator and scriptwriter colleagues, and his family and friends.

 

The material from the Bob Godfrey Animation archive are under the copyright of the Bob Godfrey Estate and should not be reused for commercial purposes without the permission of the estate.

 

Contact archives@ucreative.ac.uk for further information

   

JACK KIRBY

 

Fantastic Four 55

JACK KIRBY

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

Vintage Italian postcard. Pina Menichelli in one of her last films La biondina (Amleto Palermi 1923). Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, Nr. 130. Here, also with Gemma de' Ferrari.

 

The film was based on a book by Marco Praga on the tragedy of a woman whose husband kills her in the end. It seems that Italian censorship forced the scriptwriter to add morality to the film, so Praga's tragedy is framed within a story about a modest, conventional wife who, encouraged by her friend, dreams of breaking out, but then reads Praga's book and decides to remain honest and loyal. The actress on the left on the card could be the friend (Gemma de' Ferrari).

 

Fascinating and enigmatic Pina Menichelli (1890-1984) was the most bizarre Italian diva of the silent era. With her contorted postures and disdainful expression, she impersonated the striking femme fatale.

JACK KIRBY

 

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

JACK KIRBY

 

JACK KIRBY

Birth name Jacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

On 5th May 2011 Master Simon Wong's paintings were in the Dragons in the Lions Den show which exhibited Chinese Contemporary Art from Beijing to London, which was organised by YD Gallery www.ydgallery.co.uk Charlie Pycraft(Photographer) www.charliepycraft.co.uk and Ping Works(Creative network) www.pingworks.org a UK creative hub at Forman's Smokehouse Gallery.

 

"Finally a special thanks to Charlie for spotting the potential" Peng Seng Ong Executive Director MBS Limited

"Wow, what an amazing evening. Thanks to you all for your putting this even together, Ping is on the map!" Philip Mayer BSc (Econ) MIC NLPdip Director MBS Ltd

"Hi Peng…I second that. I thought it was an excellent evening and thanks so much to you and Charlie and all the artists for making it such a success." William Chamberlain Business Affairs Consultant

"Thank you so much to Charlie and Peng for organising the prestigious event, developing the concept, getting the artists together, the copy together, design etc, it all looked great, a lot of hard work and it showed." Kathryn McMann Holistic Marketing Consultancy Integrated Strategic Marketing : Social Media : Project Management : Trans-media : Creative Concepts

 

Master Simon Wong is originally from China and has been a British resident since 1978. Master Simon Wong is a spiritual Master, a Feng Shui Master, a professional Chinese Astrologer, an artist, musician, songwriter, scriptwriter and author. Master Simon Wong does not give names to his paintings. The Tao Te Ching states: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. When the Master uses the finger to point at the moon the student should not just be looking at the finger. The finger is just a tool pointing to the direction. Painting is the same, the medium that is used is not important, it is the mental expression behind the art work that gives a picture its spirit. After perfecting his artistic style for the last 40 years, Master Simon Wong is now exhibiting and selling his work.

French postcard by Cart.com for Centre Pompidou for the 'Rétrospective intégrale Brian de Palma, 2002. Photo: Gaumont Buena Vista International. Nicolas Cage in Snake Eyes (Brian De Palma, 1998).

 

Nicolas Cage (1964) is an American film actor and producer, who often plays eccentric wisecracking characters. His breakthrough came at the end of the 1980s with the Oscar-winning comedy Moonstruck (1988) and David Lynch's Wild at Heart (1990), which was awarded Best Film at the Cannes Film Festival. Cage won the Oscar for Best Actor with Leaving Las Vegas (1995). The action films The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997) and Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) gave him four of his biggest box office successes in the years that followed. He received another Oscar nomination for his performance as twins Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's Adaptation (2002).

 

Nicolas Kim Coppola was born in Long Beach, California, in 1964. He was the son of comparative literature professor August Coppola and dancer and choreographer Joy Vogelsang. His grandfather is the composer Carmine Coppola. His father is the brother of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire. His mother suffered from severe depression, which also led to hospitalisation. His parents divorced in 1976, but Nicolas always kept in touch with his mother. He was interested in the film business from an early age. He took professional acting lessons at the age of 15. Two years later, he dropped out of high school to concentrate on his career. Nicolas had a small role in his film debut Fast Times at Ridgemont High (Amy Heckerling, 1982), starring Sean Penn and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Most of his part was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career. But a job reading lines with actors auditioning for uncle Francis' Rumble Fish (Francis Ford Coppola, 1983) landed him a role in that film. He changed his name to avoid taking advantage of his uncle's success and being accused of nepotism. He chose the name 'Cage' after comic book hero Luke Cage and the avant-garde artist John Cage. In the same year, he broke through with a lead role as a punk rocker in the comedy Valley Girl (Martha Coolidge, 1983). Many films followed. For his role in Birdy (Alan Parker, 1984) with Matthew Modine, he had a tooth extracted without anaesthetic to immerse himself in his role. His passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984). In 1987, he starred in two of the most successful films of that year, proving his status as a major actor. In the Coen Brothers' Raising Arizona (Joel Coen, 1987), he played a dim-witted crook with a heart of gold who wants to start a family with agent Holly Hunter. In Moonstruck (Norman Jewison, 1987), he played the man Cher falls in love with. The latter film earned him many female admirers and a Golden Globe nomination.

