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"Has It Really Been Forty Years Already?!"
8 years ago
One of the first jobs I ever had - that I really enjoyed working at - was being a mechanical paste-up/layout artist for Florin-Creative Film Services, Inc. (originally located in East Meadow, New York). I began working for them in mid-1976, and continued until the early 1980s (when I was reluctantly 'laid off', as the company was relocating [at the time] to Westchester County)...
Not only did my job entail creating newspaper ads for various movie houses in the New York/New Jersey area, but I also worked on programs and flyers (promoting upcoming films) for some of the same movie houses...
Most notably, I'd worked on "Sam", the semi-regular program for the Uniondale Mini-Cinema - a repertory movie house on Long Island, who specialty was screening film comedies starring the Marx Brothers. Hence, the 'in-joke' featured on the cover page of said program: "Sam was their father; and Minnie (a phonetic play on the term 'Mini') was their mother"...
During the mid-summer of 1977, the Mini-Cinema was highlighting a 'Rock Concert Movie Festival', with various musical films (such as "Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same", "Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Rock 'n' Roll Your Eyes", and [of course] "Woodstock"), playing for a few weeks...
Following my boss's orders, I had just completed assembling all of the necessary artwork for this special issue of "Sam", with an image of pop legend Jimi Hendrix on the cover. (Keep in mind, my job was almost a full-generation ahead of doing mechanical art without the use of a computer, for additional enhancements and 'touch-ups'.)
I gave Marc the completed four-page draft, which he promptly took to the printing shop, to be made into a few hundred copies of the program - to be distributed to various stores and restaurants that sponsored the Mini-Cinema, not to mention the theater itself.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment myself, I resumed my usual other labors, by working on the ads for newspapers such as the "New York Post" and "Newsday"...
A few days later, it was August 16, 1977. Just an ordinary day... when Marc and I had learned about the death of Elvis Presley (by heart attack) at the age of 42.
On a whim, Marc decided to change the schedule of the 'Rock Concert Movie Festival' at the Mini-Cinema, to include a few films starring Elvis. This, of course, meant that I would also have to update "Sam" (with these newly-booked films), not to mention changing the program's cover art to include "The King of Rock 'N' Roll".
Long story short, I had to put in a lot of extra hours on the job, between said update and working on those newspaper ads (including a special Mini-Cinema ad, acknowledging Elvis's passing). Having completed this Herculean feat in record time, I gave the updated drafts to Marc, who (in turn) went back to the printing shop to have hundreds of new copies of "Sam" printed out and distributed throughout Long Island.
I'd breathed a sigh of relief, as I began to go back into my 'business-as-usual' mode, and started to complete my latest batch of newspaper ads...
And then came August 19, 1977. Just another ordinary day... when, once again, fate intervened. Marc and I had learned about yet another passage in the world of 'show business'. This time, it was Groucho Marx who had succumbed (after a four-month bout with pneumonia) at the age of 86.
"Jed," said Marc.
"I'm way ahead of you," I responded, as I began to work on my third program draft in over a week!
Now, Marc was booking Marx Brothers movies to throw in, following the 'Rock Concert Movie Festival' and the 'Tribute to Elvis'. The flicks he'd chosen included such classics as "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera", and (a bootlegged copy of) "Animal Crackers" (before CBS-TV acquired the rights to air it, later in the 1970s, on "The CBS Friday Late Movie").
Meanwhile, rather than promote the addition of a 'Marx Brothers Film Festival' at the Mini-Cinema, I'd changed the cover art by simply posting a photo of Groucho, in his classic pose from "Duck Soup" - seated behind a desk, eyes rolled up, and hand resting under his chin (while holding one of his legendary cigars). And the only text I put with this cover photo was simply "1890-1977".
And, as a 'finishing touch' to this cover, I'd placed a single, tiny teardrop underneath the eye of Sam (the real-life father of the Brothers Marx), whose image sits next to the title of the program.
I gave Marc this latest updated draft, and imagined the look on the face of the proprietor of the printing shop at seeing my boss show up at his establishment for the third time in the last seven or so days!
To this day, I still have a few surplus copies of the updated issues of "Sam" - some with Elvis on the cover, and others with Groucho on it. It was a testament to my durability as a mechanical paste-up/layout artist (during a 'pre-high tech age'), a vocation I was able to continue performing as throughout the 1980s (at other companies) and only once in the mid-1990s (at a printing company in Delray Beach, Florida).
I have not found any other line of work (that I can truly say I'd enjoyed) ever since then...
FOOTNOTE: That same image of Groucho that appeared on the cover of "Sam" was also the basis for a rare piece of art I'd created with a typewriter, which you can see in my 'Gallery'... http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17593206
ADDENDA: On August 20, 2017, actor/comedian Jerry Lewis died; He was 82. There were several connections between him and my job at Florin-Creative Film Services, Inc. (even though I'd never met the man himself)...
For example, during my final two years as an employee, I had relocated to a storage room on the second floor of The East Meadow Flick (a multiplex movie house), which originally was a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema. This room doubled as my artist's room and a darkroom (for photographing my various newspaper ads). And I also used to take home surplus copies of the press kits for various motion pictures (including Disney animated features and many film comedies - some of them with Mr. Lewis)...
Lastly, my boss Marc would let me take home other cinematic souvenirs - usually in the form of promotional gimmicks (e.g. a toy truck to hype the Burt Reynolds comedy "Smokey and the Bandit"). One such souvenir was a copy of a book entitled "The Total Filmmaker" a 'behind-the-scenes' look at how Jerry Lewis directed himself in some of early solo comedies.
R.I.P., Mr. Lewis...
