Busey

Gary Busey burst into public consciousness in 1978 with his portrayal of Buddy Holly. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and launched a promising career. Busey is known for his intensity, both on and off screen. I discovered this firsthand in 1987 while working on the film "Act Of Piracy." The movie was shot on the Greek island of Skiathos. Two days before production, it was my job to pick up Gary as he arrived at the small island airport. He'd just finished shooting a film in Mexico and he'd had a horrible experience. As we drove back to the hotel, he began to ramble. "This place looks just like frickin' Mexico. The trees, the ocean. This is a nightmare. I can't go through that again. Tell me this place is not like Mexico." He leaned toward me, waiting for a response. "We're in the Mediterranean, Mr. Busey. It's nothing like Mexico." "Thank the lord," Gary answered. He was quiet for a moment then he spoke again. "So what kind of crap do these Mexicans eat?" This was Gary Busey in a nutshell. Outspoken, hyperactive and utterly lovable. Gary has acted in more than 150 movies and tv shows. In 1988 he nearly died in a severe motorcycle accident while riding without a helmet. He's also struggled through numerous legal and substance abuse issues. Through it all, he has continued acting. I don't know if he continues to eat Mexican/Greek cuisine. (5" x 7", black ink print)

Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson's 1930 portrayal of gangster Caesar Enrico Bandello in the film Little Caesar created the prototype for the modern movie gangster.  Though he lacked physical stature and leading man good looks, Robinson acted with an authority and passion that dominated the screen.  His portrayal of the cruel and ruthless Rico was so gritty and realistic that many actual gangsters adopted his mannerisms of chomping down on a cigar and snarling orders out of the side of their mouth.  After Rico is machine-gunned down in the final scene uttering the famous dying line, "Mother of mercy!  Is this the end of Rico," the age of the gangster movie had formally begun.

Robinson was born Emanuel Goldenberg in 1893 in Romania.  These were the days of the anti-Jewish pogroms and Robinson's older brother was struck in the head by a rock during an anti-Semitic "schoolyard game."  His brother died from the effects of the blow years later.  To escape the persecution, Robinson's family scraped together funds for passage to America.  "At Ellis Island I was born again," Robinson said.  "Life for me began at age 10."

As a teenager, Robinson hoped to become a rabbi or a criminal lawyer "to defend human beings who were abused or exploited."  He entered City College in New York and discovered acting.  At age 19, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Art and changed his last name to Robinson. He acted in the Yiddish Theater and moved on to Broadway.

After his explosive performance in Little Caesar, Robinson became typecast in Warner Brothers gangster films.  He acted beside James Cagney in Smart Money and with Humphrey Bogart in A Slight Case of Murder.  His favorite performance came in Dr. Ehrlich's Magic Bullet where he played a scientist who discovered the cure for syphillis.  He hated watching himself on screen thinking he resembled "a miniature gargoyle."

Off screen, Robinson was a distinguished man of great kindness and courtesy. In the lead up to World War II, he donated more than $250,000 to anti-Fascist charity groups.  He was one of the first actors to become an outspoken critic of Nazism.  In 1938, he hosted the Committee of 56, a group of renowned filmmakers who called for a boycott of all German made products.  His political involvement would later cause him to subpoenaed by the House Un-American Activities Committee after the war.  After several years of being blacklisted, he was finally cleared of all suspicions.

Robinson was a lover of the arts.  As a teenager, he collected cigar labels and baseball cards.  As his career too off, he used his newfound wealth to purchase artwork.  By the 1950's, his collection grew to include works by Picasso, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Chagall, Degas, Monet, Matisse, Renoir, Seurat and Toulouse-Lautrec.  In 1953, the Museum of Modern Art in New York featured an exhibit of Robinson's collection.  He recorded his thoughts in the exhibit catalogue:

"I am not a collector.  I'm just an innocent bystander who has been taken over by a collection.  It's a rewarding life even if it takes over your house, your family, your income and your life.  If I hadn't become a movie gangster not one of my paintings would have had the chance to collect me.  Here is a paradox: turn killer and you have the means to satisfy your thirst for beauty.  When Hollywood conveyed me, through devious and sin-stained roles, to a succession of sizzling electric chairs, the paintings began to appear.  Crime, it seems, sometimes does pay."

