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| Except as noted, all photographs Copyright 2005 King Douglas | ||
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January 17, 2005  |
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Here are more miscellaneous images, in no particular order, that I've been wanting to share once I got this journal online. |
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 Photographer: unknown |
This is my 1962 high school graduation photo. The fashionable haircut was called a "Flat Top with Fenders." The fenders (hard to see in this photograph), were longer hair along the sides, swept back and over the ears...like car fenders over the wheels. The top was cut as flat as possible. Notice the fine little curl right in the middle of my forehead. In the back you would find a D.A. (Duck's Ass). |
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I studied shorthand and typing in high school to be better prepared for college. Little did I know that I wouldn't attend college for another 26 years (my theater career intervened).
However, I did get pretty good at Gregg shorthand and use it even now. The skill helped me find work at some very interesting places. I worked for John Silber at The University of Texas and had a stint at the Union Pacific Railroad as a stenographer—back in the days when a male steno (they hired only male stenos) could work his way up to vice president of the company. |
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 Photo: Nora Douglas |
Here's a photo of me and my wonderful wIfe, Paula Dowers, taken by my daughter (Nora Douglas) on April 25, 2003. |
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I found this card pinned to a bulletin board in a small town in Oregon. I just had to have it. Sorry, Rachelle. I hope you got a gig. Peace. |
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For a time after I returned from my 1980 trip to China, folks were very interested in my show and tell. That was still early in the period following President Nixon's rapprochement wih China (1972), so I had a ready audience for my stories and photographs. Over time, however, so many tourists had visited China that my voice and my images didn't carry the weight they once had. This cartoon tells it all. |
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I grew up very near the ocean in Southern California. This is a photograph of the Redondo Beach Pier that I may have taken myself with a box camera in the early 50's. I was always fiddling with my mother's collection of cheap, old cameras. | |
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  Photo: Dave Williams |
My best friend in high school, Dairl Johnson, took up skydiving and convinced me that I should join him at Lake Elsinore, California, for some lessons. So I did and in 1963, about year after high school, I took the required class and made six jumps. To the left is a reproduction of my first jump certificate. My sixth jump was the first (and only) one where I had to pull the rip cord or die. That seemed to mark a turning point for me and I lost interest after that. It wasn't fear of jumping out...it was the fear of going up in the noisy, rickety, crowded airplanes. All the seats were taken out and the door had been removed. We sat impacted like sardines until it was time to jump, which afforded some relief. The quiet and solitude of drifting down was a welcome contrast to going up. Dick Myron was my jumpmaster. To the left is an image of a DGA Howard , like one of the two aircraft types from which I made my six jumps. The other was a Cessna 172. |
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I learned to dance in junior high social dancing classes. I enjoyed it after I learned not to step on my partner's toes. After some initial shyness, it was always fun to dance with the girls.
Here are some tips on dancing published in my high school newspaper in 1961. |
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Todd Duncan is one of my best friends and one of the most intelligent and talented people I have ever met. We worked together in the photography business in the late 70's. One day I got a card from him in the mail that epitomizes our respect for one another. Here's a photo of me and Todd taken in 2003 at his home in St. Louis. |
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An image that stimulates lingering memories from my childhood is the test pattern that used to be shown on television before programing started in the morning. There wasn't nearly so much programming in those days, and the test pattern was often seen early in the morning and late at night. The "Beanie and Cecil Show" (puppets--one of my favorites) was one of the first programs on KTLA on Saturday mornings in Los Angeles in the very early 50's.
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When it was time for programming to begin, the test pattern went off, the Paramount mountain would appear, the stars over the mountain would fade in one by one, and then the first program of the day would begin—it was fascinating. There were lots of stars and the anticipation was almost more than a little child could bear.