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Post by chadwilliam on May 13, 2017 22:50:21 GMT -5
Jim Shooter told this interesting anecdote about Vince Colletta involving both Colletta's screen test for The Godfather and his association with head of the Luciano crime family Frank Costello. The latter also includes a nice Stan Lee anecdote as well.
Vince Colletta told me this story. Vince told me a lot of wild stories. At first, I thought he was, as my grandma Elsie might say, “full of potato soup and monkeys.” Like the time he told me he was cast for a major role in The Godfather. Long story, but ultimately the role was taken away from him and given to a big-name actor who had big-time clout with the director. Vince said that the casting director quit because of that.
Yeah, right.
1981-ish. Mike Hobson, relatively new publisher at Marvel asked me to go to lunch with him one day. No agenda, just lunch. Mike was making an effort to get to know the creative troops and told me he wouldn’t mind if I brought someone along. Vince happened to be in the office, so….
I don’t know how it came up, but at lunch, Vince told his I-was-almost-in The Godfather story. It so happened that Mike had been working at the William Morris Agency at the time, was fully aware of the casting dust-up and verified everything Vince said.
Later, Vince showed me a videotape of his screen test, in which he played a mobster being questioned by a Senate subcommittee. He was good.
One way or another, many, many of the seemingly outrageous tales Vince told from time to time were corroborated.
So I tend to believe the stories he told me—this one for instance:
Vince knew guys who knew guys. As far as I know, he wasn’t “involved,” as they say, with any real-life people resembling characters from The Godfather, but he actually knew, or at least had met a few.
Sometime back in the sixties, Vince and Stan were at P.J. Clarke’s, a legendary watering hole at the corner of 55th and Third. Vince noticed Frank Costello and his entourage entering. Costello had been head of the Luciano crime family, and though “retired,” was still very influential. He was known as the “Prime Minister of the Underworld,” probably the most famous Mafia figure of his era.
I don’t know how Vince knew him—probably from somebody’s sister’s cousin’s wedding or some such. But he knew him, at least well enough to say hello. So he did. He went to Costello’s table, exchanged greetings, came back and sat back down with Stan again.
Stan asked Vince to introduce him to Costello. Who knows why? Just because he was a larger than life, almost mythic figure, albeit a notorious one? A bad guy? I guess all of us comics types have a fascination with villains as well as heroes.
Vince didn’t think that was such a good idea. Stan, said Vince, wouldn’t let it go and kept bugging Vince to make the introduction. Finally, he wore Vince down.
So, Vince and Stan went over to Costello’s table. Vince introduced Stan. “Mr. Costello, my friend would like to meet you. This is Stan Lee….”
Whereupon Stan stuck his hands up in the air and said, “Pleased to meet you! Don’t shoot!”
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Post by codystarbuck on May 13, 2017 23:30:58 GMT -5
Jim Shooter told this interesting anecdote about Vince Colletta involving both Colletta's screen test for The Godfather and his association with head of the Luciano crime family Frank Costello. The latter also includes a nice Stan Lee anecdote as well.
Vince Colletta told me this story. Vince told me a lot of wild stories. At first, I thought he was, as my grandma Elsie might say, “full of potato soup and monkeys.” Like the time he told me he was cast for a major role in The Godfather. Long story, but ultimately the role was taken away from him and given to a big-name actor who had big-time clout with the director. Vince said that the casting director quit because of that.
Yeah, right.
1981-ish. Mike Hobson, relatively new publisher at Marvel asked me to go to lunch with him one day. No agenda, just lunch. Mike was making an effort to get to know the creative troops and told me he wouldn’t mind if I brought someone along. Vince happened to be in the office, so….
I don’t know how it came up, but at lunch, Vince told his I-was-almost-in The Godfather story. It so happened that Mike had been working at the William Morris Agency at the time, was fully aware of the casting dust-up and verified everything Vince said.
Later, Vince showed me a videotape of his screen test, in which he played a mobster being questioned by a Senate subcommittee. He was good.
One way or another, many, many of the seemingly outrageous tales Vince told from time to time were corroborated.
So I tend to believe the stories he told me—this one for instance:
Vince knew guys who knew guys. As far as I know, he wasn’t “involved,” as they say, with any real-life people resembling characters from The Godfather, but he actually knew, or at least had met a few.
Sometime back in the sixties, Vince and Stan were at P.J. Clarke’s, a legendary watering hole at the corner of 55th and Third. Vince noticed Frank Costello and his entourage entering. Costello had been head of the Luciano crime family, and though “retired,” was still very influential. He was known as the “Prime Minister of the Underworld,” probably the most famous Mafia figure of his era.
I don’t know how Vince knew him—probably from somebody’s sister’s cousin’s wedding or some such. But he knew him, at least well enough to say hello. So he did. He went to Costello’s table, exchanged greetings, came back and sat back down with Stan again.