 

In 1990, Nicolas Cage played a violent Elvis fan in David Lynch's Wild at Heart. Another important role was Leaving Las Vegas (1995), in which he plays a suicidal alcoholic who falls in love with a prostitute (played by Elisabeth Shue) in Las Vegas. For his role in Leaving Las Vegas, Nicolas Cage received the Academy Award for Best Actor. After proving himself as a serious actor in 1995, a series of big-budget action films followed, such as The Rock (Michael Bay, 1996), Con Air (Simon West, 1996) and Face/Off (John Woo, 1997). He played an angel who falls in love with Meg Ryan in City of Angels (Brad Silberling, 1998) and returned to action films with Gone in 60 Seconds (Dominic Sena, 2000). In the 21st century, he also started a new career, as a film producer. Among others, he produced The Life of David Gale (Alan Parker, 2003), with Kate Winslet and Kevin Spacey. In 2002, he played a heavy double role in Spike Jonze's Adaptation. in which he played both scriptwriter Charlie Kaufman and his (fictional) brother Donald. For this role, he received his second Oscar nomination. In World Trade Center (Oliver Stone, 2006), he played Brigadier John McLoughlin who became trapped under the collapsed WTC for three days. Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (Mark Neveldine, Brian Taylor, 2012) was the sequel to the Marvel comic adaptation Ghost Rider (Mark Steven Johnson, 2007). In recent years, Cage has been facing major financial problems. Despite receiving over $150 million in total fees throughout his career, he had run out of funds and owed $14 million in taxes due to his lavish lifestyle (including buying exotic properties) after the housing bubble burst. In 2009, he had to sell two of his houses and several cars and boats. In 2022, Cage stated that he had paid off his debts. He also pointed out in a '60 Minutes' interview that he never went bankrupt to avoid having to pay off the debt. He earned renewed critical recognition for his starring roles in the action Horror film Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, 2018), the drama Pig (Michael Sarnoski, 2021), the action comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Tom Gormican, 2022) and the comedy fantasy Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli, 2023). Cage was married to actress Patricia Arquette (1995-2001), Lisa Marie Presley (2002-2004), Alice Kim (2004-2016). and make-up artist Erika Koike (2019), but this marriage was annulled the same year. Cage married Riko Shibata in 2021. He has three sons. His eldest son, with Christina Fulton, Weston Coppola Cage a.k.a. Wes Cage, is the singer and guitarist of the oriental metal band Arsh Anubis. In 2014, Nicolas became a grandfather at age 50 when Weston welcomed a son, Lucian Augustus Coppola Cage. Alice Kim gave birth to Cage's second son Kal-El (2005), named after the Kryptonian name of Superman. Cage is a confessed comic book fan.

 

Sources: Dan Hartung (IMDb), Wikipedia (Dutch, German and English) and IMDb.

 

And, please check out our blog European Film Star Postcards.

JACK KIRBY

 

JACK KIRBY

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

JACK KIRBY

 

Sgt. Fury 13

JACK KIRBY

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

French postcard by O.P., Paris, no. 117. Photo: Teddy Piaz.

 

Ravishing French actress Jacqueline Laurent (1918 – 2009) made only eleven films, but among them is Marcel Carné’s masterpiece Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939). She was the love of poet and scriptwriter Jacques Prévert.

 

Jacqueline Laurent was born as Jacqueline Suzanne Janin in Brienne-le-Chateau, France in 1918. Her father was a music teacher and amateur composer; her mother schoolteacher. Her family gained a capital and they moved to Paris. There the 15-years-old met the actor Sylvain Itkine, who was ten years her senior. She fell in love and in 1935 they married. She made her debut under the pseudonym Jacqueline Sylvère in the adventure film Gaspard de Besse/Dawn Over France (1935, André Hugon) starring Raimu as a French Robin Hood in the Provence before the French revolution. Director Hugon, who was a friend of her father, then gave her a big part in the drama Sarati, le terrible/Sarati the Terrible (1937, André Hugon) opposite Harry Baur. From then on she was credited as Jacqueline Laurent. In between these two films she had met the poet Jacques Prévertin the famous café Flore in Saint-Germain-de-Prés. The two began a passionate affair which lasted four years. Her film career developed smoothly. In Hollywood, she appeared for MGM in the third of the popular Andy Hardy films, Judge Hardy's Children (1938, Edgar B. Seitz). She played a French girl for whom Andy Hardy (Mickey Rooney) falls. Back in France, she had her greatest success with Le jour se lève/Daybreak (1939, Marcel Carné) for which Prévert wrote the script. In this classic masterpiece of the French poetic realism of the 1930’s, she co-starred as a young florist who falls in love with a factory worker (Jean Gabin) but her relation with the evil Valentin (Jules Berry) leads to murder. JB du Monteil at IMDb writes: “That was one of the last French masterpieces of the thirties just before the war. Marcel Carné was accused of pessimism and the movie was quickly forbidden by the military censorship that used to say in 1940: ‘if we've lost the war, blame it on Quai des Brumes’ (Carné's precedent movie). The director answered: "you do not blame a barometer for the storm"). Le jour se lève is, if it's possible, darker than its predecessor. From the very beginning, the hero, a good guy (Gabin) is doomed, his fate is already sealed, because the tragedy has already happened .That's why the movie is a long flashback. The memories are brought back on the screen with an astounding virtuosity by some elements of the set.”