In 1956, Robinson was forced to sell his art collection as part of a divorce settlement with his wife of 29 years, Gladys Lloyd.  Robinson was devastated by the divorce.  He was also troubled by the difficulties of his only son who had run-ins with police and attempted suicide.

Despite his personal troubles, Robinson continued acting.  He appeared in more than 100 movies in his life.  Prominent roles included psychotic gangster Johnny Rocco in Key Largo, insurance claims adjuster Barton Keyes in Double Indemnity and an aging poker champion in The Cincinnati Kid.  Robinson was well respected and he worked with prominent directors like Fritz Lang, John Huston, Billy Wilder and Orson Welles.  Cecil B. DeMille cast him as a rebellious Israelite in The Ten Commandments.

In 1972, Francis Ford Coppola seriously considered Robinson for the role of Don Corleone in The Godfather.  Robinson's last film role was in the sic-fi classic "Soylent Green" where he spoke about the wonders of earth before the world became toxic.  He died of bladder cancer in 1973 just 12 days after shooting was completed.

Robinson was the inspiration for several animated characters that caricatured his gangster persona.  he appeared as Rocky in the Bugs Bunny cartoon Racketeer Rabbit.  He also inspired Hank Azaria's depiction of Police Chief Wiggum in The Simpsons.  (4" x 6", black ink print)

The River Horse

"Is a hippopotamus a hippopotamus or just a really cool opotamous?"--Mitch Hedberg

Hippos are responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other wild animal. A full-grown hippo can weigh up to 3 1/2 tons. Hippos are herbivores that live on grass and shrubs. They have no sweat glands but they produce a red viscous fluid to keep themselves cool. This led to the myth that hippos "sweat blood." Their Latin name means "river horse" even though hippos are more closely related to whales than horses.

Hippos rarely breed in captivity.  As a result, most zoo hippos have been caught in the wild. The cost to capture a hippo and transport it to a North American zoo can exceed $250,000. The process is difficult and dangerous. Even though young hippos are selected, they can still weigh up to 1,500 pounds.

Targeted hippos are shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart causing temporary paralysis. (Prior to 1966, a crossbow was used to propel the dart.) The hippo must be on dry land otherwise it can drown. The capture team has 15 minutes before the drug wears off. If the drug dose is too large, the animal can suffer cardiac arrest.

Once the drug takes effect, the hippo is covered with a net and dragged through the mud with a road grader. A noose is thrown around the hippo's neck and the animal is secured with ropes. The animal is then lifted with the road grader and put in a wood crate in the back of a larger truck. When the animal awakens, it starts to bellow and thrash. This can cause the bull male from the nearby herd to charge the truck in an effort to free the beast. The engine of the road grader is "revved" loud to scare off the bull.

The captured hippo is driven to a holding facility. Handlers continually douse the animal with water to keep it cool.  The hippo is given a thorough medical examination. The hippo will typically endure a long train journey before being transported overseas via plane or boat.

The first hippo kept in captivity was displayed at the London Zoo in 1850. The 2-day old calf named "Obaysch" was caught on the White Nile after its parents were killed by Egyptian hunters. The hunters transported the animal 1,200 miles to Cairo feeding it with cow milk and maize. Abbas Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, agreed to trade the hippo, a lioness and a cheetah to Great Britain for a pack of greyhounds. The young hippo arrived at the London Zoo weighing over 1,000 pounds. The animal became an instant hit attracting 10,000 people a day (including Queen Victoria).

In the 1980's, Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar obtained four hippos from a New Orleans zoo. He kept the animal on his ranch in Colombia. After Escobar's murder in 1993, the hippos escaped. Local farmers complained when the animals destroyed their crops. Three of the hippos were tracked down and killed. The fourth was never found.