Not only did my job entail creating newspaper ads for various movie houses in the New York/New Jersey area, but I also worked on programs and flyers (promoting upcoming films) for some of the same movie houses...
Most notably, I'd worked on "Sam", the semi-regular program for the Uniondale Mini-Cinema - a repertory movie house on Long Island, who specialty was screening film comedies starring the Marx Brothers. Hence, the 'in-joke' featured on the cover page of said program: "Sam was their father; and Minnie (a phonetic play on the term 'Mini') was their mother"...
During the mid-summer of 1977, the Mini-Cinema was highlighting a 'Rock Concert Movie Festival', with various musical films (such as "Led Zeppelin: The Song Remains The Same", "Emerson, Lake and Palmer: Rock 'n' Roll Your Eyes", and [of course] "Woodstock"), playing for a few weeks...
Following my boss's orders, I had just completed assembling all of the necessary artwork for this special issue of "Sam", with an image of pop legend Jimi Hendrix on the cover. (Keep in mind, my job was almost a full-generation ahead of doing mechanical art without the use of a computer, for additional enhancements and 'touch-ups'.)
I gave Marc the completed four-page draft, which he promptly took to the printing shop, to be made into a few hundred copies of the program - to be distributed to various stores and restaurants that sponsored the Mini-Cinema, not to mention the theater itself.
Feeling a sense of accomplishment myself, I resumed my usual other labors, by working on the ads for newspapers such as the "New York Post" and "Newsday"...
A few days later, it was August 16, 1977. Just an ordinary day... when Marc and I had learned about the death of Elvis Presley (by heart attack) at the age of 42.
On a whim, Marc decided to change the schedule of the 'Rock Concert Movie Festival' at the Mini-Cinema, to include a few films starring Elvis. This, of course, meant that I would also have to update "Sam" (with these newly-booked films), not to mention changing the program's cover art to include "The King of Rock 'N' Roll".
Long story short, I had to put in a lot of extra hours on the job, between said update and working on those newspaper ads (including a special Mini-Cinema ad, acknowledging Elvis's passing). Having completed this Herculean feat in record time, I gave the updated drafts to Marc, who (in turn) went back to the printing shop to have hundreds of new copies of "Sam" printed out and distributed throughout Long Island.
I'd breathed a sigh of relief, as I began to go back into my 'business-as-usual' mode, and started to complete my latest batch of newspaper ads...
And then came August 19, 1977. Just another ordinary day... when, once again, fate intervened. Marc and I had learned about yet another passage in the world of 'show business'. This time, it was Groucho Marx who had succumbed (after a four-month bout with pneumonia) at the age of 86.
"Jed," said Marc.
"I'm way ahead of you," I responded, as I began to work on my third program draft in over a week!
Now, Marc was booking Marx Brothers movies to throw in, following the 'Rock Concert Movie Festival' and the 'Tribute to Elvis'. The flicks he'd chosen included such classics as "Duck Soup", "A Night at the Opera", and (a bootlegged copy of) "Animal Crackers" (before CBS-TV acquired the rights to air it, later in the 1970s, on "The CBS Friday Late Movie").
Meanwhile, rather than promote the addition of a 'Marx Brothers Film Festival' at the Mini-Cinema, I'd changed the cover art by simply posting a photo of Groucho, in his classic pose from "Duck Soup" - seated behind a desk, eyes rolled up, and hand resting under his chin (while holding one of his legendary cigars). And the only text I put with this cover photo was simply "1890-1977".
And, as a 'finishing touch' to this cover, I'd placed a single, tiny teardrop underneath the eye of Sam (the real-life father of the Brothers Marx), whose image sits next to the title of the program.
I gave Marc this latest updated draft, and imagined the look on the face of the proprietor of the printing shop at seeing my boss show up at his establishment for the third time in the last seven or so days!
To this day, I still have a few surplus copies of the updated issues of "Sam" - some with Elvis on the cover, and others with Groucho on it. It was a testament to my durability as a mechanical paste-up/layout artist (during a 'pre-high tech age'), a vocation I was able to continue performing as throughout the 1980s (at other companies) and only once in the mid-1990s (at a printing company in Delray Beach, Florida).
I have not found any other line of work (that I can truly say I'd enjoyed) ever since then...
- - - - - - - - - - FOOTNOTE: That same image of Groucho that appeared on the cover of "Sam" was also the basis for a rare piece of art I'd created with a typewriter, which you can see in my 'Gallery'... http://www.furaffinity.net/view/17593206
- - - - - - - - - - ADDENDA: On August 20, 2017, actor/comedian Jerry Lewis died; He was 82. There were several connections between him and my job at Florin-Creative Film Services, Inc. (even though I'd never met the man himself)...
For example, during my final two years as an employee, I had relocated to a storage room on the second floor of The East Meadow Flick (a multiplex movie house), which originally was a Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema. This room doubled as my artist's room and a darkroom (for photographing my various newspaper ads). And I also used to take home surplus copies of the press kits for various motion pictures (including Disney animated features and many film comedies - some of them with Mr. Lewis)...
Lastly, my boss Marc would let me take home other cinematic souvenirs - usually in the form of promotional gimmicks (e.g. a toy truck to hype the Burt Reynolds comedy "Smokey and the Bandit"). One such souvenir was a copy of a book entitled "The Total Filmmaker" a 'behind-the-scenes' look at how Jerry Lewis directed himself in some of early solo comedies.
R.I.P., Mr. Lewis...
Congrats on achieving that without any help of a computer or similar. *applauds to you* Surely a feat you can be proud of.
(BTW: I haven't heard from Marc since leaving Florin-Creative in 1981. I'll try to 'Google' him, but I won't get my hopes up too high, if he's no longer alive...)