 

Only after three years, Jacqueline Laurent appeared in her next film, the romantic drama L'homme qui joue avec le feu/ The man who plays with fire (1942, Jean de Limur) with Ginette Leclerc. She starred opposite Pierre Brasseur in Les deux timides/Two shy ones (1943, Yves Allégret) and in Italy with Clara Calamai in Addio, amore!/Farewell, love! (1943, Gianni Franciolini). She played the female lead opposite Fernandel in Un chapeau de paille d'Italie/The Italian straw hat (1944, Maurice Cammage). This comedy was a remake of a classic silent film by René Clair, and although the film was shot in 1940, it could not be released until 1944 because of the war. The Italian production L'abito nero da sposa/The black wedding dress (1945, Luigi Zampa) with Fosco Giachetti was also delayed by the war. The shooting of the historical drama started in early 1943 in the Cinécitta studios, but was interrupted during most of the war. The shooting only resumed once Rome was liberated in June 1944, and the film was finally released in 1945. After that she made a third Italian film, Le vie del peccato/The ways of sin (1946, Giorgio Pastina) with Leonardo Cortese. Then she retired from the cinema, and would marry twice. Her only other film appearance was an uncredited bit role in Le coup de grace/The coup de grace (1965, Jean Cayrol, Claude Durand) with Danielle Darrieux. Jacqueline Laurent died in 2009 in Grasse, France at the age of 91.

 

Sources: Yvan Foucart (Le coin du cinéphage) (French), Alexandre Carle (Les Gens du Cinéma) (French), La Saga Des Etoiles Filantes (French), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

German postcard by Rotophot in the Film Sterne series, no. 82/5. Photo: Karl Schenker, Berlin.

 

Austrian actor Friedrich Zelnik or Frederic Zelnik (1885 - 1950) was also one of the most important producers-directors of the German silent cinema. Already in the early 1910’s he became a film star in Germany, but during the 1920’s he had his greatest successes there as director-producer of operetta style costume films starring his wife, Lya Mara. A critical success was his drama Die Weber/The Weaver (1927). After 1933, he worked in Great-Britain and also directed two films in the Netherlands.

 

Friedrich Zelnik was born in a Jewish family in Czernowitz, then the capital of the Duchy of Bukovina in the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (today Chernivtsi, Ukraine) in 1885. Czernowitz was largely populated by Jews. After Wilno it was the most important city for the Jewish culture in Eastern Europe. Zelnik studied law in Vienna, but then worked as an actor in theaters in Nürnberg, Aachen, Worms, Prague and finally Berlin - in the theaters Theater an der Königsgrätzer Straße, Berliner Theater and Komödienhaus. In 1910 he began to act in short silent films for Messters Projektion GmbH, such as Verkannt/Misunderstood (1910), Japanisches Opfer/Japanese victims (1910, Adolf Gärtner) with Max Mack, and Im Glück vergessen/Forget the luck (1911, Adolf Gärtner) with silent superstar Henny Porten. For another company he played the lead in Europäisches Sklavenleben/European slave life (1912, Emil Justitz). These films made him one of the first German film stars. Then there was an interval in his film career of three years during which Zelnik set up his own production company, Berliner Film-Manukfaktur, together with Walter Behrend and Max Liebenau. In 1915, he started to produce and direct films while he still also played parts in other directors’ films. Among these films were the Sherlock Holmes mystery Das dunkle Schloß/The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Dark Castle (1915, Willy Zeyn) starring Eugen Burg as Holmes, Arme Maria/poor Mary (1915, Willy Zeyn, Max Mack) featuring Hanni Weisse, and Die Fiebersonate/The Fever Sonata (1916, Emmerich Hanus) with Lotte Neumann. This latter film he also produced. Other early productions were Ein Zirkusmädel/A Circus Girl (1917, Carl Wilhelm) with Lisa Weise, and the Charles Dickens adaptation Klein Doortje/Little Dorrit (1917, Friedrich Zelnik).

 

In 1918 Friedrich Zelnik married a young Polish ballet dancer turned film actress named Lya Mara. He started to produce and direct films for her and made Mara a huge star of the german cinema. Between 1917 and 1922 the Berliner Film-Manukfaktur produced more than 120 films. From 1920 on Zelnik's companies ran under several names: Zelnik-Mara-Film GmbH, Friedrich Zelnik-film GmbH, and Efzet-Film GmbH. Zelnik-Mara-Film GmbH produced silent entertainment films in which Mara was the female star. Together they made very popular, operetta style costume films like An der schönen blauen Donau/The Beautiful Blue Danube (1926, Friedrich Zelnik) with Harry Liedtke, Die Försterchristl/The Bohemian Dancer (1926, Friedrich Zelnik) again with Liedtke, Das Tanzende Wien/Dancing Vienna (1927, Friedrich Zelnik), and Heut' tanzt Mariett/Marietta (1928, Friedrich Zelnik) with Fred Louis Lerch. These films brought Lya Mara and Zelnik enormous success in Germany and beyond. Filmportal.de: ”Zelnik's sentimental costume dramas (…) always ranked among the greatest box office hits of their respective season. Nevertheless, his filmic version of Gerhart Hauptmann's Die Weber/The Weaver (1927, Friedrich Zelnik) became popular even with ‘progressive’ critics. To this day, this rather untypical film for Zelnik still mainly accounts for his reputation as a filmmaker.” Several of his collaborators, including cameraman Frederik Fuglsang and production designer André Andrejew, are perceived today as notable artists of the German silent cinema. Another important collaborator was scriptwriter Fanny Carlsen. Busy with directing and producing these films, Zelnik did not find the time appear himself in films. His last film appearance was in Das Geheimnis der alten Mamsell/The Story of the Old Mademoiselle (1925, Paul Merzbach) starring Marcella Albani. In 1925, Zelnik was head of production at Deutsche Fox for six films, and in 1926 he became a board member and the art director of Defu (Deutsche Film Union AG) and Defina (Deutsche First National Pictures GmbH).

