New Piece of Art in Progress Honoring Celebrities

[McFraggle]

Good luck, hope you don't hit anymore roadblocks.

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

Just heard back from the Late Show. No word on Dave yet, but Paul read my letter! He wants me to alter how he looks slightly, but otherwise, he likes it! He's letting me include him! WOOHOO!

Convincing John

Awesome, congrats! That Paul is a class act.
Erin

 

[Convincing John]

Yeah, it's a Gilda thing...I forgot to mention that earlier (sorry). When I get word from where I'm sending it to, I'll be able to post more about it. Thanks for your interest, guys! And maybe I can find a place on the net where I can post the sketches of Jim, Frank, Jerry, Richard and Dave so you guys can see 'em!

Convincing John

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

Yeah, it's a Gilda thing...I forgot to mention that earlier (sorry). When I get word from where I'm sending it to, I'll be able to post more about it. Thanks for your interest, guys! And maybe I can find a place on the net where I can post the sketches of Jim, Frank, Jerry, Richard and Dave so you guys can see 'em!

Convincing John

If you're just looking for a place to host pictures, I'd reccommend Photobucket.com. It's free and easy to use, reliable and good for message boards.

Oh, and about Richard's outfit...it isn't the one he's wearing on page 78 of Muppets and Men, is it?

-Kim

 

[Convincing John]

Oh, and about Richard's outfit...it isn't the one he's wearing on page 78 of Muppets and Men, is it?

-Kim

No, no...it's not that outfit! LOL! It's based off of another old Muppet gag, though...it has to do with actually. I'll reveal more about the project in the upcoming months. It might be finished around Christmas.

Convincing John

 

[McFraggle]

So how's the progress coming with getting permission from the celebrities?

 

[Convincing John]

So how's the progress coming with getting permission from the celebrities?

Well, I started writing those letters way back in early June (some in May) and I figure I would have heard back from more of them if there were concerns...especially from celebrities who aren't as popular today as they used to be (Dom DeLuise, Garrett Morris, etc.).

I know some celebrities (Bill Murray, Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, etc.) simply don't get to read all of their fan mail, and in some cases the fan letter remains unopened. The return address is read by their secretary, and a basic "thanks for writing" note is sent back to the fan.

In some of my early letters, I mentioned that I was going to finish the project in July. Unfortunately, I couldn't. Nevertheless, some celebrities might believe that the drawing is already finished.

I also have been unable to find accurate fan mail addresses for some celebrities. Some of my letters came back stamped with "No Such Address" on them.

Also, there are some celebrities in the picture (Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Madeline Kahn, John Belushi, Marty Feldman, etc.) who are sadly no longer with us. I have been adding color to them as I work.

So, taking all these things into consideration (the generous "grace period", deceased celebrities, fan mail addresses not found, etc.) I have decided to go ahead with adding color to all of the celebrities, save a handful:

Mel Brooks
Anne Bancroft
Carl Reiner
David Letterman

I never heard back from Carl, but I'd hate to have him in the picture without Mel. Those two are best friends. It'd be like drawing Laurel without Hardy, Ernie without Bert..."Gilbert without Sullivan, ham without cheese, Poca without Hontas..."

I'm teetering on what to do with David Letterman right now...in my letter to Paul Shaffer, I mentioned that Dave would be in the picture too. I figure Dave might know about it, if Paul mentioned it to him, that is.

In the end, the project is for charity, strictly fan art, and the person who is overseeing this project said to me that these people are all public figures, and I did'nt really have to write those letters.

Right now, I'm working on the Muppeteers. Last night, I was working on skin tones and beards. Hopefully, I'll find out the correct eye colors for Jim, Frank, Jerry and Dave. (I think Richard's eyes were brown...I'll have to check).

Convincing John

 

[Don'tLiveonMoon]

This sounds like such an involved project. I can't wait to see it - you've got to post a picture of the finished product!
Erin

 

[McFraggle]

It sounds like it is going pretty good then.

 

[Convincing John]

More progress...

Well folks, I can finally tell you what I'm up to with this latest piece of Gilda Radner-related art. As I've mentioned, it's a color drawing, and when it's finished, it will be shipped off to the Gilda's Club Desert Cities in Cathedral City, CA. (near Palm Desert, CA for any of you who live close).

Okay, once again, here is the list of people who will be in the drawing...with new additions.