Hippos were considered a female deity of pregnancy in ancient Egypt.  Hippo ivory tusks are valued more highly than elephant tusks because they do not turn yellow with age. George Washington's false teeth were carved from hippo tusks (not from wood as commonly thought). The attached woodcut was inspired by a French zoo poster from the late 1800's. (5" x 7", black ink print)

Cagney

James Cagney was a force of nature.  Quiet and introspective off camera, once the camera rolled he exploded like an untethered pit bull.  He spoke in a rat-a-tat machine gun cadence with deadpan comic timing and ruthless wit.  Orson Welles called him "the greatest actor to ever appear in front of a camera."

He was born in 1899 on New York's lower east side.  His father was an Irish bartender, his mother a Norwegian ship captain's daughter.  Raised in poverty, he helped the family survive by earning money in bare-fisted boxing matches.

Cagney's breakout movie performance came in 1931 when he played vicious killer Tom Powers in Public Enemy.  The film featured the famous grapefruit scene where Cagney smashes a grapefruit into co-star Mae Clark's face.  The scene was actually a practical joke Cagney and Clarke played on the crew. Director William Wellman loved the scene so much he left it in the film.  (Cagney claimed he was offered free grapefruits in restaurants for the next 20 years.)

In those days, film gunplay involved live ammunition.  Producers hired skilled marksmen to shoot low velocity bullets through windows and into walls.  In the 1932 film Taxi, Cagney was nearly shot. He refused to work with live bullets again.

Cagney once told Frank Sinatra the secret to creating likable gangsters.  "Be as tough as you want but sprinkle the goodies for laughs.  Cause anything they laugh at they can't hate."

Cagney was one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild.  In 1935, he sued Warner Brothers for breach of contract becoming the first actor to win a lawsuit against a Hollywood studio. Jack Warner promptly dubbed him "The Professional Againster."

In 1938, Cagney starred with Pat O'Brien in Angels With Dirty Faces.  Cagney played a gangster, O'Brien a priest.  The film had a gritty realism with supporting roles played by Humphrey Bogart and the Dead End Kids.  The final scene where Cagney is dragged screaming to the electric chair is an iconic moment in film history.

Cagney gained a reputation as a leftwing radical due to his support of Franklin Roosevelt and his ongoing battles with the studios.  Yearning to change his image, he pursued the role of song and dance man George M. Cohan in the ultra-patriotic Yankee Doodle Dandy.  The part won him a Best Actor Academy Award.

From 1942-44, Cagney served as president of the Screen Actors Guild.  He was determined to prevent the mafia from infiltrating Hollywood unions.  According to Cagney's autobiography, the mob planned to murder him by dropping a 200-pound klieg light on his head.  The plan was stopped at the insistence of actor George Raft who used his mob connections to cancel the hit.

In 1949, Cagney appeared in White Heat, arguably the greatest gangster movie ever made.  His character, the psychotic killer Cody Jarrett, suffers from an unresolved Oedipal Complex making him prone to headaches and violent outbursts.  The prison scene where Cagney goes berserk and fights an army of guards shows him at the peak of his powers.  The film ends with Cagney atop a gas storage tank yelling  one of his most famous lines, "Made it ma! Top of the world."  A moment later the tank explodes in an apocalyptic mushroom cloud.

Cagney never actually uttered his other famous film line, "You dirty rat!"  The closest he came was the film Taxi when he says, "Come out and take it you yellow-bellied rat."

Several Hollywood stars including Marlon Brando and Clint Eastwood have claimed Cagney as their inspiration to become an actor.  Cagney's eccentricities were copied by Jack Nicholson in The Shining, by Malcolm McDowell in Clockwork Orange and by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.  Clint Eastwood said the scene in Dirty Harry where he eats a hot dog during a shootout is a direct copy of Cagney eating a chicken leg and shooting a guy in the trunk of a car from White Heat.

Cagney retired from acting in 1961 after appearing in Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three. He turned down the role of Hyman Roth in The Godfather, Part II.  In 1981, he played a small part in Ragtime despite ongoing battles with diabetes and sciatica.

