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 Sometimes,
getting good pictures of movie stars is
simply a matter of being in the right
place at the right time. At the Publicists
Guild of America luncheon in March of
2000, I saw a gathering of veteran MGM
stars about to pose on the patio of the
Beverly Hilton Hotel, and snapped my shot
right alongside the professional Hollywood
fotogs. That's Margaret O'Brien, Ann Rutherford,
Janet Leigh (who was discovered by the
queen of MGM, Norma Shearer), Mickey Rooney,
Betty Garrett, Audrey Totter, and Anne
Francis, with Howard Keel extending his
long arms behind the stellar group. |
The animation world lost one of its pioneers—and
most creative spirits—when Ward
Kimball passed away in July. He was a
great animator and animation director,
a rabid railroad buff and toy collector,
and a natural ham (as evidenced when he
played trombone in The Firehouse Five
Plus Two, a popular Dixieland group that
originated as a way for Disney artists
to blow off steam). In January of 2001
he attended a screening of the biographical
documentary Walt: The Man Behind the
Myth, and happily agreed to pose
with two old friends and colleagues, songwriter
Richard Sherman and master matte painter
Peter Ellenshaw. All three made major
contributions to Walt Disney's masterpiece
Mary Poppins. |
 I
was fortunate enough to become friendly
with Eleanor Keaton, Buster's widow, but
for many years I didn't know that she
made his famous pork-pie hats for him.
One day I screwed up my courage and asked
if she would make one for me, and she
readily agreed, explaining that all she
needed was a gray fedora. My mother found
one in a local thrift shop, and Eleanor
did the rest, pulling out the stuffing,
flattening the crown, soaking the brim
in sugar water and then ironing it. I
captured the entire process on video for
Entertainment Tonight, and snapped this
photo along the way. |
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