GRACE AND DIGNITY

Maria Tallchief was not only the first American major prima ballerina, but also the first Native American one.

She was born Elizabeth Marie Tall Chief (Ki He Kah Stah Tsa, in Osage), in Oklahoma in 1925, a member of the Osage Indian Nation, to an Osage father and an Irish mother. She started dancing at the age of 3, and in her late teens she moved to New York, and danced for several years with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. She met and married none other than ballet choreographer George Balanchine; they were married for six years. Tallchief received a Kennedy Honor for lifetime achievement, and other awards for her talent. She was director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and founded the Chicago City Ballet. Standing a regal 5’9”, she gracefully paved the way in ballet for many women of color.

Maria Tallchief died in 2013, at the age of 88.

THE MAN OF STEEL VS. THE DARK KNIGHT

Back in 2002, TV Guide Magazine printed an article of the 50 most popular cartoon characters of all time. I wrote an essay a couple of years later, detailing my opinions of the TV Guide's poll choices. The following is an excerpt of that essay, pertaining to Superman and Batman.


"Numbers 40 and 39 present another fascinating statement about our perception of heroes. Coming in at number 40 is Batman, the socially conscious man’s hero; and at 39 is Superman, easily the personification of the whole concept of the super-hero, to the entire world. When you think of the ultimate superhero, Superman immediately comes to mind. He has the perfect combination of super-human might and social accountability, and that alone is why he deserves to be just a notch above the Caped Crusader.

Superman’s abilities are explained by the fact that he is from another planet, and crash lands on earth as an infant to be raised by a poor but loving rural American couple. He clearly becomes a hero because he already has inherent super powers, and decides to use them for the purpose of good. He has a special place at the head of the hallowed hall of heroes, because he is the idealized version of our great protector. He is physically impenetrable, and he is morally incorruptible.

By contrast, media surveys of people on the street have indicated that the hero they would most want to be like is Batman. This is probably because his particular brand of heroism seems more tangible to us, and more obtainable. The Batman is a mortal human being, exactly like the rest of us, only he is equipped with cool gadgets.

Batman’s beginnings were firmly planted on terra firma. He was born into wealth and privilege, right here on earth, and an act of violence robbed him of the only things his money could not replace—his parents. He was still a child—but old enough to remember the tragedy and be permanently affected by it. Batman does not become supernatural, and we are just lucky he happens to be on our side. His motivations for crime fighting are more selfish, and stem as much from vengeance than from a moral obligation to society. Batman kicks criminals’ asses simply because he hates them. That’s what makes him the common man’s hero: he represents the vigilante in all of us."

IT TAKES A BIG MAN TO SOUND SO SMALL

Delightful character voice actor Walter Tetley was born in New York in 1915. He provided juvenile voices in several classic radio shows, and he’s probably best known to the TV generation as the voice of Sherman, the pet boy of the genius dog Mr. Peabody, in the “Peabody’s Improbable History” back segment of “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show”. Other roles included Leroy, the nephew of radio's Great Gildersleeve, and the Walter Lantz toon Andy Panda.

Walter Tetley was unofficially tagged “the world’s tallest midget”, because of his childlike voice, but he wasn’t a little person at all. Tetley was an averaged-sized man with a child-like voice, for reasons that remain mysterious. Officially, he had a hormonal disorder, but there was an urban legend (unproven), that his mother, unwilling to part with the paycheck of a child actor, had Walter “fixed” (castrated), so that he remained in a state of arrested development, permanently pre-pubescent, and destined to sound like a boy forever. Perhaps the truth will never be known.

Walter Tetley died in 1975, at the age of 60.

THE SHARP KNIFE OF A SHORT LIFE

Soul singer Tammi Terrell was born Thomasina Montgomery in 1945 in Philadelphia. She began her musical career at 13, and eventually changed her professional name to “Tammi”, inspired by the hit movie Tammy and the Bachelor. She signed with Motown Records in 1965. Tammi was a pop star in the classic sense of the term: though she did not possess a particularly strong singing voice, she was beautiful, vivacious, and had star quality, and became a Motown darling in short order.

