Dad And Calf

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Dave K Davis 1932 - 2019

     This is my Dad c. 1949.  I think he is in High School here.  Dad was genius engineer.  His specialty was microwave radio.  Dad taught math at U. T. Austin and then moved to Dallas and went to work for Collins Radio. He eventually started his own company and did very well.  If his memory was not photographic it was damn near.   He spent his entire life figuring out how and why things work.  He was the smartest and best man I have ever known.  His passion was sailing and I spent my youth as a deckhand on increasing larger and more difficult to control boats.  Alzheimer's robbed him of everything that made him what he was, and it took forever to kill him.
I never told Dad how much I loved him and now it makes no difference.
I tried to find a vintage illustration from a greeting card to close this but the best I found was this old still from some Disney flick.  It will have to do.


So Dear To My Heart, 1949.

      The above picture is of Bobby Driscoll, Oscar winning child actor who made millions for Disney.  Escorted in tears off the lot by security age 15.*  He was 6 years younger than dad.  A junkie, he was found dead in an abandoned building in NYC, age 30, and  not identified for two years.  His body will, in all probability, never be recovered from the mass grave it is in.  My point is that some people fall by the wayside, Bobby ruined his own life with drug addiction.  He could still be alive today.  Living for the moment is a good starter but a bad stayer.

* The story about Bobby being removed from the Disney lot is probably true but the usual explanation is that Walt thought Bobby was turning into a gangly teen and therefore unmarketable.  I smell a rat with this story.  I believe that Bobby's parents or agent tried to shop him to another studio and this would have enraged Walt, disloyalty real or perceived was his trigger.  He kept an alcoholic guard on until retirement because he had always been loyal to Disney.  You just don't throw away an Academy Award winner because they're no longer are a cute kid.  He could have easily have been used in production or public affairs, something is very wrong with the given story.  Bobby did not start on the dope until he was 17 so that was not a factor.

 


Comments

  1. leothefoxMay 13, 2021 at 8:57 PM

    Walt and Arthur Godfrey shoulda hung out. Sheesh!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Billy D BunnyMay 17, 2021 at 11:20 AM

    So you know about both those guys. Arthur would fire people on the air, I have heard. Good with a ukulele. Walt, I think, was more complex. His trigger was disloyalty, real or perceived. During the 1941 strike, Walt Kelly did not want to go against Walt nor did he want to cross the picket line. He told Disney he had to take care of his sick sister, and left the company. Walt and Walt remained friends to Disney's death after that, he appreciated what Kelly had done. Oh, and the strike was definitely justified, Walt was stingy with credit to say the least.

    ReplyDelete

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