Stan asked Vince to introduce him to Costello. Who knows why? Just because he was a larger than life, almost mythic figure, albeit a notorious one? A bad guy? I guess all of us comics types have a fascination with villains as well as heroes.
Vince didn’t think that was such a good idea. Stan, said Vince, wouldn’t let it go and kept bugging Vince to make the introduction. Finally, he wore Vince down.
So, Vince and Stan went over to Costello’s table. Vince introduced Stan. “Mr. Costello, my friend would like to meet you. This is Stan Lee….”
Whereupon Stan stuck his hands up in the air and said, “Pleased to meet you! Don’t shoot!”
When it comes to a lot of things Shooter has said, I'm with Grandma Elsie. I'd want some corroboration before I'd say this didn't fit the broth. |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on May 13, 2017 23:58:10 GMT -5
If you went to the Gimbals Department Store complaint department in Manhattan in the early 1970's, you might find a gentleman at the typewriter answering letters of complaint
That would be Richard E.Hughes, former editor of ACG (American Comics Group). He created the superhero character The Black Terror in 1941 and became chief writer and editor of ACG starting in 1943. Hughes wrote thousands of scripts, many under pen names. He wrote Fighting Yank, he created and wrote Herbie, and the majority of stories in the ACG horror and fantasy anthologies Forbidden Worlds and Adventures Into The Unknown. When ACG folded in 1967, Hughes wrote uncredited scripts for DC titles like Jimmy Olsen, Hawkman and several mystery short stories
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Post by Rob Allen on May 14, 2017 1:56:26 GMT -5
Gimbel's used to be neck-and-neck with Macy's for #1 department store in New York. Now Macy's is a national brand and Gimbel's is barely remembered. Sic transit gloria mundi.
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Post by Cei-U! on May 14, 2017 8:02:01 GMT -5
Frank Costello was literally the godfather of Silver Age DC publisher Irwin Donenfeld. His father Harry had worked for Costello during Prohibition, smuggling liquor from Canada in the paper shipments for the Donenfeld brothers' printing business. The mob was deeply involved in magazine distribution and may have helped finance Independent News, DC's distribution arm.
Cei-U!
I summon the shady side of comics history!
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2017 23:10:06 GMT -5
Gimbel's used to be neck-and-neck with Macy's for #1 department store in New York. Now Macy's is a national brand and Gimbel's is barely remembered. Sic transit gloria mundi. Well, Macy's is shuttering stores left and right; so, what goes around comes around. |
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Post by codystarbuck on May 14, 2017 23:12:42 GMT -5
ps. I recall a story someone told in the letters pages of CBG. They worked in a stereo store and an older gentleman came in to buy a stereo and he helped him out. The man plunked down his credit card and the name was Jo Shuster. The clerk had to ask and sure enough, it was the man who drew life to Superman. They ended up building a minor friendship because of it, prior to Shuster's death.
I had a sort of experience like that when I spotted Doug Rice and Len Strazewski in my store, the Springfield, IL Barnes & Noble, back in the 90s. they were in town for a small comic con and I had met Rice the year before (he drew a Manhunter sketch for me). I went to the con the next day and we remarked about it.
Artist Tom Artis (did a few things at DC, including the Impact line comic, The WEB), was a semi-regular there (he lived locally) and also Tim Conrad, a couple of times (who also lived locally).
Not comic related, but the strangest meeting with a celebrity I had, at B&N was when they launched the Nook device. We didn't have a demo unit yet, in my store (too far off the beaten path to be a priority for the initial shipment) and one of my booksellers said a customer had questions and they hadn't gone through the training material yet. So, I went up to answer the questions when the customer steps away from the front counter and removes these wrap-around glasses, and I see it is Richard Dreyfuss. I do my best to answer his questions with nothing more than a brochure, shaped like the new Nook e-reader, without mentioning Jaws or Close Encounters. he thanked me, shook my hand and winked as he left, since I stayed professional. I think the wink was because I was visibly taken aback when he removed the glasses. What he didn't know was I was too far away, still to recognize him. I was taken aback by the fact that his glasses parted at the bridge when he removed them, not in the rear. I had never seen glasses like that before. It was a few feet before I recognized him. I kicked myself for not telling him I enjoyed Hello Down There, just to see his reaction to a mention of one of his earliest, and more obscure roles.
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Post by Farrar on May 15, 2017 13:18:35 GMT -5
... I kicked myself for not telling him I enjoyed Hello Down There, just to see his reaction to a mention of one of his earliest, and more obscure roles. My grade school teacher took a few of us to the movies one summer day to see Ice Station Zebra. It was part of a double feature--yes, the other film was Hello Down There. Frankly I enjoyed HDT more, largely because it had Ken Berry, whom I recognized from one of my favorite shows, F Troop.  |
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