Cagney spent his final years on a farm in Dutchess County, New York.  He raised horses, sailed boats and wrote poetry.  His political views became more conservative and he helped his friend Ronald Reagan run for president.  He remained married to his wife Frances for 64 years until his death by heart attack in 1986.  Ronald Reagan delivered the eulogy at his funeral. (5" x 7", black ink print)

The Actor

Lee Montgomery began his acting career at age 10 in the Disney film "The Million Dollar Duck." He went on to appear in more than 50 films and tv shows, acting with such legends as Bette Davis, Walter Matthau, Peter Fonda, George C. Scott & Peter Falk. Lee and I met in 1983 while working on the zombie movie "Night Shadows." We quickly became great friends and spent the next decade tooling around Los Angeles making experimental videos. One of our sojourns brought us to LA International Airport after hours (this was pre-911). Feeling courageous (and a bit stupid) we climbed up the baggage carousel and ventured onto the runway with our camera gear. With no security present to stop us, we made it to where planes were taxying for takeoff. We videotaped the entire experience up to and including the moment where we were both arrested for trespassing. "60 Minutes" had just aired a piece on shoddy airport security and authorities wanted to make an example of us. Fortunately, our video included a baggage handler telling us on camera to "be careful up there" as we climbed up the luggage carousel. Our lawyer argued this was "implicit permission" for us to explore the airport grounds and we were let off with "misdemeanor trespassing." Lee and I remain friends to this day. He is a true spiritual acolyte who has taught me that belief in God and healthy skepticism can co-exist. In addition to his acting chops, Lee is a talented musician and songwriter. (5" x 7", black ink print)

The Chicken Man

Though his karma is stained with the blood of innocent poultry, Colonel Harland Sanders is an American legend. He may look like a beady-eyed, mint-julep swilling racist, but his story is quite inspirational. He had a small service station in Corbin, Kentucky when he began cooking for hungry travelers who stopped for gas. At age 62, a new interstate highway snatched away his restaurant traffic. With nothing but a $105-a-month Social Security check and a secret recipe for fried chicken, Sanders sought to reinvent himself. Less than 10 years later, he had more than 600 Kentucky Fried Chicken franchises across the country. His fame grew quickly as he appeared on tv shows and his ubiquitous "finger lickin' good" commercials. He soon felt like the sweet slave-holding grandpa you never had. One of my childhood highlights was meeting my football hero Los Angeles Rams Quarterback Roman Gabriel in a KFC. He autographed the side of our family chicken bucket, the signature a mix of blue ink and sloppy grease. KFC was one of my four basic food groups through my teen years and college. Only when I stopped smoking pot did the Colonel's chicken lose its lustre. Colonel Sanders died at the age of 90 after a prolonged illness (bird flu?). By the end of his life, KFC could be found in more than 100 countries. Not bad for a man who started at retirement age. (5" x 7", black ink print)

The Scarlet Tanager

I was walking to 24th Street to catch the J-Church to downtown San Francisco when I saw a man on his knees in front of a two-story home. He had something in his hands and he was crying. He didn't look homeless. He wore a silk button-down shirt with khakis and polished black shoes and he had several rings on his fingers.

Usually I'd walk past this kind of scene.  But as I neared the man he turned towards me and thrust his hands forward. He was holding a dead sparrow.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"It's so cruel," he answered.

He pointed to a car parked in the driveway.  It was a 1960's convertible Skylark and beside the driver side door were several dead birds.  "He electrocuted the car," the man sobbed.  "Look."  I saw a car battery on cinderblocks.  Attached to the battery was an electrical cable clipped to the chassis above the front left tire. Apparently the car owner was charging the steel frame with a low-level electrical surge.

"Why would someone do that," I asked.

"People were stealing his stereo.  He wanted to scare them away.  But he killed the birds."

"You know this guy?"

"He's my landlord."

This was how I met my neighbor Mike Hunter.  We began encountering each other at the local coffee house.  We'd chat about the latest political news or whether Steve Young was a better quarterback than Joe Montana.  Mike was a freelance accountant who worked out of his apartment. He grew organic vegetables in the backyard and he spiked his lattes with chlorophyll which he claimed "cleaned the blood."

