| 
Summer 2008 News |
See Past News
Hello again, and welcome back to the Frazetta web site. As many as our frequent visitors know I have had little time to update the site over the past months due to my busy schedule. But I’ve found a few hours in between driving my children to and from friends and school functions to post some of the new current events for your reading pleasure. Well, first things to come to mind with my father is the baseball season is just 4 weeks or so from starting the playoffs with the New York Mets in the hunt for a playoff berth. With the bad news pertaining to their relief pictures shoulder, and now John Maine, it’ll be difficult for them to get through the playoffs successfully. If my father was 60 years younger and playing for the Mets, they would’ve had a great chance to win! Anyone growing up with my father, knew he had a rifle for an arm. He was drafted by the New York Giants, (Baseball Team), to play center field before Willy Mays. In 1999, we took a ride to the school yard in Sheepshead bay, Brooklyn, where my father played high school baseball. We wanted to estimate how far he threw a baseball with a pair of Bushnell laser binoculars to get an accurate measurement of the distance. Dad was very precise with how he threw the ball. According to friends of his, not only did he throw the ball like a rocket, he was deadly accurate. He stated that the best arms on the team stood just behind home plate and unleashed their best throw towards the right centerfield fence where all but one actually went over the fence some 285 feet from home plate during tryouts. My father took humor from this because his arm was as good as any ones including major league baseball players and he said he could throw it well over the fence on his first try. The coach heard my fathers chuckle and sarcastically said, “Here you are big shot, give it your best shot”! as he handed my father a brand new baseball directly out of the wrapper.
So here this 5 ft 10”, 155 pound kid saying he can throw a ball over 300 ft. Dad reminisced as he does so often pertaining to past accomplishments in sports, he simply took the ball from the coaches hand, took two or three steps back behind home plate turned and fired a bullet that he says literally disappeared like a pea and not only cleared the right center field fence but went over the 3 story high school roof and later was found in the Olympic swimming pool the following day. To his dismay, the laser beam measured the distance to exactly 299 feet from where he threw it. Up till this day dad always said over 400 feet. So when it registered a mere 299 feet, dad was very disappointed. Being in the golf business where distance is critical and measuring incorrect yardage can cost you a tournament I had reassuring news for my dad. Don’t worry Pop, I guarantee there will be an additional 15 to 20 % more distance added to 299 feet, mainly due to the elevation of the building. Even with this reassuring comment, he was still very distraught about the calculated distance and mumbled I wanted 400 feet. If you have seen the biography, you clearly see the entire rienactment of this past event. So I went home that evening and drew a diagram of the field, height of the school and calculated the estimated angle of decent as it carried over the roof and landed in the pool. Just to get a ball to carry over 3 stories it would be a minimum of 340 + feet. So after an hour or so of bouncing numbers back and forth with elevations and ballpark landing area, I would be pretty confident the ball carried a minimum of 375 feet. Dad still wanted to hear 400 feet and it might have gone that far, I do not know where it landed in the pool.
 |
But anyway, my brother and I had excellent arms and could throw as hard as anyone in the school district at the age of 17 years old. My father still threw the ball equally as hard as us well up into his late fifties and the stick ball matches were very competitive between the three of us until girls became our number one priority in our late teens. Although we were extremely serious and competitive, it was always in good sportsmanship and the up most respect for our father. Over the many years of competitive games, there was seldom a grudge after a lose even with numerous quarrels about the strike zone and the bat we used. Eventually, we filled the strike zone with chalk so it would leave a clear chalk impression on the ball if it ever hit the edge of the box. Stick ball was always something to look forward even if dad was in the middle of painting one of his masterpieces. It sits so vividly in my memory how it all came about. I would run down through the house, ask mom where dad was, she would say, “down stairs painting.”! I did not want to interfere with his art but what the heck, this was serious stuff. I would run on past mom, huff’ in and puff’ in, take a hard left turn into his studio and see him painting the Silver Warrior. I would state to him, “ Sorry Pop! I don’t want to bother you”. He’d reply, “What’s up??? We wanted to play a game of stickball but I see your busy.” I knew exactly what he was going to say because it was always the same answer. “Yeah sure, I’ll play, give me a second to clean my brush then I’ll be out.” Then he would also ask if I could quickly fill up his cup of coffee, add lots of sugar and heavy cream. During that request, he was wiping off the brush with a small rag and turpentine. Within 5 minutes the front door would open and out comes dad, cup of coffee in his right hand for the big afternoon game. Basically this is a large part of our childhood and how truly close my dad was to his family. How family came before his art. How stickball came before his art. I don’t recall if dad ever said no to any of his children for anything when asked. Now this is strictly family requests, not publishers or outsiders.