Tammi is best remembered for her duet recordings with fellow Motown artist Marvin Gaye, with hits including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love” and “Ain’t Nothin’ Like The Real Thing”. Her personal life was a little less idyllic: she was romantically linked to both James Brown and Temptations singer David Ruffin; both relationships were rumored to be abusive.

During an onstage performance with Marvin Gaye in 1967, she collapsed in his arms; she was later diagnosed with a brain tumor. Several surgeries were unsuccessful at alleviating her condition. Tammi Terrell passed away in March, 1970, in Philadelphia, at the age of 24.

GOOD, BAD AND UGLY, AND WE MEAN THAT IN THE BEST WAY

The piercing eyes. The big mustache. The even BIGGER gun. These images come to mind when you think of actor Lee Van Cleef.

Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. was born in 1925 in New Jersey, of parents of Dutch ancestry. While performing in a touring theater company’s production of “Mr. Roberts”, Van Cleef was discovered by Stanley Kramer, who cast him in High Noon, and Van Cleef was officially on the map. He is perhaps best remembered as a badass in spaghetti westerns such as For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Van Cleef also overcame three accidents—two by fate, one by birth—that most people would probably never notice unless they were pointed out. He lost a kneecap in a car accident, but recovered sufficiently to ride a horse again; another accident took the last joint of his middle finger; and colored contact lenses disguised the fact that he was born with one blue eye and one green eye.

Lee Van Cleef died in 1989, at the age of 64.

SOME THINGS I’D LIKE TO SEE GO AWAY SOON

We all suffer from occasional iconic overload. Here are some things I've had more than enough of.




Ikea. Besides the cheap, spindly furniture, they gave their employees bikes, instead of money, as holiday bonuses. Nothing against bikes, but that’s what your parents and Santa are for. To add insult to injury: the bikes required assembly.

“Jersey” anything, and The “Real” Housewives of anywhere. Seriously, do you actually know anyone like that? Oh, and a fake orange tan after Labor Day? Fail.

S#*! My Dad Says. The Twitter page was hilarious for about 20 minutes. When will people learn: Hollywood ruins everything.





Those little white decals, of a nuclear family or some spinoff of Calvin & Hobbes, on the back windshield of cars and vans. It’s not cute if everyone’s doing it. Honorable mention: “Baby On Board” signs. They make people want to intentionally rear-end you, just to knock some reality into your brat in the back seat.

Radio Personalities. Besides the two words being mutually exclusive, aren’t we just over that as a form of entertainment? Isn’t it time for that to just retire, like movie theater Newsreels and carnival barkers?

 “Lazy-Folks” gadgets and products. Admit it, some of you actually bought Snuggies. You know who you are.

Auto-Tune, and every recording artist who relies on it. Getting rid of that alone will thin the herd considerably.





The Palins. All of them. Except Michael from Monty Python.

Constantly being asked to care about water on Mars, the reproductive habits of celebrities, or what Oprah thinks you should be reading. If you honestly believe Oprah has time to sit down and read entire books, please send me a color postcard of your home planet.



 

Lady Gaga.






“American Idol”, “America’s Got Talent”, or any other American no-talent show that promotes glorified Karaoke, with people whose musical “training” has entailed standing in front of a bedroom mirror, singing into a hairbrush.

The recent mushroom-like proliferation of Classic Rock radio stations in major Metro areas. Classic Rock Station? Fine. Five or six of them within a 3-county area? C’mon… how much ZZ Top are you nostalgic for?





People getting famous for having multiple-birth families. It never ends well. Did we learn nothing from the Dionnes?





What did I leave out? Feel free to add to this list. (pleeze keep it G-Rated tho.)  :)

EW, GIRL COOTIES!

I drew this portrait of an adolescent Bambi and Faline, in the process of becoming quite "twitterpated". I noticed the original movie still on the back of an old record. It's water based marker and wax pencil. I don't illustrate nearly as much is I should, but I have to draw Bambi at least once every few years. He's like an old childhood friend.