 

Upon the introduction of sound film, Friedrich Zelnik became the first director in Europe to post synchronize a film, the Edgars Wallace adaptation Der rote Kreis/The Crimson Circle (1929, Friedrich Zelnik) starring Lya Mara and Stewart Rome. In London, he used the DeForest Phonofilm sound-on-film process, and added music by Edmund Meisel. In 1930, the Friedrich Zelnik-Film GmbH went into liquidation and Zelnik travelled to Hollywood, California. Upon his return he directed his first full sound film, a new version of his silent success Die Försterchristl/The Bohemian Girl (1931, Friedrich Zelnik) featuring Irene Eisinger. He had no problems adapting his operetta style to the sound film, and soon followed more musicals like Walzerparadies/Waltz Paradise (1931, Friedrich Zelnik) with Charlotte Susa, Jeder fragt nach Erika/Everyone asks for Erika (1931, Friedrich Zelnik) with Lya Mara in her only sound film role, and Spione im Savoy-Hotel/The Gala Performance (1932, Friedrich Zelnik) with Alfred Abel. After Adolph Hitler took power in 1933, Zelnik and Lya Mara left Germany for London. His first British film was the musical comedy Happy (1933, Friedrich Zelnik) with Stanley Lupino. It was an English remake of Es war einmal ein Musikus/There was once a musician (1933, Friedrich Zelnik), the last film he had made in Germany. In the years to follow Zelnik, now Frederic (or Fred) Zelnik, continued to direct and produce films in Great Britain and The Netherlands. Among his British films are the musicals Southern Roses (1934, Frederic Zelnik), The Lilac Domino (1937, Frederic Zelnik) with S. Z. Szakall in a supporting part, and I Killed the Count (1939, Frederic Zelnik) starring Ben Lyon. In the Netherlands he directed Vadertje Langbeen/Daddy Long Legs (1938, Friedrich Zelnik) based on the popular and often filmed novel by Jean Webster, and Morgen gaat ’t beter!/Tomorrow It Will Be Better (1939, Friedrich Zelnik). Both films were produced by German émigré producer and distributor Rudolf Meyer, and starred Dutch actress Lily Bouwmeester. Zelnik took the British citizenship. After 1940 he only worked as a producer, in cooperation with British National. His later work included the musical Give Me the Stars (1945, Maclean Rogers) and the British-Italian drama The Glass Mountain (1949, Henry Cass) with Michael Denison and Valentina Cortese. Together with Raymond Stross, he founded Zelstro Films to produce the film Hell Is Sold Out (1951, Michael Anderson) but did not live to see its completion. Friedrich Zelnik died in 1950 in London. He was 65. About what happened to his wife, Lya Mara there is only a rumor that she died in 1960 in Switzerland.

 

Sources: Filmportal.de, Film in Nederland (Dutch), Wikipedia and IMDb.

JACK KIRBY

 

JACK KIRBY

Birth nameJacob Kurtzberg

BornAugust 28, 1917

New York City. New York

Died February 6, 1994 (aged 76)

Thousand Oaks, California

 

NationalityAmerican

Area(s)Penciller, Inker, Writer, Editor

Pseudonym(s)The King

Notable worksMarvel Comics

AwardsAlley Award

 

*Best Pencil Artist (1967), plus many awards for individual stories

 

Shazam Award

 

*Special Achievement by an Individual (1971)

 

Jack Kirby (August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was one of the most influential, recognizable, and prolific artists in American comic books, and the co-creator of such enduring characters and popular culture icons as the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, the Hulk, Captain America and hundreds of others stretching back to the earliest days of medium. He was also a comic book writer and editor. His most common nickname is The King.

 

He was inducted into comic books' Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

The Jack Kirby Award for achievement in comic books was named in his honor.

 

Early life

 

Born Jacob Kurtzberg to Jewish Austrian parents in New York City, he grew up on Suffolk Street in New York's Lower East Side Delancey Street area, attending elementary school at P.S. 20. His father, Benjamin, a garment-factory worker, was a Conservative Jew, and Jacob attended Hebrew school. Jacob's one sibling, a brother five years younger, predeceased him. After a rough-and-tumble childhood with much fighting among the kind of kid gangs he would render more heroically in his future comics (Fantastic Four's Jewish Ben Grimm was raised on rough-and-tumble "Yancy Street", and was predeceased by his older brother; in addition to sharing Kirby's father's first name, his middle name is Jacob, Kirby's first name at birth), Kirby enrolled at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, at what he said was age 14, leaving after a week. "I wasn't the kind of student that Pratt was looking for. They wanted people who would work on something forever. I didn't want to work on any project forever. I intended to get things done".[1]

 

Essentially self-taught, Kirby cited among his influences the comic strip artists Alex Raymond and Milton Caniff.

