No. 360: In Lieu of Flowers

No. 360: Marvin H. Gordon 1922-2017

I read a lot of stories in my newspaper job about war veterans and their exploits. Lately the stories have been more of their passing, especially the World War II servicemen. And I always think the same thing: "What huge stones!"

This fellow, Marvin Higgins Gordon, 94, didn't get a story.  And truthfully, he got an obituary in a competing paper.  He was born Dec. 8, 1922, in Windham, in Portage County, Ohio, and died Feb. 9, 2017, at St. Joseph Warren Hospital.

In lieu of flowers,  a friend of the family commissioned a portrait of Marvin in his Air Force bomber jacket and garrison cap, also known as a "piss-cutter." He was a nose gunner serving in World War II.   A nose gunner is a crewman  who operates a machine gun or autocannon turret in the front of the warplane.  Dangerous, badass stuff.

Turns out Marvin wound up a prisoner of war for one year and 17 days in Germany.  He came away from it with a lifelong fear of German Shepherd dogs, I was told.

He married the former Marjorie Fae Sutliff on Feb. 22, 1944, and enjoyed 72 years of marriage. He worked near Windham at the Ravenna Arsenal  42 years,  and enjoyed farming and spending time with his dog, children and grandchildren.

A solid man, but he didn't get a newspaper story. That family friend, however, made sure he got a portrait, which is now with the family in the Newton Falls, Ohio area.  Newspaper stories are fleeting. But No. 360 helps to preserve a memory, and it was an honor to do this piece.

No. 359: Marilyn's Big Brim

No. 359, "Marilyn," by Tom Wills, February 2017

I never knew much about Marilyn Monroe and I’ve never seen her movies.
But I know what an icon is, and she is that.
Her image, widely known, is the symbol for sexy.

I cannot imagine that my oldest daughter knows much about Marilyn, either — other than that sexy thing. But she wanted a big Marilyn face in a black frame to hang in her bedroom, so here she is.

There are hundreds of Marilyn images out there but we chose this one, with the oversized hat. There are dozens of versions of Marilyn in the hat with the flowers, taken in June 1958 by Magnum photographer Carl Perutz in New York for a magazine article that never happened.

Read and see more here:
http://www.vintag.es/2015/02/black-and-white-portraits-of-marilyn.html

 
In reading about Marilyn, I learned that she routinely played a dumb blond onscreen — roles she despised. But in reality she learned to act, eventually impressing studio heads, critics and fans. She amassed enough influence to break out of the old-school studio system and form her own production company, giving herself greater authority in how The Marilyn Machine was marketed.

She admits to sleeping around and not wearing undies. There are pics of her nude (raising not only eyebrows in the ‘50s!) and she cavorted with politicians, singers, studio bosses, coaches and writers.

We can agree, she sure was beautiful. And in the end, troubled, anxious and depressed. It appears she overdosed on barbiturates in August 1962, only 36 years old.

It’s a complete coincidence that No. 359, Marilyn, follows No. 358, Judy Garland, another product of the studio system whose life also ended in a barbiturate haze, though unintentionally, at 47.
http://tomwillsproductions.blogspot.com/2017/01/no-358-judy-garland.html

Sad conclusions to icons, both, whose sounds and visions stay with us in film and music. And, sometimes, on bedroom walls.