Mike was a passionate birder.  He showed me an album filled with images of birds he'd photographed around the country.  He pointed out waxwings and thrushes and jays and loons.  The birds ranged in color from bright yellow to dark blue. Some were striped, others spotted.  One had a long needle-like bill, another a ruffled mohawk.  While Mike flipped through his journal, his energy increased and his posture straightened.  He became an evangelist spreading the word about the "angels of the sky soaring all around us."

"How many birds did you notice today while walking for coffee?"

"None," I answered sheepishly.

"Shame on you."

Several months later I found myself in the Mendocino forest with Mike.  He was searching for the elusive Scarlet Tanager, a red Cardinal-like bird found mainly on the east coast.  The Tanager had been spotted in Northern California and Mike was eager to see one up close.  I had no interest in bird watching.  But my girlfriend was out of town and I'd been in a bit of a funk.  When Mike asked me to join him I thought about how excited he became when he spoke of his birds.  I was hoping a trip to the woods would do the same for me.

I soon learned bird watching was actually tree watching.  Mike would hear a shrill whistle or complex warble and he'd whip out his binoculars.  He'd stare at the top of a tall redwood looking for some kind of movement or color variation. He'd admonish me to remain quiet and still.  His patience seemed endless.  I quickly grew bored.  By mid-afternoon I was starving, grouchy and exhausted.

"Eat some seeds," Mike recommended.  "That's what the birds eat.  They're perfect protein."  Mike finally tired.  We'd spotted several woodpeckers, blue jays and something called a Clark's Grebe.  But no Tanager.  We hiked back to the van. Mike began spitting at trees and softly muttering to himself.

"You okay, Mike?"

"The Tanager is a harbinger of good luck.  I guess I'm cursed," he said.

"Why do you say that?"

"It's just the way it is."

He sat down on a fallen tree and I sat beside him.  He pulled out a steel flask and took a deep swig.  I took a tiny sip and started coughing.  Mike launched into this crazy story about his time in the Navy during the Vietnam War. He was an artillery loader, a guy who lifted 40-pound shells into cannon-like guns.

"We'd cruise the coast about a mile off shore.  The spotter would search for circling birds overhead.  This meant dead Vietcong.  Which meant live Vietcong were nearby.  The spotter gave the coordinates and we'd fire ammo deep into the jungle. At the time I was shooting up heroin on a regular basis.  I kept a syringe and a stash of dope inside my cot.  If the stuff was discovered I'd be subject to a court martial and jail time.  One morning, about an hour into my shift, a soldier taps me on the shoulder.  'C.O. wants to see you,' he says.  I froze.  I was certain they found my stash.  I walked to the Commanding Officer's cabin and took a seat in front of his desk.  'Private Hunter, I have bad news,' he says.  I'm thinking to myself, twenty year prison sentence, ass-kickings, mental and physical torture. They're gonna string me up like a dead duck.  Then the C.O. says, 'We received word that your father committed suicide.  Jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge. Sorry to break the news to you, son.  That's tough luck.'  I never felt so relieved in my life.  I thought for sure they found the stash. Now not only was I off the hook, I could return to the States for the funeral. Best thing my pop ever did for me."

Mike took a deep swig from the flask and started laughing.  I was stunned and didn't know what to say. Mike handed me the flask.  "You know why I like birds so much," he asked.  He unrolled his shirt sleeve and showed me a tattoo on his bicep of a hawk with spread wings.  Beneath the image was the inscription Matthew 6:26.

"That's from the Bible.  It says birds don't have to do shit except fly.  God will feed them, God will protect them, God will give them a place to live.  Pretty sweet deal, right?"

"I'd say so."

We sat in silence.  I stared at a burn mark on the fallen tree.  The tree had been hit been hit by lightning.  A wide array of cracks and fissures spread forth from a black scar.  Mike finished the flask and started walking.  I followed.  I stared at the forest canopy above.  I visualized birds circling over dead Vietcong.  The sun was setting and it was starting to get cold.  I couldn't wait to be back in the city.
(6" x 6", Black Ink Print with Watercolor)