 

The Golden Age of Comics

 

Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), art by Jack Kirby (penciler) and Joe Simon (inker).

 

Per his own sometimes-unreliable memory, Kirby joined the Lincoln Newspaper Syndicate in 1936, working there on newspaper comic strips and on single-panel advice cartoons such as Your Health Comes First (under the pseudonym "Jack Curtiss"). He remained until late 1939, then worked for the movie animation company Fleischer Studios as an "in-betweener" (an artist who fills in the action between major-movement frames,) on Popeye cartoons. "I went from Lincoln to Fleischer," he recalled. "From Fleischer I had to get out in a hurry because I couldn't take that kind of thing," describing it as "a factory in a sense, like my father's factory. They were manufacturing pictures."

 

Around this time, "I began to see the first comic books appear". The first American comic books were reprints of newspaper comic strips; soon, these tabloid-size, 10-inch by 15-inch "Comic books" began to include original material in comic-strip form. Kirby began writing and drawing such material for the comic book packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of firms creating comics on demand for publishers. Through that company, Kirby did what he remembers as his first comic book work, for Wild Boy Magazine. This included such strips as the science fiction adventure The Diary of Dr. Hayward (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the Western crimefighter strip Wilton of the West (as "Fred Sande"), the swashbuckler strip "The Count of Monte Cristo" (again as "Jack Curtiss"), and the humor strips Abdul Jones (as "Ted Grey)" and Socko the Seadog (as "Teddy"), all variously for Jumbo Comics and other Eisner-Iger clients. Kirby was also helpful beyond his artwork when he once frightened off a mobster who was strongarming Eisner for their building's towel service.

 

Kirby moved on to comic-book publisher and newspaper syndicator Fox Feature Syndicate, earning a then-reasonable $15 a week salary. He began exploring superhero narrative with the comic strip The Blue Beetle (January–March 1940), starring a character created by the pseudonymous Charles Nicholas, a house name that Kirby retained for the three-month-long strip.

 

Simon & Kirby

 

During this time, Kirby met and began collaborating with cartoonist and Fox editor Joe Simon, who in addition to his staff work continued to freelance. Speaking at a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in San Diego, California, Simon recounted the meeting:

“

 

I had a suit and Jack thought that was really nice. He'd never seen a comic book artist with a suit before. The reason I had a suit was that my father was a tailor. Jack's father was a tailor too, but he made pants! Anyway, I was doing freelance work and I had a little office in New York about ten blocks from DC's and Fox [Feature Syndicate]'s offices, and I was working on Blue Bolt for Funnies, Inc. So, of course, I loved Jack's work and the first time I saw it I couldn't believe what I was seeing. He asked if we could do some freelance work together. I was delighted and I took him over to my little office. We worked from the second issue of Blue Bolt...

and remained a team across the next two decades. In the early 2000s, original art for an unpublished, five-page Simon & Kirby collaboration titled "Daring Disc", which may predate the duo's Blue Bolt, surfaced. Simon published the story in the 2003 updated edition of his autobiography, The Comic Book Makers.

 

After leaving Fox and landing at pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics (the future Marvel Comics), the new Simon & Kirby team created the seminal patriotic hero Captain America in late 1940. Their dynamic perspectives, groundbreaking use of centerspreads, cinematic techniques and exaggerated sense of action made the title an immediate hit and rewrote the rules for comic book art. Simon and Kirby also produced the first complete comic book starring Captain Marvel for Fawcett Comics.

 

Captain America became the first and largest of many hit characters the duo would produce. The Simon & Kirby name soon became synonymous with exciting superhero comics, and the two became industry stars whose readers followed them from title to title. A financial dispute with Goodman led to their decamping to National Comics, one of the precursors of DC Comics, after ten issues of Captain America. Given a lucrative contract at their new home, Simon & Kirby took over the Sandman in Adventure Comics, and scored their next hits with the "kid gang" teams the Boy Commandos and the Newsboy Legion, and the superhero Manhunter.

 

Kirby married Rosalind "Roz" Goldstein (September 25, 1922–December 22, 1998) on May 23, 1942. The couple would have four children: Susan, Neal, Barbara and Lisa. The same year that he married, he changed his name legally from Jacob Kurtzberg to Jack Kirby. The couple was living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, when Kirby was drafted into the U.S. Army in the late autumn of 1943. Serving with the Third Army combat infantry, he landed in Normandy, on Omaha Beach, 10 days after D-Day.

 

As superhero comics waned in popularity after the end of World War II, Kirby and his partner began producing a variety of other genre stories. They are credited with the creation of the first romance title, Young Romance Comics at Crestwood Publications, also known as Prize Comics. In addition, Kirby and Simon produced crime, horror, western and humor comics.

 

After Simon

 

Sky Masters comic strip by Kirby & Wally Wood.

 

The Kirby & Simon partnership ended amicably in 1955 with the failure of their own Mainline Publications. Kirby continued to freelance. He was instrumental in the creation of Archie Comics' The Fly and Harvey Comics' Double Life of Private Strong reuniting briefly with Joe Simon. He also drew some issues of Classics Illustrated.