Well, besides stickball, the museum has been very busy this season with visitors coming from as far as Japan. There are many new paintings hanging on the interior walls. Mrs. Frazetta likes to change things around for a new look for repeat visitors. The most common request is, “Is there any chance I can meet Mr. Frazetta when I come to visit?” I tell them, due to his health issues, I can never promise anyone that he will be there. But occasionally he will surprise us and walk through the front doors and give patrons a personal tour of the museum. This is one of the most memorable sights you will ever see. My father speaks in-depth about each individual painting, the colors, the shadows, the way one sword crisscrosses through an area to balance the painting. One of the drawing tips my father gave me that I will never forget was doing it with a nervous hand. I was not sure what he meant at first but essentially by keeping a very light grip on the pencil, things will stay loose and flowing, not tight or like a posed model, Hold the pen or pencil at the end without squeezing the tip like your choking it and you‘ll find your drawing will be more natural and realistic. It can be finely drawn with details without being stiff and dull. Ralph Bakshi stated only Frazetta can make a standing figurine look like its moving. He is absolutely correct, seldom if ever can you find a drawing in his many thousands that look like he had a model pose for the shot. Now that I have started to draw again, I find that painting is much easier than drawing. You can get away with a variety of things when painting, with shadows or tones where as with line drawing it must be right on, knowing the anatomy or underlying structure of the figure. If it is wrong, you will see it immediately. Well, that’s tip number one for the week.
The new 2009 Calendar has just been released and available in the gallery store. I am in the process of making the Werewolf portfolio and other Death Dealer commemorative prints that should be available by late fall. We also have the new collector edition hard bound edition of the Death Dealer comic featuring all six issues of the acclaimed Frank Frazetta Death Dealer series. Now available for $50.00 along with the deluxe signed version. We also have all six of the gold and silver sealed Death Dealer comics in their own portfolio in very limited supply. There were only 500 of issues 2-6 ever produced and 1,500 number one distributed to dealers and ourselves. They have a beautiful gold or silver raised seal and lettering on the cover and quickly became in demand by collectors and Frazetta fans. I was told initially the gold sealed comics were selling for as high as $125.00 per copy on Ebay. We have all six issues available in their own collector sleeve. Image comics, Jay Fotos and company, did a wonderful job with the entire series of the Death Dealer with layout, color and design. They will also be producing my comic story next year and one that I am very excited and a bit anxious to see on the stands. I did the cover art on both issues along with the story.
Also just out is the Egyptian Queen and Moon Maid resin statues from Reel Art Studios.
With the Frazetta estate not having a physical address, directions to the museum can be confusing. We now have some helpful news for visiting patrons. Across from the entrance to the museum, a storage facility has a address where you can put into map quest for an exact location. Lackland Self Storage, The address is 2481 Milford Road, East Stroudsburg, PA.18301.
Once you locate this exact spot, the museum is directly across the street from there. You will see the small gray stucco pillar located at the entrance of the driveway to the gallery. I also understand on the weekends there is heavy traffic on Rt. 209 entering Marshalls Creek. So I will be posting an alternate Rt to help avoid this traffic delay. This is in the museum section for directions.
Once again, thank you for visiting with us.
Sincerely,
Frank Frazetta JR
Museum directions from exit 309 Marshalls Creek, off Rt 80.
After turning off onto (exit 309) approx 1/8 mile off exit ramp, make a left at the first traffic light, Rt 447 North. Follow all the way to the end approx 1 ½ miles to stop light. Wendys restaurant will be on your right at the traffic light. Make a right turn. Just 1/10 of a mile, will be an intersection, bare right, 209 North, Marshalls creek. Stay on 209 North for exactly 2.3 miles. At the base of a long hill, the museum entrance will be on your right hand side with a small 3 ft tall gray stucco pillar marking the small black top driveway entrance to the museum. If you pass the Lackland self storage facility, (Big orange sign), on the left, you have to turn around because you went to far.
If need assistance call:
570-424-5833 store
570-476-4050
570-269-9813 cell
570-424-2265 museum
|