Alan Zweibel (author)
Gilda Radner
Anne Bancroft
Carl Reiner
Cheech Marin
Bill Murray
Chevy Chase
Candice Bergen
Thomas Chong
Dave Goelz
David Letterman
Paul Shaffer
Dom Deluise
Don Novello (who played Father Guido Sarducci on SNL)
Garrett Morris
Frank Oz
Gene Wilder
Jane Curtin
Jerry Nelson
Jim Henson
Madeline Kahn
Marty Feldman
Mel Brooks
Richard Hunt
Lily Tomlin
Alan Alda
John Candy
Steve Martin
Dan Aykroyd
John Belushi
Laraine Newman
Mr. Bill (ohhh, nooooo!)
Michael Radner (Gilda's brother)
Herman Radner (Gilda's father)
Henrietta Radner (Gilda's mother)
Mrs. Gilles "Dibby" (Gilda's nanny and inspiration for "Emily Litella")
Sparkle (Gilda's pet Yorkshire terrier)
Joanna Bull (co-founder of Gilda's Clubs)
Harold Benjamin (founder of the Wellness Community Gilda attended when she had cancer)
Flo Porter (community coordinator of the Wellness Community)
Judy Levy (old friend of Gilda's)
Pam Katz (old friend of Gilda's)
Gilda's characters:
Roseanne Roseannadanna
Emily Litella
Candy Slice
Rhonda Weiss (with backup group "The Rhondettes")
Baba Wawa
Nadia Comeneci
Lisa Loopner
Judy Miller

Now here's the setting: since Gilda was a basketball fan, I am working on a drawing of Gilda as a basketball player. She is soaring through the air, about to make a slam dunk and win the game. In the audience are the people Gilda loved, worked with and admired over the years. The drawing will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to the Gilda's Club Desert Cities.

Extra info on the Muppeteers in the drawing:

Even though space was limited, I managed to reserve space for Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson and Dave Goelz in the audience. I know other Muppeteers worked on SNL, and Dave didn't work on it at all, but he did play when Gilda was on TMS, so he is included. Due to space, I unfortunately wasn't able to include Fran Brill (Vazh) and Alice Tweedy, who I believe played Queen Peuta on SNL. The same goes for Peter Friedman, who played the seven-foot tall talking carrot. As much as I wanted to include them all, there just wasn't room for everyone. Sorry.

So all that "made the cut" was Jim Henson, who is sort of resting his chin on his knuckles, smiling and watching Gilda. (I used page 130 from "Of Muppets and Men" as my main reference), Frank Oz is next to him, Jerry Nelson is next to Frank, complete with his sunglasses, hat (the one he wore while reading Pa Gorg's lines in the FR documentary), and holding a box of popcorn. Next to Jerry is Dave, who is sipping a soda (a Sprite, actually). They all look like they did around 1980 or 1981.

Now here comes the best part. One of the first things I thought of when I started the drawing was having Richard Hunt be a part of it. This is partly because I felt bad I couldn't include Beaker in an earlier statue I did of Gilda. For those of you who don't know, I created a life-size statue of Gilda from the "Tap Your Troubles Away" number from TMS. I wanted so much to include and the chest pull as well. Unfortunately, my request to include him went unanswered by the Jim Henson Company's legal department. (This was way before the Disney thing happened, folks). I felt kind of like I needed to make it up to Richard. So, in this drawing I needed something funny for Richard to do in the picture. Something he'd like. So guess what? In a tribute to Richard, he's selling popcorn, just like Scooter did. And even the price a bag is the same..."only a buck!" the tray says. And yeah, he wears the same red and white hat Scooter does in GMC, the tray is the same from TMM, his pants are the exact same color as the Usher Scooter figure. And, he's wearing the same white sneakers he did back in the Muppet Show days.

I read that sometimes Richard Hunt's family reads our messages. I hope they enjoy my tribute to Richard in this drawing.

If all goes well, it should be done around Christmas time...maybe earlier, if I'm lucky.

So there you have it! There's tons and tons of more info about detail I can post, but it would take forever. Here's just one bit of trivia for you as an example:

Mel Brooks, in the drawing, wears the same suit he did for the cover of the record "2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks". In the drawing, he holds a nectarine, in reference to the '2000 Year Old Man' sketch.

Convincing John