 

For DC Comics, then known as National Comics, Kirby co-created with writers Dick & Dave Wood the non-superpowered adventuring quartet the Challengers of the Unknown in Showcase #6 (Feb. 1957), while also contributing to such anthologies as House of Mystery. In 30 months at DC, Kirby drew lightly over 600 pages, which included 11 Green Arrow stories in World's Finest Comics and Adventure Comics that, in a rarity, Kirby inked himself. He also began drawing a newspaper comic strip, Sky Masters of the Space Force, written by the Wood brothers and initially inked by the unrelated Wally Wood.

 

Kirby left National Comics after a contractual dispute in which editor Jack Schiff, who had been involved in getting Kirby and the Wood brothers the Sky Masters contract, claimed he was due royalties from Kirby's share of the strip's profits. Schiff sued Kirby and was successful at trial.

 

Stan Lee and Marvel Comics

 

Kirby also worked for Marvel, on the cusp of the company's evolution from its 1950s incarnation as Atlas Comics, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" in Strange Worlds #1 (Dec. 1958).[9] Kirby would draw across all genres, from romance to Western (the feature "Black Rider") to espionage (Yellow Claw), but made his mark primarily with a series of monster, horror and science fiction stories for the company's many anthology series, such as Amazing Adventures, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish and Tales of Suspense. His bizarre designs of powerful, unearthly creatures proved a hit with readers. Then, with Marvel editor-in-chief Stan Lee, Kirby began working on superhero comics again, beginning with The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961). The landmark series became a hit that revolutionized the industry with its true-to-life naturalism and, eventually, a cosmic purview informed by Kirby's seemingly boundless imagination — one coincidentally well-matched with the consciousness-expanding youth culture of the 1960s.

 

For almost a decade, Kirby provided Marvel's house style, co-creating/designing many of the Marvel characters and providing layouts for new artists to draw over. Highlights besides the Fantastic Four include Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, the original X-Men, the Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Galactus, The Watcher, Magneto, Ego the Living Planet, the Inhumans and their hidden city of Attilan, and the Black Panther — comics' first known Black superhero — and his African nation of Wakanda. Simon & Kirby's Captain America was also incorporated into Marvel's continuity.

 

In 1968 and 1969, Joe Simon was involved in litigation with Marvel Comics over the ownership of Captain America, initiated by Marvel after Simon registered the copyright renewal for Captain America in his own name. According to Simon, Kirby agreed to support the company in the litigation and, as part of a deal Kirby made with publisher Martin Goodman, signed over to Marvel any rights he might have had to the character.

 

Kirby continued to expand the medium's boundaries, devising photo-collage covers and interiors, developing new drawing techniques such as the method for depicting energy fields now known as 'Kirby Dots', and other experiments. Yet he grew increasingly dissatisfied with working at Marvel. There have been a number of reasons given for this dissatisfaction, including resentment over Stan Lee's increasing media prominence, a lack of full creative control, anger over breaches of perceived promises by publisher Martin Goodman, and frustration over Marvel's failure to credit him specifically for his story plotting and for his character creations and co-creations. He began to both script and draw some secondary features for Marvel, such as "The Inhumans" in Amazing Adventures and horror stories for the anthology title Chamber of Darkness, and received full credit for doing so; but he eventually left the company in 1970 for rival DC Comics, under editorial director Carmine Infantino.

Kirby returned to DC in the early 1970s, under an arrangement that gave him full creative control as editor, writer and artist. He produced a cycle of inter-linked titles under the blanket sobriquet The Fourth World including a trilogy of new titles, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and The Forever People, as well as the Superman title, Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen which he worked on at the publisher's request. Kirby claims to have picked this Superman family book because the series was between artists and he did not want to cost anyone a job. The central villain of the Fourth World series, Darkseid, and some of the Fourth World concepts appeared in Jimmy Olsen before the launch of the other Fourth World books, giving the new titles greater exposure to potential buyers.

 

Kirby later produced other DC titles such as OMAC, Kamandi, The Demon, and (together with former partner Joe Simon for one last time) a new incarnation of the Sandman. Several characters from this period have since become fixtures in the DC universe, including the demon Etrigan and his human counterpart Jason Blood; Scott Free (Mister Miracle), and the cosmic villain Darkseid.

 

Kirby then returned to Marvel Comics where he both wrote and drew Captain America and created the series The Eternals, which featured a race of inscrutable alien giants, the Celestials, whose behind-the-scenes intervention influenced the evolution of life on Earth. Kirby's other Marvel creations in this period include Devil Dinosaur, Machine Man, and an adaptation and expansion of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also wrote and drew The Black Panther and did numerous covers across the line.

 

Although often artistically successful, the books did not connect with an audience to the same extent as his earlier work for Marvel in the 1960s. Many of the themes of his 1970s work - aging and immortality, helplessness in the face of unknowable and inconceivable powers beyond one's control - were those of a man in late middle age and were not likely to connect with younger readers.

 

Still dissatisfied with Marvel's treatment of him, and their refusal to provide health and other employment benefits, Kirby left Marvel to work in animation, where he did designs for Turbo Teen, Thundarr the Barbarian and other animated television series. He also worked on The Fantastic Four cartoon show, reuniting him with scriptwriter Stan Lee. He illustrated an adaptation of the Walt Disney movie The Black Hole for Walt Disney's Treasury of Classic Tales syndicated comic strip in 1979-80.

 

In the early 1980s, Pacific Comics, a new, non-newsstand comic book publisher, made a then-groundbreaking deal with Kirby to publish his series Captain Victory and the Galactic Rangers: Kirby would retain copyright over his creation and receive royalties on it. This, together with similar actions by other "independents" such as Eclipse Comics, helped establish a precedent for other professionals and end the monopoly of the "work for hire" system, wherein comics creators, even freelancers, had owned no rights to characters they created. Kirby also retained ownership of characters used by Topps Comics beginning in 1993, for a set of series in what the company dubbed "The Kirbyverse".

 

In 1985, screenwriter and comic-book historian Mark Evanier revealed that thousands of pages of Kirby's artwork had been lost by Marvel Comics. These pages became the subject of a dispute between Kirby and that company. In 1987, in exchange for his giving up any claim to copyright, Kirby received from Marvel the 2,100 pages of his original art that remained in its possession. The disposition of Kirby's art for DC, Fawcett, and numerous other companies has remained uncertain.

 

Kirby's daughter, Lisa Kirby, announced in early 2006 that she and co-writer Steve Robertson, with artist Mike Thibodeaux, plan to published a six-issue miniseries, Jack Kirby's Galactic Bounty Hunters, featuring characters and concepts created by her father.

 

Awards and honors

 

Jack Kirby received a great deal of recognition over the course of his career, including the 1967 Alley Award for Best Pencil Artist. The following year he was runner-up behind Jim Steranko. His other Alley Awards were:

 

*1963: Favorite Short Story - "The Human Torch Meets Captain America,", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Strange Tales #114

*1964: Best Novel - "Captain America Joins the Avengers", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, from The Avengers #4

*1964: Best New Strip or Book - "Captain America", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in Tales of Suspense

*1965: Best Short Story - "The Origin of the Red Skull", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, Tales of Suspense #66

*1966: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - "Tales of Asgard" by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1967: Best Professional Work, Regular Short Feature - (tie) "Tales of Asgard" and "Tales of the Inhumans", both by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Best Regular Short Feature - "Tales of the Inhumans", by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby, in The Mighty Thor

*1968: Best Professional Work, Hall of Fame - Fantastic Four, by Stan Lee & Jack Kirby; Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., by Jim Steranko[10]

 

Kirby won a Shazam Award for Special Achievement by an Individual in 1971 for his "Fourth World" series in Forever People, New Gods, Mister Miracle, and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen. He was inducted into the Shazam Awards Hall of Fame in 1975.

 

His work was honored posthumously with the 1998 Harvey Award for Best Domestic Reprint Project, for Jack Kirby's New Gods by Jack Kirby, edited by Bob Kahan.

 

The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.

 

In 2006, he was voted the #1 artist on Comic Book Resources ' All Time Top 100 Writers and Artists. With Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Harvey Kurtzman, Gary Panter and Chris Ware, Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City, New York, from Sept. 16, 2006 to Jan. 28, 2007.

 

Legacy

 

Kirby is popularly acknowledged by comics creators and fans as one of the greatest and most influential artists in the history of comics. His output was legendary, with one count estimating that he produced over 25,000 pages during his lifetime, as well as hundreds of comic strips and sketches. He also produced paintings, and worked on concept illustrations for a number of Hollywood films.

 

The most imitated aspect of Kirby's work has been his exaggerated perspectives and dynamic energy. Less easy to imitate have been the expressive body language of his characters, who embrace each other and charge into everything from battle to pancakes with unselfconscious exuberance; and such constantly forward-looking innovations as the then cutting-edge photomontages he often used. He (along with fellow Marvel creator Steve Ditko) pioneered the use of visible minority characters in comic books, and Kirby co-created the first black superhero at Marvel (the African prince the Black Panther) and created DC's first two black superheroes: Vykin the Black in The Forever People #1 (March 1971) and the Black Racer in The New Gods #3 (July 1971).

 

Kirby: King of Comics (Hardcover)

by Mark Evanier (Author), Neil Gaiman (Introduction)

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

As a teenager, future television and comics writer Evanier became an assistant to Jack Kirby, one of the foremost artists in the history of American comics. Kirby played a major role in shaping the superhero genre, not only through his innovative, dynamic artwork but through collaborating with Stan Lee to create classic Marvel characters like the Fantastic Four, the Hulk and the X-Men. Evanier has now written this magnificently illustrated biography of his mentor. Rather than employing the academic prose that one might expect from an art book, Evanier, a talented raconteur, tells Kirby's life story in an informal, entertaining manner. Although Evanier does not delve into psychological analysis, he brings Kirby's personality vividly alive: a child of the Great Depression, a creative visionary who struggled most of his life to support his family. The book recounts how Kirby was insufficiently appreciated by clueless corporate executives and close-minded comics professionals. But the stunning artwork in this book, taken from private collections, makes the case for Kirby's genius. A landmark work, this is essential reading for comics fans and those who want to better understand the history of the comics medium—or those who just want to enjoy Kirby's incredible artwork. (Mar.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

 

Product Description

Jack Kirby created or co-created some of comic books’ most popular characters including Captain America, The X-Men, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Mighty Thor, Darkseid, and The New Gods. More significantly, he created much of the visual language for fantasy and adventure comics. There were comics before Kirby, but for the most part their page layout, graphics, and visual dynamic aped what was being done in syndicated newspaper strips. Almost everything that was different about comic books began in the forties on the drawing table of Jack Kirby. This is his story by one who knew him well—the authorized celebration of the one and only “King of Comics” and his groundbreaking work.

 

“I don’t think it’s any accident that . . . the entire Marvel universe and the entire DC universe are all pinned or rooted on Kirby’s concepts.” —Michael Chabon

 

About the Author

Mark Evanier met Jack Kirby in 1969, worked as his assistant, and later became his official biographer. A writer and historian, Evanier has written more than 500 comics for Gold Key, DC Comics, and Marvel Comics, several hundred hours of television (including Garfield) and is the author of several books including Mad Art (2002). He has three Emmy Award nominations, and received the Lifetime Achievement Award for animation from the Writers Guild of America.

 

Mark Evanier

www.povonline.com/

www.newsfromme.com

 

Kirby, Jack: Jack Kirby (American, 1917-1994) : Jack Kirby has received world-wide recognition for his long comic book career and accomplishments. He is regarded by historians and fans as one of the major innovators and most influential creators in the comic-book medium, thus earning the nick-name "King." Among Kirby's many co-creations are Captain America, the Newsboy Legion, the Challengers of the Unknown, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk, Thor, the Avengers, the X-Men, Silver Surfer, the New Gods, and countless other memorable heroes and villains.

 

DECONSTRUCTING ROY LICHTENSTEIN™ © 2000

 

David Barsalou MFA Hartford Art School

 

www.flickr.com/photos/deconstructing-roy-lichtenstein/

 

JOE SINNOTT

 

Joe Sinnott (born October 16, 1926) is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 (with a brief return in the late 1980s), initially over the pencils of Jack Kirby.

During his 60 years as a Marvel freelancer and then salaried artist working from home, Sinnott inked virtually every major title, with notable runs on The Avengers, The Defenders and Thor. Marvel impresario Stan Lee in the mid-2000s cited Sinnott as the company's most in-demand inker, saying jocularly, "[P]encilers used to hurl all sorts of dire threats at me if I didn't make certain that Joe, and only Joe, inked their pages. I knew I couldn't satisfy everyone and I had to save the very most important strips for [him]. To most pencilers, having Joe Sinnott ink their artwork was tantamount to grabbing the brass ring".

Sinnott, who as of 2012 continues to ink the The Amazing Spider-Man Sunday comic strip, had his art appear on two US Postal Service commemorative stamps in 2007.

 

On 5th May 2011 Master Simon Wong's paintings were in the Dragons in the Lions Den show which exhibited Chinese Contemporary Art from Beijing to London, which was organised by YD Gallery www.ydgallery.co.uk Charlie Pycraft(Photographer) www.charliepycraft.co.uk and Ping Works(Creative network) www.pingworks.org a UK creative hub at Forman's Smokehouse Gallery.

 

"Finally a special thanks to Charlie for spotting the potential" Peng Seng Ong Executive Director MBS Limited

"Wow, what an amazing evening. Thanks to you all for your putting this even together, Ping is on the map!" Philip Mayer BSc (Econ) MIC NLPdip Director MBS Ltd

"Hi Peng…I second that. I thought it was an excellent evening and thanks so much to you and Charlie and all the artists for making it such a success." William Chamberlain Business Affairs Consultant

"Thank you so much to Charlie and Peng for organising the prestigious event, developing the concept, getting the artists together, the copy together, design etc, it all looked great, a lot of hard work and it showed." Kathryn McMann Holistic Marketing Consultancy Integrated Strategic Marketing : Social Media : Project Management : Trans-media : Creative Concepts

 

Master Simon Wong is originally from China and has been a British resident since 1978. Master Simon Wong is a spiritual Master, a Feng Shui Master, a professional Chinese Astrologer, an artist, musician, songwriter, scriptwriter and author. Master Simon Wong does not give names to his paintings. The Tao Te Ching states: The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. When the Master uses the finger to point at the moon the student should not just be looking at the finger. The finger is just a tool pointing to the direction. Painting is the same, the medium that is used is not important, it is the mental expression behind the art work that gives a picture its spirit. After perfecting his artistic style for the last 40 years, Master Simon Wong is now exhibiting and selling his work.

[Taken in Paris (France) - 06Apr10]

 

The Forum des Images organizes the first season of the "Series Mania" festival, showing a selection of around 80 episodes of 33 different tv-shows from around the world.

Conferences, debats, and presentations with and from writers, creators, and specialists take place during the entire week. Two entire seasons (True Blood season 2, and Mad Men season 2) are shown during two 12 hours screening marathons.

 

See all the photos of this festival in this set : 06-11Apr10 - Séries Mania Saison 01 [Event]

See all the iPhone Hipstamatic app photos in this set : [iPhone - Hipstamatic]

See all the random portraits in this set : Portraits [Random]

Vintage Italian postcard. Pina Menichelli in one of her last films La biondina (Amleto Palermi 1923), here also with Livio Pavanelli and Gemma de' Ferrari. Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano, Nr. 247.

 

The film was based on a book by Marco Praga on the tragedy of a woman whose husband kills her in the end. It seems that Italian censorship forced the scriptwriter to add morality to the film, so Praga's tragedy is framed within a story about a modest, conventional wife who, encouraged by her friend, dreams of breaking out, but then reads Praga's book and decides to remain honest and loyal. The actress on the left on the card could be the friend (Gemma de' Ferrari).

 

Fascinating and enigmatic Pina Menichelli (1890-1984) was the most bizarre Italian diva of the silent era. With her contorted postures and disdainful expression, she impersonated the striking femme fatale.